Disclaimer: As Usual

Summary: See Previous Chapters

Chapter Ten

Mr Collins insisted upon attending dinner at the Phillips's with them the following night, and managed to insult Aunt Phillips within the first few minutes.

Oh, Lydia had no doubt that he didn't intend to insult Aunt Phillips by comparing her house to the smallest drawing room at Rosings Park, but that was certainly how the "unstudied compliment" was received. Likely Lady Catherine or Miss de Bough would have appreciated it better. Aunt Phillips was quickly mollified, however, and better yet, was kept out of the sisters' way by entertaining their aunt with descriptions of "the finest estate in Kent."

Lizzy scoffed under her breath. "The Duke of Kent might take exception to such claims. Does our cousin ever think before he opens his mouth?"

Jane covered a smile, "Count your blessings, Lizzy; we are not being required to participate!"

They settled in to plan among themselves, until Uncle Phillips led the gentlemen in. As promised, the number did indeed include Mr Wickham and Mr Denny, along with several other officers. Soon, the card tables were set up, which Mr Collins was persuaded to join with Aunt Phillips, Kitty and Mr Denny, while Mr Wickham joined Lizzy and Lydia in sitting aside.

Mary had no love for cards, but settled herself at the instrument, playing a simple, soothing melody that encouraged relaxation and enjoyment of company. She did not play it often, for relaxation also encouraged loose tongues and a lowering of one's guard, but the sisters had been forewarned, and hopefully that was sufficient to be forearmed.

Lydia allowed her sister to carry the bulk of the conversation with Mr Wickham, as Lizzy was clearly the one he was interested in speaking to. While feigning interest in the cards at the next table over, she tapped her feet in a lively ladies dance, carefully timed so that she could bounce upright to proclaim a victory in lottery tickets, or slump in her chair to bemoan a loss, to match where Mr Wickham, sitting across from her, should have lifted or dipped her.

It was a pity such dances were considered to exhaustive for young gentlewomen, for Lydia was quite certain that she would love to dance it in person one day. In the meantime, with Mr Wickham distracted by trying to enthrall Lizzy with a tale of woe that stemmed seemingly from birth and consisted primarily of being resented for his advantages, Lydia listened to the magic that thrummed through her feet, until Aunt Phillips called them all to dinner.

Listening to Mr Collins proclaim himself undisturbed by his losses at whist, and praise Aunt Phillips's cook was a necessary evil. That Grandmother Gardiner had taught her daughters to set a very good table indeed was common knowledge in Meryton and the surrounding estates, and Mama had passed the skill on in her turn. Lydia might never had cooked the dishes herself, but Mama had a hundred little tricks to make expensive ingredients stretch further, and a thousand ways for common ingredients to enhance a dish. Much like their abilities in the stillroom, Lydia's future husband would find no fault with her hospitality.

Once they returned to Longbourn, the sisters gathered in Jane and Lizzy's room to share information. Mr Denny had told Kitty that Mr Wickham had sought him out in London, and that they had not seen each other for some years before that. The other officers had only good things to say of Mr Bingley, who had hosted Colonel Forester and several others for dinner the previous night, to celebrate the Colonel's engagement, but as they confided to Jane, Mr Darcy could not be persuaded to speak on the subject of Mr Wickham, or their past history.

Mr Wickham, of course, had been a great deal more forthcoming in his conversation with Lizzy, which she quickly summarised for the others. Lydia had split her attention between the card tables, and blinked in surprise at the sheer wealth of information Mr Wickham had offered freely. "For someone who claims that he could never expose Mr Darcy, he seems to have spoken of very little else."

Lizzy waved a hand, as if balancing a set of scales. "I can well believe it of Mr Darcy, but it was still highly improper of Mr Wickham to share so much and so readily with those who are, at best, new acquaintances."

Mary had been distracted trying to get the pins out of her hair without a mirror, and Lydia moved over to help. "While it is unfortunate for Mr Wickham's prospects, if Old Mr Darcy was set on Mr Wickham being given a living, he would have set it out in his Will. Informality in a legal matter suggests that the living was not vacant at the time, or perhaps that Mr Wickham had not yet decided whether the Church was for him, or if he preferred a different profession."

Kitty moved behind Lydia to begin taking down her hair, "For one whose fortune relies on being agreeable, a genuine tale of woe, edited to value emotion over fact, and to make him out as the wronged party, is the simplest way to go about it."

Lizzy fetched a hairbrush from the dresser. "Do you think that he was being untruthful, or merely too charming and easy of manner?"

Doubtless she had already formed her own opinions, but Lydia appreciated that she made a point of asking. "When we need to direct someone a certain way, it is Kitty and I who suggest it. We are the youngest, indulged in our 'lively spirits' and 'folly of youth' in a way that you three are not. If we had not been chosen for the Duty, we might all have been the people we pretend ourselves to be. People who would spread such a tale far and wide, without ever verifying the facts."

