What Kitty Did Next

by Carrie Kablean

  Elizabeth was the first to notice her arrival and looked across at her coolly, causing Kitty’s heart to sink further. Darcy would have told her about the fracas he had witnessed, she knew that, but she could only imagine what he had said. Neither Lydia nor Darcy was in the drawing room; the ladies seemed to have claimed it for their own.

  Only a few were present. Caroline Bingley, Amelia Bridgwater and Louisa Hurst were sitting on sofas near Elizabeth. Lady Fanshawe and Lady Mortlake were seated at a table by the window poring over magazines and discussing landscaped gardens and architecture.

  Trying to maintain some semblance of normality, Kitty greeted everyone and took a seat on the sofa beside her sister. Elizabeth did not look at her. Mrs Bridgwater was complimenting her hostess on a wonderfully successful ball and Kitty sat silently, listening as the discussion veered into such important matters as the rise of the quadrille and the scandal of the waltz. Having exhausted such topics, the conversation lapsed until Caroline Bingley suddenly announced: ‘Mrs Bridgwater and I were saying earlier how very elegant you were last night, Miss Bennet.’

  Kitty thanked her, alert to whatever barb would inevitably follow. Miss Bingley was not in the habit of bestowing compliments on her, so there would no doubt be some sugar-coated insult on its way.

  ‘Yes. We were particularly admiring your tiara. Such a lovely piece.’

  Kitty agreed it was, feeling no need to declare its true ownership.

  ‘Of course, one has to be careful. They do slip so easily.’ She smiled one of her ingratiating smiles. ‘Dreadful to lose one’s crown!’ Beside her, Mrs Hurst could barely keep her countenance.

  ‘And now I understand we are losing dear Mrs Wickham today,’ Miss Bingley continued, sparkling with petty malevolence. ‘I had no idea she would have to depart so soon.’

  Alarmed, Kitty turned to Elizabeth. ‘Lydia is leaving today?’

  ‘She is,’ confirmed her sister. ‘Events have called her away earlier than she anticipated. She will be leaving within the hour, I am afraid. I see she has not informed you.’ Elizabeth regarded Kitty calmly, her face betraying no emotion.

  ‘No, indeed,’ said Kitty, her heart pounding. ‘I will go and find her. I should like to see her before she goes.’

  ‘Of course,’ said Elizabeth smoothly, and turned her attention back to her guests as Kitty made her excuses and forced herself to walk rather than run from the drawing room. Once outside, she looked around wildly. Where was Lydia? She ran back up to the Blue Room, only to find the door open and its only occupant a housemaid, who could offer no information as to Mrs Wickham’s whereabouts.

  Kitty turned and hurried towards the main staircase that led to the entrance hall. Looking down from the gallery, she was relieved to see her younger sister below, talking to one of the servants.

  ‘Lydia!’ she called, almost out of breath as she drew near to her.

  ‘You have come to see me off then?’ said Lydia, sounding irritated. ‘I suppose you know I have been given my marching orders?’

  ‘Indeed I did not,’ whispered Kitty in return. ‘I have only just found out you are leaving. I have been looking for you! Where have you been? What has happened?’

  ‘So many questions!’ retorted Lydia. ‘None of this would have happened if you had not interfered.’

  Kitty took Lydia’s arm and steered her outside into the grounds, where they could speak without being overheard. She saw one of the carriages was outside, no doubt waiting to take her sister to Lambton. When they had gained a little distance from the house, she again entreated Lydia to tell her what had happened.

  ‘It appears I have made a spectacle of myself and must be sent away. Mrs Darcy has more airs and graces than I remember!’

  ‘I saw you talking with Mr Fanshawe again last night,’ said Kitty, ignoring the harshness in her sister’s voice. ‘Did he tell you where he found the necklace?’

  Lydia laughed at her. ‘Is that all that concerns you? All this fuss over a bauble! I told you, you should have let me keep it! Never mind, it is of no consequence now. Mr Frederick Fanshawe has seen fit, with a little persuasion, to pay his debt to my dear Wickham. Perhaps he is a gentleman after all. You may do what you will with the necklace.’

  ‘It is not mine to dispose of,’ said Kitty, increasingly exasperated in the face of Lydia’s nonchalance. ‘Neither does it belong to Mr Fanshawe. I would like to know if he told you how he came by it!’

  ‘Well, he did not,’ said Lydia, blithely. ‘In fact, he knows nothing about it!’

