AN: OK, another bonus chapter, since I have written two already today of the ones I'm doing ahead (18 and 19) and hope to get a third done if all goes well. Back to singles tomorrow, though. I don't want to run out of chapters while I am still writing and end up with a day without a post (horrors!)...
Enjoy!
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From her place across the room, Lizzy had no idea what Mr. Darcy had said to Mrs. Bennet but it certainly was effective. She and Mrs. Phillips stood gaping, mouths wide open for a few minutes, during which time Mr. Darcy walked away, collecting Mr. Bingley and the rest of their party as he went. Suddenly, Mrs. Bennet closed her mouth and rushed over to where Lizzy and Jane were still trying to calm Lydia without being too obvious about it and having no success at all. She took Lydia by the ear and dragged her from the dance floor, silencing her protests with a few sharp words.
The dancing came to a quick stop as Mrs. Bennet called to Kitty and Mary to follow her immediately. Mary stopped playing and scrambled up off the bench. Lizzy and Jane fell into line behind the others. Without bothering to take her leave of their hosts, Mrs. Bennet pulled her protesting daughter to the entry where she requested a servant to call for their carriage.
The sound of loud talking filled the rooms behind them. Suddenly, music could be heard again. Someone must have quickly taken Mary's place at the pianoforte to calm the situation. Lizzy suspected Charlotte.
As the servant left to complete her request, Mrs. Bennet hissed at Lydia, whose ear she still held,"I told you to flirt with Mr. Bingley, not to throw yourself at every man in a red coat. Have you no sense at all, Lydia Bennet?"
Lizzy and Jane did their best not to look at each other. They had often asked the same question, and hearing it from Mrs. Bennet was too funny to keep a straight face if they caught sight of each other's expressions. Mary clearly choked on a laugh as well. Only Kitty simply looked confused. Lydia was furious at having lost out on her fun.
She replied loudly, "I did flirt with Mr. Bingley. He just laughed at me. The soldiers are far more jolly. I want to marry one of them."
Still keeping her own voice low and giving her daughter's ear a shake that caused her to cry out, Mrs. Bennet insisted, "That would be fine if we could be certain any of them would marry you. After the outrageous display you were making of yourself, that may no longer be possible. There is a difference between flirting and behaving like a loose woman. You crossed that line and left it far behind you. We will be lucky if our reputations are not ruined already. You have no idea what that could do to us. Mr. Bennet is ill. If none of you are married when he dies, we will have no security and will be thrown into the hedgerows the minute Mr. Collins arrives to take his inheritance. How could you do that to us, you stupid, stupid child?"
With the whine of a small child about to throw a tantrum, Lydia pulled away from her mother and complained, "But you said men like a good display of your assets to entice them to marriage, along with being lively and bright, not all prim and boring like Jane and Mary."
"It is all a matter of degree, child, something you clearly do not understand," Mrs. Bennet hissed. "Be silent for the moment."
The servant approached with their wraps and word that their carriage was just coming around. Mrs. Bennet took her wrap and quickly put it on, hurrying the others along as well. Lydia looked like she was going to continue the argument there and then, but found herself on the receiving end of the kind of glare Mrs. Bennet usually reserved for Lizzy. Showing that she did have a small amount of sense, at least a sense of self-preservation, the girl kept her mouth shut, but all her movements had the abrupt, jerky look of a person about to throw a fit.
Mrs. Bennet and Lydia stepped out the front door just as the Netherfield party came into the entry behind them. Mrs. Bennet looked at Mr. Darcy with fear clear in her expression and then quickly shooed her daughters outside without allowing for a single word to pass between the two parties.
Lizzy looked back just as she went through the door at the tail end of their group. Mr. Darcy was watching her. He nodded gravely when their eyes met, although with a hint of a smile on his face. She offered him a quick smile in return before she turned and followed the others to their carriage.
