Page 20 of Pride, Prejudice and Prudence

“She named herself Mrs Young,” she said. “When first I saw her, I thought I was saved, but it was not so; she was the sister of the second man.”

“It was so cold, Lizzy,” she said, “It was not even a proper bedchamber; I think it might have been a closet for the cleaning supplies. It smelled something fierce,” she said, her nose crumpling in remembrance. “Mr Wickham took my hair,” she said, then started to cry in earnest once more.

In truth, at her relief at seeing Lydia safe, she had not thought of the locks of hair which Mr Wickham had sent them. Lydia had hair of the same thickness and strength as Elizabeth’s own, and only on close inspection could she see where it had been hacked off.

“It is not so bad, dearest,” she assured. “Once you have had it washed, and finished your bath, I will make it up for you, and you will see,” she said with a gentle smile at her little sister.

“Why did Papa not come for me, Lizzy?” she asked when she finally got out of the bathtub, having had the hot water topped up twice. Elizabeth was devastated by the heartbreak in her young sister’s voice. Now dressed and with her hair styled, she looked almost herself once again, except for the look in her eyes.

“We didn’t know where to find you, my dear,” her aunt replied, Elizabeth’s throat having tightened with tears, being unable to respond.

“He said he took my hair because Papa had refused to give him the money he requested,” she said in a voice which Elizabeth could only just hear. “He said he heard around Meryton that the Bennets had come into a fortune, but that Papa must not love me as he was not willing to pay to get me back,” she said, and her crying got even worse.

“Lieutenant Wickham,” Lydia said, but halted. “He is not Lieutenant Wickham anymore, is he? Mr Da.., Mr de Grey told me that he has been named a deserter, so he is now Mr Wickham. I did not elope with him,” she told them, “I would never do such a thing,” she said.

“We know, Lydia. We knew as soon as he sent the first letter,” Elizabeth assured.

“He told me that he had sent a letter asking Papa for money, but that Papa had refused. I did not believe him, but he did.”

“He asked for fifty thousand pounds,” Elizabeth said.

“Fifty thousand pounds? How did he think that Papa was to get such an amount of money?” she asked.

“Your father and uncle were in the process of gathering the funds, and they paid a smaller amount in good faith to ensure your safety,” their aunt explained.

“Papa was to pay fifty thousand pounds for me?” she asked, her voice high in shock.

“He would pay anything to have you back safe, Lydia,” Elizabeth said, and her aunt nodded in agreement.

“So how did you come to be in the company of the gentleman who returned you do us?” Elizabeth finally voiced the question that had only been waiting for the opportunity to ask.

“They..., he was looking for me,” she said. “He and some other gentlemen heard that Mr Wickham had taken a young lady, and being from Derbyshire, they knew of Mr Wickham and his wickedness, and felt sure that they could locate him, and they did,” she said. “And they located me as well, and Mr de Grey volunteered to see me safely back to my uncle’s home.”

“They are the best of men,” Lydia said, looking at Elizabeth, with an expression which Elizabeth could not decipher.

“I would pay anything to see you safe, my love,” her father said, coming into the room, now that she was properly attired. It was only then that Elizabeth saw the strain the last few days had taken on him. He was nearly as pale as Lydia. He and her uncle had been so reassuring in their conviction that Lydia would be brought home safe that Elizabeth had not questioned that it might not be so. But seeing her father now, she understood fully for the first time that they might never have got her back. She raised a hand to her own mouth to suppress a cry; no good would come from her crying now. A fleeting thought crossed her mind that she was like one of Mr Darcy’s, or really Shakespeare's, naïve women who believed whatever their fathers or husbands told them.

“It takes time to get the sums Mr Wickham requested together,” he told her. “That is the only reason it was not paid in full the moment he asked for it.” Lydia ran into her father’s arms again, and he patted her back awkwardly.

Chapter 33

It was not above two days, but the whole party was on the road to Longbourn. Mr Collins had so much become part of the Bennet family that Elizabeth had no thought of leaving him behind to return to Kent. But when he announced in a tone as grave as he had ever used when first they met, that he would be accompanying them, Elizabeth saw a tear in her father’s eye, and he patted him on the back and thanked him. He sent a message to his patroness, Lady Catherine, and his curate, to arrange for him to take services for the nonce, and entered the Bennet carriage with his cousins to return once more to Longbourn.

The trip to Longbourn was undertaken in silence, broken only by limited queries as to whether their Mama was expecting them and whether word of Lydia’s safe return had been sent on, which it had been. Lydia was much changed in her behaviour; on any trip she would always have been chattering, but now she remained silent, burrowed under the arm of one or other of her sisters. Her mother stood outside of Longbourn, Jane at her side, waiting as the carriage drew to a halt. Lydia jumped down and into her mama’s arms, crying, and her mother comforted her.

The first few days after their return to Meryton were filled with visits by the Bennet family to their neighbours, ostensibly to chat about Elizabeth, Jane, and Lydia’s trip to London, but in truth to ensure that no rumours about Lydia were circulating. Once it was clear that no one had suspected anything, the tension was finally able to be let go. Lydia’s near ruination and that of all her sisters had been avoided. Once it was clear that there had been no ill effects for his Bennet relations, Mr Collins made arrangements to return to Hunsford, but not before extending an invitation for his eldest cousins and their father to visit him some weeks hence.

“We have been blessed to have such a good cousin,” Jane said, as they waved him off. Elizabeth agreed but didn’t know why Jane was mentioning it in such a way and raised an eyebrow in query. “You know why he accompanied us back from London, do you not?” Jane asked.

“To bring us comfort, I supposed,” Elizabeth replied, and Jane shook her head.

“Yes, to bring us comfort, but also because if there had been any rumours concerning Lydia, he intended to marry her.”

Elizabeth was so surprised at this that she placed a hand up to her heart, which had skipped a beat at this. But now that she thought on it, it had been obvious that this had been his plan. She knew as well as any of them that it would have been an ill match for either one of them, but it would have been the saving of all his cousins. Elizabeth also knew that had it been necessary; he would have been a good and kind husband to her sister.

“He is truly our brother of the heart,” said Elizabeth, to which Jane agreed.

Longbourn once more settled back to its normal routine, and Lydia slowly came back to herself, but she was never outside without either one of her sisters or Miss Farnsworth. March had now turned to April, and spring had lightened the mornings and stretched the evenings, and Mr Bennet and his eldest daughters waved goodbye to their family as they headed off to see their cousin once more.