Chapter 1.8 #3
“Mr Darcy, you are correct in everything you said. Our behaviour has been unacceptable, and our only excuse might be that we overly indulged in Mr Bingley’s fine wine.
I hope I have my friends’ consent when I say we are ready to apologise and offer you any satisfaction you might consider appropriate.
We acted shamefully and are embarrassed, I can assure you. ”
Darcy stared at him a few long moments, making Sanderson shift from one foot to the other, like a child waiting for his punishment. He had acted like a boy, and Darcy had treated him like one.
“Mr Sanderson, you should not speak for your friends. They seem to have tongues—which are quite poisoned, I might say—and can speak for themselves. Or am I wrong?”
“Come, Darcy, you cannot talk to us in this manner! We are officers in the ——shire militia, not children to be censured!” Wickham’s voice lost none of its initial impertinence, as he knew Darcy incapable of any indiscretion leading to public scandal.
“Are you really officers, Wickham? If not for your uniforms, your complete lack of honour and morality would have deceived me. If I had considered you gentlemen and officers, I should have treated you honourably and solved the problem in a gentlemanly manner. But your behaviour proved to me that you are indeed nothing more than boys in need of discipline, and I am considering the best way to teach you respect and manners.”
“Wickham, please! Mr Darcy, I beg you to tell us what we can do to end the unpleasant situation we have created, here and now. You must believe that, though our words have been outrageously offensive, our intentions are nothing but honourable.”
“Mr Sanderson, again I advise you to speak for yourself; for your friends’ intentions you should not wager.
Fortunately, your ridiculous, childish jokes and thoughtless words cannot offend.
I have too little respect for you to be offended.
” He was insulting and humiliating them, as he had never done to anyone before, but he still thought it was too little.
“But you deliberately offended a young lady with irreproachable character who has never been other than kind to you. You were guests in her father’s house, and I trust you have been welcomed there every time.
You were treated as friends, and yet you repay their affability by maligning Miss Elizabeth.
What would you call such behaviour, Mr Sanderson?
And what would Colonel Forster call it? Should we perhaps ask his opinion? ”
Sir—?”
“However, as I have no desire to waste any more time with you, I shall attempt to forget everything I heard as long as no vile talk tarnishes Miss Elizabeth’s reputation. However, at the first malicious word against her, you may as well start looking for another way to support your existence.”
“But sir…” Denny tried at that moment to intervene. “You cannot hold us responsible for every rumour! It is possible that rumours or gossip may be spread without our even knowing it.”
“I can and will hold you responsible. I shall not trouble myself overmuch to search for the truth. These are my conditions. I shall not show you any more consideration than you have shown me.”
“I see…” Denny looked from Darcy to his companions and back again to Darcy, but it was Sanderson who spoke again.
“Very well, sir. I beg you to accept our sincere apologies and be assured that none of us would ever repeat these unhappy remarks about you or Miss Elizabeth, whose behaviour indeed has always been honourable and polite.”
Lieutenant Denny nodded his agreement and started to formulate his own excuses, but Darcy interrupted him harshly.
“Let us not waste our time with this conversation. I should like to speak privately with Mr Wickham if he would indulge me.”
“Well, I am afraid that will have to wait. I have no wish to abandon my friends.” He was smiling recklessly at Darcy, made confident by being three against one and knowing Darcy to be incapable of either using physical violence or making a public spectacle, despite his just threatened menacing.
But neither Denny nor Sanderson were in the mood to meddle in the conflict between Wickham and his old acquaintance or to raise Darcy’s anger more than they already had.
“Do not mind us, Wickham. In any case, we were about to return to the house.”
They hastily left, and Wickham, shocked at being abandoned, tried to follow them. He was stopped by Darcy’s firm grasp of his forearm.
“Not so hasty, Wickham! We have to discuss an interesting subject as you yourself said before.”
“I do not know of what you are speaking, Darcy. And now if you will excuse me, I must return—”
“You will go nowhere, Wickham, until I am done with you. Do not make me lose all my patience and force you to stay,” whispered Darcy harshly, without loosening his grip on Wickham’s arm.
By now Wickham was indeed shocked; he had known Darcy for many years but had never heard nor ever seen him behave in any other way than entirely proper and composed, no matter how upset or angry he might have been.
An aggressive Darcy was something new and disturbing, and he made Wickham most uncomfortable.
A direct confrontation between them was not wanted and could be dangerous.
“No need for that, Darcy. I shall listen to you if you will release my arm.”
Darcy did so reluctantly and posted himself in front of Wickham, obstructing his path back to the house. The two men merely looked at each other a few moments in silence. Darcy knew that, if the smallest part of what he was feeling was visible on his face, he must appear quite savage.
Finally, Wickham diverted his gaze and began to formulate an explanation, but Darcy fiercely cut off his words.
“I have no desire to listen to your lies, Wickham, but you should listen to me carefully because I shall only say this once. I do not want to see you anywhere near the Bennet family. I do not want you to speak a single impolite word about Miss Elizabeth, and I do not want you to address her further except to show her the usual courtesy. Do you understand me?”
He was not angry, but he spoke with a cold, calm voice. He was steady and determined, standing very close to Wickham and looking directly at him.
“I am still indebted to you Wickham—not with the living you implied I owe you, but with the proper reward for what you did last summer. You should know me well enough by now to realise that I—unlike you—always pay my debts. Do not make the mistake of increasing my ire with your improper behaviour. Do not make me impatient to pay you back.”
For the first time in his dealings with Darcy, Wickham felt a shiver of fear. His only thought at that moment was to extricate himself from Darcy and return safely to the house full of people.
“Darcy, do not be so upset. We made some comments about Miss Elizabeth, I shall admit, but it was all harmless. You know how men talk—”
“I know nothing about the kind of men of whom you speak, Wickham, and I have no interest in knowing them. I just want to know whether you accept my terms.”
“Yes, yes, Darcy, I accept. Now may I go inside? I am freezing out here! It is almost winter for God’s sake.”
Darcy made a slight gesture, indicating he could proceed, and followed Wickham’s quick pace with an incredulous glare. He knew very well that Wickham could not be trusted, but at least for that evening he would behave himself. As for the next day…measures would indeed be required.
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