“Well, I certainly never deferred to him,” Lizzy said, laughing. “I do not think he said anything that I did not challenge, possibly accounting for the quizzical expression he wore whenever he was in my company. But I fear I have painted too unflattering a portrait of Mr. Darcy. He is a man of parts, and I fear I have judged him too harshly. If I can but forget that awful afternoon when he proposed and that dreadful letter, there were times when he was quite pleasant.”

Lizzy thought back to the conversations she had had with Mr. Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam in the great room at Rosings Park. While discussing events on the Continent, Lizzy had learned that both men had gone on the Grand Tour after finishing at Cambridge. Before being interrupted by Lady Catherine, Colonel Fitzwilliam was on the verge of sharing a story about Mr. Darcy from the time when they were in Venice for Carnavale. She would have loved to have known what costume Mr. Darcy had chosen for the masked revels—something with a black cape, she imagined, that would conceal everything but his eyes.

“It must seem unreal to you,” Jane said, “Mr. Darcy of Pemberley asking you to be his wife.”

“Oh, I can assure you that it is very real. Jane, can you imagine the storm that would have ensued if I had actually accepted Mr. Darcy? Looking at it from that point of view, I believe that he is in my debt. I have saved him from the rantings of his aunt and the ridicule of his friends,” she said with a laugh in her voice. “But seriously, I have the greatest fear that I will encounter him at Pemberley. He would rightly ask what I was doing there and what would I say? I would be mortified.”

“But being the gentleman that he is, Mr. Darcy would offer to show you about the estate, and after you had left, he would wonder if you had reconsidered his offer and if he might renew his attentions to you. And this time, he would receive a very different answer.”

“Yes, I can picture Mr. Darcy down on one knee making a second offer of marriage to me,” Lizzy responded, shaking her head at the absurdity of her sister’s idea. “Oh, Jane, those things only happen in novels. But should such an event occur, you will be the first to know.”

* * *

To Jane, the reason why Lizzy was so unsettled was obvious. She had rejected an offer of marriage from a man of elevated rank and with very high connections, and Jane recognized that she was part of the reason why her sister had refused Mr. Darcy. Although Lizzy had not said anything about it, she understood her sister’s temperament well enough to know that she did not become angry without sufficient cause.

It was true that Lizzy’s dislike of Mr. Darcy was based on his unkind words and haughty behavior at the assembly, but that would not have been enough for her to reject out of hand a proposal from a man of such consequence. And as sympathetic as Lizzy was to Mr. Wickham being denied a promised living, Lizzy had not known Mr. Wickham well enough to become so angry as to be dismissive of Mr. Darcy’s offer. The intensity of Lizzy’s rejection could come only as the result of someone she loved being hurt, and that someone was Jane.

In all these months since Mr. Bingley had left Hertfordshire, Jane had gone over and over every moment she had spent in his company. She recalled their first dance and how he had looked at her. Even while he was dancing with the other ladies, his eyes kept seeking her out, and he would smile or wave. When he asked her for a second dance, she felt something stir within her. In her twenty-two years, she had had her share of flirtations, but this was something very different, and she knew it from that very first evening.

Right up to the Netherfield ball, everything had been going splendidly. That evening, Mr. Bingley had abandoned all pretense of being interested in any other lady, and during supper, he had told her that he anticipated great changes in his life in the very near future. But within the week, he was gone.

Jane now understood that Caroline, Louisa, and Mr. Darcy had worked in concert to ensure that Mr. Bingley made no offer of marriage to a woman who had no fortune, no connections, but who did have a family who was guilty of the most inappropriate behavior. Despite this realization, Jane did not blame any of them. Caroline and Mrs. Hurst believed they were acting in the best interest of their brother, while Mr. Darcy was looking out for the welfare of his friend. She could bear that. But the thought that Mr. Bingley was insincere in what he had said to her was too painful to contemplate. She finally concluded it was simply a matter of the depth of his affection not matching hers. As she had once said to Lizzy, “Women fancy admiration means more than it does.”

However that was not the case with Mr. Darcy. He was so in love with Lizzy that he had set aside the very same objections he had raised with regard to Mr. Bingley. His feelings were so overwhelming that the impropriety of her mother and sisters receded into the background. Poor Mr. Darcy! How he must have suffered at her sister’s rejection, but a love so strong would not just go away. But what could be done to reunite the two? If only it were possible for Lizzy to meet Mr. Darcy during her time in Derbyshire, but as her sister had said, such things only happened in novels. But one could hope.

