Page 24 of The Matchmaker’s Mistake

The path curved beneath an avenue of bare chestnut and oak trees, and Aunt Gardiner slowed her pace to observe a party advancing towards them along the same path.

There were three of them, a tall handsome gentleman in a dark blue greatcoat, a young lady on his arm, and a servant in livery walking three feet or so behind. Even at this distance the livery was distinctive—a clean dark blue with silver braid, darker than the gentleman’s coat, understated but very fine.

The young lady was taller than the usual. Elizabeth could not see her face beneath the bonnet, only a few fair curls and a small, lowered chin.

“I do believe . . . yes, I believe it is,” came the gentleman’s voice, which was warm and surprised. “Miss Applewood, as was!”

He had stopped four paces away and was smiling at her aunt.

“Mr. Wickham?” Aunt Gardiner asked, and then, with the higher pitch in her voice that meant a memory had just been placed, “Mr. George Wickham, surely. I must beg your pardon, sir. You have grown a great deal since I saw you last, but you do have the look of your father about you.”

He laughed, a broad laugh, brief and unembarrassed. “And the Applewood ladies possess a remarkable family resemblance.” He looked at the young woman with whom he was walking, and she nodded. “Miss Darcy, please allow me to present my friend Miss⁠—”

“Mrs. Gardiner.”

“Forgive me, of course. Miss Darcy, may I present Mrs. Gardiner, who was a resident of Buxton Place near Lambton when last I saw her?”

Miss Darcy curtsied. Elizabeth’s aunt curtsied back, and then Jane and Elizabeth were introduced and the remaining civilities were deftly managed.

Mr. Wickham’s eyebrows rose when he heard their names, but he said nothing other than he was pleased to make their acquaintance. Miss Darcy, with a small fluttering smile, said the same.

Aunt Gardiner turned her attention upon Miss Darcy, asking a few warm questions and listening to Miss Darcy’s soft replies. After a few exchanges, the small chin lifted, and her aunt asked whether Miss Darcy had yet seen Mr. Bullock’s collection.

“Not yet,” she said.

Mr. Wickham smiled. “Miss Darcy has exhausted nearly every respectable amusement London can provide, and it is not yet Christmas.”

Miss Darcy looked faintly dismayed. “George.” She turned to Aunt Gardiner. “My brother says either he or my cousins shall take me this season if I wish it.”

“It is true,” Mr. Wickham insisted. “All autumn long you have been marched through galleries, concerts, a lecture on Roman antiquities, and—most heroically of all—Lady Grey’s musicale.”

At this Miss Darcy laughed despite herself.

Jane smiled. “Was it so very bad?”

“My dear Miss Bennet, no one can call an evening bad when the supper is excellent. It provides one the fortitude required to survive the entertainment.”

“You attended willingly, then,” said Elizabeth.

“Certainly,” Mr. Wickham said. “Of course there will be more events after the festive season. The real crowds will not amass until Parliament opens, and then half of Town will assemble every night determined to impress the other half. The results are often magnificent.”

“In what way?”

“In every way. One may witness ambition, romance, and occasionally the tragedy of a collapsed headdress in a single evening.”

“It sounds as though there would be enough characters to sketch even for you, Lizzy,” Jane said teasingly.

Elizabeth pretended affront, but they all laughed. “I would not even know where to begin.”

“Oh, the ambitious are the easiest to mark,” Mr. Wickham replied, “for they generally arrive covered in pearls and speaking too loudly.”

Miss Darcy shook her head fondly. “You promised my brother you would behave this season.”

“My dear girl, I am behaving. It is only that your brother likes the world kept in excellent order, and I prefer to disarrange it a little.”

Miss Darcy, shy though she remained, looked perfectly at ease with Mr. Wickham.

“Although we are both partial to Derbyshire,” he said, changing the subject, “I brought Miss Darcy here to persuade her that Hyde Park in winter possesses its own sort of elegance.”