P&P The Untold Stories: Lydia Goes to Meryton by Diana Birchall

Lydia goes to Meryton to flirt with the officers

November 12, 1811

At Meryton, Lizzy left her younger sisters near the lodgings of one of the officer’s wives, Mrs. Pratt, and crossed the road to walk through the fields leading toward Netherfield, where Jane lay ill.

“Isn’t she a silly to go,” said Lydia, “slopping through the mud just to see Jane with a cold, which she might see any day at home, if any of us had colds.”

“Yes,” Kitty agreed, “and to go to Netherfield, where it is so dull. There ...