Unequal Affections: A Pride and Prejudice Retelling by Lara S. Ormiston

Author:Lara S. Ormiston
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781628735598
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2014-01-07T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

The Bennets were seated at breakfast a day or two later when the servant brought in a note for Lydia. This damsel snatched it up eagerly. “Oh, look, it’s from Harriet Forster! I declare, she’s the dearest friend I ever had! And if only Papa would let us go to Brighton for the summer, I wouldn’t have to give her up!—I shall cry for days when she goes, I’m sure I shall.”

Her mother clucked sympathetically, but her father deigned to do no more than raise a single sardonic eyebrow. Lydia opened the letter, read it quickly, and shrieked with delight.

“Oh, Mama, look! Harriet has invited me to spend the summer with her as her especial guest! I shall go to Brighton after all!” She stood up from her chair and did a jubilant jig.

“What about me?” demanded Kitty immediately.

“Oh, heavens, no—why should she have invited you? I’m her particular friend!”

“Mama!” she cried. “I ought to go, not her! I’m two years older!”

“Now, now, dear, we can’t make Mrs. Forster invite you! To be sure, it would have been a fine thing if she could have taken both you girls, but just think, Lydia! A whole summer in Brighton, with the militia! Oh, I would have given my eyeteeth for such an adventure when I was your age!” She waved a handkerchief before her face.

“And we shall go to balls and parties, and I shall dance every dance with only the handsomest officers! I’ll have so many beaux, and then when I’m tired of flirting with all of them, I’ll pick the one I want and come back married!”

Mrs. Bennet cheered this plan of action immediately, while Mr. Bennet rolled his eyes, Kitty burst into tears, Mary frowned, Jane sighed, and Elizabeth looked on in the greatest distress. She felt—she truly felt that her youngest and brashest sister should not be allowed to go to Brighton with no better company than the frivolous Mrs. Forster and officers who liked to steal kisses, but she could see that there would be no one to oppose it here. Waiting for a pause in the noise, she said clearly, “But you cannot go to Brighton. You have to stay here and attend my wedding.”

Silence fell over the table as six pairs of eyes peered at her. Obviously it had not occurred to anyone that Lizzy would care whether or not Lydia attended her wedding. “Pooh!” said Lydia first. “What do I care for your wedding next to officers?”

“Now, Lydia . . . ,” murmured Mrs. Bennet uncertainly.

“It would be very proper for Lydia to attend Lizzy’s wedding,” said Jane, coming to her support. “Of course she wants all her sisters about her.”

“The outward display of family unity must symbolize to all present the purity and respectability of the bride as she comes to bind herself in the sacred ceremony,” added Mary.

No one paid attention to that.

“But why should I have to miss an entire summer at Brighton just to stay here for two

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