Marianne finally abandoned her fruitless search, and asked the colonel directly, “Sir, where is Lieutenant Wickham?”
Colonel Fitzwilliam’s cheerful expression hardened. “He has been imprisoned under guard for dereliction of duty. The day after next, he will be reprimanded before being sent to a regular military unit on the continent.”
Marianne let out a guttural breath. “What?!”
“I am sorry if his delinquency is a shock to you, Miss Marianne.”
Marianne glared up at the colonel. “What has he done? Delinquency? Reprimanded? I am sure I have seen him every day!” She turned to give Elinor a look of horror, and worse, disappointment. “We were to dance the first tomorrow.”
“Allow me to open the ball with you, Miss Marianne; I will give you an account of the matter and make every amends.”
Marianne grimaced. “I suppose I cannot refuse you and sit out all evening.”
“Marianne!” Once again Elinor and her mother spoke out at once.
Marianne gave a tight nod of her head, and the colonel bestowed a dashing smile on Elinor. “And if you would save the supper set for me, Miss Dashwood, we shall hopefully speak of happier things than George Wickham.”
“Thank you, yes,” Elinor said, hoping her smile made up somewhat for Marianne’s petulance. She was aware of the distinction he bestowed on them, and she intended to remind Marianne of her manners when they returned to Longbourn.
After another quarter hour, the ladies began to talk of doing just that, after they had looked into a few shops. As they moved away from the group of soldiers, they passed Lady Lucas and her two daughters, who approached the square from High Street.
Lady Lucas looked between the officers and the ladies from Longbourn, then shook her head and curled her lip into a sneer as she addressed her daughters. “We may depend upon the Bennets to seek the officers and the new colonel out as fast as they could! They merely leave us their scraps, if they think of us at all. If there are no officers left to ask you to dance, girls, I am sure we shall know why!”
Mrs. Dashwood’s face clouded with distress, and she laid a hand on Mrs. Bennet’s arm to prevent the lady from flying at her rival. Mrs. Bennet loudly addressed her daughters, as Lady Lucas had done. “We hardly need to purchase any more new finery, girls, after all the shopping we have done – and you have always been considered the beauties of the village!”
Miss Maria glanced between her mother and Lydia with a look of anguish, but Charlotte Lucas mirrored her mother’s expression of cold hostility as she spoke. “I daresay they shall waste all their fortune as they attempt to chase eligible suitors around the village, or pursue them to London.”
Elinor gaped at the woman, who had once been her cousin’s dearest friend. Marianne balled her hands into fists and stepped toward the Lucas ladies. “Is this how you behave to your neighbors, your friends? They have loved you and comforted youin your time of grief, and have had nothing but the highest praise of you! But I am amazed that they ever thought it warranted.”
Lydia followed Marianne’s lead, and accosted them more vehemently. “I thought you were my friend, Maria, but you are jealous that we have money and you do not – and we are pretty, while you are horridly plain! You are all jealous!”
Mrs. Dashwood gripped Marianne’s arm and drew her away, but Mrs. Bennet only encouraged her own daughter to carry on in an increasing volume. Lydia and Charlotte Lucas began to make a scene of their quarrel; Lydia taunted the young lady for her desperate acceptance of Mr. Collins, and Miss Lucas hurled back a variety of aspersions about Lydia’s forwardness with the officers and general lack of intellect. Lady Lucas and Mrs. Bennet soon entered the fray, carrying on like fishwives; the officers and many other passersby began to openly observe the indecorous row.
Mary begged Mrs. Dashwood to intervene, and Elinor followed her mother as they attempted to reason with their rowdy relations. Colonel Fitzwilliam eventually strode over, flanked by Captain Denny. He put two fingers to his lip, letting out a shrill whistle. The combatants all froze, and Mrs. Dashwood gave Lydia a rough nudge until she released her fistful of Maria Lucas’s hair. “What is the meaning of this ghastly impropriety, ladies?”
Tears began to well in Charlotte Lucas’s eyes, and Elinor offered the woman a handkerchief, though Mrs. Bennet glared at her for the small kindness. “Forgive me, Colonel; I grew distraught at the loss of my betrothed a fortnight ago, and in my grief I have apparently displeased our neighbors, who stand to benefit greatly from his tragic demise.”
The colonel stared blankly at Miss Lucas for a moment before addressing himself to Elinor. “Who are these people? We have not been introduced properly.”
Elinor pressed her lips around a little laugh. “Lady Lucas and her daughters, Miss Charlotte Lucas and Miss Maria Lucas.”
The colonel appeared equally amused and horrified. “Are you relations of Sir William Lucas, whom I understand is the local magistrate?”
Lady Lucas straightened her posture. “He is my husband, sir.”
“And shall I send for him to attend to this public disturbance?”
Miss Lucas dabbed at her eyes and stepped toward the colonel, offering him a pained smile. “Of course not; we shall trouble you no further. The loss of my betrothed is so fresh that I sometimes forget myself.”
“Because all you can think of is that now you shall not havemyhouse! It will go to my beautiful Jane!”
The colonel’s eyebrows shot up. “Good Lord, are you squabbling over the recently deceased parson from Kent, Mr. Collins? My aunt Lady Catherine’s sweaty little sycophant?”
Miss Lucas brought both hands to her face and sobbed before swooning toward the colonel. He smoothly stepped aside and allowed Captain Denny to catch her, and Miss Lucas roused herself with a scowl of disappointment, wailing about her pitiful state.
“Captain, please escort Miss Lucas to the physician. I believe his house is just across the square – her sister will accompany you.” The colonel turned to regard the two matrons who were staring daggers at one another, but Mary interrupted before he could speak.
“Lady Catherine de Bourgh is your aunt? We met another of her nephews in the autumn.”
