And now here’s Mr. Bennet gone away, and I know he will fight Wickham, wherever he meets him; and then he will be killed, and what is to become of us all? The Collinses will turn us out before he is cold in his grave, and if you are not kind to us, brother, I do not know what we shall do.
– Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 47. Mrs. Bennet pleads with her brother Mr. Bennet for help after Lydia’s flight to London with Wickham. Otherwise Mr. Bennet will be killed when he fights Wickham and the Collinses will evict them from Longbourn and they will be homeless, she warns.