Fifteen
Meryton
Elizabeth
Mrs. Phillips received the party on Sunday, and, to Elizabeth's surprise, her drawing room was already full.
This was not a small tea party. There were several officers present, most of them new faces whose names Elizabeth scarcely retained from one introduction to the next.
Jane had chosen to remain at Longbourn, pleading fatigue after the morning service, whilst Mr. Collins had spent the greater part of an hour expounding upon the curate's sermon, pointing out several improvements which, in his opinion, the gentleman had regrettably neglected to make.
Elizabeth found herself continually glancing towards the door, hoping Mr. Denny might arrive with his friend, or that Mr. Wickham might come alone.
Nearly an hour had passed, and two separate games of whist had already begun, before he at last entered in Mr. Denny's company, as he had the day before.
Mr. Collins had by then established himself at one of the card tables with Lydia, Kitty, and Mrs. Phillips, and was therefore no longer hovering about Elizabeth as he had done for most of the day.
Once the necessary civilities had been exchanged, Mr. Wickham came to stand beside her, near enough to observe the players without joining them, and sufficiently removed from the rest of the company to converse with some degree of privacy.
"I confess I have thought of little else since yesterday, Miss Bennet, than the coldness of that particular meeting upon the road.
" He spoke lightly, once the usual civilities had passed between them, watching the whist players rather than Elizabeth, though she did not doubt the remark was intended for her alone.
"What do you make of Mr. Darcy, if I may ask?
You have had rather more opportunity of observing him this past month than I. "
Mindful of Jane's counsel on the previous evening, Elizabeth answered with care.
"I think much the same as the rest of Meryton, sir. He was thought proud at the assembly, and has done little since entirely to dispel that impression."
It was not precisely untrue, only a great deal less than the whole truth.
Whatever history existed between the two gentlemen, and it plainly ran deeper than a mere acquaintance, she was not prepared to entrust a stranger with the particulars of what she and Mr. Darcy had built together upon Oakham Mount, however much Mr. Wickham's easy manner invited confidence.
"A very fair judgement, and one I cannot fault.
" His expression sobered, assuming the look of a man reluctantly compelled to speak an unpleasant truth.
"I wish I could tell you that his coldness ends with strangers, Miss Bennet, but I am afraid it does not.
Even I, who once thought myself almost family, was not spared. "
"Family?" Elizabeth repeated evenly, though the word struck her as oddly at variance with all Mr. Darcy had told her of his family. Never once had he mentioned a Mr. George Wickham. "That surprises me."
"It surprises most people, until they have seen it for themselves." Wickham shook his head slowly. "Indeed, it goes beyond Darcy himself. I fear it is something of a family trait. Even his father was not, in the end, so different, whatever kindness he showed the world."
"But you said yesterday that your fathers were closely connected, Mr. Wickham. Was the late Mr. Darcy not kind to your father?"
"My father served him faithfully throughout his life as steward at Pemberley, Miss Bennet, and gave him everything a man could give.
My mother spent herself in the service of the family until she died in their household.
" A brief hardness passed across his features before the familiar ease returned.
"The late Mr. Darcy was pleased to make me almost a godson, and often spoke, particularly in his last years, of the provision he intended to leave me.
Besides my education, he promised me the living at Kympton when it became vacant.
None of it was honoured after his death.
I have sometimes wondered whether Mr. Darcy's father privately instructed his son not to trouble himself with fulfilling those promises. "
Elizabeth considered this in silence, the accusation sitting uneasily beside everything she knew, or believed she knew, of Mr. Darcy. She found herself convinced that Mr. Wickham was not telling her the whole truth, if indeed there was any truth in the tale at all.
That conviction arose not only from all she had learnt of Mr. Darcy during their many conversations upon Oakham Mount, but also from Mrs. Gardiner's letter.
Whilst confirming that she had known both the late Mr. Darcy and his son during her years near Lambton, it described the latter as a sweet-tempered boy and his father as a most kind-hearted gentleman.
Such recollections did not sit comfortably beside the portrait Mr. Wickham now drew.
