(a short story in four (or more) parts)
Part One - How the Wickhams came to live on the Pemberley estate.
A year or two after the war, the Darcys and the Bingleys sat down with Mr. Bennet to discuss Lydia and Mr.Wickham. All were concerned both for Lydia's welfare and the family's respectability. During the war, Wickham's military career gave a certain structure to their lives and a semblance of discipline.
They could not quite live within their income but they did, in fact, come very close. Only a little help from her sisters was necessary for them to maintain the appearance of being both trustworthy and well-provided for.
After Wickham left the army, their manner of living became chaotic. Wickham was often at the local taverns, often drunk, often gambling and losing. Mrs. Wickham began to concentrate on being fashionably and expensively dressed. They spent more every year.
As they moved about the country, they would no sooner receive some little assistance from Jane or Elizabeth towards setting their bills in their former home, than they would begin accumulating more debts in their new one. They could not find or keep servants, and their everyday mode of living was degenerating with every move.
There were worse problems than extravagance and mismanagement. Wickham appeared to be away from home a great deal so that Lydia, never strong of mind, was left alone more than was good for her. And worse, they feared that there might be some mistreatment of poor Lydia.
No one, of course, could not discuss this possibility directly, but bruises had been seen on her arm. Mr. Wickham had been heard to raise his voice a little too high, and she had flinched and darted backwards from him in a way most out of character for the bold, determined younger sister they had loved even while disapproving of her behavior.
The little conference agreed that moving the couple to Hertfordshire would be a mistake. Mrs. Bennet could never bear that any limits be placed on Lydia or her handsome husband; she would probably encourage rather than help curb their wild behavior.
Mr. Bingley suggested finding a house for them on his estate as he had for the Hursts, but after some discussion, all five acknowledged that the Wickhams could put more energy and determination into doing wrong than the Bingleys could into managing them.
Finally, it was reluctantly agreed that the Wickhams must move to Derbyshire. A house, Derby-Glen, about three miles from Pemberley House and two miles from Lambton, was found for them, and prepared, arranged, and furnished by Lydia's older sisters.
Servants were hired and trained, to be paid and supervised by Pemberley House and promised jobs at that house if they could complete a full year at Derby-Glen. Trades people in Lambton were told to extend no credit to the Wickhams, advice hardly necessary in a town were Mr. Wickham was so well known.
The Wickhams arrived at their new home without funds and without horses of their own, but full of joy and confidence. They were encouraged to send to the great house for anything they needed. Lydia had visions of being part of an elegant social life at Lizzy's new home, while Wickham felt he had won a great victory: to live almost entirely at Darcy's expense.
Wickham set out cheerfully to acquire horses and was shocked to learn that he could not purchase a horse in his home county without cash; and even more surprised to discover, when he attempted to borrow horses from Pemberley Stables, that the family in Pemberley House did not understand his need for a horse at all.
"It cannot be much longer, Mr. Wickham," said the old stable master politely, "before your next monies come to you. Meantime, everything you need is within an easy walk for you. Or, send a servant, if you do not like to walk."
As for the offer of supplies from the great house, the Wickhams soon found that there was a serious disagreement between the two houses about exactly what might be needed at the Derby-Glen. Wickham might send for a dozen bottles of wine and receive only two.
Lydia might ask for ten yards of blue silk, and would receive instead questions as to how she planned to use it, how much she actually needed to make the dress or curtain the window or whatever and would eventually get three yards which was enough to make the dress and trim a matching bonnet but was no where near as much fun as having ten yards.
The Wickhams could walk to Lambton easily, but with no funds, they could buy nothing, they could not eat at the inn, they could not drink at the tavern. They could walk to Pemberley House, but found there was seldom any pleasure to be had there. There was much reading and music but little wine or company.
Darcy, for Georgiana's sake, would not invite them to dine, and in fact neither Darcy nor his sister would stay in the same room with them for more than a few minutes.
Lydia lost her small claim to Darcy's respect when she explained to him, quite seriously, that she thought it was time that Miss Darcy accepted Mr. Wickham's marriage and get over her broken heart. Back at Derby-Glen, Lydia paid the price of her husband's anger for the look of sheer disgust that he had received from Mr. Darcy on that occasion.
About three months after the move to Derby-Glen, Mr. Wickham was seen strolling listlessly near the village and was heard to utter the first sincere philosophical phrase of his life: "Be very careful what you wish for, because you may get it!"
Part Two - Introducing Aunt Bertie
Now I begin the challenge of making you adore Auntie Bertie in 1000 words or less. She is a really neat lady: as optimistic and cheerful and energetic at 83 as I was at 20, and she has more common sense than anyone else I know. One hour with her is worth three with a shrink.
All her life she has been pretty and funny, and always, it seems, enjoying every minute of every day. She has born on a farm near Hamilton, Ontario and grew up in the shadow of the roaring twenties, sure she was destined for adventure as soon as she finished the chore of growing up.
She was first of her friends to try to bicycle across the American border, astonishing the various clerks in the government offices who looked up to see a 10-year old on a bike declare herself entering the country on a pleasure trip. Likewise, she was the first to attempt to paddle a canoe across Lake Ontario - or at least the first to get more than 50 feet from shore. This was dangerous and foolhardy but something that every one of Bertie's friends had to try at least once. And of course she was the first to learn the Charleston.
On a recent visit, Auntie Bertie told me the plans she made as a teenager - two years in Europe, then college in Montreal, a journalism career, then marriage and children. She had saved for the boat fare, learned her French, and was ready to pack her bags. But Bertie could not plan around the Great Depression which hit less than a year before the proposed trip.
The popular wisdom among parents at the time was that college was a safe place for the young people until 'things got better'. Bertie held out for Paris, but her parents refused to allow it. The long planned 'year abroad' was postponed in favor of college - and not four hundred miles away with a new language but practically in her own back yard. "My dear," she says to me, "instead of going to Paris or Montreal, I was going to be a barter student right up the road in Hamilton. It would be like being back in high school."
Bartering between colleges and farm families, with school expenses being paid in farm products, had always been practiced on a small scale. As the depression deepened, no one had much cash any more, and colleges were struggling along with every one else. They gladly accepted students from farm families who could bring fresh food as payment for room and board and tuition.
Bertie talked her parents into Quelph college, about 150 miles away by train, reminding them of the Paris money which could be used for part of the expenses. Her shame at being a 'barter student' lasted less than a day. Everyone was broke at college, and the bartering deals, once the last resort of the very needy, now raised the student to practically the status of landed gentry. The farms would be there next year, and the barter students were more confident of being able to continue their studies than those relying of money from other sources.
Journalism, glamorous journalism, was not an option for a woman whose family expected increased earning power from the college years, so Auntie Bertie studied to be a teacher. She would have headed straight for Quebec with her new certificate, but her parents were still afraid to have her that far from home. "Outsiders get fired first," they repeated every time she brought the subject up, and finally reluctantly, she decided to teach in Hamilton.
The End.....So Far