What Kitty Did Next

by Carrie Kablean

  Luckily for Georgiana, they gained the house and their rooms without interference and made a late entrance for breakfast. No one noticed anything amiss. Kitty’s thoughts remained tangled, though. Georgiana and Wickham; Wickham and Lydia; Elizabeth and Mr Darcy; Georgiana and herself – she could hardly make sense of it. It was in the past, as she had said to Georgiana, and would remain so. How could it not? It would be too dreadful for all concerned – but especially for Georgiana and Lydia – were such a secret to be known.

  CHAPTER 44

  It was both fortunate and unfortunate that Pemberley was full of guests and activity. On the one hand, it left no time for Georgiana to be morose and on the other it allowed Kitty little opportunity to think and try to make sense of this new information. She realised that she wanted to speak with Elizabeth, who already knew about Wickham’s treachery and with whom she could confide in safety. Elizabeth, however, was fully engaged in being hostess, and this was hardly the moment for unpleasant family history to be aired. She had, therefore, to do her best to put it to the back of her mind for another day.

  Her surprise at Georgiana’s revelations did not subside into criticism. After all, she reasoned, she had been even younger than Lydia – and more alone – when Wickham had planned his move. The more Kitty discovered about him, the more villainous he became. She was sure he had held no real affection for Georgiana; that his actions were purely mercenary. It was almost amusing, then, that he had been forced into marriage with an impecunious Bennet sister. It must have cost Mr Darcy dear, both in pride and in money.

  Kitty had made excuses after breakfast, pleading the need to write a letter but in fact hoping to have an hour to herself, and was on her way to Georgiana’s music room where she could enjoy some solitude. She had yet to properly look over the scores Henry Adams had so kindly sent; the least she could do was learn to play them. Her premise about the room being empty was wrong, however; when she turned into the passage she could hear someone else at the pianoforte but she was not unhappy to find the musicians were Felicia Fanshawe and Amelia Bridgwater.

  ‘Ah, you have found us out!’ cried Miss Fanshawe. ‘We thought to have a quiet morning. It seems you have the same idea?’

  ‘I would not disturb your plan,’ said Kitty. ‘Though I might become part of it.’

  ‘Indeed you shall,’ returned she. ‘What shall we play?’

  They made room for Kitty and music soon gave way to what some would consider idle chatter. They had not long been settled in this pursuit when a footman arrived, looking for Kitty. His mission was to inform her that Mrs Darcy would be obliged if she would join her in her private sitting room.

  Kitty obliged, of course, wondering what her sister could want and surmised it must have to do with arrangements for the ball. She had almost reached Elizabeth’s rooms when the lady herself appeared, saw Kitty, and walked quickly towards her.

  ‘Is something the matter?’ said Kitty, for the second time that day. Elizabeth looked pale and worried.

  ‘We have a visitor,’ said she, without preamble. ‘Lydia is here!’

  Kitty made the only possible response: ‘Lydia?’

  In the light of the morning’s events, so very fresh and tumultuous, the idea of Lydia being at Pemberley was so preposterous it was beyond comprehension. What on earth could she be doing here? Where was Georgiana?

  Before she could say anything else, Elizabeth had steered her into the sitting room and closed the door.

  ‘Why is she here? Has something happened?’ burst out Kitty, suddenly fearing bad news about Lydia or Wickham or Longbourn. Why else would Lydia suddenly arrive? What did she want? What would Georgiana do when confronted by her sister, Mrs Wickham?

  ‘No need to alarm yourself,’ Elizabeth was saying, outwardly calm. ‘She looks to be in excellent health. She is here because she has found out that there is to be a ball.’

  ‘She did not find out from me,’ said Kitty firmly, detecting an undertone of accusation.

  ‘No, of course not,’ said Elizabeth, checking herself. ‘It was not a secret. No doubt she heard it from Mama. However, it did not occur to me that she would presume to come without an invitation.’

  This is terrible, thought Kitty. How could she do this? Then she remembered Lydia was ignorant of Wickham’s designs on Georgiana. An even worse idea presented itself. ‘Is Captain Wickham with her?’

