For the Love of a Bennet Chapter 8

“Lizzy—” Lydia moaned sleepily, as she stumbled out of the tent the two sisters had shared next to the Forsters. The Colonel had long left his camp bed to order the troop movements and oversee breaking camp. Mrs. Forster had left shortly after to see to the needs and assignments for the other officer wives traveling with them. “La! Everyone is always so busy!” Lydia remarked as she stretched and looked around her.

Elizabeth clucked her tongue and tucked her shawl securely under her arms as she reached up to button the last fastening on the back of Lydia’s gown that she had missed.

“Would you fetch your Spencer? You are not decent to be out,” Elizabeth scolded, as her sister was not in her dressing gown, thankfully. But her choice of a white frock for the day made her décolletage look improper in the meager dawnlight.

“You don’t have a Spencer,” she countered.

Elizabeth lifted her shawl to reveal a plain earth brown frock made of solid calico. “Then put on your walking gown and put the silk away. Honestly, Lydia, we still have the dust of the road to contend with, at least five more miles! Do you wish to ruin such a lovely gown?”

“But I wanted to arrive looking my best!” she whined. Elizabeth pointed her finger at the tent and left her sister no option but to re-enter. Lydia stalked off with a low grumble.

“Yoohoo!” Mrs. Forster said, returning with her friend, Mrs. Warrender, the wife of Lieutenant-Colonel Warrender, commander of a regiment that had ridden out to meet Forster’s battalion. To Elizabeth’s dread, two lieutenants in Colonel Forster’s regiment accompanied them: Mr. Wickham and Mr. Denny.

“Miss Bennet, has Miss Lydia awakened?” Mrs. Forster asked, brightly, and Elizabeth nodded.

“Yes, and our trunks are packed. We are ready to depart. I am eager to reach our lodgings at the Preston Barracks,” Elizabeth explained, and Mrs. Warrender shook her head with a chuckle. 

“Right-o, fetch the trunks, gentlemen, if you would,” the woman ordered and Elizabeth stepped directly in their way.

“A moment, if you please, my sister is still readying herself in our tent,” Elizabeth explained, disliking the smirks both officers couldn’t hide at such intelligence.

“Silly me, I forgot there are two of you! And you shall not stay in the barracks, my dear. I couldn’t possibly allow those dreadful arrangements to stand when I heard Mrs. Forster was bringing her friend from Hertfordshire! The old colonel will have to make use of his horse,” the woman paused to share a knowing look with her friend. “But I said for my friend Harriet, only the best! The Forsters must be next to the Warrenders and Lennoxes, right on Kings Road!” Mrs. Warrender said, and Elizabeth slowly nodded to be polite, but she had no idea what this new woman was talking about.

“Forgive me, this is Mrs. Maryann Warrender, who brought her carriage from Brighton just to catch me this morning.” Mrs. Forster made the hasty introduction. “But it is true, she conspired with Penelope and Persephone, and now we are staying at the seaside! It’s such a great honor!”

“Nonsense! The terror is how long you poor dears have been traveling!”

“There’s our luck, Wickham,” Denny teased his friend, earning a curious look from the two married women present.

“Your luck, sir?” Mrs. Warrender asked.

Denny blushed. “Only that Miss Bennet and Miss Lydia were bright spirits at many dinners and dances in Meryton. If they will be as far as the seaside, I fear we shall not see them as often.”

Elizabeth frowned as she held no inclination to see Mr. Wickham at all. If Mr. Denny were part and parcel to the presence of the former, she had not a care to see him, either. But to the two married women, such flirtatious words were a happy circumstance.

Elizabeth watched as Mrs. Warrender reassured both gentlemen that there would be plenty of diversions for their unit on King’s Road after their training as Lydia finally reemerged from the tent.

“There! Are you satisfied now—” she stopped her angry retort short when she noticed the new company. Immediately, she changed her tone to a conciliatory one. “Good morning, Lieutenant Wickham,” she said, batting her eyelashes and giggling. When he tilted his head to his ally, Mrs. Warrender, Lydia turned her attention to the new friend of Mrs. Forster’s. “I’m Miss Lydia Bennet,” she said, dropping to a slight curtsy.