  ‘What can you mean? It was in his possession. You know that!’

  ‘I am not sure I do.’ She leaned in closer to Kitty and lowered her voice. ‘We made a bargain,’ she said conspiratorially. ‘He gave me my fifty pounds and I agreed to say nothing about the necklace. My dear Wickham will be so pleased.’

  ‘But,’ remonstrated Kitty, ‘Mr Darcy saw you with it!’

  ‘He saw you with it, not me!’ said Lydia, smugly. ‘Oh, don’t look so worried! You only have to say you found it.’

  ‘I cannot!’ cried Kitty, aghast.

  ‘“Oh, I cannot!”’ mocked Lydia, walking back to the house. ‘Of course you can! Where is the harm? Your friend Miss Darcy will be delighted to have it back, and you will have all the glory. Oh, look!’ she cried. ‘There is our dear sister Elizabeth come to make sure I depart.’

  Kitty looked up and saw Lizzy regarding them both from the steps of Pemberley. Once again, she felt she was being judged, and once again found wanting. She caught up to Lydia. ‘Please, just tell Lizzy the truth!’ she pleaded desperately. ‘Please!’

  Lydia made no answer. Instead she waved to Elizabeth, who was now walking towards the carriage, and quickened her step to join her. ‘Such a wonderful ball, Lizzy! A delight!’ she declared, her voice as loud and jolly as ever. ‘I am sure I will always remember it!’

  ‘As will we,’ returned Elizabeth. ‘Mr Darcy and I wish you a safe journey to Newcastle.’ She stood back to allow Lydia into the carriage. Kitty watched as the door closed, saw Lydia arrange herself and let down the glass to say farewell, saw the coachman tighten his hold on the reins. She felt utterly powerless.

  ‘Well, goodbye!’ cried Lydia to her sisters. Then, as the carriage started off, added: ‘I do hope Mama’s health improves, Kitty. Longbourn will be so dull for you after all this!’

  CHAPTER 53

  As soon as the carriage turned into the drive, Elizabeth dropped all pretence of gracious civility and curtly instructed Kitty to go to her room; she would talk to her later. So saying, she went back into the house.

  Defeated, Kitty went and lay down on her bed. Had Lydia planned the little piece of havoc she had created at Pemberley, it could not have been better orchestrated. I will be blamed for her behaviour, thought Kitty. I will be considered complicit, just as I was when she eloped from Brighton. She could not stop asking herself how Freddie Fanshawe had the cameo. The day at Conisbrough was vivid in her memory. They had all searched together; how could anyone have found it and concealed its discovery? Then she remembered. At her own suggestion, Freddie Fanshawe had been dispatched to the carriage to see if the necklace was within! Why would he keep it though, and relinquish his chance to be her hero? Her Frederick the Great! Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at her door. Her summons had arrived.

  She made her way to Elizabeth’s rooms and sat primly on a small upholstered chair while her sister paced about, venting her spleen. She had never seen her so angry and upset.

  ‘I am beyond disappointment,’ she began. ‘Darcy tells me that you and Lydia were brawling like fishwives outside the ballroom yesterday evening. How could you conduct yourself in such a reprehensible manner? Have you no respect, no decorum? Lydia is wayward, that is understood. But I have a right to expect better of you. I did expect better of you.’

  Kitty winced. Here again were the words that had cut through her yesterday when Mr Darcy had uttered them.

  ‘I am told it was not th
e first time your behaviour has let you down since you came here. You were seen shouting and laughing in a most unseemly way when you returned from your excursion with Lydia. This is not the way things are done at Pemberley.’

  Kitty opened her mouth to protest this crime, but Elizabeth silenced her with a gesture.

  ‘If that were all it would be galling enough, bitter enough, but to think…’ She stopped, closed her eyes as if to shut out her terrible thoughts. She took a deep breath and continued.

  ‘You were fighting over a necklace, Darcy tells me. A necklace that belongs to Georgiana, a necklace that was believed lost. A necklace she held most dear. What we cannot understand is how you came to have it. You were giving it to Lydia?’ Elizabeth shook her head, her expression even more severe.

  ‘That is not true!’ cried Kitty.

  ‘Well what is your explanation?’ demanded Elizabeth, turning to face her. ‘That cameo was lost at Conisbrough Castle weeks ago. Georgiana said every effort was made to find it, extensive searches were carried out. And now it seems that you had it in your possession all the time! I cannot believe it, Kitty. I did not take you for a thief! How could you? It is heinous!’ Elizabeth sat down, quite overcome at her sister’s transgressions.