  ‘He is not,’ said Elizabeth, sitting down. ‘He would not dare to come to Pemberley. He knows very well that he would not be admitted here.’ She paused. ‘There are matters of which you are not aware.’

  ‘Lizzy,’ Kitty said quietly, joining her sister on the chaise longue. ‘I know more about Wickham than you suppose. I know to whom we are indebted for arranging his marriage to Lydia.’ She saw Elizabeth register surprise. ‘This very morning, Georgiana told me how he had tried to take advantage of her.’

  ‘This morning! Why?’ cried Elizabeth. ‘This is too much! Did she expect to see Lydia here? You had told her she would be coming?’

  ‘Lizzy, no! I am as surprised as you at her presence here.’

  Elizabeth was not listening. Agitated and upset, she was now pacing up and down the room.

  ‘Lizzy!’ tried Kitty again. ‘I had no knowledge whatsoever that Lydia would come here today, or indeed any other day!’

  ‘I know you and Georgiana are very close,’ returned Elizabeth, her suspicions high, ‘but why would she confide in you about… about that! Today of all days? It is unbelievable!’

  ‘She was upset about something else. I don’t think she planned to tell me but she did, and I know I am not breaking her confidence in speaking of it with you. I am as amazed as you are that Lydia is here now. Georgiana will be exceedingly alarmed. I am alarmed! Where is Lydia now?’

  ‘I have put her in the Blue Room, on the floor above yours. Millie is helping her unpack.’

  ‘So she will stay?’

  ‘What else can I do?’ said Elizabeth, with uncharacteristic bitterness. ‘She is my sister, our sister. What else can I do.’ The last was rhetorical.

  ‘How long will she stay?’ asked Kitty, at the same time thinking how strange it was that she herself did not immediately want to rush to see Lydia, to hear all her news.

  ‘She says that Wickham is gone down to Birmingham with some fellow officers for a week and she thought it would be an excellent joke to come here and surprise us all. Apparently, it would be dull in Newcastle without Wickham. They parted at Lambton and she talks of being reunited with him there next Saturday.’ Elizabeth sat down again.

  ‘Does Mr Darcy know?’

  ‘Not yet.’ Elizabeth sighed and Kitty felt a wave of sympathy for her elder sister. Unless Lydia had undergone a radical change of manner and attitude, her presence would sorely test some and provide amusement and scorn for others.

  ‘Kitty, I am going to need your help.’ The request, contained in a statement, was nonetheless one that touched Kitty’s heart. That she would render whatever assistance she could was not in question; that Elizabeth had asked for her help was at once surprising and gratifying.

  ‘Of course,’ said she. ‘In whatever way you wish. I will go to Lydia now. We must let Georgiana know she is here.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Elizabeth, in a flat voice. ‘I will take care of that.’

  ‘Lizzy! It will be all right. Your guests know you and who you are. I understand you are concerned, but you are the same Mrs Elizabeth Darcy you were at breakfast.’

  Elizabeth looked at her sister as if she had never seen her before.

  ‘Yes,’ said she simply. ‘Thank you.’

  CHAPTER 45

  ‘Kitty!’ cried Lydia, her arms outstretched. ‘Are you not surprised to see me? Is this not the best joke?’

  ‘It is indeed,’ said Kitty, closing the bedroom door behind her and smiling despite herself as Lydia enfolded her in a hug. ‘Everyone will be exceedingly surprised!’

  ‘Lizzy’s face was a picture when my name was ann
ounced,’ said Lydia with some glee, as she released Kitty from her embrace and stepped back. ‘To think, I have not seen any of you for a year! You are looking very elegant, I must say.’

  ‘Thank you,’ said Kitty. ‘You look very well, too. You are not changed at all!’

  It was true. Lydia, tall and well formed, was as handsome as ever, her complexion as fine and her face aglow with health and high spirits. Her self-assurance and confidence were evident and Kitty did not suppose that Lydia had learned tact or discretion since she had become Mrs Wickham.

  ‘That is a very fine muslin you are wearing,’ said Lydia. ‘I see that things are done very well around here.’

  She bounced down on the bed, a substantial piece of furniture replete with carved wood, a canopy and hangings. ‘Look at all this brocade and this velvet! It’s all rather old-fashioned but still rather splendid. I shall feel like a queen sleeping here! I don’t much care for those paintings over there, although I suppose they were frightfully dear and done by someone I should have heard of. Lord! How big is Pemberley? I declare there must be a hundred rooms at least!’

