What Happened in Lambton by Jennifer Kay

Author:Jennifer Kay [Kay, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-08-12T04:00:00+00:00

Four

31 August 1812

If Elizabeth had thought two weeks under house arrest with Lydia was unpleasant, the ride to Longbourn was the icing on the cake. She sat opposite Lydia and Wickham—feeling like a chaperone now that they did not need one—and did her best to not look up from her book. They had left Gracechurch Street immediately following the wedding breakfast, and Elizabeth had bitten her tongue rather than beg to stay with her aunt and uncle. At least Lydia seemed happy to ignore her older sister, save for demanding occasionally that Elizabeth admire her new ring or call her “Mrs. Wickham.” Unfortunately, Mr. Wickham was not so inclined.

“Tell me how you came to be in London, Elizabeth,” he said after several miles had passed. “I was much surprised to see you this morning.”

Elizabeth gritted her teeth at the address, but he could use her Christian name freely now that he was married to Lydia. “It is a simple matter, Mr. Wickham. My aunt requested that I come to Town to help care for her children, since she was distracted by the distressing matter of locating my sister. Once Lydia was found, it was only natural that I should stand up with her.”

Lydia grumbled something under her breath, likely that Kitty would have been preferred. “I did not think you were so close to Lydia,” Wickham said. Perhaps he had heard the entire comment, sitting next to Lydia as he was.

“I am not,” Elizabeth agreed frankly. “But we were not overly concerned with Lydia’s preferences, only her safety and wellbeing and that of the Gardiner children. Jane was needed at home with my mother; as the second oldest I was the natural choice to assist my aunt.”

“Phooey,” Lydia said. “Everyone knows Aunt Gardiner likes you best. Why else would she and Uncle take you on vacation and not the rest of us? You don’t even like our cousins as much as Kitty does, and I have always dreamed of her standing up with me.”

Did Kitty like the Gardiner children? Elizabeth couldn’t say she had ever noticed, but before she could respond Mr. Wickham seized the other piece of information Lydia had offered. “You vacationed in Derbyshire, is that correct?” Lydia must have told him about the trip previously, since Elizabeth couldn’t image that Mr. Darcy would have done so.

“We visited the Peak District. Derbyshire was one of the counties we saw.” Where was he going with this, and how much would she have to lie?

“And how did you find it?”

“Very beautiful,” Elizabeth responded truthfully.

“Did you see Pemberley?”

“We did.”

“I wondered.” He paused, and Elizabeth hoped for another comment or question on the house or grounds. But Wickham went on, “You did not seem surprised to see Mr. Darcy. I was far more shocked when he arrived on our doorstep.” The last was accompanied by a look for Lydia and a rub of her arm that made Elizabeth blush and Lydia smile.

Elizabeth swallowed her revulsion and forced herself to remain calm, as if the subject did not matter much to her.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.