Chapter Nine

CHAPTER NINE

ELIZABETH SENT A letter to Caroline, saying that she was in town, but she felt trepidation when she did it, for she did not think that Caroline would stoop to calling at Gracechurch Street, and she felt rather certain that instead, Caroline would pretend not to have received the letter.

However, upon leaving Netherfield, Caroline had hinted in her missive that Elizabeth should contrive to be in London, had she not? Elizabeth had done so.

Elizabeth was stunned, therefore, when Caroline appeared immediately, with Mrs. Hurst in tow, during morning calling hours. The two both rushed inside, seemingly not willing to tarry outside, but Elizabeth thought this foolish. No one they knew would be on Gracechurch Street, so they were quite safe if they were worried about being seen.

Upon admission, Elizabeth had to inform them that the lady of the house, her aunt Mrs. Gardiner, was away for an hour or so. Mrs. Hurst waved this away, saying it was not their intention to stay long at all. Indeed, she would not even relinquish her bonnet or pelisse to the servant who asked for them, though Caroline was quite eager to make herself at home and commented excessively about the butteriness of the biscuits.

Mrs. Hurst sat down gingerly, making faces all the time.

Caroline munched on a biscuit and complained about Mr. Darcy. "My brother is closer to him than ever, I must say, and it is entirely the doing of Mr. Darcy that we left Netherfield. What did you say to Charles that night after the ball?"

Elizabeth recounted it with much chagrin, peppering the entire thing with apologies, saying that she should not have brought up gossip and that Mr. Bingley must have decided at that point that he was not pleased with her.

Caroline dismissed all this. "Oh, no, I think not. He's been enamored with women who have gossiped constantly. He likes gossip." She turned to her sister. "Everyone likes gossip, don't they, Louisa?"

Mrs. Hurst said, "I think we must be mindful of the fact that we have engagements today, Caroline. We cannot stay overlong."

Caroline rolled her eyes and turned back to Elizabeth. "I remain convinced that a connection to Mr. Darcy is going to ruin our family. There is more to the story, and I think it concerns Miss Darcy."

"Oh, Caroline, this again?" Mrs. Hurst nearly groaned.

"I shall recount the tale to Miss Bennet," said Caroline, gesturing with the biscuit and glaring at her sister. "We shall see how she interprets it."

Elizabeth was very confused. She knew very little about Mr. Darcy's sister, having only heard from Jane vaguely that Miss Darcy had been once oft praised by Miss Bingley herself.

Mrs. Hurst sighed. "Perhaps I shall have some tea after all," she muttered. "This might take some time."

"Certainly," said Elizabeth. "How do you take it?"

Mrs. Hurst gave her instruction. Elizabeth prepared the tea as Caroline spoke.

"We dine with Miss Darcy at least once a week these days," said Caroline. "And during one such evening, I decided that I was going to get to the bottom of this entire situation, so I mentioned Mr. Wickham. It was not a comment made for Miss Darcy, but for her brother's reaction. However, she did react. You should have seen her face."

"Oh?" Elizabeth was pouring milk into the tea for Mrs. Hurst.

"She went white ," said Caroline. "And then, she sprang up from the table, said she was feeling poorly and pleaded to be excused. Then she fled."

"I don't think I'd say fled," said Mrs. Hurst. "Clearly there is a rift there, and Mr. Wickham was likely a fixture in her young life and—"

"Then, I made to go after her to console her, and I was strenuously prevented from it by not only Mr. Darcy but my brother," said Caroline. "A few weeks later, I tried to speak to her about it whilst she was playing the piano, and she said that she had been instructed never to speak Mr. Wickham's name aloud. Then, she excused herself again ."

"Oh, I did not know this!" cried Mrs. Hurst, reaching out for her tea. "Why are you terrorizing that girl, Caroline?"

"Furthermore, I think that Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy have entered into some agreement wherein Charles is going to marry her."

"Marry Miss Darcy?" Elizabeth's heart squeezed. "Oh."

"Well, I think we must prevent it," said Caroline. "Friday evening, we are all going to a ball at the Spencer house. If I contrive to get a carriage separate from Charles, and come to collect you, are you free? We must put you back in Charles's path, you see?"

