"Lydia can marry again, if she must — you are unsuited for ordinary marriage. I always saw. From when you first crawled about after me, you would study my books with me before you could properly walk.”
“I know.” Elizabeth had always felt special, more tightly attached to her father than to anyone else. Her affection was reciprocated and she was treated unfairly by both her parents. When Mr. Bennet came to the conclusion he would have no sons after Lydia’s birth, he decided money must be saved, not to ensure the future of his daughters and wife, but almost solely forherinterest. Near five hundred pounds were cut from the estate's annual expenses, and while Mr. Bennet sold his hunter and the pack of foxhounds, mostfeelingof deprivation came from her mother.
Mr. Bennet had never been much of a sportsman. Mrs. Bennet wished an extra pair of footman, to dress Jane in new expensive and fashionable gowns each season, and to have the most impressive delicacies on her table when she entertained.
Mrs. Bennet, correctly, blamed Elizabeth for this diminution of her consequence and, she claimed, her happiness. Mrs. Bennet scolded Elizabeth for turning her father against her, begged her to convince her father to let them spend money more freely, and railed against Elizabeth for thinking she was better than her sisters.
At that age Elizabeth fully shared her father’s every opinion. So Mrs. Bennet’s conviction that Elizabeth was wrong for thinking herself better than her sisters only fed a belief she was in fact better.
Elizabeth had been rather spoilt as a child.
Likely she still was.
“If I had ever realized I would have to pay out such a large sum to see Lydia married…” Papa sighed. “It seemed at the time a cheap and convenient means for her to find some pleasure. You were right, and I have long since admitted it.”
Wickham had agreed to marry Lydia in exchange for Mr. Bingley and Mr. Bennet providing him one thousand pounds apiece, to cover his immediate debts. Mr. Bingley undertook to purchase a commission for Wickham each time he become eligible to purchase a higher rank, and Mr. Bennet settled an additional three thousand upon Lydia, and fifty pounds income as her share of Mrs. Bennet’s fortune.
Fortunately, when Wickham’s captaincy was purchased he transferred to a regiment which would a year later be posted to defend the Hougoumont farmhouse during Waterloo.
“Lydia has not abused what independence she has.” Elizabeth kicked her foot deeper under the desk, wriggling into her chair.
Mr. Bennet shrugged.
Papa wished a different topic of conversation, so Elizabeth returned to the earlier one. “The difference in how Miss Darcy and Lydia are treated is fashion not morality.”
Mr. Bennet tapped his finger on the dark wood of his desk. He nodded decidedly. “Allowing such a woman to participate fully in a community would provide a bad exemplar for younger ladies, such as yourself. They say it themselves. Neither morality, nor fashion, but practical reason drives the unfortunate creature’s exclusion.”
Papa winked and Elizabeth giggled. “This commits you to the claim that Mrs. Wickham provides a good example."
"Aha! I see what you mean to do — my disapproval ofthatmarried woman is well known to you."
"Unkind! Your own daughter!"
“I confess my former mistake; Lydiaisa fine example for the women ofotherfamilies. She shows the importance of marrying for love and affection and adolescent whim.”
Elizabeth opened a compartment in the desk to take out her dainty stationery so she could write a letter to Mary, who was the wife of the vicar who lived thirty miles from Longbourn in Essex. She began to sharpen the nib of her pen. “I can have nothing further to say. Except if the purpose is to prevent imprudence, the presence of a girl who will preach against such behavior is likely to be more salutary thanLydia’sadvice.”
“HowdoesLydia advise her unmarried sisters? I have always wondered since the first time you mentioned such advice.”
Elizabeth flushed. “An indelicate subject. Enough onher.”
“Defeat admitted. My victory, again.”
Elizabeth rolled her eyes at her father’s crowing. She dipped the quill into the ink and began to scratch out her letter.
Mr. Bennet stood and browsed the bookshelves. As he pulled down Cicero’s letters, he asked, “Pray, give your opinion, your true opinion. Do you wish to befriend Miss Darcy?”
"I know not, not yet." Elizabeth glanced up and returned her eyes to her work. “Jane likes her very much. I ought to need no further recommendation."
"But we all know Jane only sees the good."
"Miss Darcy is a darling shy and sweet creature, I am sure. But the imprudence! Imprudence demonstrated by all involved. Especially in how her brother left the young Miss unguarded. The bare facts of the story leave me prejudiced against the participants.”
"Her brother ought have made her marry Wickham or another?"
"Goodness! No!"
Mr. Bennet smirked, showing he’d known Elizabeth would reply with such horror.
