Page 4 of Searching for Elizabeth (A Pride and Prejudice Variation)
—late that night—
George Wickham carefully extricated himself from the arms of Maggie, or Margie, or some name like that. He looked down at the dozing woman, at her tangled auburn hair and still-flushed, buxom figure, and he smiled at the memory of her willingness to do just about anything he asked. She certainly was not as skilled as a highly paid courtesan, but if he could encourage her to practice her skills…?
Wickham found his way back into the main room of the alehouse. He ordered a tankard of ale, asked the barman to put it on his tab, and looked around the room to ascertain his next entertainment.
He heard the name Miss Lizzy, and he wondered if the speaker meant Elizabeth Bennet. Since he had seen her recently, upset and hauling a trunk through a forest, he would want to hear what was said. After all, knowledge was power.
Keeping his slouch casual, Wickham listened carefully to the man, who said, “Ya, I mean Miss Elizabeth Bennet. I was just wondering why a nob like that was asking about her.”
A somewhat more cultured voice answered, “Well, what specifically did he ask?”
The first man said, “Donna be chafed, John; he just asked if I had seen her that afternoon. Said as her mother needed some’at from the butcher, and Mrs. B. had asked him to give Miss Lizzy the message.”
John replied, “Well, that does not seem at all likely, does it? Not unless Mrs. Bennet was trying to somehow throw Miss Eliza in the way of Mr. Darcy. Like, if he gives her the message, he is talking to her, and maybe she talks back to him, and you know how Miss Eliza is, the more she talks, the more a fellow likes her. Maybe….”
Wickham had managed to listen to the entire exchange, and noted that, once the conversation shifted to something about the Longs and the Gouldings, whoever they were, neither Lizzy nor Darcy were mentioned again.
Finishing his ale, Wickham left, his whole body awakened by the mention of Darcy. Was there some connection between Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet?