If the courtship reaches its logical conclusion, which I suspect will be before we leave here, I will not give her up for anyone. I would sooner renounce my title and place as heir.
I do not doubt you will love her, but I wanted to make sure my opinion on the matter is well understood.
Yes, you will meet her soon enough. As you know, the Gardiners and their nieces are to be hosted at Snowhaven on their return from Lake Windermere.
Aunt Maddie (Mrs Gardiner) told me they will depart on Monday the 13th day of July which means they and I will arrive on Wednesday the 15th. Do not mention who will be at Snowhaven to William; it will be a surprisefor him. The same with my courtship, and by then I hope my engagement.
I am not sure what will shock my staid cousin more. My engagement or Miss Elizabeth’s presence at Snowhaven.
As you may be able to imagine, I cannot wait for you to meet my Jane.
With my warmest and fondest regards,
Andrew
As if they had planned to do so ahead of time, both Lord and Lady Matlock stood and fell into one another’s arms.
They could not fathom what they had done to deserve God being so good to them. First, Richard’s good fortune and resignation from the army. Now, Andrew, who they had despaired would ever find a woman who would catch his interest, had done just that as well.
“Andrew must know that as long as the lady is gently bred, we will welcome her with open arms,” Lady Matlock mused.
“Elaine, I suspect he does, but he was letting us know how committed he is to Miss Bennet. There must be something in the water in Hertfordshire. First, the younger sister moves William to a passionate proposal, albeit the worst one I ever heard of. Additionally, I believe that Andrew, although he does not say it, is in love with the older sister. We have always pledged that as long as the lady is not wholly unsuitable, we would not interfere with our sons’ choices. I, for one, do not intend to begin now.”
“I could not agree more, Reggie. The days until the party from the Lakes arrives cannot pass quickly enough for me,” Lady Matlock said excitedly.
Chapter 24
By the second Thursday of July, Lydia was fervently praying daily that Emma and Hannah would both be blessed the way she had been when her second set of courses since arriving at St Mary’s Convent had begun.
By her calculation, if her two friends were to be as lucky as she had been, then their courses should begin in the next day or two.
At least, Lydia now knew that Paulette was definitely not carrying a child. Mama had done what Lydia had requested in her letter and gone to see Mrs Jackson. Mama had reported that Paulette had begun her next month’s indisposition as would be expected, and she had told of how joy-filled Mrs Jackson was to know that it meant that Paulette had definitely escaped that worst of fates.
In the same letter, Mama had related that she had written to Jane and Lizzy at the Lakes and to Mary and Kitty at the estate in Berkshire. Since then, a letter from Mary and Kitty, written by the latter, had arrived. It expressed their pleasure that she was not suffering the ultimate consequence, and they were looking forward to seeing her at Longbourn when they were all home. It was easy to tell from the letter how close Mary and Kitty had become and how much they loved learning to ride horses. Lydia knew that the Longbourn she would return to was not the one she had left.
That night after evening prayers and dinner, Lydia knelt down next to her bed and prayed long and hard for Him torelieve Emma and Hannah of their worries for their futures.
Due to her worry for her friends, Lydia did not fall asleep as quickly as she normally did. Friday morning, rather than waking up well before it was time for the morning chores, Lydia had slept a little longer than had been her wont since arriving at St Mary’s.
Lydia thought she was dreaming that her bed was shaking until she realised she was awake, and the shaking was accompanied by giggling. She cracked her eyelids open to see Emma and Hannah standing at the foot of her bed, shaking it. They ceased as soon as they saw Lydia open her eyes. As she shook the sleep from her head, Lydia realised there was only one reason the two would be in such a mood.
“Did you both begin?” Lydia asked.
“We did!” The two girls chorused gleefully. “Sister Mary took us to see Sister Agnes already,” Emma continued. “We may tell our parents the good news in the next letter we post them.”
“That is the best news,” Lydia enthused. Then she turned serious. “You both know how lucky all of us are, do you not?”
Emma and Hannah nodded their agreement.
“If we ever allow a man liberties before we marry, if we marry, we will more than likely not be so fortunate next time. Hopefully, we will never meet one as manipulative as that late lying seducer. However, if we do, we need to resist any temptation put in our way. We were tested by the devil once, and we failed; we cannot do that again,” Lydia said sternly.
“Like you, we have promised God that we will never be tempted into evil again,” Hannah responded as Emma nodded her head.
On hearing the commotion in the dormitory, Sister Etheldreda had cracked her door to see if she needed to step in.She felt very proud of Miss Lydia Bennet. No matter how she had been when she arrived, the young lady she was now bore no resemblance to that young woman. She closed her door as silently as when she had opened it.
While Lydia rose from her bed to wash and dress for the day, holding hands, Emma and Hannah skipped out of the dormitory to go and write the most anticipated missives they had ever posted to their parents.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
