“Certainly.” This time, he did not offer his arm.
They were well away from the others before he spoke.
“As I mentioned, George Wickham has long been known by me. At one time, we were as close as could be. Now, we are complete opposites. Miss Elizabeth, it pains me to admit that he would not be considered a gentleman by anyone aware of his actions.”
“Mr. Darcy!” Elizabeth was stunned by his blunt speech. “You are certain of this?”
Without hesitation, he replied, “I am.”
“Please understand that I am not questioning your character, but do you have proof?”
“In abundance.”
Then it was as Mrs. Hammond said. Mr. Wickham was not to be trusted. Out of a sense of fairness, she said, “I should tell you that he gave an unfavorable report of you once he discovered you were here.”
“Of this, I do not doubt. Was it the story where I denied him a living that my father promised him or that I cheated on my exams at university and placed the blame on him?”
Elizabeth noted how his shoulders dropped in resignation. She knew then that he must have needed to defend himself against Mr. Wickham’s charges before. Perhaps often.
“The living.” Before he could explain further, she said, “Sir, the simple fact that he has already harmed you tells me more than words what his true nature is. I erred grievously in listening to him. Therefore, I beg your forgiveness. I judged you harshly based on his words. For that, I am grieved.”
“Do not be. If he told you that my own father loved him more than he did me, he was not wrong.” Immediately after uttering those words, he bit his lip and closed his eyes.
She gasped, stunned by his admission. Her father’s insults from that morning still festered. That he was made to feelthe same by his own father was singularly appalling. How unexpected to have this in common.
Elizabeth peered up at him. His eyes brimmed with the same hurt she felt. Without a doubt, this newly revealed aspect of his character softened her opinion of him.
She inherently knew then that he regretted saying something so personal to her. Likely, he shared little with anyone.
“I shall keep your final comment to myself, Mr. Darcy.”
“I would appreciate that, Miss Elizabeth.”
“What I will do is speak with my father about the dangers of Mr. Wickham. Mrs. Hammond questioned his reasons for confiding privileged information with me upon short acquaintance. I was gullible. In the future, I will exert more caution.”
He nodded. “Miss Elizabeth, should Wickham insist on standing up with you, feel free to refuse since I will make myself available to claim the set if you do not mind. I have no doubt that Richard would do so as well.”
She studied him carefully before she replied. “I thank you, sir. It would be my pleasure.”
As she walked away, Elizabeth realized that she had spoken the truth. If she could not dance with the colonel, she would not mind dancing with Mr. Darcy only if it meant that she could refuse Mr. Wickham.
Her head was spinning at how quickly and thoroughly her views changed. First, her father, then Mr. Wickham, and lastly, Mr. Darcy. Not for the first time that day, she wondered if she ever really knew herself or if she even knew anything at all.
CHAPTER 10
Longbourn welcomed officers from the militia, including Mr. Wickham. Mrs. Bennet fed them well while they openly flirted with Lydia and Kitty—a disappointing display that would lead to no good.
When Elizabeth passed Mrs. Hammond’s and Mr. Darcy’s warning to her father, he met her with outright disinterest. “Your sisters are too poor to be an object of prey to anybody. The officers will find women such as you and Jane better worth their notice. Lydia, Kitty, and even Mary need to be taught their own insignificance. At any rate, they cannot grow many degrees worse without forcing me to lock them up for the rest of their lives. I simply could not bear them pounding on my door or screeching twenty-four hours each day if I was made to discipline Lydia, Kitty, Mary, or their mother. I would have no peace.”
Finally, she understood that her father, contented with laughing at them, would never exert himself to restrain the wild giddiness of his youngest daughters, and her mother, with manners so far from proper, was entirely insensible to the danger of flirting with grown men.
Elizabeth and Jane frequently endeavored to check the imprudence of Kitty and Lydia; but while their mother indulged the two youngest Bennets, what chance could there be of improvement? Kitty, wholly under Lydia's guidance, had been affronted by their advice, and Lydia, self-willed and careless, would scarcely listen. The two youngest often acted foolishly. On other occasions, like their mother, they could be completely rational. When it came to the possibility of marrying, they were entirely senseless. While there was an officer in Meryton, they would tease and tempt him. With Meryton an easy distance of the militia encampment, they forever walked in that direction in hopes of happening upon the officers, if the officers were not already at Longbourn.
Lydia and Kitty’s flirting with impunity empowered them, making them bolder in their pursuit of a suitor.
Mary continued pounding at the keys of the pianoforte as if the louder she played, the more she would be praised for her efforts. It was a sad display of a heart convinced of its own merit, which would lead to nothing but forgiving nods from their friends and ridicule from the Bingley sisters and perhaps Mr. Darcy.
Into this turmoil arrived the heir to Longbourn. Mr. William Collins was a pompous, narrow-minded, silly man who held the living at Hunsford Parsonage under his patroness, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, in Kent. He was a tall, heavy-looking clergyman of twenty-five. His air was grave and stately, and his manners were formal. By the end of the first hour, Elizabeth thought him to be the most ridiculous person she had ever met.