  ‘A thief?’ said Kitty, her face white with shock. ‘Is that what you think?’

  ‘I do not want to think it. I am horrified to think it, but you cannot expect me to believe you found it last night, here at Pemberley! Was Lydia to take it for you? What did you think to gain?’

  ‘Lizzy!’ she cried. ‘You do not understand!’

  ‘Unfortunately, I understand only too well. I am so ashamed!’ Elizabeth turned her head away, wiped a tear from her eyes.

  Kitty looked at her in horror. ‘Lizzy,’ she said, ‘I wonder that you would think me guilty of such a crime. I would never do such a thing! Nor would I do anything to upset or abuse Georgiana. She is like a sister to me!’

  ‘As is Lydia!’ retorted Elizabeth.

  ‘As are you!’ returned Kitty, her voice rising. ‘How dare you accuse me!

  ‘It pains me, believe me!’

  ‘You are right,’ Kitty said, trying to regain her composure. ‘Lydia and I were fighting over the cameo but I was trying to get it back…’

  ‘Get it back!’ cried Elizabeth. ‘From Lydia? Why would she have had it? She has already told me that you found it. Really, Kitty! Do not think to blame Lydia for this!’

  Kitty sighed, for herself and at the awful absurdity of her predicament. ‘Of course,’ said she, with a small laugh of exasperation. ‘You would believe Lydia over me!’

  ‘There is nothing amusing in all of this,’ snapped Elizabeth. ‘How could you be so base? So stupid?’

  Suddenly, it was all too much for Kitty. Nothing she could do, nothing she tried to do, would ever be good enough. The injustice of Elizabeth’s accusations, together with the revelations and confusions of the past few days simmered and boiled.

  ‘Stupid?’ she cried, jumping to her feet. ‘That is all I ever hear from you, from all of you! Stupid Kitty! Silly, ignorant Kitty! You never ask, you never enquire – you only condemn! If I do something well, you do not notice. If something goes amiss – anything goes amiss! – it is all my fault. Stupid, silly Kitty’s fault. You thought I had told Lydia about the ball, but I did not. Even if I had told her, would it be my fault if she took it upon herself to come here unbidden? You do not ask why I was arguing with Lydia, you only blame!’

  Elizabeth lifted her eyes to the ceiling, and exhaled.

  ‘And now I am base as well? Dishonest! Perhaps you should look to your necklaces and jewels, too. Assure yourself I have not taken them?’

  ‘Oh, for heaven’s sake! Please stop this pretence. I will not have it. You are exhausting.’ Elizabeth finally sat down

  ‘I am amazed,’ continued Kitty, fiercely. ‘Amazed that you would think so little of me! Since I came to Pemberley I have done my utmost to be a good sister to you, to be worthy of you! I have made new acquaintances who treat me with respect, treat me as an equal. Imagine that! People who listen to my opinions, who enjoy my company! It is just you – my own family! – who insist on my stupidity and ignorance. And worse!’

  Elizabeth was unmoved. ‘Kindly lower your voice,’ she said.

  Kitty had not finished. ‘With regards to Georgiana, I would never abuse her trust. She is my friend, my confidante.’

  ‘That has been noticed. Darcy feels your influence on her may be too great.’

  ‘I beg your pardon!’ cried Kitty, shocked at this new charge. ‘This is intolerable. Am I to be blamed for everything? I presume you allude to Georgiana’s friendship with Mr Fanshawe, about whom…’

  ‘I allude to nothing in particular,’ interrupted Elizabeth. ‘We are not here to discuss Georgiana. She will have to be told, of course, that her cameo has been found and under what circumstances. She will be shocked and dismayed.’

  Kitty blanched, imagining Georgiana’s distress and her interpretation of the previous night’s events.

  ‘Darcy and I have discussed what to do and we agree this scandal need go no further than these walls. Accordingly, I will not inform our parents or Jane. For that you should feel most grateful. Meanwhile, I have a house full of guests, friends as well as guests, people to whom I owe hospitality and respect. I will not have the peace of Pemberley overturned by your conduct.’ Elizabeth’s expression was hard, her mouth set.

  ‘Tomorrow,’ she said, ‘you will return to Longbourn. As Jane says, our mother is unwell and would no doubt be pleased to have your company. I will write to our father now. You may go.’

