Civil Contract Part IV

 Adam is adjusting to married life, but he still feels love for Julia, and feels guilty that he had to leave her, because while Julia meets him at times at social gatherings, and acts with politeness, it is obvious to him that she still cares for him.  Even if she is over emotional, her love is genuine.  He notes that she has acquired a new suitor, the Marquis of Rockhill, who is many years her senior and a widower. 

Jenny hopes that Julia's romance with Lord Rockhill will come to fruition because she loves Adam and cant bear to see him being unhappy.  She is also still fond of Julia.  She is settling into married life, and has become friends with her 2 sisters in law, Lydia and Charlotte, especially the lively Lydia.  Mr Chawleigh is also fond of Lydia, who is still immature but has a zest for life that pleases him.  When she comes to stay with Jenny he takes her out, because she is not yet out in Society and can't go to parties.  Jenny is pleased that her father seems to be a favorite with Lydia... but she frets a little that Adam while kind and affectionate, still keeps her a little at a distance.  

During Lydia's visit, the couple and their friends go to see the Czar and other notables go in procession to the City for a lunch to celebrate the victory over Napoleon and Adam notices that his wife is looking ill.  He asks what's wrong and she tells him that she is pregnant.  However, she does not want to tell her father for a while because she knows that he will fuss, as her mother died in childbirth.  Adam thinks she is foolish to try and keep it a secret from someone as shrewd as Mr Chawleigh, but he can't persuade her... and she tells him that with the Season almost over, she would like to go to Fontley.  She has realized since her marriage that she likes country life;  her mother was a farmer's daughter, and she feels that she can learn about farming and country housekeeping and be more useful at Fontley than she can be in London.  However, Adam finds it hard to believe that she will like winter life in the country, and Mr Chawleigh sees country estates as status symbols for the upper classes and can't believe anyone would really choose to live outside London.