Page 14 of The Duke of Derby (Pride and Prejudice Variation)

Their first stop was to take Lady Lydia to Darcy’s house, where she was given a room and a maid to look after her. Though she was oblivious to it, she was also assigned a footman who would follow her wherever she went in the house. She would not be allowed to leave the house until her wedding day.

Once that was accomplished, Darcy, Wickham, and Duke Derby made their way to Darcy’s solicitor. There, the contract was drawn up.

The duke did exactly as promised, but there were a few caveats and conditions.

The money was settled on Lady Lydia, and the quarterly payments on the interest of that money had to be picked up by her, in person.

Additionally, Duke Derby was willing to pay for Wickham’s promotions in the army up to the rank of major, but only if Lady Lydia was well looked after, and only after at least two years spent at each rank.

Even if Wickham died, Lydia’s money would still not be hers outright, only the interest, though she could determine who she would leave the principle to.

The last stipulation was that neither Wickham nor Lydia would ever be welcome at the duke’s house in London and would only be welcome at Lockwood under specific conditions and by specific invitation.

All of these conditions were the duke’s attempt to ensure that his daughter was taken care of, despite both her and Wickham’s irresponsibility, but also that she did not bring down the rest of the family.

Throughout the process of drawing up the contract, Wickham said nothing other than simple agreement. He seemed as though he still didn’t know what to think of Mr. Bennet being a duke. When the duke signed the contract with his complete title, it really seemed to hit Wickham that it was real.

As they were leaving the office, Darcy said quietly, “Well, Wickham, how does it feel to have a duke as your future father-in-law?”

Wickham shook his head. “I don’t know whether to be grateful that he didn’t have me killed immediately or regretful that I didn’t ask for more.”

“Be grateful,” said Darcy. “No matter what you asked for, this was the inevitable outcome. Duke Derby went into this knowing what he was willing to do for his daughter. You, my friend, had nothing to do with it. If you had tried to demand more, he truly would have had you shipped off to Australia.”

“I see,” said Wickham.

All the way back to Darcy’s house, Wickham was quiet, as though he was contemplating the very new idea that his situation was not due to his own merits and in fact had little to do with him at all.

Wickham was provided with a room at Darcy House, though Darcy did not set a footman to guard him.

Both men knew that if he tried to escape, he would have to run very far and very fast if he wished to hide from Duke Derby.

And they also both knew that if he did manage to escape, Lady Lydia would simply be declared his widow, and Wickham, if caught, would get nothing but a one-way trip to Australia.

~~~~~

It took three days to acquire a marriage license, purchase a commission in the army, and file the marriage contract with the courts of chancery. The night before Lydia’s wedding, her father spoke to her privately.

“Oh, Papa,” she cried happily. “I am so happy. I will be marrying such a wonderful man, such a handsome officer, especially now that he is in the regulars. Not only that, but I will be the first of my sisters to get married. Can you believe it?”

Bennet was not heartless toward his daughters, though he sometimes seemed as though he was. Lydia’s determined cheerfulness reminded him of the best qualities of his wife, especially when she was young. He only wished she had more sense.

“Lydia, there is something you need to know before you go off with your new husband,” he said.

Something in his seriousness must have gotten through her obliviousness. She looked concerned and said, “What is it, Papa?”

“The reason I left on a trip was not to see a friend as I told your mother. Rather, it was to handle an inheritance that I received unexpectedly,” he said.

“Is that why my dowry is so much more than I expected?” asked Lydia.

A brief flash of relief shot through Bennet that his youngest daughter was not completely ignorant of how much money she had. “Yes, that is why,” he said. “But I want you to understand that, if you had only waited and married someone in a sensible way, your dowry would have been much more.”

“But what I did was so romantic,” said Lydia. “As long as I have enough to live on and have the love of my dear Wicky, I don’t need more.”

Bennet stared at his daughter, trying to determine if she truly did not care or if she simply did not understand. He thought back to the absolute squalor she had been living in for the last few days, and he realized that it was just barely possible that she truly didn’t care about the money.

“Don’t you want to know how much your dowry could have been?” he asked.

“Oh, I suppose,” she replied.

“Fifty thousand pounds,” he said.

“Fifty thousand…” said Lydia in wonder. Bennet thought he might finally have gotten through to her about what she had given up. He was wrong. “Papa, what did you do to get that much money? Did you rob a bank?”

Bennet strongly resisted the temptation to drag his hand down his face in frustration. Lydia was Lydia after all. Slowly and carefully, he explained the entire situation to her, doing his best to help her understand all the implications of such a sudden elevation in status and wealth.

When he was done, her response was, “Well, I believe I have had a lucky break to have avoided all that.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“From what you said, it sounded like I would no longer be out, and I would have to take lessons every day for the next two years before I would be allowed to have any fun again,” she said.

“Even then, I don’t think it would be much fun.

I’ve read the society pages, and I don’t think I would like being made fun of throughout the country if I accidentally fell on my face at a ball at Almack’s.

No, I am quite content with my ten thousand pounds and my Wicky. ”

While Bennet was still stunned at his daughter’s reaction, Lydia stood up and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you, Papa, for helping me get married,” she said. Then she left the room.

Bennet stared into space for almost half an hour before recovering from his surprise.

The following day, at Lydia’s wedding, Bennet handed Wickham an envelope with a check for five hundred pounds.

He knew the young man would spend most of it on himself, but he hoped some of it would trickle down to Lydia.

“Buy my daughter some nice clothes, Wickham. And do try to keep her happy. It shouldn’t be too difficult.

She does love you, you know. Though you’ve done nothing to deserve it. ”