Battle of the Dragons

by sysa22

In many stories the Bennets had more and better connections than were generally known. What might happen if the connections were on the Gardiner side of the family? Lady Catherine de Bourgh is often referred to as a dragon. What if there was an even bigger dragon willing to take her on. Enter Mrs Bennet's Aunt Isabella, who surprises everyone with her connections.

4. Chapter 4

~O~

Third Dragon

Before anyone had a chance to ask any other questions, the door opened, and the two youngest Bennet girls entered. 'Mama, Kitty and I are going into Meryton to flirt with the officers,' Lydia announced as she flounced into the room.

'That is lovely my dears, but before you go, I would like you to meet your Great-Aunt Isabella,' responded Mrs Bennet. She turned to the Duchess. 'Aunt, these are my youngest girls, Lydia and Kitty. Lydia is the pretty, lively one,' she pointed out her favourite.

Kitty remembered her manners and curtsied. 'It is a pleasure to meet you, Great-Aunt,' she said quietly.

Prompted by her sister's response, Lydia gave a minimal curtsy as she said with a brief nod, 'Great-Aunt Isabella. While it is nice to meet you, we are in a hurry to get to the officers.'

Isabella was not best pleased that the reports about her youngest nieces was correct. 'Before you go, I have some questions for you.'

'Can that not wait? I really want to catch Denny,' Lydia pouted as she was inching towards the door.

'My dear, I am sure a few minutes will not make a difference,' Mrs Bennet encouraged her youngest.

'But, mama…' Lydia took to whining, which usually caused her mother to give in to her.

Mrs Bennet might be a woman of mean understanding, but she could appreciate that remaining in the good books of her newfound relation, who would surely be helpful in finding husbands for her girls, would be to the girls' advantage. And perhaps it would convince Isabella to take her favourite to town in the new year after all. So, she insisted, 'Sit down and answer Aunt Isabella's questions.'

Lydia flopped gracelessly into a chair, while Kitty sat down with more decorum.

Isabella raised a brow at the lack of manners displayed by Lydia, but she merely asked, 'Are you not a little young to go out flirting with officers?'

Elizabeth and Jane exchanged glances and Jane could see the twitch of a suppressed smile on Elizabeth's countenance. Checking for their mother's reaction, Jane put a gentle restraining hand on Mrs Bennet's arm, shaking her head to indicate to the lady to leave Isabella and Lydia to their discussion.

Bennet sat back in his chair and prepared to enjoy himself with this latest diversion. It would be interesting to see how the Duchess would handle his silliest daughter.

'I am fifteen and I will be the first of my sisters to marry as soon as I catch an officer,' Lydia declared proudly.

'You wish to marry an officer of the militia?'

'Yes, I do. They are ever so handsome in their red coats.' The girl smiled beatifically at the thought.

'And once you marry, where do you expect to live?'

'In a house, of course.'

'And who will provide the house?'

'My husband,' Lydia replied shortly, looking at her aunt with disgust. How could this old woman be so stupid not to know such things.

'And who will cook and who will clean this house?'

'The servants. Who else?' Lydia was getting quite irritated with those silly questions.

'And how will your husband pay for all of this?'

'Pay for it?' Lydia frowned.

'Yes. After all it costs money to rent a house, hire servants, pay for food. And I expect you will want new a dress occasionally.'

'I expect his salary will pay for everything.'

'Do you know how much a lieutenant earns?'

'No.'

'Do you know how much it costs to run the kind of house that you expect to live in?'

'No.' Lydia was feeling disgruntled that the woman was asking so many ridiculous questions. Did she not know that husbands provided everything a wife wanted? It had ever been so in her own family.

'It costs about five times as much as a lieutenant earns to maintain a small household.' Isabella looked Lydia up and down, pursed her lips and added. 'Although considering your taste and attitude I would guess he would need at least ten times the salary of a lieutenant.'

'What? That cannot be. Mama always says that officers are rich.'

'A very few have a private income from their family, but most do not… especially not in the militia where most of the officers are not even from landed families.'

'But I want to marry an officer.' Even though she was sitting, Lydia managed to stamp her foot.

'Well, if you go out flirting with officers in the kind of dress you are wearing, and displaying your assets the way you are, you might get an offer, but it will certainly not be for marriage.'

Lydia flew into a rage. 'There is nothing wrong with the way I dress,' she spat. 'You are just jealous because I am young and pretty and lively, and you are just a dried-up old crone.'

Isabella ignored the insult and simply told Lydia, 'The way you dress is perfectly acceptable for a courtesan, but not for a respectable young woman, and especially not for a young girl such as yourself.'

Lydia looked blankly at her aunt, wondering what a courtesan was.

'The only offer you will likely get is for a tryst but certainly not for anything honourable. And once you have offered up your virtue, the officer will have no reason to marry you, since he already got everything which he wanted.'

'You are wrong. Mama told me that if I let an officer kiss me, it is as good as an engagement.'

Mrs Bennet was getting confused by Isabella's questions but looked satisfied with this answer. Bennet on the other hand gave his wife and youngest daughter looks of disgust, but he chose to bide his time as the Duchess seemed set to make her point.

Isabella went on relentlessly. 'That outfit, combined with those ideas and manners of yours are only fit for one purpose. Drumming up business for your new career.'

Lydia had paid only scant attention to Isabella's words until she remembered that she had come across the term courtesan in one of those gothic novels she enjoyed reading. Suddenly the colour drained from her face as she realised what her great-aunt was saying about her character.

Jane, Elizabeth and Mary exchanged glances. Isabella was bluntly saying what they had been afraid of in regards to Lydia's behaviour and Mrs Bennet's encouragement. Their mother had ignored their own warnings. Would she listen to someone more worldly?

