A/N: Happy New Year, everyone! I wish all of my readers a happy and prosperous new decade.

It's not obvious, but the Hertfordshire timeline is about 1-2 weeks behind the Derbyshire timeline. Not sure how, or if I will fix it, but just deal with it. This is before the fire.
Wade

"Mr. Darcy, what did you do to our dear Mr. Wickham? Papa says he was a scoundrel, but he told me all about you, and I believe you just wanted him out of the way."

Darcy looked over at his antagonist in consternation and wondered just how far to go in correcting her. He looked around the parlor to see if any wisdom was forthcoming from his companions. Anne and Jane were sitting together in a small cluster talking quietly. They heard Miss Lydia and turned their attention towards them, but neither lady seemed inclined to meddle.

Anne liked to keep Mary Taylor in the group as well, although Mrs. Bennet found it quite odd. Anne explained it by her need to train Mary as a lady's maid, but Darcy knew he did it just so she would have a chance to converse with him about Robert Breton. There had already been quite a number of stories about the childhood companions, which inevitably mentioned Wickham from time to time, usually in a negative light. Darcy had been quietly talking to Miss Taylor for some time and had almost forgotten the youngest Bennet sister before she interrupted.

Seeing no help for it, he asked, "Why do you think that, Miss Lydia? Do you trust Mr. Wickham over your own father?"

"You should ask Lizzy. He told her about the living you denied him. He gave all the particulars… dates, places, everything. If he had the living he was promised, he would not be running up debts."

"Yes, that is true… but did you ever consider that maybe he did not want to take the living my father so generously provided him?"

"Why would someone not want a good competence? I mean… well, being a clergyman is nothing to being an officer, but it is a good situation. Who would turn it down?"

"Who indeed, Miss Lydia. Who indeed!"

Seeing he did not really seem to be breaking through, Darcy decided to take another tack.

"Miss Lydia, do you truly want to know, or do you just want to tweak my nose a little. I am happy either way, as I could use a bit of nose tweaking from time to time, but I would like to know how best to proceed in answering your query."

For the first time in his acquaintance, Lydia Bennet stopped giggling long enough to give him a long, searching look. When she was finally satisfied with her exam, she replied.

"I would really like to know, Mr. Darcy. It seems like the two of you switched characters. First, he was amiable, and you were disagreeable. Now you appear to be amiable while he is judged disagreeable. Which is true?"

Darcy laughed, and said, "I should hope that our true characters are being revealed, Miss Lydia. Perhaps I can alleviate some of your confusion. Would a small lesson in life be acceptable? I promise, you can disregard it as much as you like."

"If it is interesting."

"Very well, let us make it interesting. Can I assume know what a hypothetical is?"

"Of course! I am not as stupid as I seem, Mr. Darcy; and besides that, Lizzy badgers us almost constantly about our 'vocabulary', so it's best to at least know what words mean."

"Very well, let us use a hypothetical. Imagine we have a young lady. We shall hypothetically call her 'Miss Linda'. Now, Miss Linda hypothetically met a man clandestinely… alone. We could call this man 'Captain Carson', and perhaps put their imaginary meeting place in a meadow very similar to the one between the live oak on the western border of Longbourn, and the Jamison barn. Entertaining enough?"

All the ladies in the room were now staring at him, but Lydia was staring daggers and balling her fist.

Not to be intimidated by a potential future tantrum, Darcy continued.

"Now, let us say that 'Miss Linda' wished to conceal this completely inappropriate meeting with a lie. Now comes the lesson. Should she say she passed by that field on the way to Meryton and perhaps saw a redcoat but did not talk to him; or should she say she visited her good friend Miss Mason in Luger Lodge; or should she say she visited her Aunt and Uncle Farrier in Town?"

Darcy sat back and watched Lydia go through several shades of red and white, while being unable to speak a word. After giving her a minute to think, he asked, "Well, Miss Lydia, what lie do you recommend for 'Miss Linda'?"

Lydia looked around for help, but finally said, "I imagine she could either tell the truth, or the first choice; she saw him but did not talk to him."

"Why?"

Lydia looked frightened, and said, "Because it is closest to the truth. She is less likely to get caught out."

Darcy leaned forward, and said, "Exactly! You see, Miss Lydia, that is precisely what Mr. Wickham does, but he has been practicing spinning lies with all the appearance of truth since we were small boys. Neither you nor Miss Elizabeth should feel chagrinned about misunderstanding him. The man has a talent for lying sufficient that he kept my father convinced of his good nature until his death."

Lydia looked half‑frightened and half‑confused, and replied, "So, you are saying that everything he said is a lie?"

"Not all of it, but he never speaks without looking for his own advantage. He knows to sprinkle enough truth in to cover up the lies. For example, my father did recommend him for a living in his will, and I did deny him the living. That is true. What it leaves out is that three years before I denied him the living, he came to me and begged me to help him study the law because he thought himself not very interested in sermons. So, he asked, and I granted him £3,000 in exchange for signing away the rights to the living, in addition to the £1,000 given to him outright in my father's will. He squandered £4,000 in three years. Have you any idea of how much money that is?"

Lydia shook her head, and said, "No, I do not understand money."

Darcy looked over to Mary Taylor to see if she was interested in joining the discussion, and as he had hoped, she stepped in.

"Miss Lydia, I was a maid of all work in your uncle's house. Your uncle pays very well. He is the most generous employer I know of. I had my room and board and £30 per annum, which is much more than most servants get. Mr. Darcy gave Mr. Wickham the amount I would earn in 100 years in exchange for the living."

Lydia looked sufficiently shocked, and Darcy continued.