Lizzy inclined her head, "Facts that will not be easy to gain, even if we are so inclined. Mr Darcy rarely speaks to those not of his party, and even more rarely of personal matters. Gaining the other side of the story will not be easy, and we cannot judge based off a half-hour's acquaintance."

"No, but..." Lydia bit her lip, unused to such uncertainty. Gossip regarding Mr Wickham was all favourable, but all of it came from a single source: the man himself. Oh, a little from Captain Denny, too, but he admitted to only recently becoming re-acquainted with an old schoolfriend.

Her sisters exchanged glances, "Go on, Lyddie."

She sighed, feeling more foolish with every word. "While he spoke to Lizzy, I danced, one of the seeking dances that the maids do at the Harvest Home. When he escorted Lizzy and I to dinner... I cannot define it, but he holds hands too long, lingers closer than he should, and there is a feeling that warns me to be wary."

It novels, such things would be merely a flirtation between an innocent lady and the handsome Lord who loved her. Between someone Lydia had known all of an afternoon... it made her uncomfortable, but how much of her wariness was due to that discomfort, and how much to a genuine warning? Relief flooded her when Jane wrapped her in a comforting embrace, stroking her hair and murmuring reassurances.

Kitty looked outraged, while Mary and Lizzy nodded decisively. "Then we had better take the warning seriously. It would not be the first time Darkness hid behind a fair face, and I would rather apologise for being wrong than put unfettered trust in a person unworthy of it."

The days were growing shorter, such that the sun was near to setting when Mr Bingley and Mr Darcy visited to deliver invitations to the promised ball. Lydia hastily stopped the ward against evil she had been dancing, hoping that the visitors dismissed the magic swirling around her feet as a trick of the light. If they had noticed, nether man made mention of it, though that could bave been their pre-occupation with Lydia's eldest sisters.

Mr Bingley had come to personally deliver the invitations to his promised ball, and siezed upon the excuse to linger and talk with Jane. They regretfully declined the offer to stay for dinner, citing the need to return to Netherfield before nightfall, having come on horseback. Mr Bingley would not by any means be the cause of inconvenicing Mrs Bennet by depriving her of her carriage, but he accepted an invitation for the evening two nights hence.

Conveniently, that was the same night that Mr Collins had accepted an invitation from the Lucas family, Charlotte having picked up on her friend's lack of interest in the heir.

Conveying this promise inside to Mama, Jane was quickly drawn into the planning of the dinner, 'as practice, my dear! If you are to soon be Mistress of his estate, you must be able to plan a good dinner!' Lydia rather enjoyed Jane's expression of mild surprise as she answered Mama's questions on Mr Bingley's favorite dishes and entertainment, and realised just how much note she had taken of him. Soon enough, the Bennet ladies adjourned to the dining room for their own dinner, after which they withdrew upstairs.

Lydia and Kitty's room served as the meeting place this time, though Jane's pacing was somewhat lessened in it's effect by the need to glance down every few steps so as not to trip on a discarded ribbon. Finally, she paused long enough to speak. "If Netherfield rises without a specific vessal planned, a ball will be the ideal time for it. From the Dark One's perspective, anyway."

Certainly not from Lydia's perspective! Or anyone else's, really. "Disappointment over not being asked to dance, or neglected and spending the night with a sparse dance card, or being partnered with someone disagreeable..."

Mary groaned quietly, "Like Mr Collins. We had better all start thinking of excuses for why we cannot dance more than once with him, or he will do his best to monopolize us all night."

Of all of the sisters, Mary was the least romantic, and had been the most likely to be able to tolerate the man for the sake of remaining at Longbourn. Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "You have no ambitions there, then?"

Mary shook her head. "I could have married him, had he shown a modicrum of sense, or even if he had shown any great interest in me as a person, or approval of my accomplishments and scholarship."

Lydia nodded in complete understanding, which was rarely the case when Mary spoke. "But he shows little interest in anything but being seen as worthy of notice by his noble patroness. His one grace is that he is an unlikely candidate for Netherfield, because he takes instruction from no-one but Lady Catherine de Bough, who would disapprove of such unseemly conduct."

Jane stifled a giggle, then sat in a pose that demanded attention. "Then, while we are on serious topics, we should discuss the future."

Had she made up her mind to accept Mr Bingley, after all? Mary looked as baffled as Lydia felt. "The future?"

Elizabeth sighed, wrapping an arm around Jane. "If none of us are willing to marry Papa's heir, then there will come a time when we no longer live at Longbourn, and we must plan for that."

Oh. That had always seemed such a far away problem, now looming larger than any of them were ready for. If Lizzy noticed the sudden silence, she gave no appearance of it. "Of course, that is only if none of us marry before then and are required to move away, before Papa dies. We operate as a single unit, and have minimal experience working alone."

