Page 54 of The Crown’s Gift

Charlotte found her returning by the lane.

"You have been gone three hours."

Elizabeth handed her the outer page, then drew it back. Georgiana's secret was not hers to share.

"Mr Darcy explained. About Jane and Bingley. About Wickham. He was truthful."

"Does truth alter your answer?"

Elizabeth thought of the proposal's condescension, then of the letter's humility.

"Not the answer I gave last night. It alters the man to whom I gave it."

Charlotte took her arm. "That may be harder."

"It is."

At breakfast the next morning, Lady Catherine announced Darcy's departure with offense.

"He has business at Pemberley which apparently cannot wait. Fitzwilliam remains. Darcy has been restless since arriving. I told him London society unsettles men who ought to remain upon their estates."

Elizabeth kept her eyes upon her plate.

Darcy did not call at the parsonage again.

Colonel Fitzwilliam came to say farewell on his behalf and his own. He spoke generally until Charlotte left them near the garden door.

"He is ashamed," the colonel said.

"He has cause."

"Yes."

Elizabeth appreciated that he did not defend his cousin into innocence.

"He gave me the whole history of Wickham."

"Then he trusts you as he trusts few people."

"Trust offered after insult is a complicated gift."

"Most valuable things arrive poorly wrapped in our family."

She smiled faintly.

The colonel's expression softened. "I do not ask you to reconsider. But I have known Darcy since childhood. He rarely changes quickly. When he does, it is because something reached the foundation."

"Change must be lived, not announced."

"Agreed."

He bowed and left.

Sir Thomas's final report on Wickham arrived two days later. The evidence confirmed debts in Cambridge and London, forged signatures on two drafts, attempted demands upon Darcy, and a pattern of courting women with accessible money. Colonel Forster had been warned discreetly. Wickham would remain under observation until stronger proof permitted action.

Sir Thomas added a private note to Elizabeth.

You were right to question both men and wrong only where feeling supplied the verdict before facts arrived. This is a common human error and therefore no less dangerous. Mr Darcy's evidence is sound. His judgment of Wickham was correct. Whether his judgment of everything else deserves your trust is a question only time and conduct may answer.