Pride and Prejudice

AU NOT Cannon

No Common Lady

Previously

"Oh, Aurelia." Lydia gasped as she untied the package to find a silver music box and a handwritten note.

Aurelia's Gift and Request

Ch. 2

My Dearest Lydia,

I beg your pardon for my long silence, which I fear you must have attributed to indifference. But I assure you that is not the case. You have been constantly on my mind, and I have longed to write to you and to keep my promise. However, I had a very good reason for my delay.

I was prevented by the most distressing circumstances. My mother, who seemed to be recovering from a small and unimportant illness, was suddenly seized with a violent fever, which turned into pneumonia. She suffered greatly and passed away unexpectedly as she had been showing signs of improvement. I was then left to attend to my father, whose health had been declining for some time. He had contracted the dreadful consumption, which wasted his strength and spirits. My sisters, the two who live the closest, and I shared the duty of nursing him, but they soon had to leave me. Their husbands obtained employment in distant places and saw no need to linger here. I was thus left alone with my dying father, who required all my care and attention. He lingered but a little time after my sisters' departure and then passed over to join my mother.

You can imagine, my friend, how much I have gone through in these past months. I have lost both my parents, I have no brothers as they were all killed in war, and, as already stated, my sisters no longer live near me. I am weary of this solitary life in this dismal place others find so full of amusement and I no longer have a home in West Sussex with my parents for the reasons I stated above. I long for a change of scene and society. Forgive me for not sending you the offered music box, which has been lying idle since I was but a child. I also beg your forgiveness for I now make a bold request of you.

Yes, I am a little older than you, but not much, and we make an odd pair of friends. You with your overly bubbly personality compared to my quiet laughter; however, could you be so kind as to speak to your father on my behalf and ask him if he would take me into his service? I do not ask for any wages or privileges, only a place to lay my head and a meal to eat. I can and am willing to sew my own clothes. I own materials that I can bring with me. I can also cook and perform any other household task that may be required of me. I will wait for his decision and your answer with as much patience as I am able to muster at this time.

I remain,

Your faithful and obliged friend

Mrs. Aurelia Fletcher

P.S. Would you ask your father if he could find it in his heart to allow me to keep my spaniel with me? If not, could you help me find a home for Dash? I have no family who are able, or willing, to take him in, nor are any of my friends in a position to do so. Also, only within the walls of your home, I would love - if your father would allow it - for you to call me Aurelia as we bonded as well as family ever did.

Lydia set the letter down, surprised yet delighted that Aurelia would turn to her when she needed a true friend. She went to stand to do as the letter asked and instantly sat back down, torn at the request. It would be dishonorable not to do as her friend asked, as Aurelia had saved Lydia from much heartache, disappointment, and most of all, a ruined reputation for herself and her family. However, in making the request of her father, it meant Lydia would need to confess to Mr. Bennet what had occurred at Brighton. Thinking about the letter's reference to her personality caused Lydia to think about a small thing as trivial as her own sleeping space.

Looking around her room, Lydia sighed. It did not contain much, for she had scaled down after Kitty had married. A simple dresser, a plain bed and her basic vanity - along with one lone coat rack - were the only items in the room. Maybe she had gone too simple. And she could not bring herself to laugh and giggle as she once had, though she had seen the worry in her family's eyes. However, even if she had not told them the reason for her actions, it had been with the best of intentions.

Opening the music box, she ignored her room and personality trait changes and began to sing softly along with the music.

*Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne? For auld lang syne, my jo, for auld lang syne, we'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet, for auld lang syne. And surely ye'll be your pint-stoup! and surely I'll be mine! And we'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet, for auld lang syne." Lydia repeated the chorus and continued singing. "We twa hae run about the braes, and pou'd the gowans fine; But we've wander'd mony a weary fit, sin' auld lang syne." Closing the box, she did not finish singing, only once again ignored why her room no longer appeared as it had before going to Brighton and picked back up her letter.

Mr. Bennet's daughter reread Aurelia's letter and then silently chanted a one-line mantra: 'I will ask for you, my dear friend, you deserve no less'. Lydia stood up, folded the letter in half and left her room.

The stairs had been descended many times. Going down for breakfast, to do chores around her father's home, and to head out in order to help the sick or injured. However, seldom had she bothered her father in his library, for it was the one spot he had insisted stay his private space. Hence, Mr. Bennet's library remained off limits to Lydia, even after her mother's passing. However, she knew of no other time to ask him about Aurelia coming to stay.

'I hope father says yes, for as much as I am working on improving myself, I so do detest cooking and, even if I did not, my food is not very good though Mr. Bennet does not complain.' With that, Lydia took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, stopped at the library door, firmly knocked and hoped for the best.

*The text is a Scots-language poem written by Robert Burns in 1788