In Jane Austen’s novels, little children are usually heard rather than seen. They are reflections of their parents: disruptive and very noisy when their parents are negligent; lively but well-behaved when their parents are diligent. And like all the characters in her fiction, children are portrayed with a sharp realism born of an unsentimental clarity. In Pride and Prejudice, the little children are almost invisible because the children in the story have good parents: Mr and Mrs Gardiner, who are the beloved uncle and aunt of the Bennet girls. When the Gardiners take their niece Lizzie Bennet for a month-long…