Pride and Prejudice (The Wild and Wanton Edition) by Annabella Bloom

returning till I am better. They insist also on my seeing Mr. Jones. Therefore do not be alarmed if you should hear of his having been to me, and, except a sore throat and headache, there is not much the matter with me. Yours, Jane.”
    “Well, my dear,” said Mr. Bennet, “if your daughter should die, it would be a comfort to know that it was in pursuit of Mr. Bingley.”
    “People do not die of little trifling colds. She will be taken good care of. As long as she stays there, it is all very well. I would go and see her, if I could have the carriage.”
    Elizabeth, feeling really anxious, was determined to go, though the carriage was not to be had. As she was no horsewoman, walking was her only alternative. She declared her resolution.
    “How can you be so silly,” cried her mother, “as to think of such a thing, in all this dirt? You will not be fit to be seen when you get there.”
    “I shall be very fit to see Jane, which is all I want.”
    “Is this a hint to me, Lizzy,” said her father, “to send for the horses.”
    “No, indeed, I do not wish to avoid the walk. The distance is nothing when one has a motive; only three miles. I shall be back by dinner.”
    “I admire the activity of your benevolence,” observed Mary, “but every impulse of feeling should be guided by reason.”
    “We will go as far as Meryton with you,” said Catherine and Lydia. Elizabeth accepted their company, and the three young ladies set off together.
    “If we make haste,” Lydia said, as they walked along, “perhaps we may see something of Captain Carter before he goes.”
    Near Meryton they parted. The two youngest continued into town with the plan that they were to walk along the main street, before repairing to the lodgings of one of the officers’ wives. Kitty hoped to see if their favorite shop carried new ribbons. Lydia had every intention of finding a replacement for Mr. Daniels. He had bowed to her once while in town, but she had not the slightest interest in him now that there were officers to be had. She knew he would dare no more than that, and chose to think of him no more. Seeing a private named Sykes nearby in his regimentals, she knew she had found her latest target. An overly ambitious young man, he would not want a scandal attached to his name, nor did he seem to be in the market for a wife. Rumor had him set to be engaged to a daughter of a family friend whom he had never met. Still more, there was a coarseness to his manners that were in great want of breeding. And, to make him perfect, he was not to stay in Meryton for long, a week at most.
    Losing Kitty would prove no easy task, for her sister liked to stay close to her side. Luckily, though, Sykes did not miss the subtleties of her flirting, nor the practiced lick of her mouth and it was not long before his responses were more than she could hope for. She pointed Kitty to the far end of the store to discover the most perfect of green ribbons amongst the many, knowing her sister would never discover that which did not exist. Then, with Sykes walking at an artful distance, she led him away, through the narrow side streets where no one would venture during that time of day.
    Leaning against a tight inlet between two ill fitted buildings, she waited for him to pass by. The moment that she saw him, she bid him to her with a giggle. He came, hesitating as he glanced back and forth through the alley.
    “It is true you are to leave soon?” she asked with a bat of her lashes.
    He replied that it was.
    “But you have only just arrived here, and I was so looking forward to having you at the next ball.” Lydia parted her lips, liking the way he looked at them. When he began to answer, she grabbed him by his shirt collar and jerked him around so that he was fitted into the tight space. “I suppose that I must simply settle on having you now.”
    Unlike the others, she found no reason to pretend she was innocent. The perfection in such a lover was that he was