Free Lydia by Natasha Farrant Page B

her tell her companion as I ran on. Harriet says Wickham is a scoundrel, but what has he done, really? Miss King is rich and ugly, and he is handsome and poor. It is just the way of the world, as Lizzy would say. I wonder what she will think when she hears the news. Even if Wickham is “not the sort you marry”, she must be pleased. I am going to write to tell her – no, it is only a week until she returns. I am going to wait, and tell her to her face. How happy it will make her, and what a jolly spring and summer we shall have now that we are all friends again!
    That is what I was thinking as I scribbled away happily in bed. Then I became aware of Kitty sniffling beside me, and put down my pencil to ask what was the matter.
    â€œThey’re leaving!” Kitty sobbed. “The whole regiment! Harriet told me tonight. They are leaving by the end of the month for their summer quarters in Brighton! Harriet says they may never return.”
    Leaving? The whole regiment?
    â€œSurely you are mistaken,” I said. “Surely Wickham . . . one of them would have said something. Why did no one say anything?”
    â€œOnly the colonel and Harriet know. He received the orders today, and is to tell the men tomorrow. I asked Harriet if I could go with her, and she said she would speak to the colonel.” Kitty was coughing now, the way she always does after crying. “But what if he says no?”
    Kitty, go to Brighton, and not me? I could not letthat happen!
    â€œMaria’s cousin went to Brighton last year,” she sniffed. “Do you remember?”
    â€œWe should all go!” I said. “We should tell Father we want to go for the summer. We’ll say it’s for your cough. Seawater is the best thing for coughs – everyone knows that. Mamma will back us up.”
    â€œBut will Father agree?”
    â€œHe’ll have to.” I lay on my back, staring at the ceiling. “Just think, Kitty. Us, in Brighton! Sea-bathing, and walking along the beach.”
    â€œMaria’s cousin said . . . the dearest little shops . . .” Kitty was beginning to drift into sleep, still coughing gently. “And monstrous smart assemblies . . .”
    I will catch Mamma as she is dressing in the morning, and make her speak to Father straight after breakfast. He is always most amiable when he has eaten. Brighton! I shan’t tell Wick-ham we are going. What a surprise that will be! We shall have a chance meeting, on a cliff, or perhaps a beach, or at a ball . . . Yes, a ball, so that we can dance. We shall have a chance meeting, and he will say, “Why, Miss Lydia, how well the sea air becomes you,” and perhaps we will go for that ride at last. We will gallop along the beach!
    How wonderful life is. Kitty’s coughs have turned to snores. I am going to sleep now, too.

Sunday, 17th May
    F ather said no, of course, despite Mamma pressing and me begging and Kitty coughing a great deal. He said, why should he go to such vast expense to entertain us, when all he wants is to stay at home? If we want to bathe, there is always the Waire.
    â€œThe Waire?” Mamma cried. “But Lydia nearly drowned in it when she was a child!”
    â€œYes, and it is such a little stream,” Father agreed. “Imagine the damage she could do herself in the English Channel.”
    â€œBut in Brighton there are attendants . . . the swimming is supervised . . . there is no risk to anyone!”
    Father said he would not change his mind, but Mamma has not given up.
    Lizzy and Jane are no help at all. They came home a few days ago, and were utterly unsympathetic to our cause. Kitty and I went to meet their coach in the hope of engaging their help for the Brighton project before they saw Father. I was so looking forward to seeing them – especially Lizzy, to tell her about Miss King – but they showed not theslightest interest, not in the