Elizabeth was stunned. What would she wear? A ball in town, with those sorts of people? "I am free," she said faintly. "But I'm not sure if I should attend. I'm not invited, am I?"

"I am inviting you, am I not?" said Caroline, taking another biscuit.

"Yes, but…" Elizabeth trailed off. "I should be most pleased and honored, of course."

"Oh, heavens," said Mrs. Hurst into her tea. "Caroline, truly, you are making far too much of whatever slight you think Mr. Darcy has visited upon you."

"Mr. Darcy insulted me in front of everybody , and if my brother cared a jot about my feelings, he wouldn't force me into Mr. Darcy's company at every opportunity!" cried Caroline.

"I don't know what you think this Wickham business could be," said Mrs. Hurst. "How could it possibly involve poor, shy Miss Darcy?"

Caroline chewed the biscuit, smiling at Elizabeth. She swallowed. "We must seek that information from Mr. Wickham, I think. Can you write home and instruct someone there to inquire with Mr. Wickham? He is still associating with your family, isn't he?"

"Well, actually, he is," said Elizabeth. "He and a few officers dined at Longbourn recently. Jane wrote to me of it. She says she has been speaking to him often, in fact."

"Wondrous," said Caroline. "If you send a letter right now, is it possible we could have an answer by Friday?"

Elizabeth sputtered.

"Oh, come, the post between here and Hertfordshire is quite fast," said Caroline.

"I shall write," said Elizabeth.

"Oh, Eliza, thank you so very much. I cannot tell you how good it is to see you!" said Caroline. "I should like to throw my arms round your neck, I am so very overcome with pleasure."

"Heavens," said Mrs. Hurst into her teacup. "We really must be going, Caroline."

"You will need a dress," said Caroline to Elizabeth. "I have something castoff I could lend you, if you wish it."

A castoff dress? Elizabeth would have liked to refuse. It was an insult. But this was not simply about her pride; this was about her entire family's future. So she forced herself to smile. "You're too kind, Miss Bingley."

ELIZABETH'S LETTER WENT through the regular post.

Jane's letter came back from a servant, hastily given to her through the door in the kitchens, and with instruction that Elizabeth must make up the difference in whatever money Jane had promised the fellow to ride all the way to London with a letter.

Elizabeth did not have a great deal of pocket money, and she would rather not have parted with so much of it, but she did so, anxiety rising in her chest.

Agitated, she retired to the guest room where she was staying to read what Jane had sent.

I hardly know what to think of it, Jane wrote. Mr. Wickham and I have grown closer, and when I inquired about Miss Darcy, he insisted we must not speak of it in mixed company and contrived we go and speak together all alone, which frightened me badly, for it would not look good for me if we were discovered. He was agonized, Lizzy, and he said that he and Miss Darcy had a secret love affair.

Elizabeth nearly dropped the letter. Secret love affair?

He said that he was never the aggressor in the situation, that he tried and tried again to dismiss it, for he thought she only had some sort of girlish admiration for him.

Never the aggressor? Something about that struck her oddly.

He would never have attempted anything untoward with her, of course, for it could have gone quite badly for him if he had. So, he said it was a long and storied game between them, that she tempted and teased and begged until he eventually gave in. They were to be married, and they were planning to leave together and go to Scotland when Mr. Darcy discovered it, flew into a rage, and prevented the two of them from ever seeing each other again. Mr. Wickham was excised from the company of anyone in the family and sent away. Mr. Darcy spun the story as if Mr. Wickham had tried to trick Miss Darcy, but he swore to me they were very much in love and that she was the one who started all of it.

Elizabeth read this again and again, wondering at it. Something about it seemed oddly defensive to her, as if Wickham were trying to explain away accusations before they were made. This tended to suggest to her that he felt guilt or that he was hiding something. On the other hand, she supposed that if he truly were innocent but had been falsely accused, this might mean that he became defensive when he talked about the incident.

Jane went on to say that she thought this explained much about Wickham's conduct, how he was easy with a great number of ladies, her included. He'd been labeled a hopeless flirt by a number of gossiping mamas in Meryton, she said, but that she could see now that he was still badly in love with Miss Darcy. He was pleasant and friendly, yes, but he was not ready to give his heart to anyone, and Jane did not think he would be, not for some time.