“Mrs. Maryann Warrender, at your service,” the stranger introduced herself to more giggles, this time from Lydia and Mrs. Forster, but returned the head nod.

“Indeed, Mrs. Warrender has seen that we are moved to Kings Road, directly seaside in our lodgings,” Elizabeth explained to her tardy sister, suddenly recalling the map she had studied in her book. “Shall we be close to the Old Steine Gardens?” she asked.

Mrs. Warrender leaned in conspiratorially after dispatching the lieutenants to their duty. “Just two blocks away. And Mrs. Fitzherbert is in residence this summer at Steine House. We shall have so many glorious diversions,” she said, clapping her hands to applaud their small triumph, drowned out as a small group of soldiers in full uniform trampled by in a double-march to meet their brothers in arms. The ground around them was quickly losing its sturdiness as the dew and many feet turned the main through-fare of camp into a sludgy, muddy mess.

“Lydia, perhaps you should put on your boots,” Elizabeth remarked, as Mr. Wickham and Mr. Denny re-emerged from the tent, a trunk each on their backs. “Wouldn’t a private or footman be more appropriate?” Elizabeth asked, suddenly struck by the odd efforts of officers to carry ladies’ trunks.

“And trust a lowly private or footman with Miss Lydia’s personal belongings? You must be more careful, Miss Bennet, an army camp is no place to risk one’s favorite items to hands that would lessen your load with no remorse,” Mr. Wickham explained, to the approval of Mrs. Warrender and Mrs. Forster.

“Come, we shall have your things added to my carriage and be off,” she said to Mrs. Forster. “We can allow the sisters to ride just the two of them in your carriage, and get home in plenty of time to rest and prepare ourselves for this evening.” Mrs. Warrender issued orders like the practiced officer wife she was.

“Why? What is planned for this evening?” Lydia asked, trying to keep up with the conversation, but understanding the development to be a good one. Ignoring her sister was only a mild positive addition. “And who is Mrs. Fitzherbert? I shall be glad to make her acquaintance,” she said, off-handedly.

Mrs. Warrender suddenly stopped in her movement to call over the young private assigned to the Colonel’s family as a sort of footman.

“My dear, one does not make acquaintances with Mrs. Fitzherbert,” Mrs. Warrender started, bewildered that Lydia knew nothing of the current politics of the Crown.

“I shall explain this matter to my sister in the carriage. But you mentioned an engagement for this evening? After all of our travel, we can’t be expected—” Elizabeth was cut off by Mrs. Forster gently placing a hand upon Elizabeth’s arm before her friend Mrs. Warrender could feel further offense.

“Oh, we shall arrive with plenty of time to rest. But it is tradition for a large fete the night a new regiment arrives. There will be a dinner and dancing at the Old Ship Inn in the assembly rooms.” Mrs. Forster received a well-earned nod of respect from Mrs. Warrender. Even though Mrs. Forster’s husband outranked Mrs. Warrender’s husband, the latter held more years as an army officer rank and had taken Mrs. Forster under her tutelage. The two Bennet sisters were ushered to the waiting carriages.

As Elizabeth boarded the carriage she had previously ridden in with Mrs. Forster and Lydia, at the last minute, Lydia pulled a stunt.

“Lizzy, why don’t you ride alone and rest and I shall ride with Mrs. Forster and Mrs. Warrender,” she said, to the amiable responses of the two officer wives.

Elizabeth felt uneasy, as they had not even stepped foot into Brighton proper, and Lydia was already pushing to separate. As though she sensed the protectiveness of an elder sister, Mrs. Forster reached out for Elizabeth’s hand and squeezed it.

“She shall be fine with me. And your carriage will be directly behind us.”

Trusting Mrs. Forster, Elizabeth agreed and felt slightly relieved to ride alone for the last leg of the journey. She could read and rest in peace. Additionally, she would be spared what she imagined would be a very irritating show of antics by her sister to impress the new and interesting Mrs. Warrender.

For the first time since she had agreed to come and protect Lydia, Elizabeth slightly regretted her decision and felt homesick. She also wondered what their sister Jane was doing. She resolved to think about a letter to her elder sister as soon as they arrived in Brighton. From the way Mrs. Warrender took charge, it felt like once they were in Brighton, there would not be a moment’s peace to be had!