Chapter Seven
GeneralLeweswasstandingbefore the unlit fire, frowning pensively at the blackened grate. He turned as Lydia entered the room and nodded slightly as he saw her tear-reddened eyes, her simply done hair and plain frock. She had obviously spent a sleepless night thinking over her mistakes.
“Sir,” Lydia said in a choked voice, dipping into a low curtsy.
“Close the door and sit down, Miss Bennet. You and I need to have a serious conversation.”
Obeying him, Lydia sat with her hands in her lap, nervously twisting her fingers together. When the General took a seat opposite her but said nothing for a few minutes, she gathered up her courage and looked up at him.
“You must think me exceptionally silly and childish, sir. I was so foolish last night.”
“That you recognise your fault is the reason why I am willing to help you, Miss Bennet. That, and I am firmly of the belief that the world is far too quick to condemn young women for a single moment of silliness, when young men do far worse every day and everyone looks the other way.”
The fundamental unfairness of the world was one reason why Lydia had always been determined to do as she pleased, but she did know there was a vast gulf between being forward and forthright, and being fast.
She did not speak, but nodded agreement with General Lewes, who eyed her thoughtfully before continuing. “It was your bad luck to run into Major Adams and his friends last night. Had Fitzwilliam managed to smuggle you back into the house before anyone saw you, there would be no harm done. As it is, unfortunately, you were seen and recognised and there are only a few remedies for the situation now.”
Lydia gulped and nodded. “Whatever you say, sir.”
“Marriage to Mr Wickham is not an option, I’m afraid. Fitzwilliam thinks it highly unlikely Wickham intended to marry you at all.”
Lydia’s eyes opened wide at that. “But he said we had to leave now, in order to reach Scotland and return to take up his new position in London!”
“Did he, indeed?” Lewes shook his grizzled head. “The hack-chaise was hired to take you only as far as Clapham.”
Lydia blinked.
“I do not have a prior acquaintance with Mr Wickham, but Colonel Fitzwilliam most certainly does. It is not my secret to share, but rest assured that Mr Wickham is most certainly not a reputable gentleman. Despite his pay of twelve pounds per month as a militia officer, he has debts exceeding a thousand pounds.”
“A thousand pounds!” Flabbergasted, Lydia stared at him. “How is that possible?” She knew how the tradesmen in Meryton were when their bills were unpaid, for less than one-hundredth that amount.
“Many of them are debts of honour, from gambling far beyond his means. Others are debts to tradesmen run up in any number of towns; I should add that neither Meryton nor Brighton are included in the tally to date.”
“Dear Lord in heaven,” Lydia’s headache was returning with a vengeance. “How was he ever to repay such a sum? Oh - his courtship of Mary King makes so much more sense, now!”
“A young lady with a hefty dowry, I assume?”
“Five thousand pounds. But she was a...” Lydia rethought the wordsnasty freckled little thingwhich she had been about to say. “Not as pretty as some of the other girls,” she said finally.
“With that, he could have satisfied his most pressing creditors, but I do not doubt he would have run through the remainder and been in debt again very quickly. He has already spent almost as much, from what Fitzwilliam has told me.” Lewes shook his head. “A very profligate young man, Lydia. You have had a lucky escape.”
Lydia chewed on her lip before deciding to ask, since General Lewes seemed very forthcoming with information. “Sir... if he did not intend to marry me... what then?”
The general’s expression looked very much like pity. “I understand pretty, fresh-faced young girls like yourself fetch quite a good price in London’s houses of sin, at least until they are no longer fresh-faced.”
Horrified, Lydia gaped at him. “You mean - he would havesoldme?”
“Indeed. The only question in my mind is whether he would have used you ill first, or bargained on getting more money for you as an innocent. I am sorry to speak so plainly, Miss Bennet, but you should know what kind of wickedness men are capable of.”
“I thought women who worked in those places were there by choice!”
“If it is a choice between starving on the streets or putting food in your belly, is that truly a choice?” General Lewes shook his headat her. “Imagine if you had gone to London with Mr Wickham, Miss Bennet, and he had not married you, but abandoned you after a few weeks. What then should you have done, if your family cast you off - as they would almost certainly have to, for the sake of your sisters? How would you find work, with no references and no training in a trade? How would you live, and what would you eat?”
“I see,” Lydia whispered finally, nodding. “Thank you for explaining to me, General Lewes. I have been so very foolish, how you must despise me...”
“Oh, my dear child. No. No, not at all.” General Lewes sat forward and reached for her hands, taking them in his large, weathered ones and chafing her cold fingers gently. “We all make foolish mistakes, at times. I would tell you some of the stories of my misadventures in my youth, if I were not afraid I might singe your tender ears in the doing.” He twinkled at her, and she managed a small smile.
“I have no doubt you broke any number of hearts in your day, sir.”
