Col. Forster looked up at the men, who were gazing at him with apprehension.
"You asked to see us, sir?" asked Mr. Denny.
Chamberlayne went from white to flushed, suddenly convinced that tale of a drunken hijink had made its way back to his commander.
"Gentlemen, be seated. This is a troublesome matter regarding civilians and, worse yet, a lady."
Even Captain Carter looked concerned now. They each sat rather heavily.
"I have been made aware that Miss Lydia Bennett eloped with Mr. Wickham."
The men's eyes opened wide. The impossibility of such a union for their brother officer was more than obvious. His lifestyle and constant parade of debt that he could not keep secret for long, his courtship of Mary King, had marked him as necessitous. Wickham but not but marry a rich woman, who no one thought the youngest Bennet girl, even for the rich, late marriages of her elder sisters, could be.
"Worse, he got himself killed on the road to Scotland, and he's left the girl with child."
The men glanced at each other, each of them uncomfortably aware that Wickham had left many in the regiment and the community holding debts of honor. Many had thought those debts would come to nothing after his departure from Meryton, but this confirmed it.
"The girl has a dowry, thanks to Mr. Darcy, Wickham's old associate, so she does not come empty-handed. But to some man, she must go. Will it be to one of you?"
Chamberlayne nearly asked how much the dowry was, but stopped himself as his commander began to speak.
"Come, men. She's a charming girl. All of you were happy to dance with her. Cannot you see her gracing your household?"
Captain Carter and Mr. Denny each shook his head inwardly. But Chamberlayne paused thoughtfully before saying that Lydia was a fun one, always up for a lark.
"That's the spirit," the colonel said, encouragingly. "And I think she has favored you with more than one dance."
"That she has. She doesn't dote on me the way she does Denny or Carter, but she gave me a waltz and a half at the Netherfield ball."
"And they say to waltz is near to being wed. Well, I'll let you think on it until tomorrow. And, men, I know I need not tell you that this is to go no further than the four of us."
The officers assured their commander of their discretion and headed out into the fading light, Denny and Carter quickly parting ways from Chamberlayne, who wandered thoughtfully toward his quarters.
The Romney's thanks flowed as they entered the carriage, competing for air with Elizabeth's fierce thanks to Mrs. Romney for all her help.
With many assurances of future meetings, the carriage rattled off.
"I thank the heavens we do not have that unfortunate girl with us," Mrs. Romney said, moving closer to her husband. Mr. Romney agreed that more company would not be agreeable.
Chamberlayne found several of his friends awaiting his return.
"Was the colonel mad? What was it?" they asked.
"He didn't know about Monday night, didn't say a word about it. What he did want…"
The men, intrigued, urged him to confide in them. In need of counsel and wanting encouragement, Chamberlayne decided on a partial truth.
"The colonel found out that the older Bennet girls, now that they're married, want to see Lydia married. They reckon that after Wickham tried to run off with her, that it's just a matter of time before she manages to run off and disgrace them all. The colonel thought that I would be the man for her."
Incredulous at the thought of their low-ranked friend marrying, they pressed for details, and he had to admit that money was coming from a unknown source to fund the marriage.
"It's a good thing, since my family can't spare much and my pay doesn't go far. But she's a jolly fellow. Wouldn't be a dour thing like some of the officers' wives."
They agreed that she was plenty jolly, blithely unconcerned about the rest.
Morning found him waiting outside the colonel's office.
"And your answer, young man?" his commander asked him.
"I'm your man, sir. I'll marry her."
"Very good, let me have your hand on it." The two men gripped hands briefly. The colonel reseated himself and selected quill and paper.
"I will write to the family. This will have to happen quickly, before the regiment leaves Meryton."
"Very good, sir," the man said, happily.
The Netherfield party were seated at breakfast when the colonel's note arrived. Shortly, Darcy had absorbed the brief note's meaning, abandoned it to his wife and called for a servant.
"We will have to go to town, all four of us, to arrange for a license," he announced once the man had gone.
"Mustn't we obtain Lydia's consent to this arrangement first?" Jane asked.
"She must not be allowed to spoil this opportunity," Darcy stated. "How can we prevail upon her to marry him?"