  ‘It is a beautiful house,’ said Kitty.

  ‘My dear Wickham has told me all about it of course, but I did not think it would be so very grand. And is this your home now? Lizzy and Darcy have taken you in? Have you quite forsaken Longbourn?’

  ‘Not forsaken, Lydia…’

  ‘Well, I could not blame you if you had. I should die of boredom were I at Longbourn. Life is so much more interesting in Newcastle, although the weather can be tiresome. But we have such excellent diversions at the Assembly Rooms and I usually win at the card parties because I am quite adept at loo and commerce, you know. Only Mrs Denton can come close to me…’ She rattled on and Kitty found herself listening in a detached sort of way, as if Lydia were a distant acquaintance rather than the sister with whom she had once shared all. As self-absorbed as ever, she spoke only of herself and made no enquiries as to the health and happiness or otherwise of Jane or Mary; and, having seen Elizabeth and Kitty, any curiosity in that quarter seemed quite sated.

  ‘We should go down?’ said Lydia, at last. ‘Lizzy told me there was quite a party of guests here already, including a viscount, if you please!’

  ‘Mr Darcy’s cousin. You will meet them all at dinner.

  ‘Lydia,’ she continued, trying hard to find words that would both convey her concerns and appeal to her sister’s sensibilities. ‘You should understand that the ball, this house party… It is the first time Lizzy has arranged such an event as mistress of Pemberley. It is important to her – to all of us – that everything should proceed well.’

  ‘Oh, don’t worry,’ replied Lydia dismissively, looking at herself in the glass as she spoke and pinching some colour into her cheeks. ‘Lizzy has already given me a lecture about behaving myself. I do know how to address a lord, you know! Besides, I am a married lady myself – don’t forget! – and quite used to the ways of the world. What a pity my dear Wickham is not here with me to see all this.’

  Kitty flinched at the thought and took her sister downstairs, wondering as to the whereabouts of Georgiana and also the Bingley sisters. There was no doubt in her mind that the latter would be as overjoyed as they were appalled to find Mrs Wickham in their midst. She led Lydia into a room near the library, one she thought would be unoccupied.

  ‘There is a pretty aspect of the gardens from here,’ she told her. ‘Let me ring for some tea while we wait for the others.’

  ‘Ooh, a pretty aspect!’ mocked Lydia, but she was happy to comply and, after an inspection of the room and an evaluation of its contents, she dropped onto the sofa beside Kitty and announced, ‘This is splendid! I am so very glad I decided to come. Wickham tried to persuade me otherwise, you know, but I told him I never could resist a ball! Do you remember how we persuaded Bingley to give us that ball at Netherfield?’

  Kitty did, and not without embarrassment at the loud and public importuning that had accompanied their request.

  ‘Jane should be very grateful to us,’ continued Lydia. ‘Were it not for that ball, she would not now be Mrs Bingley. And remember how we all looked for Wickham at that ball? How all the young ladies thought to dance with him. Ha! Who would have thought then I should become Mrs Wickham?’

  She smiled at her good fortune. ‘I am surprised you have not found a husband yet, Kitty. You were in London, too. Were there no dances, no suitors? There must be someone at Pemberley, surely? I shall have to help you.’

  Kitty assured her sister she did not require any assistance in that endeavour and tried to change the subject. The tea arrived, and a message was sent to Elizabeth to let her know where they were. Lydia returned the conversation to eligible young men and Kitty gave up brief accounts of the Fanshawes and Captain Morton without giving away any of her own opinions of each.

  When Elizabeth arrived a short while later she was accompanied by Colonel Fitzwilliam, who declared himself delighted to meet Mrs Wickham. Lydia, for her part, was pleased to find a soldier of higher rank than her husband and was soon telling him of the qualities and abilities of her dear Wickham, attributes that she considered unfairly underrated. The colonel bore this information stoically and then wondered if Mrs Wickham might care to take a stroll around the gardens. Within a few minutes, they were gone.

