When they reached the house of Elizabeth’s aunt, Mrs. Phillips, Kitty suddenly exclaimed, “Denny! There is Denny! And he has a very handsome friend with him. Hallo, Denny. Denny!” After calling out to him in that way, Kitty flushed, turned to Elizabeth and Jane, and with a deep blush said, “Ooops… ought not have called out so loudly. Mrs. Castle would have caned me.”
Jane smiled sweetly. “You do not need to worry aboutthatanymore. But you ought to be more sedate.”
Denny and his friend eagerly crossed the street to join the girls and Mr. Collins.
His friend was in fact exceedingly handsome, surpassing Denny in appearance and manner by an equal extent to how Denny surpassed Mr. Collins. He had a smooth smiling face, bright cheerful eyes, and excellent sideburns.
Introductions were made all around, and the gentleman, who was revealed to be a Mr. Wickham, happily smiled to meet them.
To Kitty’s delight, they soon learned that the gentleman had already been enrolled as an officer in the regiment, and he was thus to don the redcoat, and remain quartered in Meryton for the next months, along with the rest of the militia regiment.
Elizabeth found her conversation with such a charming man a welcome distraction from both Mr. Collins’s dullness, and the unsettling thoughts she’d had of late about Mr. Darcy.
Mrs. Phillips saw them from where she sat, and she threw open her upstairs window and called down to tell them that Mr. Wickham was very welcome to also come to the card party that she was throwing tonight.
Quite the country town sort of open behavior. Elizabeth smiled at her aunt.
Her mother was also often like that as well, especially when she had been spending a great deal of time with her sister. While Mrs. Castle would have despised Mrs. Phillips as vulgar — and Caroline certainly had a bit of that distaste for the vulgar as well — Elizabeth could not help but be charmed by the openness and authenticity of her relation.
Despite that, Elizabeth was glad that Mr. Darcy had not been present to see either Mrs. Phillips’s display, or Kitty’s.
In the midst of this conversation, Mr. Darcy and Charlie came through the town on horseback.
Upon seeing each other Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham both stopped and stared at each other. Mr. Darcy’s face was cold and harsh, with an edge to it that Elizabeth had never seen before.
For his part Mr. Wickham went red, and then he half awkwardly took his hat off to acknowledge Mr. Darcy.
Darcy responded to that gesture of respect with nothing but a cold glare, and then he turned around and went back the direction he’d come out of town at a gallop.
On seeing his friend take off in such a way, Bingley startled from where he’d been talking to Jane, exclaimed to them, “All invited to the ball! Cards to be sent soon!” And he took off after Darcy shouting, “The deuce! Old fellow, what's bothering you!”
Elizabeth turned back to Mr. Wickham, half hoping that he would immediately explain to her this extraordinary occurrence, but instead he was quite quiet.
After another minute, he and Denny made excuses and hurried off.
Elizabeth shrugged.
Nothing to it but to ask Charlie what the whole thing had been about next time she saw him. Except Elizabeth had an unhappy notion that Mr. Darcy would not in fact reveal very much about the situation to his friend, and she would be left, perhaps forever, in this state of curiosity.
Oh, well.
But if Wickham was at the card party tonight, perhaps she could finagle the story out ofhim.
To Elizabeth’s good fortune, not only did Mr. Wickham attend Mrs. Phillips’s card party, already wearing the red uniform of the service, but she was the favored woman to whom he turned his gaze and steps upon entering the room.
His bearing and appearance was superior to that of anyone else in the room, however Elizabeth could not help but have a strong sense of reservation about him.
Despite the clear flaw in his character shown by not falling in love with Caroline, Elizabeth had found Mr. Darcy to be a sensible man, and further he had insisted that he was cautious in determining to dislike a man.
He clearly disliked Mr. Wickham.
Commonplace trivialities began their conversation: Common comments upon the weather. Commoner comments upon the neighborhood. Less common compliments to the regiment. Wickham floridly smeared flattery as thick as butter upon Hertfordshire, Meryton, the regiment, Elizabeth herself, rainy days, sunny days, and all that he saw, but especially the charming society of the neighborhood, exemplified by his present partner in charming conversation.
Elizabeth was not immune to the pleasure of being marked as a charming part of a charming society, and she did smile prettily back to Mr. Wickham. She flushed a little at his flirtation. However the chief part of her mind was caught up in seeking some unobtrusive conversational gambit that she might use to ask him about his connection with Mr. Darcy.
But to her delight, Mr. Wickham began the conversation himself. He first enquired about the distance from Netherfield to Meryton, and then asked how long Mr. Darcy had been present at the estate.
“Oh about a month,” Elizabeth replied. “He is the owner of what I have been informed is a delightful property, with a particularly delightful set of gardens and large library in Derbyshire.” Elizabeth could not help but smile at her memory of Caroline’s enthusiasm for Pemberley.