"Of course, what she wants is liberty and to go to Brighton. Being able to go to the summer encampment as an officer's wife should be enough consideration for her," Elizabeth said. "But, dear Jane, you are too kind to gain her consent as firmly as we need, so I shall have to face her alone."
Jane agreed, happy to stay at home and more confident in Elizabeth's persuasive powers than in her own.
Elizabeth, Darcy and Georgiana arrived at Longbourn while the family was still departing the breakfast room. Both aunts looked wan with the effort of keeping Lydia, and Mrs. Bennett quickly withdrew to her own room with Kitty at the sight of Elizabeth's determined countenance.
Mary joined Georgiana for a carriage ride, and Elizabeth took custody of Lydia, taking her to the drawing room while Darcy lingered, keeping guard, while briefly telling his father-in-law what was afoot and gaining his consent.
"Are you comfortable here, Lydia?" Elizabeth inquired of her sister.
"You know full well I am not. Only days before the militia goes and I am trapped here, despite nearly being one of the wives. When they go away all will be dreariness forever." She threw herself across the couch, pouting.
"You would prefer to go with the regiment to Brighton?" Elizabeth asked.
"I would like it above all things! But how can you be so cruel as to ask, for I know perfectly well that you will never let me go."
"What if I would let you go?"
"I don't believe it. Not for one second," the youngest pouted.
"I would let you go if you were to go as a married woman, the wife of one of the officers."
Lydia gaped at her. "But… how can I be married? My dear Wickham is dead."
"Would you marry one of the other officers?"
Delight spread across Lydia's face. "Oh yes, I would marry Captain Carter in a heartbeat. What a husband he would be!"
Concerned that she had raised expectations too high, Elizabeth tried again.
"Would none of the other officers suit you as a husband?"
"None I like so very well, but if I could go among them again, perhaps a small evening party here this weekend, we could invite them as a going-away," Lydia began to wheedle.
"What about Mr. Chamberlayne? You seem to like him well."
"Oh, Chamberlayne. He's but an ensign, and they do not marry."
"If he had Col. Forster's permission, he may."
Lydia pondered, thinking of the jokes and romps she had shared with the gangly young officer.
"He's not as handsome as Wickham or Carter," Lydia pronounced.
"But he is an officer, and as his wife, you could live at the Brighton encampment this summer."
"As the wife of an ensign. Who ever heard of such a thing?"
"A promising ensign does not stay at that rank forever. 'Lt. and Mrs. Chamberlayne' sounds well, does it not?"
"Not as well as 'Captain and Mrs. Carter,'" Lydia declared.
"But it is Chamberlayne who had declared he is in love with you," Elizabeth said, inwardly gritting her teeth against the lie.
"Chamberlayne, in love with me?" Lydia asked.
"Yes," Elizabeth assured her. "He told the colonel he was in love with you and asked to pay his addresses."
"I never knew he was so particularly taken with me," Lydia said, half-wonderingly. "But he did beg so for another dance at the Netherfield ball that I gave him half a waltz that I had promised to another."
"You do like him. And if you marry, you can go with the regiment and not miss any of the fun at Brighton."
"I suppose if he loves me so well, it would be a shame to disappoint him."
"Of course," her sister urged. "And it will be so dull here once the regiment goes."
"Dreadfully dull," Lydia reflected.
"Very good," Elizabeth said brightly. "We go to town tomorrow for the license."
"To town?" Lydia exclaimed. "I, to go to London after all this time?"
"Yes, we must go to Doctors Common to get a bishop's license so that you two may be married before the regiment goes."
Lydia rose, excited beyond measure. "I must have Sarah pack my nicest dresses. Imagine, to London! And Kitty will not get to go, to town or to Brighton."
It was a wearied Elizabeth who escorted her sister to her room then announced her success to husband and father.
Mr. Bennet, stunned by the rapidity of these events, quietly agreed to the hasty journey, writing his consent to the marriage, and Mr. Darcy wrote to Col. Forster to report their success and to request leave for Chamberlayne to travel to town.
The Darcys quietly retreated to Netherfield, leaving Mr. Bennet to break the happy news to his wife as Mrs. Phillips resumed her watch.
The Darcys were too weary to do aught but clasp hands before retiring.