Page 38 of I Thee Wed (Pride And Prejudice Variation #2)

The improvement in his youngest daughter had moderately gratified Mr. Bennet since the arrival of the governess. Lydia was kept occupied with her studies, and the household was blessed with fewer of her shrieks and stomps. Peace, however, was short-lived.

When Kitty was invited to Hunsford Parsonage and permitted to go, Lydia’s temper blazed. She sulked, quarreled, and, one morning in a fit of rebellion, slipped from the nursery, crept down the stairs, and stole out of the back door like a thief bent on scandal.

Lydia wished to find her friends, her beloved officers, and she knew that in Meryton, at least some of them would be idling in the street in search of diversion.

She ran most of the way to town and, when she arrived, immediately spied several young men in their red coats, among them Captain Denny, Mr. Pratt, and a few others.

She skipped up to them and twined her arm within her friend’s. “Denny! It has been ages since I saw you last.”

Captain Denny laughed. “Miss Lydia! We have not seen you for months. Where have you been hiding?”

Lydia tossed her head. “I have been dreadfully ill, and this is the first walk I have been able to manage since my recovery.”

Captain Pratt raised an eyebrow. “Indeed? I should never have guessed it, for you look as beautiful and as tempting as when I last saw you.”

Lydia laughed and swatted his arm. “I am quite well now, as you may see for yourself. Where is Captain Carter and the rest?”

The officers exchanged glances. At last, Denny said, “I do not believe you have been ill, Lydia. Something else is happening here. I see your gown is a much different style from what you used to wear. Have you been returned to the schoolroom?”

“Never mind that, Denny. Have you been on leave? Did you make it into town?” She listened as he recounted a boxing match he had witnessed, when Mr. Phillips emerged from the post office with a bundle of letters.

The man stopped short at the sight of his niece. “Lydia, my dear, thank you for waiting for me. Your aunt expects us for tea. Take my arm, and we shall go to her at once.”

Lydia froze, but she dared not disobey her uncle.

She released the captain’s arm and excused herself.

“Denny, tell Captain Carter and Mr. Chamberlyn I have missed their company.” Then she slipped her hand into her uncle’s arm and allowed him to lead her toward his offices.

She felt like a prisoner caught in the act.

Once inside, Mr. Phillips dispatched his clerk to Longbourn with a message for Mr. Bennet. Meanwhile, he seated Lydia at his desk and served her tea and cakes.

“Come, child. Tell me, how are you getting on with your governess? Is she a useful sort of person?”

Lydia pulled a face. “She is horrid, Uncle. Miss Farrow is stodgy and dull. She gives me frightful assignments. Today she made me copy verses from the Bible, study mathematics, and read a history book. It is deadly dull stuff, Uncle Phillip, and I detest it.”

“But you are learning a good deal, are you not, my dear?” Mr. Phillips asked kindly.

“I detest her, Uncle Phillip, and Papa will not listen to me, nor will Mamma. If I were mistress of Longbourn, I would dismiss her this instant.”

Mr. Phillips listened with patience and made no reply, fearing the child would become inflamed and run away if opposed. He kept her talking until the sound of wheels was heard in the street.

Mr. Bennet entered, frowning. Mr. Phillips rose. “Thomas, thank you for coming at once. I shall step out and give you privacy.”

Mr. Bennet fixed his gaze upon his daughter. “Lydia, you will come with me in the carriage without a fuss. If you refuse, Samuel is strong enough to carry you and toss you in. Which will it be?”

Lydia glanced at Samuel and answered quickly, “I will come.” She walked out and hopped into the carriage.

On the ride home, he asked sternly, “Tell me, Lydia, why did you creep from the house without permission?”

She flung back her head. “Because I hate being treated like a child while Kitty is in Hunsford and having all the fun.”

“You knew my rules, and you have openly defied them. Since you have proven that you cannot govern yourself, I will be placing you at a girls’ school in East Suffolk.

The headmistress is strict. The grounds are locked.

The school lies eight miles from Lowestoft, the nearest town.

You will remain until you are nineteen, unless the mistress herself declares you fit to return sooner. ”

Lydia gasped, then shrieked. “I will not go! You cannot make me!”

