The Elizabeth Papers by Jenetta James

fits of temper, then I shall move you to the other end of the corridor. And if you are rude to the maids, then you can attend to yourself. My goodness, we have done everything to make you comfortable, but you have to start behaving like a reasonable creature.”
    “Well, there is nothing reasonable about that dress, Lizzy. It is full black, and look at that thing that she has put in across the chest. I shall look like I am in holy orders!”
    “You will not look anything of the sort. You will look like a respectable widow because that is what you are. I wore that dress to Rosings when Lady Catherine died, and it is lovely fabric. It was very costly, and the cut is beautiful. I have said that you can have some lace to make it more suitable for the evening. I want you to feel attractive, Lydia, but I will not have you dressing up in all colours and revealing yourself to Fitzwilliam’s relations. It is unseemly—”
    “Oh, Lizzy, to hear you go on so, one would think that Wickham had only just died. It has been eight months, and I am sure that he would not like to think of me in that dreadful thing. Look at it. That style went out with the ark—and why should I be covered to the neck? If Wickham were here, he would be fighting for me to at least wear grey, Lizzy.”
    Her eyes were pleading, and she thrust forward the top half of her body. It was as if we were back at Longbourn and she was a girl of fifteen. I thought in that moment of how young she actually was in mind and in body, and I could not be too harsh with her.
    “Very well, I shall offer you a bargain, Lydia. But you have to keep your side, is that understood?”
    “Yes, Lizzy.”
    “Well. You may lower the panel by a couple of inches and have a grey sash so that it is not completely black. I have a single back pearl for your neck to dress it a bit. If you wear it like that, you will feel a little more adorned. But if I allow that, Lydia, please show a little more restraint. Especially in front of Mr. Darcy . Try to talk a little less and a little less loudly. When Lord and Lady Matlock come to dinner tonight, try to recall that they are much your elders. Can you do that for me?”
    She looked to stifle a smirk but then thought the better of it.
    “Yes, Lizzy, I can do that. It is a bargain. I shall not let you down.”
    “Thank you. And can you try to be quieter in the mornings? You never used to get up this early at home.”
    I recalled how I was always up for a walk before breakfast at Longbourn while my sisters had to be jostled out of bed. Lydia had never been a girl to be awake at the break of dawn, and I could not account for her.
    “Yes, you shall not know I am here. I shall be like a widowed mouse!” She tilted her head and laughed. I gathered my shawl about my shoulders, and as I turned to leave, she bellowed from her dressing table, “But Lizzy! What about shoes?”
    At length, and somehow already weary, I returned to my chamber to find an empty space in the bed in place of Fitzwilliam.
    It had been, I reflected, an exhausting three weeks. Lydia, since the death of her husband, had spent four months at Longbourn with our parents and three months with Jane and Mr. Bingley at their estate at Bollington. She had, I believe, been somewhat of a trial to all of them, and I did not feel that I could resist having her as a guest any longer. Fitzwilliam had said my sister was welcome. I reasoned that it would be diverting for the girls to have their aunt Lydia present. I had not seen my sister for over two years, and mayhap I had forgotten her talent for drama. When she arrived, she hardly stopped talking for a week. Being trapped in a carriage for three days is quite against Lydia’s disposition, and she took out this deprivation on Fitzwilliam and me. She wittered in my sitting room during the day, and our nuncheon and dinner were dominated by her monologues on fashion and acquaintances. Of her late husband, she spoke at length, recalling his past