the financial future of her daughters, as much as possible. I am thinking of something along the lines of Lydia being assured of her share in her mother's inheritance in her marriage articles to Wickham. LE knew she was the only reason her husband maintained his respectability, financially and otherwise, and the only reason economy was practiced in their home. I think she would have been worried about his spending once she had died, and would have persuaded him to ensure their daughters' future legally, through Mr. Shepherd, before her death (hopefully, however, not a deathbed promise a la John Dashwood!). No proof of this, of course--just my understanding of her character.