Page 38
“She has met many gentlemen, all in trade, merchants, importers, bankers, each and every aspect of commercial life that is sneered at by the gentry. She has not met the Masters of any estate, large or small, no gentlemen in the current meaning of the word. So no attorneys, no officers in either the Army or Navy, and no members of the clergy. There is a gap, as wide as the Channel, between the two.”
“It is that bad?”
“You know what Lizzie can be like, but in this instance I do not think there is any exaggeration. There are plenty members of the House of Lords quite happy to make a return from an investment in trade, but it is all very hush hush. Lizzie quotes Uncle Edward, ‘they are perfectly happy to take my money, but they will not acknowledge me, never mind shake my hand’.”
“But we do not act this way out here in Hertfordshire. Sir William ran his store, was the Mayor, but was clearly in trade. Then he was knighted and acquired Lucas Lodge. Were there some of the families that did not accept him?”
“It is before my time, I was alive but I have no memories of it. According to Lizzie, who had it confirmed by both Jane and Charlotte Lucas, there was a period where some of the families were unsure how to react. Mrs. Bennet was one of them, unsurprisingly. It lasted barely one harvesting season and then it all settled down. From what Lizzie has said in her letters, as well as what I have read in some of the newspapers, there is a whole stratum of society in London just waiting to make a fuss about any and every thing. It is source of much of the demands about the behaviour of young women.”
Mary blushed.
“Lizzie wrote of it in the most entertaining if derogatory terms. She called them the fat old tabbies with nothing better to do with their time than enforce rules of their own devising.”
Kitty giggled.
“Fat old tabbies?”
“Not a word of a lie. But I do think that Lizzie is more provocative in her letters to me than she is when she is in company. I know that Jane and Aunt Madeline are good for her, tempering her prejudice.”
After a couple of stops at farmhouses, they had the chance to continue chatting. Kitty bit her lip, a sign that she was unsure how to proceed.
“You can ask me anything Kitty, you do not need to be worried.”
She flushed, caught before she had said a word.
“I was wondering if I could write to Lizzie?”
“Why on earth would you be worried? Of course you can. She will love to hear from you. She always asks how you are doing?”
“Me?”
“Absolutely.”
Kitty stopped and looked at her sister.
“Just me?”
Mary nodded.
“She has stopped caring about Lydia?”
“Yes. I will tell her the latest news about Lydia but she never references her in any of her letters. While it is clear that she has been banished, in deed if not in name, what is also clear is that she in turn has lost interest in the doings of our parents and her youngest sister. It was jarring at first but I understand. Nothing changes with Papa, a new bottle of port and a different book, other than that he is atrophying before our eyes. I will talk of Mama’s lessons but there has been an infrequency to them over the summer, as she has reverted to the Mrs. Bennet that Lizzie would remember. I have not kept a tally but if you and I each had a card with positive comments on the left and negative comments on the right, we know that both of them would be heavily concentrated on the right and not on the left.”
Kitty nodded, lips pursed in rueful agreement. Nothing had changed.
--
Jane and Elizabeth had taken to comparing letters from Longbourn. Mrs. Bennet wrote regularly to Jane, if for no other reason than to bemoan the lack of grandchildren yet. Mary and Elizabeth were continuing their clandestine correspondence and so the two sisters in London had a chance to compare letters and see what was emphasised. And what was glossed over!
“Mama is excited about this Mr. Bingley. She tried to interest him in Lydia but neither of them showed any kind of attraction. Lydia is chasing after Militia officers in their redcoats, while Mr Bingley is showing a marked preference for Kitty.”
“Mary says the same thing, although there is no mention of a marked preference. She says he talks with Charlotte Lucas as much as he talks with Kitty. She has grown recently and is ever taller and even more blonde. She is a younger version of you. Sadly Mrs. Bennet does not recognise her growing beauty and instead focuses her attention on Lydia. Mary says her décolletage is ever more extreme.”
She rummaged through the pages.
“Here is the phrase she used, ‘presented on a platter’.”
“Lizzie!”