Mr. Bennet’s eyes narrowed. “Indeed, I can. You will work to defray part of the expense, and you will learn discipline, even if it takes until you come of age to achieve it.”

Her shrieks shook the carriage, but he was unmoved.

When at last they drew up at Longbourn, he said coldly, “You will walk into the house on your own two feet, or Samuel will carry you over his shoulder. Which will it be?”

Lydia saw that he meant it, and she stamped her foot but obeyed. She stormed upstairs, where Mrs. Hill turned the key upon her chamber.

That evening, Mr. Bennet spoke privately with his wife.

“Miss Farrow and I will take Lydia to school as soon as the arrangements are complete. In the meantime, she is to remain locked above stairs.”

Mrs. Bennet wrung her hands. “Oh, Mr. Bennet, you are too hard upon her. She is but a lively girl…”

Mr. Bennet’s gaze silenced her. “If you persist in defending her, Frances, and bewailing the loss of your favorite, I shall cut off both your pin-money and your use of the carriage. Thus far, I have not been driven to such measures, but I will not endure your fits and tempers any longer.”

Mrs. Bennet subsided into sobs.

“Lydia will disgrace this family if I don’t prevent her. Fortunately, both Jane and Mary are safe, but Kitty and Elizabeth are unmarried. I will not allow Lydia to destroy their chances. She shall go to East Suffolk. It is the only way to preserve the rest of the family.”

Lydia’s fate was sealed. Longbourn grew a little quieter, though there were occasional wails from the locked bedchamber, wails which Mr. Bennet, with admirable fortitude, ignored.

The morning of Lydia’s removal was not one soon to be forgotten at Longbourn.

The carriage was waiting at the front stoop, and Miss Farrow was already seated within.

Lydia, however, was in the hall shrieking and stamping with such violence that Mrs. Hill clutched her husband’s hand and trembled.

In her fury, Lydia seized a vase and dashed it against the wall.

“I will not go! I will not be sent away like a criminal! Papa is being cruel, Mamma! Tell him so! Tell him you will not allow it!”

Mrs. Bennet wrung her hands and wept with a vehemence that matched her daughter’s outbursts.

“Oh, Mr. Bennet, how can you be so hard-hearted? To take away my youngest, my sweetest, my liveliest child! My nerves will never recover. Lydia, my love, you shall die of melancholy at that horrid school. I shall die too, for want of you.”

Mr. Bennet, unmoved, stood with arms folded, and merely raised his brow at the lamentations of both wife and daughter.

Mr. Bennet motioned to Samuel. The footman advanced toward Lydia, prepared to throw her over his shoulder and carry her out.

Lydia continued to shriek and protest, but when his hands touched her waist, she cried out,

“No! You shall not carry me like a sack of potatoes! I will walk, I will walk!”

She flounced out the door and threw herself into the carriage.

Mrs. Hill leaned heavily on her husband and whispered, “Take me to the housekeeper’s office. I need a stiff drink.” In the little office, she took a swallow of brandy, then offered one to her husband. “Good riddance, say I. Perhaps at last we shall have some peace.”

Mr. Hill nodded. “The maids will be grateful. Only three days ago, Miss Lydia threw her brush at Alice. She is a demon child.”

Mrs. Bennet, meanwhile, was frantic. She clutched her husband’s sleeve and cried, “How can you be so cold? I shall not survive without my darling girl. My heart shall break!”

But Mr. Bennet had endured enough. He turned upon his wife and said firmly, “Mrs. Bennet, your behavior is unbecoming. If you do not compose yourself, I declare I shall retain Miss Farrow here in Hertfordshire, not for Lydia’s sake, but for your own.

You, madam, shall be instructed in the deportment of a gentlewoman, if she can be prevailed upon to undertake so great a challenge. ”

Mrs. Bennet gasped, her sobs checked by astonishment. “Mr. Bennet! You would not dare…”

But her husband only stared her out of countenance, until a glimmer of amusement lit his eyes.

“I would indeed, madam. It is my duty to the future happiness of our daughters and grandchildren. I should not like my descendants to be ashamed of their grandmother. If Miss Farrow succeeds with you, she shall be accounted the finest governess in England.”

Mr. Bennet chuckled, and he entered the carriage with Samuel seated next to the coachman