SIr William and Lady Lucas

For the purpose of their weekly conversations, they considered themselves to be just plain Mr. and Mrs. Lucas, the parents of many unwed children. And the subject of their conversation was, again, how to get Charlotte out of their house, preferably married.

Over the years they had thought of many ways. One of their early thoughts was to find some gypsies so that she could run away and join them. The main flaw with that idea was that they could not remember if any gypsies had ever been in the area. And they knew of no gypsies currently within 50 miles or more of their home. So much for that idea.

Their next great idea was when Charlotte was around 14 years of age. There were no young men in their town who would be the right age to be potential suitors in the future, so they felt she had to get to a different part of the country. Oh! She could run away with the circus. They travel all over England and beyond. Lady Lucas thought that was an especially inspired idea until her husband reminded her that no circus or traveling show of any kind had been in their town in years. In fact, neither of them could remember the last time that had happened. So much for that idea.

Desperation caused them to start thinking outside the box by the time Charlotte was 17 years old. They briefly considered that they could somehow disguise her as a man and send her to sea. However, they did not think they could get Charlotte to agree to it and Charlotte's motion sickness was well known within the family. Of course, the main objection to that idea was that they knew no one involved with ships and they were not sure that they could successfully disguise Charlotte so that others would believe she was a man and not a woman. So much for that idea.

They did take her to London, to a ball at St. James when Charlotte was 16, but they only lasted there for one evening – less than one evening to be honest. It was extremely expensive, Charlotte felt out of place (which she was) with her country dress and country manners. They knew no one, so they could not be introduced to any single men in want of a wife. She was not asked to dance by anyone and it was so crowded that they despaired of finding each other should they be separated. They ended up huddled together in a corner, pretending to be enjoying themselves and silently counting down to an acceptable time to leave. They slunk out of the building and quickly made their way back to Meryton. So much for that idea.

When Charlotte was 20, they came up with the idea of giving her money and then set her up in some small town miles away to run a tea shop. They could say she was a widow and was left in very poor circumstances. Both of the elder Lucases were excited about this latest, greatest idea, until they realized that they did not have, and would most probably never have, enough capital to make this scenario a reality. So much for that idea.

When Charlotte was younger, they tried to set her up to be Jane's best friend, so she could take advantage of the brilliant marriage Jane was sure to make. They encouraged Charlotte to visit the family. They found out what Jane's interests were and claimed that Charlotte had the same interests and Lady Lucas was heard to repeatedly tell Mrs. Bennet that with so much in common, Jane and Charlotte were sure to be the best of friends. There were two problems with that idea. First, Charlotte instead of becoming Jane's best friend, became close friends with Elizabeth, and, second, Jane had yet to make any kind of marriage, let alone a brilliant one. So much for that idea.

They had Charlotte learn to help in the kitchen and then tried to subtly let everyone know what a great mistress of an estate she would be with those skills, but they were either not subtle enough or too subtle, as now everyone thought the Lucas family was so poor that their children had to take on servant's work. Lady Lucas had even heard whispers about Charlotte having to look for a job as a cook. So much for that idea.

But, now, finally! Lady Lucas bustled into the room for their "Charlotte" discussion with the best of news. "Wonderful news! Netherfield is to be taken by a single man. I am sure he will be there tomorrow, if he is not already there. Husband, you must hurry to be the first to greet him. I have already asked to have your horse saddled." Lady Lucas barely stopped talking long enough to take a breath.

"Relax, wife." soothed her husband. "I have already heard the news. The new tenant is to arrive tomorrow to settle in before returning to town to escort the rest of his party to his new house." Lady Lucas calmed down at his words and they finally settled in to have their serious conversation.

"William, you must go greet this new tenant and invite him to the assembly next week. And you must do this before Mr. Bennet gets a chance to introduce himself and his family. Mrs. Bennet would be unstoppable in pushing Jane towards him."

Sir William nodded in agreement as he knew how relentless Mrs. Bennet could be. "I will go directly, my dear." He stood and practically ran to the door, calling for his horse, forgetting that the tenant would not be there until the next day.

Lady Lucas sat calmly sipping her cup of tea. Finally she could relax. Everything was finally going her way. She just knew how it would be. Charlotte could not be so practical for nothing. She was going to be the next mistress at Netherfield. Lady Lucas simply had to encourage Charlotte and gently nudge the Bennets out of the way. She also had to create events for them to meet and further the acquaintance with the newcomers. As she began to mentally plan the wedding, she could finally look happily to the future. This was turning out to be a great idea!