“Sarah, do you really think that we select our friends by standing? What is important to us is genuine friendship and that we enjoy each other’s company. Social standing has nothing to do with it, so please put that out of your mind now and forever. Do you think so little of me that I would cast you off because of our wealth, elevation, or our other friends?” Fanny challenged.
“I should have realised that something had changed when you, and then soon after Hattie, stopped gossiping and you became so calm. You had no more attacks of nerves; they seemingly stopped from one day to the next.” At that, both friends giggled like they did so many years ago as school girls and Sarah knew that no matter how wealthy or titled that the Bennets were or who their friends and connections were, her own family would never be cast off as long as they did nothing to warrant such treatment. The Bennets esteemed the content of one’s character, and Sarah resolved that she would always be worthy of Fanny’s friendship.
Sir William Lucas was talking to his friends Bennet and Phillips when he asked Bennet about the elevation ceremony. Bennet shared the story and practically sent his friend into raptures when he revealed that the Queen had remembered him and his talk before the King in Meryton while he was the mayor, which had earned him his knighthood. The Knight of the Realm liked to share the story of his elevation at St James to one and all, but here he had an even better tale to spin in company; the royals remembered him. If God had called him home right then, he would have died a contented man.
Just then Hill announced dinner. It was a casual family dinner. Sir William did have the singular honour of escorting a Countess while his wife was escorted by the Earl. As he sat, the Lucas patriarch ruminated on what he had observed that evening. ‘I am a mere knight and I insist that everyone uses the “Sir” appellation. Bennet is a peer of the realm, and yet to his friends he insists on being just Bennet, not Lord Longbourn. Perhaps I have allowed the honour of my presentation at St James go to my head. I cannot believe that the Queen recalled my knighthood! My friends will think that I am acting uncharacteristically when I ask them to call me Lucas, but the time for pomposity is past. An example of how I should have acted is before me just as Hattie was for my Sarah, as they are not themselves wealthy, but have been happy for the Bennets. It is apparently not just her that needs to make some changes.’
It was a very merry party at dinner and it had not taken many minutes before the three girls who were guests at the Park to insist that Maria call them by their familiar names like the Bennet sisters did. Charlotte had been well pleased to observe her mother arrive at an understanding of how wrong she had been about theelevatedBennets. As she was talking to her friend Eliza, she heard Mary mention a courtship with a man named Hugh.
“Mary, you are courting?” Charlotte smiled brightly in happiness for the woman before her who she had long appreciated, as they had often stood together at assemblies and parties. “Tell us all. Who is he? When did this happen?” Charlotte nodded in encouragement, as she had always believed that the middle Bennet sister was no less deserving than any of her sisters.
Hattie Phillips had been asked not to broadcast that Mary was being courted by a future Duke, so she had fought her want to gossip and never breathed a word to anyone which explained why no one in Meryton knew that Mary was being courted, never mind who the young man was.
It proved again to Sarah Lucas just how much her childhood friends had changed. Charlotte had told her mother that Eliza had shared that she was being courted by Mr Darcy. That news along with Mary’s would have once been shouted from the rooftops by the old Fanny and chorused by her sister for all to hear, whether they wanted to know or not. Nothing had been said, and if it were not for the friendship between her widowed daughter and the second Bennet daughter, then she would not have even known about the one courtship.
“Yes, Lady M…Mary,” she corrected herself, “please tell us. And on behalf of all of the Lucases allow me to wish you happy.” Those not yet used to the new Fanny looked to her, only to find that she was watching her daughter Mary with an encouraging and gentle smile.
“The old Fanny would have not given her daughter a chance to answer and would have crowed and rubbed her good fortune in the faces of all.’Lady Lucas stared at her in amazement. ‘Stop. There is no ‘old Fanny,’ only the one I see before me now! I have to stop looking back and look to the future as she so graciously said,’ Lady Lucas admonished herself silently.
“Hugh requested a courtship from me not long after the infamous ball,” Mary blushed. Though she had never liked to put herself forward she was no longer the shy girl in the background that no one noticed, though she was by no means a braggart.
No resident of Meryton was insensible to the news of the Bingley’s downfall or the despicable behaviour of Caroline Bingley that had garnered the total derision of theTon.
“Jane and her betrothed, Lizzy and her suitor, and Hugh and I had taken a ride in Hyde Park and were sitting alongside the Serpentine when he asked me to grant him a courtship.” Mary had not dissembled, but she had prevaricated, not mentioning anything about Hugh’s pedigree. She did not allude to the fact that he was a Marquess and she would be a Marchioness if he proposed and she accepted, which she was sure that she would, as soon as he proposed.
“Hugh?” Lady Lucas asked, teasing Mary gently, not knowing that Mary had intentionally left out his name but the question would not allow her to prevaricate, even by omission.
“His name is Hugh Rhys-Davies,” Mary answered after taking as deep a breath as she could while her mind was so full of him.
“Rhys-Davies? The only Rhys-Davies that I know of are their Graces, the Duke and Duchess of Bedford. Charlotte, did you not tell me that they are Eliza’s godparents?” It was at that moment that Lady Lucas understood. “Y-y-y-you will be a Marchioness, as their only son is the Marquess of Birchington! Oh my, if you marry him, Mary, you will be a Duchess one day! Good Lord above,” she gasped. Her hand was pressed over her heart she was sure was about to pound out of her chest due to the surprise. Seeing that her daughter was a little embarrassed that the information had come out thus, her mother intervened.