Once they were all inside the carriage with the door closed, Lydia started the argument back up. "I was only doing what you have told me all along, Mama. Flirt, laugh and be lively. The officers certainly appreciated it." Lydia pouted and kicked her heels back into the wood behind her with a thunking sound.
"As I said a moment ago, it is a matter of degree," Mrs. Bennet countered angrily. "A low cut gown draws the eye without revealing so much they do not need the marriage bed to gain the rest. You have pulled your gown so low you are practically falling out of it, all while dancing around like a hottentot instead of a young woman of quality. Your behavior was absolutely wild, not lively. I had trusted you to know the difference and was busy talking with my sister. Mr. Darcy, of all people, was the only one willing to point out to me how far your behavior had deteriorated! You have no more chance with Mr. Bingley after his friend's assessment that the only place you would be fit for if I did not stop you then and there was a street corner! Do you know how humiliating that was?" She finished with a shout, causing Lydia to cringe, although what Lizzy could see of the girl's expression was still defiant.
"What does boring old Mr. Darcy know?" Lydia whispered truculently.
"Enough! He is Mr. Bingley's friend and clearly is influencing and guiding him on how to be a gentleman of property. If Mr. Darcy disapproves of you, then there is no chance his friend can be pushed into a match. He considered you as good as ruined this evening and if you are ruined, none of your sisters will have a chance at a marriage and neither will I!"
Lizzy was not surprised Mrs. Bennet had thought ahead to her second time as a widow and the possibility for another husband, although she did suddenly realize for the first time how much of a relief Mr. Bennet's proposal of marriage must have been all those years ago. Mr. Jamison had left very little, and all of that was in trust for his son. Tony had gambled most of it away within a week after he reached his majority. While she had her jointure, all Mrs. Bennet could access of it was the interest, and it would still be all she had to live and support three daughters on now. It was no wonder that she was frightened and desperate.
"You? Remarry? But you are so old, Mama!" Lydia said with a laugh.
Mrs. Bennet was not at all amused by the reaction. "I may not be a young woman anymore, or able to bear children, but I would make a perfectly acceptable wife for an older gentleman so long as he is not from around here, where everyone seems to be controlled by the opinions of Sir William Lucas. You have no idea what poverty looks and feels like. I have stared it in the face before and I am determined that it will not happen to me again."
That finally silenced Lydia, although they could all tell she was not convinced that she had done anything wrong or that her behavior might have any price attached to it. Mrs. Bennet's vehemence made Lizzy wonder if all the purported overspending and shortfalls in the household accounts that her father had complained about in recent years had been the older woman setting aside a jointure that her husband was not otherwise willing to make. Taken in dribs and drabs, those funds could have added up significantly over eighteen years of marriage, so long as she had been able to keep Tony unaware of them. Unlike the thefts by Tony, in Mrs. Bennet's case Lizzy did not consider it stealing, knowing that her father's indolence and unwillingness to plan for his family's future made it necessary for his wife to find a way to support herself in the future. In a way it was similar to how she and Jane had saved every penny of their allowance that they could to add to their fund.
After a few minutes of silence, Mrs. Bennet spoke again. "I shall have to see if one or more of the officers can be quickly brought up to scratch. Perhaps one for Kitty if not one for Lydia."
"Why should she get an officer and not me?" Lydia whined.
Mrs. Bennet looked sharply at her youngest again. "If I can get one for you, I will. But you may have already put paid to any chance you might have had with them. And if we receive any more invitations after today's debacle, you will not be attending. People must see that I am willing to discipline you. That may just give your sisters a chance."
"Most of the officers are second and third sons with little to offer a wife, Mrs. Bennet," Lizzy said softly in the space after Lydia's outraged howl at being potentially denied a party.
"I am not such a fool I do not already know that, Elizabeth. A husband is a husband. Even a gentleman's third or fourth son is still respectable. We can none of us afford to be picky. You will be lucky to catch a poor tradesman with the influence of your uncle in London."
