Page 1 of A Christmas Understanding

CHAPTER 1

Elizabeth Bennet loved her youngest sister, but she did not trust her.

Lydia was intervening with Mamma on Elizabeth’s behalf—but Lydia never intervened on someone else’s behalf without a reason.

“She does not want Mr. Collins, Mamma,” Lydia said. “Can you blame her? He is a dreadful bore, and Lizzy is anything but that.” She smiled and waggled her eyebrows at Elizabeth.

Elizabeth could not help but be suspicious.

“And he would be unhappy with her, for Lizzy is argumentative,” Lydia continued.

“I am not argumentative,” Elizabeth protested.

“You see?” Lydia asked Mamma.

Mr. Collins had proposed yesterday, and Elizabeth had refused him. Thankfully, Charlotte had extended an offer to the man for dinner, and he had been invited to remain overnight. He had not yet returned, another boon for which Elizabeth was thankful.

Her mother, however, was not pleased to be gainsaid by the daughter with whom she most often agreed. “But Lydia, dearest, one of you must. Jane will very soon be engaged, and Lizzy is the next daughter. It is only right that she think of her family⁠—”

“Mamma,” Lydia said, shaking her head. “Consider what would happen if she did marry Mr. Collins.”

All the girls shuddered, but Lydia was not finished.

“What will Lizzy do with Longbourn once she is mistress here?”

Elizabeth suspected Lydia was about to say something less than flattering.

“She will immediately take over the gardens, rearrange the stillroom, and ask Cook to spend less money on food and entertainments. She will set a dreadful table, Mamma.”

“She would say that two new gowns a year was more than enough,” Kitty added. “And not one of them a ballgown.”

“She is rather ungenerous,” Lydia said.

Elizabeth had refused to purchase a hair ribbon Lydia wanted the last time they had been in town, but she could not regret it now.

Encouraged, Kitty said, “And no new bonnets either, because she will say there is no need for a new one when the old can be retrimmed.”

“Can you not imagine it, Mamma?” Lydia asked.

“And she will even send Hill away!” Kitty declared, already quite prepared to defend the housekeeper against Elizabeth’s hypothetical tyranny.

“No,” Lydia said insistently, having already brought this part of the conversation to a close, “she would not do that.”

Kitty’s shoulders sagged, but then, that was Kitty. Always taking things one step too far because she never truly understood the rules of Lydia’s games.

Neither did Elizabeth, come to that. What was Lydia about?

“Well,” Mamma said. “I suppose⁠—”

“Precisely,” Lydia said, Kitty nodding vigorously beside her. “Lizzy would even take your seat at dinner and make you move out of the mistress’s chambers, would you not, Lizzy?”

Elizabeth startled. She had not realised that her opinion would be solicited for this conversation, and she had certainly never thought about Longbourn’s dinners or the mistress’s chamber, for she would never preside over either. “Well, I . . .”

Lydia glared at her.

She wished Jane were here to support Lydia’s efforts in a way that was less likely to cost Elizabeth her finest bonnet or her pocket allowance. But Jane had received a message from Netherfield and had gone upstairs to read it.

Despite her misgivings, it would not be telling a lie. She would never marry Mr. Collins, but she could imagine herself in that position and answer accordingly.