Then Jane asked Elizabeth to be quite careful with this information, for Wickham had made her swear never to tell another soul of it, and she said that Elizabeth could not reveal that Jane had ever told her.

Elizabeth felt the need to reread the letter several times, just in order to attempt to try to make sense of it all. She had a strong inclination that something about this didn't quite add up, but she needed to stew over it before she could decide exactly what was bothering her. She tucked the letter away safely amongst her belongings, still thinking about it all.

Then, she was called by her aunt to come to the nursery and she spent the morning with her cousins, playing an involved game with toy soldiers and dollies, where they begged her to make the voices for the toys, because "Lizzy does it the very best of everyone."

So, it was only later, as she was dressing for dinner (she had help of her aunt's maid if she asked for it, but she was so used to dressing herself, she often didn't ask) that her thoughts returned to Mr. Wickham.

She supposed that if Mr. Wickham really had been in love with Miss Darcy and she with him, the interaction between Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham in Meryton still made sense, as did the way he reacted when she questioned Mr. Darcy about Mr. Wickham during the Netherfield Ball.

But she thought that there was a shade of something different to Mr. Darcy's behavior, and that Mr. Darcy likely thought that Mr. Wickham had attempted to manipulate his sister into a marriage she didn't want.

Mr. Wickham wouldn't have had to try very hard, Elizabeth owned. He was attractive and polite and funny. He could turn a young girl's head with little trouble, especially one who was young like Miss Darcy. Elizabeth believed that Miss Darcy was about Lydia's age, and convincing Lydia to run off and get married would be child's play. Many men could manage it. A man like Mr. Wickham could do it without any effort. He'd only need to smile at Lydia and she'd be won over.

Now, Lydia was silly and adventurous; perhaps Miss Darcy was not.

Also, Miss Darcy would have been aware of the disparity between their stations in life. She could not have thought anything other than that marrying the son of her father's steward was a degradation socially.

So, perhaps that led itself to believing that Wickham was telling the truth. Maybe it had all been her own idea.

On the other hand, Mr. Wickham claimed he'd been denied a living by Mr. Darcy, and what better way to get a living and also get revenge on the man who'd denied him it than stealing his sister and his sister's dowry.

Was that what this had been? A revenge attempt? Mr. Wickham charming a very young girl in an attempt to take her fortune? Fortune-hunters were quite a fact of life amongst certain echelons of society. Elizabeth supposed she might count herself lucky that she would never have to be concerned about such things. No one would try to seduce her for money.

She couldn't say for certain what had truly passed between Mr. Wickham and Miss Darcy, she did not think.

But one thing she thought she could say with certainty was that Mr. Darcy clearly thought that Mr. Wickham had done it maliciously. He thought Mr. Wickham had taken advantage of his young sister. This was the best explanation of the obvious hatred he bore the man.

If this was the case, if Miss Darcy were a victim, Elizabeth was not certain that she could give this information to Caroline Bingley.

Having been on the receiving end of Caroline's sharp tongue, Elizabeth know that Caroline wielded it to wound, with little thought of others. Elizabeth didn't know anything about Miss Darcy, but she thought that Caroline would hurt her without thought. Her arrow would be set on Mr. Darcy, of course, not on his sister, but his sister would be caught in the crossfire, a casualty that Caroline would not even consider.

If this poor girl had already been victimized once by someone attempting to use her to get revenge on her brother, than Elizabeth was not sure she could be a participant in doing it again.

On the other hand, surely if such a story came out, it would separate Mr. Bingley from a connection with Miss Darcy. She was here to secure her family's future, which looked bleak indeed. Not one of them had any prospects, even if Jane seemed to be falling half in love with Mr. Wickham by the sound of her letter. Jane certainly wasn't going to be able to help the family with Mr. Wickham's money. He didn't seem to have any.

Elizabeth had to think about herself, had to think about her sisters, about her mother. She could have married Mr. Collins and kept Longbourn in the family. She could have, but she hadn't.

She didn't even know Miss Darcy.

As for Mr. Darcy, well, Mr. Darcy was the sort of person who kept getting himself into the position where others wished to take revenge against him.

Mr. Darcy deserved it.