Chapter 27

Elizabeth found herself next to Mr. Wickham, it was all she could do in the end to keep her youngest sister from being further in his company. Though politely accepting a proper introduction, she was no less unsettled by him, as his manners felt too contrived, and the flattery was flowing a little too freely.

"In a few years, I think it likely she'll settle into being a lively but more mature version of herself. Many of us find ourselves still growing into our characters at that age." Wickham said to Elizabeth. His eye had been following her as she tried to mend her sister's behavior throughout the evening. He was sure this was the best path to earning her trust, taking an almost paternal concern for Lydia, while pardoning her of any more serious defects in character.

"Do you often make a study of characters, Mr. Wickham? I own to that pass time as well. Lydia has always had the most vibrant personality in the Bennet household."

"In some ways, I suppose, but I daresay, it is more the care of people I was meant to see to, so I strive to better understand them, in order that I can better usher them along the path they were created to be on. It helps to be willing to understand people and determine to try to see who they will become as opposed to looking only at the place they are starting from."

Elizabeth lifted her eyebrows, seeking clarification.

"I was meant to be a parson Miss Elizabeth, I know it must come as a surprise as I am sitting here in a red coat." he smiled faintly, wistfully as though he were imagining a happier future, one better suited to his temperament.

Elizabeth recalled his words to Lydia earlier and attempted to look at them through the lens of the current revelation. His words were decidedly more benign, in light of his current statement. She had no wish to repeat her recent misunderstanding and judge someone too harshly, too soon, and based on too few words. She admitted to herself she may have rushed to judgment here as well, but nor did she wish to entirely discount the feeling she had until he mentioned his wish to be a rector. Perhaps, she chided herself, that was because she wished to be right, to be able to trust her first impressions.

She proceeded carefully, inquiring, "What twist of fate brought you to Hertfordshire then sir, to what do we owe the pleasure of your company?"

Wickham spun a wild tale, waiting until the end to reveal his afflictions, using the truth to tell lies, knowing it would have more impact that way. He told a tale of a goodly benefactor in his godfather and a once kind boy that was his heir until the world puffed him up with pride and the habits acquired in school drove them apart.

"You see Miss Elizabeth, no one is wholly bad, if the man could better resemble the child he was, he would be much like his father."

"But what could have happened, why is the living not yours?"

" I have a warm, unguarded temper, and I may have spoken my opinion of him, and to him, too freely. I can recall nothing worse. But the fact is, that we are very different sort of men and that he hates me."

"I cannot understand it."

"When we both were off to university, one of us gave in to the vices, especially with women and cards, habits so often acquired in such places. I daresay, it is a clergyman's responsibility to see proper deference given to what is decent and laudable and steer his flock away from what is deplorable. Many such things are not fit for a lady's ears, I must say," Wickham shared.

"Am I to understand, it is for that, that you have lost the living?" Inquired Elizabeth, quite shocked, forgetting his earlier behavior.

"It is a clergyman's duty to serve in the face of persecution, Miss Elizabeth, they are not absolved merely because their path in this life would be less of a test for not speaking."

"For shame, but who has done this to you?" inquired Elizabeth, starting to feel righteous indignation on his behalf.

"Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley, I understand that he has recently come to the neighborhood. I pray the worst of his habits he has now mended.," replied Wickham as Elizabeth gasped. He knew his story would be far more effective if he persuaded his audience of the man's guilt before they knew the man he spoke of. Wickham had developed a finely honed skill when it came to manipulation, indeed it was one of the few things he had applied himself to.

Elizabeth found herself conflicted and quite confused. Had she absolved Mr. Darcy merely because he made himself more agreeable to her? Was her first impression correct? And what of Mr. Wickham, was she absolving him of the concern she felt when she caught unguarded looks in his eye, when he felt himself unobserved, merely because he once wished to be a Parson? Was she attempting to feed her suspicion of Mr. Wickham because she wished to absolve Mr. Darcy? Elizabeth had heard enough of the lifestyle of the first circles to know that no one would believe a man such as Mr. Darcy was doing a thing wrong to indulge in the pleasures that could be found in town. Society would consider it well within the bounds of liberties owed to a man of fortune, until of course such a man gamble away the whole of his fortune, or died of a disease.

Elizabeth spent a rather sleepless night reviewing everything she knew of each of them and realized it was most sensible to treat them both with caution. If it were true that they were both so close, it was likely the habits of one were the habits of the other, at least at one time. It was entirely possible that neither of them were entirely innocent and no harm could come from ensuring every proprietary was observed for herself and her sisters.