“Hugh is an estimable young man who had the good sense to fall in love with our Mary, as she has with him. There were no arts and allurements used, and his title is coincidental and thankfully does not define him. We pray it will be many years off, but one day he will ascend to become the next Duke of Bedford, and if Mary is his wife, it is true she will then be a duchess.” Fanny winked at her daughter as she allowed Sarah a moment to collect herself.
In order to take the focus off Mary, Bennet asked his guests to charge their glasses and drink to the courting couples. The balance of the dinner passed with no further major revelations, and hearty compliments were given to the cook. At the end of dinner, Fanny led the ladies and young John to the drawing room while the four men enjoyed port and for those so inclined, cigars.
In the drawing room, Maria Lucas sat in a circle that was formed by a settee and three chairs and was finally able to ask Lydia a question she had been wanting to since they encountered one another on the previous day. “Lydia, I just remembered that I saw you riding a horse. When did you learn? I thought that you had no interest in riding.”
“When in London after I was collected from school, Papa asked me if I wanted to join Kitty for her lessons and I did. The riding master says that I am a natural. I am only sorry that I led a desultory life before and had refused to learn, even when I saw how much my older three sisters enjoyed riding.” She got a far-off look of contemplation on her countenance. “A lot of my past behaviour required addressing, and horse riding is but one of the positive changes I am working toward.”
“I must say,” admitted Maria, “that I hardly knew you when we met in Meryton. Where has the brash, outspoken, and lively Lydia that loved society, especially if one was in scarlet regimentals, gone?” The other four girls looked at each other ready to support Lydia if needed, but they soon saw it was not.
“The very silly girl that was, the one that almost ruined herself and her family, who was selfish and an incorrigible flirt, is no more. Do you have any idea what innuendos the officers, most of whom were decidedly not gentlemen, drew from my, our outrageous flirting? Wickham was not the only one that would have taken what he wanted and then moved on. Denny, Carter, and Sanderson were no better. Denny tried to get Kitty to gift him her virtue, but she was infinitely more sensible than me. If Mama and Papa had not put me back in and locked me in the nursery, I would have willingly allowed that disreputable blackguard to have his way with me and ruin me and my family,” Lydia admitted truthfully, and while it hurt to remember, she desperately wanted to help her long-time friend avoid her mistakes. Maria Lucas looked as if she had been struck and run over by a runaway team of horses.
“C-Carter wanted me to gift him my maidenhood, b-but after Wickham was flogged and led away in irons, Colonel Foster kept a very tight rein on his officers until they decamped to Brighton. He told me that if I loved him, I would anticipate our vows…” Maria choked out and there were tears in her eyes as she disclosed her secret, suddenly glancing at her group and relieved that John had gone to sit with their mother before this part of the conversation had commenced. But her shocks had only started. It was Miss Darcy that spoke up next.
“Let me guess this Carter was one of Wickham’s friends?” Georgiana asked, frowning pensively when a still tearful Maria nodded. “That is no surprise, that was one of Wickham’s tried and oft used lines that he used to manipulate young girls to give him their virtue after false promises of marriage,” Georgiana disclosed. “Unfortunately, it worked on not a few. He has many illegitimate children. He would abandon women but days after taking their virtue with no intention to ever return, no assistance, and only the shame of being ruined. The penalty of such is harsh in those cases. My brother helped those he found, but who knows how many he has not.” Georgiana did not sugar-coat the truth as she saw that Maria had been too close to folly as well, and only the truth would help her gain her confidence back.
With all she had heard, it became very evident to Maria how close she had come to ruining herself and her family. She was between Lydia and Kitty in age and she resolved on the spot that she would ask her parents to put her back in until she was eighteen. The benefits of such were obvious and she did not want to be left behind on this chance to improve herself substantially.
“The school that I was sent to, at first I likened to a gaol and then I cursed my parents roundly for sending me there. It turned out to be the best thing that happened to me in my short life; there I met my best friend…” Lydia started to explain more of how she had changed.
“LYDIA!” Lydia froze mid-sentence when she heard Helen’s voice as if mentioning her had somehow conjured her presence. There she stood, stammering an apology for her outburst, but Lydia sprinted to her and hugged her as tightly as she could to make sure that she was real while their two fathers stood watching the scene grinning. Lydia laughed brightly now that she suddenly understood just who her suitemate would be.
Chapter 23
The meeting with Brookfield’s steward, at which tenant concerns were the main topic of discussion, had gone long into the night as both cousins were bound and determined that they would depart as planned first thing on the morrow. All four copies of the finalised wedding settlements had been delivered by a runner from the firm of Abernathy and Sons by five o’clock in the afternoon as promised. The meetings had ended close to midnight and two tired men who had barely dealt with the irksome separation from the women that they loved were greatly anticipating the pleasure of the company of said women on the morrow.
As the sun was cresting the horizon, three horses galloped from London toward Hertfordshire. Two carriages with all their trunks and servants followed the speeding men. They were fortunate that it was a cloudless day with the morning chill hanging in the air, though nothing but an act of God would have kept the men from their aim that morning.