  CHAPTER 54

  Kitty spent the rest of the day feeling numb and pretending otherwise. News of her imminent departure to Longbourn, cloaked in a need to be close to her ailing mother, became known as everyone assembled before dinner, and was received with appropriate distress, most notably by Felicia Fanshawe and Colonel Fitzwilliam. They completely understood, or so they thought, why she must go, but lamented the fact and hoped they would meet again soon. They looked forward to seeing her in London for the season, if not before? How quickly the time would pass. William Fanshawe echoed their sentiments and was sure he could speak for Freddie. He would be most sorry to have missed her, Sir Edward told her, but his eldest nephew had had some business in Doncaster that had required his presence.

  ‘Not to worry, Miss Bennet,’ continued Sir Edward, oblivious to the fact that Freddie Fanshawe’s absence dashed any chance of Kitty clearing her name or discovering his motives. ‘We will get by very well without him. I think tonight is going to be a very special evening.’ He tapped his nose and declared he should say nothing more. Kitty, too tired and upset to try to persuade him otherwise, let him talk on, barely listening. Georgiana swept by, affecting not to notice her, which cut her to the quick.

  ‘Forgive me,’ said Sir Edward, regarding Kitty more closely. ‘You are thinking about your poor mother. What a sweet, compassionate young lady you are!’ She felt her eyes fill with tears and struggled to contain her emotion in the face of kindness, which only made Sir Edward more attentive and Kitty more tearful. ‘Come and sit down, sit down,’ he bade her, leading her to an empty chair near an open window. ‘Some fresh air, I think. Now, let me fetch you a little cordial.’ He dashed off, returned with a small glass of wine and waited patiently for her to take a sip. He took a seat beside her and, aware of his concern, Kitty wondered if she could confide in Sir Edward. At the same time, she anticipated his disbelief and could not bear the thought of defending herself afresh.

  Sir Edward was looking at her most thoughtfully. ‘Your journey will be a long one, I fear,’ he remarked. ‘Please convey my best wishes to your parents. Hertfordshire, you say? Perhaps, I may have the privilege of calling when next I travel down to London?’

  Kitty was too immersed in her own misery to read any significance into his remarks.

  ‘Forgive me,’ reiterated Sir Edward. ‘You are upset. You do no
t need to listen to my rattling on!’

  Before Kitty could manage a response, dinner was announced and, having ascertained she was well enough, Sir Edward escorted her in.

  Everyone else was in high spirits. Elizabeth was playing the role of hostess to perfection and seemed to have not a care in the world; Darcy likewise. Neither as much as looked in Kitty’s direction. Lady Fanshawe, seated to her right, seemed particularly cheerful and the reason soon became apparent. Colonel Fitzwilliam had sought, and been given, permission for Miss Fanshawe’s hand in marriage and the announcement, when made, was greeted with pleasure and satisfaction by both her relations and his brother and cousins. Georgiana was clearly delighted by her uncle’s betrothal to her friend Felicia, whose own happiness outshone all others. Kitty, at pains to conceal her melancholy, was effusive in her congratulations. She thought highly of both of them and thought theirs would be a successful union. She wondered if she would see either of them again.

  When the ladies withdrew after dinner, Felicia’s engagement was the subject of much animated chatter and Kitty was grateful for that diversion. Nonetheless, there were many who wished to speak to her, to wish her and her mother well, and regret both the reason and the fact she was called away. Although she had accepted her defeat and disguised disgrace, it took all Kitty’s fortitude to smile and thank her well-wishers, alert as she was to Elizabeth’s coolness to her and the unspoken animosity emanating from Georgiana.

  She would be leaving early in the morning – Elizabeth had declared that best – so Kitty would be making her farewells that evening. It seemed an age before the gentlemen came to join them and allow her to say her last goodbyes. Everyone lamented her departure of course, and the supposed cause of it, and declared Pemberley would be a duller place without her. Lady Fanshawe and Sir Edward hoped to see her at Danson Park as soon as circumstances allowed; Felicia, also genuinely sorry to see her go, made her promise to write and was sure they would see each other again soon; William Fanshawe echoed his sister’s sentiments, although Kitty knew, pleasant as it would be to see him again, he would never be anything but a good friend; Lord and Lady Mortlake had been delighted to meet her; Colonel Fitzwilliam likewise; others chorused their good wishes.