Page 160 of The Long Road Back to Yesterday

“How very odd. I wonder why she should invite you now.”

“She says Uncle Edward is away in Kent and she would enjoy our company.”

Lydia abandoned the ribbon she had been showing Kitty. “How long may we stay?”

“Aunt says several weeks.”

“Several weeks!” Mrs. Bennet lowered the letter. “Certainly not. The militia may be gone before you return.”

Lydia's excitement vanished. “Oh, Mamma! I have but just met the Lieutenant. He will have forgotten me if I leave now.”

“Mamma,” Elizabeth said, “the officers will be here for some time yet.”

“That is not the point. Lydia has every opportunity of making a good match while the regiment is here. I will not send her away just when so many officers are beginning to notice her.”

Jane looked at her mother. “But Mamma, are they able to support a wife? Why are none of them married?”

Mr. Bennet lowered his newspaper.

Mrs. Bennet stared at Jane. “What a question.”

“It is a sensible one,” Mr. Bennet said. “I am gratified by your discernment, Jane. An officer who intends to marry would be wise to keep one eye upon the lady and the other upon her fortune. A red coat does not pay for a household.”

Mrs. Bennet frowned. “Colonel Forster is married.”

“Colonel Forster can afford to be.”

“Then perhaps some of the others can as well.”

“Perhaps, Mrs. Bennet, and perhaps not. If your object is to marry off your daughters, London seems at least as promising as Meryton. I should think you would be delighted to send two of them to your sister.”

“I am not going,” Lydia declared.

Mr. Bennet looked over the top of his newspaper.

“I met the most handsome gentleman in Meryton, Papa, and I will not go away before I have had a chance to attach him.”

One of Mr. Bennet's brows rose. “Indeed? Who is this gentleman, and why am I only now hearing of him?”

“Mr. Wickham. He has just joined the militia. Lieutenant Wickham.”

“You see, Mr. Bennet? It would be cruel to send her away now. Lydia is very pretty, and if this Mr. Wickham has already noticed her, there is no telling what may come of it.”

“He has noticed all of us, Mamma,” Jane said. “We were introduced only a few days ago.”

“Papa, he is at least thirty years old. What would a grown man want with a child?” Elizabeth asked.

“Lizzy, you are jealous because he paid you no mind. He is very handsome, Mamma, and was particularly charming to me.”

“He is particularly charming to everyone, but you were more forward with him than the rest of us,” Elizabeth said.

Lydia scowled at her. “You are only cross because he hardly spoke to you.”

Elizabeth did not answer.

Mr. Bennet folded his newspaper. “Lydia, I doubt three weeks in London will destroy your prospects with Lieutenant Wickham. If his attachment is so delicate that it cannot survive your absence, perhaps it is better tested now.”

“I do not want it tested.”