Chapter 18

As Mrs. Hill had predicted, Mrs. Forster was soon experiencing not only morning sickness but also afternoon sickness and evening sickness, and it was not sitting well with Lydia. She was tired of holding her friend’s hand, soothing her brow, and fetching her broth. Even the weather was conspiring against her as it rained nearly every day. She wanted to go out to the shops and to go dancing and to forget about the ailing Mrs. Forster, but Colonel Forster was making that difficult because he kept thanking Lydia for being such a faithful friend to his wife.

Faithful friend or not, after a week of reading to Mrs. Forster, Lydia had had enough, and the complaints began. Lydia griped to Mrs. Forster, and Mrs. Forster grumbled to the colonel.

“I invited Lydia to come to Brighton because she was my most particular friend, but it seems my condition has proved to be an inconvenience to her. She goes on and on about the weather as if I had some control over how many rainy days we have had since our arrival. Yesterday, when the rain stopped, she grabbed her cloak, and without so much as a by your leave, was out the door and off to the shops. She had given me warning that she would do just that, but even so, I thought it very rude when she actually did it.”

It was at times like this that Colonel Forster wondered why he had given up the benefits of bachelorhood to marry a woman who was half his age and in need of constant entertainment.

“Harriet, my dear, I have been told by Mrs. Miller, who knows a lot about these things, that the discomfort you are currently experiencing will pass. In the meantime, why should Miss Lydia not go out to these evening events, which you cannot enjoy at this particular time, especially since you retire so early?”

“I think Lydia should go home. If she does not wish to provide some comfort to her friend, why should she stay here?”

“I cannot agree to that,” Colonel Forster said emphatically. “It was you who insisted that Miss Lydia come for at least six weeks, and it is not even a full month yet. We must keep to our original agreement, but I will speak to our guest and see if a compromise can be reached.”

There was a compromise. Lydia promised Harriet that she would spend each afternoon with her; in return, Lydia would be allowed to go to the evening entertainments. As a result, once again, Mrs. Forster and her particular friend became as close as sisters. Each day, some amusement was arranged for Lydia and Harriet. One afternoon, the regiment’s piper came and played tunes; the next day, the two ladies laughed and giggled while they and their friends played at charades; and on the third day, two officers came to join them in a game of casino. One was a Lieutenant Edgar Fuller, and the other, Lieutenant George Wickham.

The request to attend Mrs. Forster’s card parties had not come as a complete surprise to Wickham. Two weeks earlier, Lieutenant Fuller and he had encountered the colonel’s wife coming out of a stationery store on King’s Road accompanied by Lydia Bennet, who Wickham knew to be a hopeless flirt. While in Meryton, he had paid her scant attention because of her age and her inability to hold a thought in her head for more than one minute. He much preferred her older sister, Elizabeth, who was not only very pretty but who also displayed a gift for repartee that he enjoyed. Verbal fencing was often a prelude to sex.

When his engagement with Mary King came to nothing because her family had whisked her off to Liverpool, Wickham attempted to resurrect his friendship with Miss Elizabeth, but his reception had been cool at best. When he learned that she had visited with Mr. Darcy in Kent, he understood the reason for her indifference. Darcy had obviously shared the story of his attempted elopement with Georgiana Darcy, and with that, any hope of an affair with the dark-eyed beauty evaporated.

When Captain Wilcox came into the officers’ mess to tell Wickham and Fuller of their new assignment, he found them slumped in their chairs discussing how their poverty had forced them into a profession they both despised.

“I have a change of duty for you two,” Captain Wilcox said. “Oh, don’t look alarmed. It seems Colonel Forster’s wife is bored and is in need of entertainment. Apparently, you became acquainted with the lady while the militia was encamped in Meryton. You must have put on a good show because you were asked for by name. All you two reprobates have to do is play cards with Mrs. Forster and her guests. It also serves the purpose of keeping both of you away from the gaming tables. It is no secret that each of you has debts of honor to settle. This will put you out of range of the other officers for a few days. They will not dare approach you while you are amusing the colonel’s missus.”