Page 20 of Courting Elizabeth

“He wanted to marry her?” Elizabeth asked.

“He wanted her thirty thousand pounds. They had arranged an elopement. Fortunately, I arrived the day before they were to leave.”

Her hand flew to her lips.

“Good God.”

“Georgiana confessed everything. Wickham vanished the moment he realized I knew.”

“She was only fifteen, with almost no experience of the world.”

“Yes.”

Elizabeth paled.

“And I believed him… I encouraged him to speak of you. I was glad to find yet another reason to detest you.”

The violence of that last word struck me, though she spoke of the past.

“You did not know the truth.”

“Because I chose the version that best flattered my prejudices.”

I had never heard Elizabeth judge herself so harshly. I wanted to reassure her, but I did not yet know how to offer comfort without seeking a solution.

“Wickham is skilled. Many have believed him.”

“You did not.”

“I knew him.”

She stopped near an old beech tree. Patches of light moved across her face.

“Why did you not expose him?”

“To protect Georgiana.”

“And the other young women he might deceive?”

The question was fair. I disliked it for that very reason.

“What do you suggest? That I publish a child’s mistake to warn every foolish girl in the kingdom?”

She drew back slightly.

I regretted my tone at once.

“No,” she said. “I understand your silence. I only fear what it might cost others.”

Lydia was laughing somewhere ahead with the officers. I followed Elizabeth’s gaze and understood what she was thinking.

“I will speak to Colonel Forster. Without revealing my sister’s name.”

“He may not believe you.”

“He will believe me enough to watch Wickham.”

She looked at me in astonishment.