Determined nevertheless to hear the whole of his opinion of the Darcys, however false she believed it might prove, Elizabeth continued, "What makes you think so, sir?"
"People such as the Darcys do not regard anyone as their equal.
It was foolish of my parents to place me in their care, and more foolish still of me to imagine myself a son to the elder Mr. Darcy, or a brother to his children.
" He smiled with easy resignation. "The master will always regard himself as master, however kindly he may appear to treat his servant.
It is only the servant who deceives himself into believing otherwise.
I imagine that was the principle upon which they acted. "
Elizabeth was taken aback by the comparison and found herself unwilling to let the subject rest.
"But if the Darcys are indeed so unkind as you describe, sir, I confess I cannot understand why no one in Meryton has spoken of it before now. Rumour travels quickly enough here upon far slighter provocations, yet all we have ever heard of Mr. Darcy is his pride."
"Oh, they are speaking of it, Miss Bennet.
Perhaps you simply have not yet heard the whole of it.
" Wickham lowered his voice, though there was little need to do so.
"I passed through London shortly before coming here, and a mutual acquaintance told me they were already speaking of the misfortune that follows anyone who associates too closely with the Darcys.
Indeed, I dare say such ill fortune has attended that family far longer than anyone has yet thought to lay at Mr. Darcy's own door. "
"What you have endured is dreadful indeed, sir," Elizabeth said, feigning the sympathy his tale plainly sought to inspire. "Yet if Mr. Darcy's father truly included you in his will, could you not have sought legal redress?"
Wickham shook his head. "The thought occurred to me, Miss Bennet, but the world is seldom inclined to favour a poor man who seeks justice against a wealthy one.
More than that, I had no wish to be thought an ingrate who brought an action against the son of the gentleman who had stood almost as a father to me, merely for the sake of property. "
He allowed a brief silence to pass before continuing. "Besides, my parents taught me to work with my own hands for everything I possess. It is one of the reasons I entered the militia. Whatever little I have, I have earned honestly."
Elizabeth inclined her head, maintaining every appearance of compassion. Though she did not yet know the truth of the matter, she was increasingly persuaded that Mr. Darcy would one day set the affair in its proper light. She found herself believing very little of what Mr. Wickham had said.
"Miss Elizabeth, you should join us for the next game," Mr. Collins called from the neighbouring table.
Since Wickham had come to stand beside her, Elizabeth had more than once observed her cousin stealing glances in their direction.
There was no mistaking the displeasure upon his countenance.
However, for perhaps the first time that day, she found herself grateful for his interruption, as it afforded her a ready means of ending the conversation.
"You are very kind, sir." She turned to Mr. Wickham. "I thank you for speaking so freely to me."
"The obligation is mine, Miss Bennet."
Elizabeth took Lydia's place at the whist table, whilst her youngest sister, evidently delighted by the exchange, lost no time in placing herself near Mr. Wickham. Elizabeth could not help noticing that he appeared perfectly willing to continue the acquaintance.
The remainder of the evening passed much as such evenings commonly did, with cards, conversation, and Mrs. Phillips seeing that her guests wanted for nothing.
Elizabeth played her part when required, but her thoughts returned more than once to the conflicting impressions before her.
Either Mr. Wickham had given her a false account, or she had read Mr. Darcy entirely wrongly during their walks upon Oakham Mount, and she found the latter increasingly difficult to believe.
~
Longbourn
Elizabeth
As if the day's dilemma were not enough to carry home, scarcely had the Bennet sisters returned to Longbourn when Mrs. Bennet summoned Elizabeth into the smaller drawing room before dinner, announcing, with an eagerness she made no attempt to conceal, that Mr. Collins had requested permission to speak with her privately upon a matter of some consequence.
Elizabeth guessed the purpose of the interview before she had properly crossed the threshold, and was obliged to compose her countenance into something resembling polite surprise as her mother withdrew, closing the door behind her with a haste that suggested she feared some interruption might yet spoil the arrangement.
Mr. Collins rose the instant they were alone, and, after a bow of considerable solemnity, began a speech which appeared to Elizabeth to have been prepared with no little care.