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“It is a mess. All four of them have a part in this.”

“Four?”

“Thomas, Fanny, Lizzie and Lydia. Lydia is a spoiled brat. It pains me to acknowledge this but she is not that different in how she acts than her mother was at the same age. Lizzie has had enough. To use her own analogy, she is wet so what does it matter if she gets even wetter. There is a sense that she does not know how to fix this, and an even larger sense that she does not want to fix this.

“And that is the fault of her parents. Thomas does not respect Fanny, and openly mocks her at the dinner table. Why are we surprised that Lizzie no longer respects her mother? Lizzie has even knocked him down off his pedestal. She called it selective parenting, meaning Fanny’s preference for Jane and Lydia. And that is true. But I think it is much deeper than that. Let me ask you this. Have you ever heard Fanny praise Lizzie, ever? Since the day we married and you met my sisters, has Fanny praised Lizzie within your hearing?”

Edward Gardiner was pretty sure he knew the answer. He sensed rather than saw his wife shake her head.

“No Edward, I can think of no instance.”

“If all Lizzie has known is her mother being unhappy at her, all the time, every day, for everything, why are we surprised that she has rebelled like this. We did not bring it up when she was speaking so we did not have to ask her about verse 4. It was embarrassing that we did not know the words. But to use the words of the good book, Fanny has made Elizabeth wroth her whole life. I do not think there is any going back with this. And one final thing. Did you notice that Fanny is no longer Mama or mother, she is now no more than Mrs. Bennet?”

--

Jane Warburton had no idea what to say. Elizabeth had completely downplayed the events following Jane’s wedding and it had taken a visit from her aunt for her to find out the whole story. Elizabeth had not lied, but had skipped over many things.

“What would you have me do?”

Madeline Gardiner took her niece’s hand, smiling sympathetically.

“This will seem too soon, and I do not want to turn you into your mother.”

Jane looked confused.

“Talk to your husband and start to look for a husband for Lizzie.”

“A husband?”

“I know that seems drastic but what else is she to do? She is helping around the house but the children already have a nurse and a governess. She would go to work every day with your uncle if she could. She needs something to keep her occupied, since it is not safe for her to traipse about London on her own. We both know it will not be an immediate match, but between our two husbands we will hear about young gentlemen who are looking for a bride.”

“Gentlemen?”

“In the sense that they are well-mannered, know how to comport themselves, rather than a son of an estate.”

“Geoffrey’s brother, or someone like him.”

“Exactly. And like I said, there is no rush. You found your husband here, there are hundreds, thousands of young men here whereas there are what, less than 20 in Meryton?”

“Not even that many. With so many away because of the war, there is barely a handful. And we know them, and their faults, all too well. Just as they know ours.”

She looked at her aunt.

“Is she unhappy? And why did she not tell me the whole truth?”

“To answer your first question, I think Lizzie has been unhappy for a very long time. When she got angry at your mother it was as if she had lanced a boil. All that pus just flowed out, and she could not stop. Which leads to your second question. She did not want to make you feel guilty. You have just turned 22 years old. Imagine what it would have been like at Longbourn if you had married at 17? And you know your mother had you out in society days after your 16th birthday. This has been coming for a long time and I do not think it will revert to how it was before. Lizzie has openly talked about looking for a position, either as a companion or as a governess. She would rather do that than return to Longbourn.”

“I will broach the subject with Geoffrey this evening.”

Madeline Gardiner eyed her niece suspiciously. The woman had been married less than a month and there was little sign of a freshly-married glow to her niece.

“How is married life?”

The pause was just long enough to know that there was some self-censoring going on in Jane’s head.

“It is nice to be the mistress of my own home, even if it is small. It is very different to Longbourn, in the city rather than out in the country.”

No mention of her husband.