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Elizabeth entered her aunt’s home, expecting to find Charlotte among the guests. Inquiring with her aunt, she was informed the invitation had been declined due to a prior commitment. She was not surprised to see Lieutenant Wickham. Her aunt had said Mr Philips intended to ask him after their brief meeting the previous day. She had to admit he looked handsome in his new regimentals, better than any of the officers present. Most of the ladies were giving him their attention or vying to attract his notice.

She was on a mission to avoid her cousins and find out if the rumor had spread to town, which she had hoped to find out from Charlotte. She moved about the rooms, trying to glean information from overheard conversations or how guests reacted to her in greeting. As far as she could gather, it had not. She received not questioning looks. They did not stop talking when she came close. Perhaps she would escape after all, she thought hopefully.

Mr Collins was doing his best to embarrass the family by comparing the room to one at Rosings. Her two younger sisters tried to outdo him by shamelessly flirting with the officers, much to their enjoyment.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Wickham came beside her after disengaging himself from Miss King.

“You do not appear to be enjoying the night.”

“It is enjoyable enough. My friend I is not here and I am not in the mood for cards tonight.” She admitted somewhat truthfully.

“I heard your cousin mention Lady de Bourgh.”

“Many times, I’m sure. She is practically all he talks about.” Elizabeth said with a laugh. He laughed as well. A pleasant one, she had to admit, unlike her cousin’s braying.

“Did you know that Lady de Bourgh is Darcy’s aunt?”

“I did not,” she replied in surprise. “I had never heard her name until uttered by my cousin the other day. He had mentioned that she had been in mourning but never said her brother was an earl, or I might have put them together. Which is surprising as she and her daughter is about all we hear from him.”

“With the current losses to his family, that is another reason I can feel sorry for Darcy.”

“I don’t follow.”

“He and Anne de Bourgh are to marry and join their two great estates. Now, with the Earldom, it might well make him the largest landowner in the country.”

Elizabeth was shocked by the revelation, and it showed.

“You look unwell.”

“I’m fine,” she said, shaking her head in disbelief. “It is just that…”

“Yes, that is my opinion as well. Too much land for one person to have when others have nothing.”

She readily agreed with him, even if it was not what she had been thinking.

“Your news will dash the wishes of Miss Bingley as she has her hopes set on him. Considering his close friendship with her brother, you would think she would know if he were engaged. Are you sure?”

“Darcy and I spent most of our youth together, in the same house, under the same care. Except when he was away at school. I have heard Lady Catherine mention it on more than one occasion.”

“Interesting,” she replied.

“How long has Darcy been in the neighborhood?” He asked casually.

She thought for a second. “A little over a month now. He attended the assembly on fifteen October.”

Wickham nodded as if it meant something. “Have you heard how long he plans to stay?”

While his line of questions puzzled Elizabeth, she answered. “I’m not privy to his plans. His sister arrived last week…”

“Georgiana is here?” he asked, looking slightly embarrassed before recovering. She wondered at his interruption and tone when asking the question that had an obvious answer. She nodded and mentioned Lady Anne as well.

Wickham bit his lower lip. That explained Darcy’s questions to him on the street. He looked at Elizabeth, wondering if she knew, and dismissed the thought. Darcy would never reveal such information to anyone but family.

“They are two sweet girls who have been through much of late,” Elizabeth said.

“So you have met them?”

Elizabeth looked at him askance. That was the second time he had already asked a question with an obvious answer. For all his gentlemanly looks and ways, she began to wonder if he was as soft in the head as her cousin.

“I was staying at Netherfield when they arrived.”

“Interesting. I have many fond memories of Georgiana. I recall many an hour seeing to her amusement when she was a child. How is she? I am sure my name was never mentioned,”

“No, not that I can recall.” She replied. She was curious when seemed relieved by her answer.

He continued with small talk, occasionally attempting to gather informationabout Darcy. He soon found he could not determine her thoughts on him as she often gave ambiguous answers.

The last person Elizabeth wanted to discuss was Mr Darcy. Their reactions upon meeting made it clear that something had happened between them. Whatever it might be, she wanted no part of it.