  Elizabeth’s strategy in managing Lydia’s presence was a simple one: as far as was possible, they would contrive to keep her in the company of those family members they trusted, with the aim of containing her boisterous and more outrageous behaviour.

  ‘Colonel Fitzwilliam, as you have seen, will be invaluable,’ said Lizzy. ‘We think it most unlikely that Wickham would have told Lydia anything about his involvement with Georgiana, so although the situation is awkward for her, and may cause some embarrassment, we think there is little to be feared there. Colonel Fitzwilliam says Captain Morton can be pressed into service if needed.’

  ‘It is quite the military operation,’ said Kitty, in an attempt to lighten the mood.

  Elizabeth looked annoyed, then softened her face into a smile. ‘I am sorry. Perhaps I am overreacting, but Lydia’s behaviour is not always exemplary, as you well know.’

  ‘She is a loose cannonball?’ suggested Kitty, quite pleased with herself in continuing the military analogy.

  Elizabeth ignored the remark. ‘I expected we would receive her here one day, but not this week when we have so many other guests.’

  Kitty understood perfectly. The rarified atmosphere of Pemberley would be blown about by Lydia, who was not so much a breath of fresh air but a hurricane, and a reminder of a different milieu, of relations that Elizabeth would as soon forget. She had not changed her character in becoming Mrs Darcy, but now she was in an unenviable position, her old world intruding on the new one she had been charting so very successfully. As someone who was trying to forge a new path for herself, Kitty could empathise. She wondered what Mr Darcy’s reaction had been to Lydia’s arrival; she hoped, for Lizzy’s sake, he had borne it with his usual quiet dignity.

  ‘Perhaps,’ said Kitty, ‘I could take Lydia on a tour of the grounds tomorrow. If there is someone to drive us, we could take a leisurely ride through the parklands and glades. No doubt Lydia would like to see the extent of the estate.’

  ‘An excellent plan,’ said Elizabeth, knowing that it was also one that would take Lydia away from the house and her guests for a few hours. ‘I hope you will take some pleasure in it, too?’

  ‘I am no stranger to Lydia’s company and conversation,’ said Kitty, ‘and have been reminded of it often enough in the past.’ She gave Lizzy a look that was at once playful and wry. ‘Don’t worry, I will give you a full account of it all! You are sure you would not like to accompany us?’

  ‘No, I cannot,’ said Elizabeth, who had not comprehended that Kitty was not serious in her request. In truth, she was too preoccupied to think clearly. Her old prejudices rose to the fore; Kitty and Lydia had always been inseparable;
would Kitty revert to her old ways? She looked at her, a frown on her face.

  ‘Do not look so concerned, Lizzy. I will take care of it.’ Does she still not trust me, wondered Kitty, slightly irritated.

  ‘Yes, of course,’ replied her sister, although her tone betrayed a little uncertainty. ‘Of course, you will. Thank you.’

  Elizabeth need not have worried quite so much. Kitty was on her guard. Against Lydia, and anyone or anything that threatened her peace and enjoyment of Pemberley. Even so, Lydia was a force to be reckoned with.

  CHAPTER 46

  That evening, true to form, Lydia quickly identified the most eligible gentlemen in the room and commenced to flirt with them. Thus the Messrs Fanshawe were soon acquainted with Mrs Wickham, and Captain Morton was next in line for her attentions. Colonel Fitzwilliam made it his business to be at her side. This had the immediate effect of alienating Miss Fanshawe, hitherto the chief recipient of the honourable colonel’s regard; and mortifying Georgiana, who could not bring herself to join any conversation of which Lydia was part and therefore watched from the other side of the room as Freddie Fanshawe paid court to the coquettish Mrs George Wickham.

  Mr Darcy, seeing this, had moved to his sister’s side as if to shield her from any unpleasantness, but they were soon joined by Miss Bingley, brimming with malevolent concern. ‘I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw Mrs Wickham in our midst,’ she exclaimed. ‘How magnanimous of you to invite her, but of course she is part of the family now. And Mr Wickham, will he be joining us?’

  ‘We will not have that pleasure,’ replied Mr Darcy, tersely.

  Caroline turned to Miss Darcy. ‘A shame! He was such a favourite among all the Bennet sisters. He and all the other officers!’