"Miss Lydia, if he had put that money in the four percents, he would have drawn £160 per annum. With that income, he could have a small house and two or three servants until the end of his life. It is less money than a living, which generates around £500 per annum, but perfectly enough to take a wife and live comfortably with several children. Or, he could have studied the law as he indicated he wished to. He would make a phenomenal barrister if he ever applied himself. That glib tongue could make him untold wealth, honestly. However, he chose to throw it all way in gambling, which he is very bad at, and seducing naïve women, like you."

Miss Taylor leaned forward, and said, "I have seen the like before, Miss Lydia. I assure you they are nothing but trouble."

Anne joined in by saying, "Miss Lydia, may I ask you something a bit blunt. Do you think you are a valuable person? Are you worthy of a decent man with a good living?"

Lydia answered with a burst of anger that Darcy and Anne were actually happy to see, "Of course, I am!"

Not to be outdone, Anne matched her tone for tone, and said, "So WHY do you plan to throw away your virtue on a redcoat without two farthings to rub together? That is the inevitable outcome if you follow your current course. Captain Carter is no different from Mr. Wickham, and there will be dozens or hundreds waiting behind him."

Lydia was still fuming, but at least silently.

Jane, surprisingly said, "They are right, Liddy. That is what the rules of propriety are for. They seek to protect us. They cannot protect us from everything in the world, but if we follow them, they will protect us from the most obvious and common mistakes. To some extent, they protect us from ourselves, if we will only follow the most sensible parts. You need not slavishly follow everything, but at least follow those that support self‑preservation. You can laugh and have fun… we will not censure you for that… but please Liddy, please, do not put yourself and your sisters at risk for a few moment's diversion. Any man worth knowing will respect you and follow the rules."

Judging the lesson learned as well as it was likely to, Mr. Darcy said, "Of course, Miss Linda's story never happened. After all, it was entirely hypothetical, and I just made the whole thing up."

Lydia let out a huge sigh of relief, beamed a big smile at him, and said, "I thank you, Mr. Darcy. You have a way of speaking that makes sense. Now you are halfway through, so shall we finish."

Darcy just looked at her in befuddlement, so Anne decided to help him out.

"William, she means you have adequately explained Mr. Wickham, but not your own change."

Not certain he wanted to be explicit, he prevaricated a bit, until Anne decided to let him off the hook.

"Miss Lydia, you are operating under a misconception. May I be allowed to answer for my cousin?"

Lydia just giggled and nodded her head, and all was right with the world again.

"Well, you see… you are making a common error. You are mistaking manners for character. My cousin's character is absolutely sterling. He is a good and generous master, diligent in his duties, affable to the poor, conscientious with his retainers, fair in his business dealings, takes care of those in need. That is his character. That is fixed and immutable."

Lydia just stared at him in surprise, trying to work out if this was the truth. Anne gave her a minute to absorb that before continuing.

"What he presents to the world is his manners, and I must admit that for most of his life, they have been atrocious."

Lydia giggled, while Darcy laughed out loud, but said nothing. Far be it from him to correct his cousin's narrative.

"Not only are his manners the exact opposite of the unlamented Mr. Wickham, but he has also been hunted by every fortune‑hunting debutante in England since he came of age. Imagine if every unpleasant man you ever met was vying for your attention every day, so you could not even distinguish the good from the bad. Then imagine that continuing for a decade. He has been avoiding entanglements since you were five‑years‑old, Miss Lydia. Perhaps you might show him some clemency."

Much to Darcy's surprise, Lydia sat almost preternaturally still for at least a minute, staring at him. Her face screwed up in confusion, and she finally said, "Five-years-old, you say. A decade. Have there been a lot of Miss Bingleys, Mr. Darcy?"

"More than I can count, Miss Lydia."

She stared at him a moment longer, and said, "Well, I understand half of it now."

He just raised his eyebrows and nodded for her to continue.

"I now understand your old manners, but your current manners… they… they…"

He saw her face scrunch up again, but then he saw what looked like a dawning comprehension and had to admit that Miss Lydia looked quite pretty when she was not giggling. He could see the echo of her sisters in her countenance and wondered what she would be with a bit more age and experience. Perhaps a few months under Mrs. Annesley's guidance would not go amiss.

Miss Lydia smiled, and said, "I see it now… it is all so obvious!"

"Pray, enlighten us, Miss Lydia?"

She giggled again, and said, "Well, Sir… you have right here in this parlor three women who not only do not fawn all over you, but all seem like they will smack your knuckles with a ruler if you step out of line. I imagine there is only one other woman that treats you like that. Were you ever going to tell us that you are here pretending to protect your cousin, who obviously does not need it, just so you could wait for Lizzy to return?"

Darcy laughed a bit uncomfortably and looked at her in consternation.

"I shall answer your question, Miss Lydia, but I must demand you keep our confidence. Your sister's reputation, and in turn, your reputation could be damaged by what I am about to tell you."

"I swear, Mr. Darcy. I will not even tell Kitty."

"I proposed to your sister, and I am awaiting an answer."

Lydia's mouth hung open in surprise for a moment, and then her face turned into a smile lit up the room like the sunrise. She asked, "So, what did she say to you?"

With a sinking feeling of déjà vu, Darcy said, "She did not say a single word. She just left the room, got on the first outbound coach and has been hiding from me for a month."

Lydia laughed, and said, "That is probably for the best. She would have set the room afire if she started talking. I assume my father has told you by now that she does not esteem you."

"Yes, I have been made aware. I have work to do."

With a laugh, Lydia said, "I take back everything I ever said about you, Mr. Darcy. You are not in the least disagreeable, once you get past that thick skin of yours. You will make a very good brother… if you survive… eventually."

With another laugh, Lydia jumped up from the sofa and dragged Mary off to trim bonnets or learn about dressing Anne or something along those lines, while Jane, Anne and Darcy breathed a sigh of relief.