“I can see I am boring you,” he said astutely.

She raised an eyebrow. “I find your line of questioning… curious,” she replied, deciding not to use unwanted.

“There is a rumor circulating amongst the officers. I hesitate to bring it up.”

Elizabeth tensed. Had he gone along this line of conversation simply to ask about her and Mr Darcy? She eyed him suspiciously.

“Mr Wickham, I’m not in the habit of gossiping nor to confirm or dispel baseless rumors spread by those with nothing better to do.”

He leaned back, put on his most innocent face, and held up his hands. “Normally, I would agree with you on this, but as this concerns Darcy and a maid and now knowing you were at the residence when it is said to have happened,” he said, raising his eyebrow expectantly.

The statement took Elizabeth by surprise. That was not an appropriate subject a gentleman would not bring up to a lady, and she began to sketch his character negatively.

She wondered if he was looking to confirm a scandal about a maid, as he claimed, or was seeking information to confirm that it was actually her that was involved.

“Idle gossip from the help, to be sure,” she replied. “I admit I do not know him well, but he appears to be a proper gentleman.”

Wickham pondered her for a moment, contemplating his course of action. But the path his life had taken and his jealousy of the man took over. Darcy had been given everything from birth and now had an Earldom handed to him.

“I admit, with those in his own circle, he is all that is considered good. It pains me to speak ill of the man, as I loved his father as much as my own. I do not put the rumors past him as he had treated me most ill.”

“As I have said, I do not know him well enough to know his faults nor his virtues, but find this hard to believe from little I know of his character, and perhaps is not a subject to be brought up.” She replied, hoping it would end the topic.

Wickham ignored her objections and pointed to Mr Collins. “Look at your cousin. If not for Darcy, I would be wearing black as he is instead of this scarlet,” he said, putting his hand to his chest.

While she did not want to discuss Mr Darcy his statement did peak her interest. “I’m not following.”

“Darcy’s father was my Godfather and the kindest, most generous man that ever walked the earth. It was his intention that I have the living near Pemberley. Darcy denied it to me even though it had been stipulated in his father’s will.”

“Mr Wickham, I do not know what to make of this.” She meant why he was telling her, which he mistook as why Darcy had acted that way, so he continued.

“The living he controls is a valuable one, but he denied it to me when it became vacant.”

“If you spent your youth together, why would he do that to you?”

“Jealousy, I suppose. His father loved me as a son and doted on me, even paying for my education. He thought he had provided for my future security.”

“This is all most irregular.” She replied cautiously, unsure what to make of his accusations. It was true that she did not know Mr Darcy, and people generally put on their best face in public, especially with those they had only met. She might have believed the accusations without question if she had not experienced his private side. She would not deny them but could not accept them as fact from a stranger. One who had already admitted that they had had a falling out.

“Perhaps I have said too much, more than I should have. Please forgive me. It is just that seeing Darcy so unexpectedly and your cousin’s vocation brought it all flooding back to the forefront of my thoughts.”

“I can see how it would,” she said, nodding, then thought momentarily. “Perhaps you should try for a reconciliation. Now more than ever he will need all the friends he can muster.”

Wickham was puzzled by her reaction or lack thereof. His charm rarely failed to win over the fairer sex. He was going to try from a different tack when she excused herself to look after her sisters.

Elizabeth was deeply troubled the rest of the night. The carriage ride home did little to help calm her thoughts as Mr Collins jabbered on about the money he had lost, the food served and how pleased he was with the Phillips’s hospitality.

As they prepared for bed, Elizabeth told Jane what Wickham had revealed. Unsurprisingly, she simultaneously gave both men the benefit of the doubt.

“Both cannot be right,” she said with a shake of her head and a slight laugh at her sister’s naivety.

“What I mean is that perhaps there is truth in what was done. Memories can get jumbled and oftentimes formed from their own point of view. How long ago was this?”

“He did not say.”

“I’m sure it is all a misunderstanding. Now they are so close they cannot help but see each other, and we shall soon find them the best of friends again.” Jane said with hope in her voice as she thought of Mr Bingley.