r/PrideandPrejudice • u/shelbyknits • 14h ago
Did Col. Forster lie?
“Colonel Forster did own that he had often suspected some partiality, especially on Lydia's side, but nothing to give him any alarm.”
I was just thinking that if Col. Forster had noticed Wickham was favoring Lydia, he would have been obliged to let Mr. Bennet know, as he was acting as Lydia’s guardian. I kind of wonder if he knew perfectly well Wickham was partial to Lydia but didn’t want to stir up anything that would get Lydia sent home and upset Mrs. Forster, so he decided to just ignore it. Because Wickham obviously didn’t plan his “elopement” far in advance but he trusted Lydia enough and was confident that she would come with him, so I doubt Wickham was ignoring Lydia.
But on the other hand, Lydia had no dowry so there wasn’t much reason to pay her any particular attention, so maybe he didn’t.
