The courtyard was filled with men, horses and noise as Darcy opened his chamber door the next morning.

Looking out of the casement he saw the bright red coats and gleaming weapons of the local regiment, and the flicking ears and swishing tails of their eager horses.

These must have been who they had heard in the wood the previous night, he realised. And he knew, then, how to retrieve Lydia.

He leaned out of the window, searching for a familiar face, and found it. "Captain! Captain!"

Thean he hailed did not respond. His head was partly concealed by his tall hat - had Darcy mistaken him?

He called again. "Wickham!"

Captain Wickham looked up then, saw Darcy, and froze.

Xxxx

Wickham looked different, Darcy thought. Vastly different from their last, uncomfortable meeting, though that was unsurprising. There had been letters since then, and matters had been set aside, and an agreement, of a sort, had been reached.

No - it was not that, nor the passing of more than a year, which made Wickham look changed. The man had always been handsome, with a jovial aspect which Darcy had never matched, nor any longer sought to: but now there was a gravity to him, a tiredness around his eyes. Darcy knew it.

"You have seen battle," he said to Wickham, as the two of them sat with toast and small beer in the inn's parlor.

"Yes," Wickham said, "and I do not wish to speak of it. I have bought out my time, Darcy, before you ask. Very soon, I will no longer be Captain Wickham, but only plain Wickham again, and that will suit me very well."

The tiredness was in his voice as well as his face, Darcy saw. There was a touch of silver at his temples. Whatever fighting Wickham had seen had marked him for life.

"I thought you enjoyed the glamour of a regimental title," Darcy said, unable to stop himself.

"I did. And now I don't." Wickham bit off a piece of hot toast, fresh from the fork, and looked Darcy squarely in the eye. "Whilst it's always a pleasure, Darcy, what is it that you want of me? You know I cannot pay you what I owe, not yet. I used it to get out of the regiment."

"And what of the money I lent you to get into the regiment?"

Wickham shrugged. "Some shopkeepers in Brighton are waiting for that."

On another occasion, this would have angered Darcy. But today he had a different purpose. "I require your help," he told Wickham. "It is a delicate matter and the private business of an acquaintance of mine. Can I be assured of your discretion?"

Wickham's eyes narrowed. "I have kept my promise regarding your... relations, have I not? You have not set eyes on me this past twelvemonth."

"This does not pertain to that matter," Darcy said quickly. "Although your particular expertise in the matter of elopement will stand you in good stead."

Rapidly he explained what he wished Wickham to do. "I will pay you half now," he added. "The remainder will be upon your safe return. You know the place?"

"St George's. We passed it on the road." Wickham looked past Darcy, then, and his face brightened. "Darcy, I believe a lady seeks your attention. She is of your party?"

Darcy looked around and saw a female servant pointing him out to Elizabeth. "This lady is Lydia Bennet's sister," he said. "She has accompanied me on the search."

"And without any guardian but you? Darcy, you dog!"

Wickham's eyes traced Elizabeth in unguarded appreciation as she crossed the room.

Darcy leaned in as Elizabeth approached. "Wickham, you are convenient, but I do not forget your history, and I will strike you if you treat Miss Bennet with anything less than the utmost respect. Either of the sisters Bennet."

Wickham smirked and bowed with Darcy as Elizabeth sat down at their table.

Darcy made introductions. "Mr Wickham is to help us find Lydia. He is the son of my late father's steward, and you may trust him to retrieve Lydia and being her home."

"A friend of Mr Darcy must be my friend too," Elizabeth said. "And you are a Captain?"

"For a little time," Wickham said. "Do you follow the troops' progress, ma'am?"

"The appeal of a uniform has rather paled of late. And I am yet unmarried, sir."

"I beg your pardon, Miss Bennet." Wickham bowed courteously, and Darcy saw that Elizabeth, for all her words, was not immune to gallantry and good looks.

"I know the former Captain Tolfrey a little," Wickham told Elizabeth. "And when the regiment last moved through Derbyshire, we shared some haunts."

So Wickham had passed close to Pemberley, and not come near. This reassured Darcy more than any words.

"You will take us to his hiding place?" Elizabeth asked eagerly.

Wickham shook his head. "Tolfrey in a corner is not a place for any that need not be there. I will go, with certain of my colleagues, and I alone will accompany her to the rendezvous."

"I do not like it," Elizabeth said plainly to Darcy. "I feel I have only moved my sister from one compromising situation to another."

"I will explain all as we travel," Darcy said. "But now, Mr Wickham must move."

They took their leave, and Wickham muttered to Darcy, "If the younger sister is as beautiful as the older, my task will be the pleasanter."

"She is more suitable than my own sister and that is all you need to remember," Darcy returned. "Now go."

The task must be completed now, no matter the cost, and there was no room for sentiment or regret. Not even for Elizabeth Bennet.