As Mrs. Hill had predicted, Mrs. Forster was soon experiencing not only morning sickness but also afternoon sickness and evening sickness, and it was not sitting well with Lydia. She was tired of holding her friend’s hand, soothing her brow, and fetching her broth. Even the weather was conspiring against her as it rained nearly every day. She wanted to go out to the shops and to go dancing and to forget about the ailing Mrs. Forster, but Colonel Forster was making that difficult because he kept thanking Lydia for being such a faithful friend to his wife.
Faithful friend or not, after a week of reading to Mrs. Forster, Lydia had had enough, and the complaints began. Lydia griped to Mrs. Forster, and Mrs. Forster grumbled to the colonel.
“I invited Lydia to come to Brighton because she was my most particular friend, but it seems my condition has proved to be an inconvenience to her. She goes on and on about the weather as if I had some control over how many rainy days we have had since our arrival. Yesterday, when the rain stopped, she grabbed her cloak, and without so much as a by your leave, was out the door and off to the shops. She had given me warning that she would do just that, but even so, I thought it very rude when she actually did it.”
It was at times like this that Colonel Forster wondered why he had given up the benefits of bachelorhood to marry a woman who was half his age and in need of constant entertainment.
“Harriet, my dear, I have been told by Mrs. Miller, who knows a lot about these things, that the discomfort you are currently experiencing will pass. In the meantime, why should Miss Lydia not go out to these evening events, which you cannot enjoy at this particular time, especially since you retire so early?”
“I think Lydia should go home. If she does not wish to provide some comfort to her friend, why should she stay here?”
“I cannot agree to that,” Colonel Forster said emphatically. “It was you who insisted that Miss Lydia come for at least six weeks, and it is not even a full month yet. We must keep to our original agreement, but I will speak to our guest and see if a compromise can be reached.”
There was a compromise. Lydia promised Harriet that she would spend each afternoon with her; in return, Lydia would be allowed to go to the evening entertainments. As a result, once again, Mrs. Forster and her particular friend became as close as sisters. Each day, some amusement was arranged for Lydia and Harriet. One afternoon, the regiment’s piper came and played tunes; the next day, the two ladies laughed and giggled while they and their friends played at charades; and on the third day, two officers came to join them in a game of casino. One was a Lieutenant Edgar Fuller, and the other, Lieutenant George Wickham.
The request to attend Mrs. Forster’s card parties had not come as a complete surprise to Wickham. Two weeks earlier, Lieutenant Fuller and he had encountered the colonel’s wife coming out of a stationery store on King’s Road accompanied by Lydia Bennet, who Wickham knew to be a hopeless flirt. While in Meryton, he had paid her scant attention because of her age and her inability to hold a thought in her head for more than one minute. He much preferred her older sister, Elizabeth, who was not only very pretty but who also displayed a gift for repartee that he enjoyed. Verbal fencing was often a prelude to sex.
When his engagement with Mary King came to nothing because her family had whisked her off to Liverpool, Wickham attempted to resurrect his friendship with Miss Elizabeth, but his reception had been cool at best. When he learned that she had visited with Mr. Darcy in Kent, he understood the reason for her indifference. Darcy had obviously shared the story of his attempted elopement with Georgiana Darcy, and with that, any hope of an affair with the dark-eyed beauty evaporated.
When Captain Wilcox came into the officers’ mess to tell Wickham and Fuller of their new assignment, he found them slumped in their chairs discussing how their poverty had forced them into a profession they both despised.
“I have a change of duty for you two,” Captain Wilcox said. “Oh, don’t look alarmed. It seems Colonel Forster’s wife is bored and is in need of entertainment. Apparently, you became acquainted with the lady while the militia was encamped in Meryton. You must have put on a good show because you were asked for by name. All you two reprobates have to do is play cards with Mrs. Forster and her guests. It also serves the purpose of keeping both of you away from the gaming tables. It is no secret that each of you has debts of honor to settle. This will put you out of range of the other officers for a few days. They will not dare approach you while you are amusing the colonel’s missus.”
The captain started to leave but then returned. “A word of caution, Wickham. You’re a handsome bugger, and I’ve seen you at work. You are to use your talents with the ladies only insofar as to flatter and flirt. You are to have no contact with any guest of the colonel outside of the colonel’s residence. Keep your cock in your breeches. Is that clear enough for you?”
“Perfectly clear,” Wickham said, smiling.
After the captain had left, Fuller let out his anger. “We should have told him to bugger off. The colonel knobs his wife, and we’re supposed to amuse her?”
“Don’t be an imbecile, Fuller. All that is required is that we play cards with Mrs. Forster and her friends. In return, we dine at their expense, drink Madeira, sit by a warm fire, and ingratiate ourselves with the colonel. Mrs. Forster is pleasant to look at, and if her guests are equally attractive, then it will be an improvement over the ugly mugs we have to look at around here.”
Wickham was willing to do anything that would free him from the endless maneuvers and parades he had endured since arriving in Brighton. And although Lydia Bennet was wholly incapable of offering Wickham the intellectual stimulation he enjoyed, the lady had other attractions to offer, and he might be the very one who could convince her to share them.