Mrs Bennet saw the change in Lydia's expression. She was quite aware of the profession Isabella was suggesting and was horrified. The moment of inattention by Jane allowed her to shake off Jane's restraining hand. Surging to her feet she cried, 'Aunt Isabella, stop. You cannot mean what you say. You are frightening my poor girl.'

'I certainly hope to frighten her… into better behaviour. No decent man in his right mind would marry a child who behaved like her.'

'But how is she supposed to get a husband?' Mrs Bennet asked with tears in her voice.

'She has many years yet to learn how to act like a lady and learn some accomplishments. Once she has achieved a standard which will be a credit to my family, I shall be happy to introduce her to society… as I already offered for your older daughters. But I will not do so until she is old enough to have some sense and can act like a lady.'

'You will take Lydia to London for the season?' Mrs Bennet asked, desperate for confirmation. Her anxiety was slowly being replaced with excitement when the lady nodded. Turning to Lydia she cried, 'Did you hear that? Aunt Isabella will take you to London where you can meet many wonderful gentlemen.'

'Fine. But now I want to go and meet the officers.'

Isabella was not as easily swayed as Mrs Bennet. 'Fanny, you have to make a choice. If you allow Lydia to continue going into Meryton to flirt with officers, I will never take her to London. She will have to earn that privilege by going to school to learn how to behave with propriety.'

'But surely, a little bit of flirting never hurt anyone,' protested Mrs Bennet.

Mrs Phillips suddenly spoke up. 'Marjory Harris,' was all she said but she accompanied the words with a significant look.

'Oh.' Mrs Bennet returned that look in perturbation. After a minute of cogitation, she sighed and came to a decision. 'I am sorry, Lydia. No more officers for you for the moment. If you go to school, you will have your pick of much better officers than lieutenants from the militia. After all, you do want to be able to have pretty dresses and servants.'

'But mama, I want to get married now.'

Isabella asked. 'What do you think will happen when you marry?'

Lydia was pleased to answer that question. 'If I marry, I shall have a handsome husband. I shall be able to kiss him as much as I want to, and nobody can tell me that it is not proper. I shall wear pretty dresses and go to parties every night.'

'There is another aspect of marriage which you have obviously not yet considered.'

'What else is there?'

'The usual result of marriage are children. Are you ready to be a mother by the end of next summer?'

'A mother?'

'Indeed. Once you are increasing, your size will increase, and you will not find it so enjoyable to dance. Of course, once the child is born, unless you have sufficient funds, you will not be able to afford a nurse, so you will have to look after the child yourself. Plan on going virtually without sleep for months. This of course will mean you will be too tired to go to parties.'

Lydia stared at her aunt in open-mouthed horror. She turned to her mother, who only sighed yet again and nodded.

As Lydia seemed incapable of speech, Isabella continued to make her point. 'If you do marry now, instead of learning to be a lady, you will need to learn how to be a servant, since you will not be able to afford any. And you will most certainly not be able to afford any new dresses.'

Lydia turned to Mr Bennet. 'Papa, surely you will help us out.'

Bennet was full of admiration for how his wife's aunt dealt with this situation. He added his full support to her scheme by answering, 'Lydia, once you marry you are the responsibility of your husband. So, you better pick one who can afford to keep you in the comfort to which you are used.'

'So, Lydia. It seems you will have to make a choice. Marry now and live in poverty with a dashing officer and his children or learn to be a lady. If you go to school and learn to be an accomplished lady, you will have a greater choice of potential husbands. What will it be?'

Now, it must be said that Lydia was spoiled, selfish and without morals, but she was not stupid. She was also lazy, and a lifetime of drudgery did not appeal to her. Weighing up her options, she eventually agreed.

~O~

During this whole conversation Kitty had been sitting, quietly listening to her sister and aunt. She wondered what her family had in store for her if the three oldest sisters went to London and Lydia was going to be sent to school.

Would she be permitted to stay at home or would she be force to accompany Lydia? Although on consideration she was not certain if that would be comfortable since she would have Mrs Bennet's undivided attention. While the attention might be nice for a change, it would come with the lady's constant badgering for her to find a husband. Kitty suppressed a shudder at that thought.

Isabella had also been unobtrusively watching Kitty. According to the reports she had received, the second youngest was almost as much of a problem as Lydia, as she followed her youngest sister into trouble.

Yet the pensive posture and expression seemed to indicate a girl who just needed attention and proper direction. In the past, the only attention she had received was from Lydia. It was no wonder that Kitty would follow the only person who appreciated her… even if it was for purely selfish reasons.

Heaving dealt with Lydia, Isabella addressed Kitty in a gentle voice. 'Kitty, how would you feel about going to a school as well? Although I think a school which suits your own talents and where you can make friends of your own would be better for you.'

Kitty's eyes lit up and she sat up a little straighter. 'Is there a school which teaches drawing and painting?'

'All schools for young ladies teach art to some degree, but I could find one that focuses on it. I gather you would like that?'

'Yes please.'

'But I do not wish to go to a school which focuses on art,' Lydia interjected.

'That will not be a problem. We will simply find two different schools for you,' Isabella agreed with a smile, pleased that Lydia had played right into her hands.

Since everything seemed to be settled, Bennet had to have his own joke and to throw cold water on the girls' enthusiasm. 'And how much is that going to cost me? You do realise that Longbourn cannot afford all that nonsense.'

Isabella gave him a disgusted look and answered, 'Fifty pounds per year per girl plus their normal pin money.' When Bennet looked like he wanted to argue, she added, 'You know perfectly well that is less than it currently costs you to feed and clothe them. But I suggest you save the left-over funds to support your wife after your passing.'

'Spoilsport,' muttered Bennet under his breath.

~O~

~O~

Battle of the Dragons (working title) by Sydney Salier, Copyright © 2024