"Yes, Mrs. Bennet," Lizzy replied.
The older woman looked like she was about to say something more to Lizzy when Lydia began to whine that it was so unfair she was being punished for doing what she had been told to do. "Silence, child," he mother said and then shook her head. "I hate to admit it, but Mr. Darcy was correct. I did take you out of the nursery too soon. I was so concerned about getting you safely married before it was too late that when your body became that of a woman I mistakenly assumed you had gained the intelligence and sense of one as well. You are still very much a child and I have let you run wild too long. There is just not enough time..." Her voice trailed off as their home came into view.
As the carriage pulled to a stop at the door, Mrs. Bennet spoke again. "You will all retire immediately. I need space and silence in which to consider what can be done next. I do not want to hear a peep out of any of you, especially you, Lydia."
The four older sisters all nodded silently. Lydia huffed and folded her arms over her chest, still pouting. She remained in that attitude as Mrs. Bennet got out of the carriage first, followed by all the others. As Lizzy passed by her, Lydia unfolded her arms and shoved her older sister petulantly. She knew from past experience that even if Lizzy complained, Mrs. Bennet would do nothing about it. Lizzy just shook her head and descended as quickly as possible. With great reluctance, Lydia finally dragged herself out of the carriage and followed after the rest, stomping her feet and making as much noise as she could without saying anything. Once inside, she pushed past her sisters, who had all stopped to hand their wraps to the maid, and stomped her way up the stairs, letting her wrap fall from her shoulders onto the steps as she did.
Jane retrieved the wrap and handed it to the maid, then she led the others more quietly up the stairs, doing their best not to disturb Mrs. Bennet, who had retired to the sitting room. Once they were in the upstairs hall, Kitty softly addressed Jane.
"I do not understand, Jane. Why is Mama so mad at Lydia? She really was just acting the way we had been instructed."
"Was she, Kitty?" Jane whispered back. "When did Mrs. Bennet tell you both to jump around like monkeys or move in such a way that a man could look right down the front of your gown?"
"Was Lydia really acting so? I did not think she was behaving that badly."
"She was," Lizzy whispered firmly. "No matter what your mother has said in the past, you would do far better copying the behavior of Mary or Jane than that of Lydia. They both receive approval and compliments from gentlemen on the ladylike manner of their behavior. Mrs. Bennet has become so used to ignoring the jibes and insults of the neighbors that she has not really listened to all the terrible things people have been saying about Lydia, and sometimes you as well. I heard those men this evening laughing over what an easy conquest she would be. They did not have marriage in mind."
Kitty looked at the two older women. "Mama is frightened. Why is it that the two of you are not? You know she will throw you out when Papa dies."
As Jane and Lizzy looked at each other, unsure of how to answer, Mary spoke for them. "They have been carefully saving their allowance for years, just as I have been doing," she said. "They may not have enough to keep them for long, but they will have enough to get them to London. Mr. Gardiner will not turn them away. As Mama said, they will be able to find husbands through his influence."
Jane gave Lizzy a look that said volumes and Lizzy nodded. Jane added, "Listen to me, Kitty. Mary is correct. We have been saving for several years and we will have support from the Gardiners. If you or Mary are ever in trouble, call on us for help. Be cautious of Tony. If he or his friends make you nervous after Papa is gone, come to us immediately. You will be welcome."
"Thank you, Jane," Mary said. "I know he is my brother, but he does frighten me sometimes. I will take you at your word. I want to remain in touch with you and Lizzy even after Papa dies. You have always been my sisters even if we have no bond of blood. I will miss you both."
"And I," Kitty told them, "but I do not think Lydia will care about any of us."
"We will not let her starve either," Lizzy said, "but honestly, I would prefer her room to her company just the same. Good night, Kitty. Good night, Mary."
The younger two wished Jane and Lizzy a good night in return. They all slipped into their bedrooms to leave the difficult evening behind them.
