Free Consequences by C.P. Odom

dance with him at the next ball we meet, with great pleasure. I shall send for my clothes when I get to Longbourn; but I wish you would tell Sally to mend a great slit in my worked muslin gown before they are packed up. Good-bye. Give my love to Colonel Forster. I hope you will drink to our good journey.
    Your affectionate friend,
Lydia Bennet
    “Oh, thoughtless, thoughtless Lydia!” Elizabeth cried when she finished it. “What a letter this is, to be written at such a moment!”
    At least the note showed Lydia evidently believed marriage was the object of her journey with Mr. Wickham. That provided little solace, however, since Jane soon related the manner in which the express was delivered and the reaction of her mother, which had put the whole house in an uproar and undoubtedly informed all the servants of the entire story. Elizabeth shook her head morosely at the hopelessness of the situation after Jane recounted the little she knew of her father’s intentions toward recovering his daughter.
    ***
    Sunday, August 9 to Friday, August 14, 1812
    The next morning was Sunday, and Mr. Gardiner planned to join his brother in London. Accordingly, he waited only until the post arrived without a single line, and then he set off, promising he would prevail on Mr. Bennet to return to Longbourn as soon as he could. When he was gone, the family was at least assured of information, as Mr. Bennet was well known to be a most negligent and dilatory correspondent. Mrs. Gardiner stayed behind with the children for at least a few days longer in order to provide what support she could for her nieces, even if she could provide little to her sister.
    However, while Mr. Gardiner did indeed provide information from town, the information he provided was almost wholly dreadful. All the principal hotels had been queried with no news of Wickham, and his inquiries to Colonel Forster about relatives and friends elicited the response that Wickham did not appear to have a single relation with whom he maintained a connection. As for friends, either in the regiment or in town, he appeared to have numerous acquaintances but no one with whom he was on terms of particular friendship.
    The news from Meryton was equally bad, much of it being brought by their Aunt Philips on her frequent visits. Three months before, Mr. Wickham appeared a veritable angel of light. To Jane’s dismay, he was now declared to be in debt to every tradesman in the town and likewise guilty of having attempted the seduction of all their daughters. Colonel Forster provided similar information since it transpired that, in addition to his other debts in Brighton, Wickham left gaming debts among the regiment’s officers amounting to more than a thousand pounds. By this time, Elizabeth lost all hope of avoiding her sister’s ruin, and even Jane, who believed even less of the news from Meryton than Elizabeth, became near to hopeless. It was obvious the shameful state of Wickham’s finances gave him a very powerful motive for remaining hidden from his creditors, due to the threat of debtor’s prison. She did not know what punishments the Army might impose for his desertion of his regiment, though they could not be inconsiderable, given the continuing war with France.
    On Wednesday a letter arrived from Mr. Collins to Mr. Bennet, which Jane read, as her father authorized her to open all his mail in his absence. Elizabeth read it over Jane’s shoulder, for she knew what curiosities his letters were, and she thought to find a moment’s amusement. But she found little to divert her as the letter was replete with self-righteous pontifications, advising her father to throw off his wayward child forever and declaiming the ruin of the family. In addition, she felt her stomach clench when she read that portion of the letter proclaiming Lady Catherine and her daughter had been informed of all particulars of the scandal and joined with him in their opinion.
    There is little hope Mr. Darcy will