Left unsaid was the fact that outside of Mr Bingley and Mr Collins, they had very few prospects. At least, very few current and realistic ones. The eldest Lucas boy, currently at University, had a more realistic sense of his own importance than Sir William did. Uncle Phillips's Clerk fancied an oblivious Mary. Still... "There are few here in Longborn or Meryton who can afford to support Mama and four sisters, as well as their own family, even if they might wish to... but that does not mean that we never will marry."

Kitty hummed a short opening tune, clearly trying to lighten the mood. "Oh, I never will marry, I'll be no man's wife..."

Mary frowned at her. "Kitty, now is not the time for folk songs or jests."

Kitty grumbled something under her breath that sounded very much like "I wasn't jesting."

Lydia doubted that anyone other than Kitty or herself had heard it. She resolved to ask her sister's meaning later. "I hate to say it, but much depends on whether or not Netherfield stays banished this time. Miss Morris and Mrs Black are too old to take up the Duty again, and no others have yet been identified in the area."

That was a grim thought. None of them knew how they had been chosen, though Mary had her theories. "I wonder if it is not a simple matter of necessity. The previous team were reaching middle age when Jane was an infant, and Mr Black died shortly after Lydia's birth. That was when we began to develop our gifts. As sisters living on the estate bordering Netherfield, we were likely the most suitable choice."

If the Fates were whimsical, they were likely also practical. Lizzy agreed. "Besides, as gentlewomen, we have ample leisure time to devote to such a pursuit, just as the then-Morris sisters had an excuse to spend time on the estate, due to their older brother being the Agent, and Old Mr Black assisting the Steward. Someone of the working class would have to balance Duty with the need to earn a living, and far more scrutiny making it difficult to absent themselves at a moment's notice."

Jane brightened a little, "Then perhaps, if we leave the area, someone new will be chosen. I cannot say I like the idea of leaving it to chance, however."

After so many years protecting their little corner of England, it would feel strange to entrust it to another. Lizzy, too, looked a little less solomn. "Indeed. We might convince Mama to economize for the purpose of repairing and expanding the Dower house, once Mr Collins is gone back to Kent. We would still be entitled to that, at least."

With that settled, Mary rose to her feet. "With that at least temporarily settled, we should rest. Between the dinner and the Netherfield Ball, I have no doubt that we will be in a flurry of preparations as soon as breakfast is finished."

She was probably right. Four days was not enough time for all of them to have new dresses made, but lace might be procured and added to an older dress to make it appear new.

Once they were in bed, Lydia turned to face Kitty. "What did you mean earlier? With that song, and you said you were serious?"

Kitty was... not a follower, she was more than capable of making her own decisions, but she was happier to support others than she was in taking the lead. It made her invaluable as part of their team, but also resulted in her fading into the background a little. There were times that Lydia felt that she barely knew her sister, even though they were so close.

Kitty went very still, before she sighted. "You must promise not to tell anyone."

Well, that went without saying! Lydia could keep secrets, as long as it was confirmed that they actually were meant to be secret. "Of course!"

Kitty pressed closer, seeking reassurance. "I meant precisely as it sounded. I do not think that I wish to marry. I would not want to live alone and friendless, as people claim is a spinster's fate, but if there was a way to spend my entire life with a friend, I would prefer it."

Part of Lydia wanted to reject the thought; were not all women supposed to desire a husband and home of their own? Of course, women were not supposed to wield magic or battle the forces of Evil, either. Just because Kitty didn't share Lydia's desire for a handsome husband one day didn't make her wrong. "I believe you, but how did you know?"

Kitty shrugged, wiggling deeper under the blankets. "Oh, I suppose if I married an older gentleman who wanted only companionship in his last years, it would not be too terrible; I do enjoy talking with that sort between dances at Assemblies. But when we flirt, or dance with young men... it feels like when we make soap in the stillroom; a chore to be done, not something to be enjoyed. It is nothing to my weekly visits to the teashop with Maria, or the dinners and card parties, or when Miss King meets us at the lending library, and we discuss novels."

Miss King... oh, yes, she had been mentioned as recently coming into possession of an inheritance. She did have lovely red curls and blue eyes, though Lydia would not call her even as pretty as Mary. She was quiet, too, but Kitty seemed to prefer that sort of personality. "I have been a poor sister to have not noticed your friendship with Miss King."

Kitty hugged Lydia a little tighter. "She is shy, and lives at enough of a distance that she rarely comes except by invitation or for the library. But when she talks, her face lights up such that you barely notice her freckles."

Whatever Kitty chose to do with her life, Lydia wished her every happiness. The world did not need more sorrow to darken it.

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A/N: Work is getting busy again, but I have the bulk of the next chapters pre-written, so at worst, updates will just be a little slow.

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Thanks,

Nat