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Hadn’t Elliot himself witnessed that pride? That very first day in the assembly rooms. The refusal to dance with anyone he did not already know. The way he had spoken with Mrs. Long. The annoyance when Sir William Lucas had tried to match them for a dance…
“But what good does that pride do him?” Elliot asked, struggling to understand why everything he was hearing was so difficult to accept.
“It has often led him to be liberal and generous, to give his money freely, to display hospitality, to assist his tenants, and relieve the poor,” Wickham said. “Something he does frequently. You will find no tenants in Pemberley struggling for food or warmth.”
And Elliot was convinced then that Wickham was telling the truth, for why else would he be so very fair in his assessment? And Elliot’s heart sank with that knowledge.
“Family pride, and filial pride, for he likely did not want to lose any influence over Pemberley House, and that is a powerful motive. He has also brotherly pride, which, with some brotherly affection, makes him a very kind and careful guardian of his sister, and you will hear him generally cried up as the most attentive and best of brothers.”
“What sort of girl is Miss Darcy?”
Wickham shrugged. “I wish I could call her amiable. It gives me pain to speak ill of a Darcy. But she is too much like her brother, very, very proud. As a child, she was affectionate and pleasing, and extremely fond of me, and I have devoted hours and hours to her amusement. But she is nothing to me now. She is a handsome girl and, I understand, highly accomplished.”
His stress on the word was enough to indicate what he meant though Elliot was unsure why the other man didn’t just say it. “She is a favourite of the Bingleys, is she not?” Elliot asked and that was when he began to consider Mr. Bingley’s role in all of this.
“The Darcys and Bingleys have been close for years,” Wickham said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
“Based on what you have said, I find myself astonished at Mr. Darcy’s intimacy with Mr. Bingley,” Elliot said after a moment. “How can Mr. Bingley, who seems good humour itself, be in friendship with such a man? How can they suit each other? Do you know Mr. Bingley?”
“Not at all.”
“He seemed to know you?”
“We have met once or twice.”
“He is a sweet-tempered, amiable, charming man.”
Wickham waved the words away. “Mr. Darcy can please where he chooses. He does not want abilities. He can be a conversable companion if he thinks it worth his while. Among those who are at all his equals in consequence, he is a very different man from what he is to the less prosperous. His pride never deserts him but with the rich he is liberal-minded, just, sincere, rational, honourable, and perhaps agreeable, allowing something for fortune and figure.”
“So unless you are his peer, his contemporary, you are…”
“Nothing to him, Mr. Bennet. Nothing at all,” Wickham said.
“Or perhaps just barely tolerable,” Elliot finished sadly, as Louis caught Wickham’s attention once more, because suddenly it felt like there was nothing more to say than that.
The Blush of a Ball
Twenty
Elliot related to Jack what he had learned as they were getting ready for the Netherfield ball. Jack listened with some astonishment and concern and to Elliot’s surprise, was not entirely convinced by what Mr. Wickham had relayed.
“I cannot believe that Mr. Bingley would hold such a dear friendship with one who has treated a childhood friend so shabbily,” he said. “To consider in what a disgraceful light it would place Mr. Darcy, to be treating his own mother’s favourite in such a manner, one whom a promise was made to provide for. It is impossible! No man of common humanity, no man who had any value for his character, could be capable of it.”
“Perhaps Bingley is unaware of what has happened?” Elliot suggested.
Jack shook his head. He was wearing a suit of the palest blue and looked very charming indeed. “His most intimate friends being so excessively deceived in him? No. I do not believe it!”
“People deceive each other often,” Elliot pointed out.
“Yes,” Jack agreed as he passed Elliot his cravat. “But my understanding is that Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley have been friends since their school days. He would certainly have known about Mr. Wickham given the time they have spent together. In fact,” Jack added. “Bingley spent an entire summer at Pemberley after their schooling was complete. He became exceedingly close with the whole family and their servants. His current butler was once Mr. Darcy’s and came on Bingley’s request.”
“He would certainly have met Mr. Wickham then were that the case,” Elliot agreed. “And the way they spoke when they met, it seemed that they did know one another. But why one earth would Mr. Wickham tell such a tale if it were not true?” He paused to begin arranging his cravat. Jack watched him for just a moment before frowning and taking over. The eldest Bennet was always very precise with the folds required.
“Perhaps he has invented it?” Jack suggested.
“I would more easily believe Mr. Bingley having been imposed on than Mr. Wickham inventing such a history of himself as he gave me. Names, facts, everything mentioned without ceremony.”
“Not without ceremony,” Jack said. “Did you notice how Mr. Wickham arranged himself between two candles so that his golden buttons were constantly glinting?”
