“Yes, let us all walk to Meryton,” said Lydia, “for I have not informed my friends in the regiment that I am to go to Brighton with them. Denny shall be most pleased by the notion, for he likes me best of all the local ladies.”
Whether this was the truth Elizabeth preferred not to speculate. While she wished to walk to Meryton with Jane andperhaps Mary for company, it appeared they were all to go. It was better to endure the girl in the open air of the outdoors rather than in the confines of Longbourn, so Elizabeth agreed at once. Perhaps she might even escape Lydia for a time by visiting the bookshop, for that was one place Lydia did not care to go.
The sisters donned bonnets and gloves, and soon they were walking merrily toward the distant town. If the sound of Lydia’s constant conversation accompanied them, Elizabeth found she could ignore the girl’s crowing with relative cheer. Kitty, who was often the target of Lydia’s mean-spirited comments, walked next to Jane, the eldest sister speaking to her softly, settling Kitty’s nerves. It was a walk they had made many times, and thus they entered the town soon thereafter seeking amusement.
Meryton was not Bond Street or Piccadilly, and those unacquainted with it might find the dusty roads, and the small and dingy shops entirely inadequate. Miss Bingley had certainly commented on it often enough in Elizabeth’s hearing the previous autumn for her to know what ladies who frequented London might think of their little town. Yet Meryton had a few treasures that those unfamiliar with it might not discover, and to those who had known better districts infrequently, the town sufficed to amuse them for an afternoon.
As was her wont, Lydia soon espied several officers nearby and changed course to accost them at once. The elder sisters went along, greeting the gentlemen pleasantly and listening to Lydia boast.
“Sanderson! Do you know I am to go to Brighton as Mrs. Forster’s particular friend?”
“So I heard, Miss Lydia,” said the genial officer. “I can imagine you must be anticipating it very much.”
“I am, for I shall keep your society! We shall be such a merry party in Brighton!”
“What of Miss Kitty?” asked the other officer, a Mr. Rogers.“Are you also to join us?”
Kitty looked down in shame but managed to say: “I did not receive an invitation, Mr. Rogers.”
“That is unfortunate, for I should have liked to keep your company too.”
The way the man spoke and looked at Kitty set Elizabeth’s senses to alert, though Kitty smiled and beamed her thanks. Elizabeth knew no harm of the man, but she did not like the way he regarded her younger sisters, as if they were some fat hares he meant to catch for his supper. It was a surprise to no one that Lydia was not about to allow this to pass.
“Oh, do not concern yourself, Rogers,” said she. “I shall be there, and I shall be happy to dance with you at any function we attend.”
A few moments later, Elizabeth and Jane pulled their sisters away from the officers and made their way down the street. Had the same scene not played out twice more, she would have been well pleased. At length, when Lydia could find no more officers to approach, they made their way to the shops to find what amusement they could.
As Elizabeth had supposed, Lydia was not interested in the bookshop, nor did the sisters agree on what to visit first. Thus, they separated, Mary joining Elizabeth to visit the aforementioned bookshop while Jane led Kitty and Lydia to the milliners to look for bits of ribbon. Mary appreciated the bookseller for a different reason than Elizabeth, for Mr. Lodge, the proprietor, also kept a selection of sheet music she enjoyed browsing.
Thereafter, they met back on the street and separated into different parties to visit this shop or that merchant. Elizabeth went apart from her sisters for a few moments to fulfil a commission given to her by Longbourn’s cook. When she emerged from the store, she spotted Lydia and Kitty speaking inthe street, though as she approached, it looked like nothing less than an argument to her.
“I saw nothing of him, Lydia,” said Kitty, looking doubtfully at her younger sibling.
“He was there, I tell you.” Lydia turned and pointed up the street. “Beside that carriage by the general store. He alighted and went into the alley behind the regiment’s offices.”
“Who, Lydia?” asked Elizabeth.
“Mr. Wickham, of course,” said Lydia as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
At once Elizabeth’s senses grew watchful, for she could not imagine why that man would return to Meryton when he had left before she had returned from Kent. “Mr. Wickham? Did you not say he left the regiment?”
“Near the end of April,” replied the girl.
“And you have not seen him since then?”
Lydia shrugged. “He has not returned—if he had, the gossip would be all over the neighborhood. While I know nothing of it, several of the officers were quite put out with his going.”
This Elizabeth attributed to the man’s habit of accumulating gaming debts. “Why would he return now?”
“I am certain I know not,” said Lydia, “though I should like to greet him if he is nearby. Mr. Wickhamwasby far the most handsome and gentlemanly man in the regiment.”
At that moment, three more officers hailed them, Lydia’s favorite Lieutenant Denny in their midst. This drove the matter of Mr. Wickham from the girl’s mind, and soon she was happily informing them of the invitation from the colonel. Elizabeth could spare little thought for her boasting or Kitty’s annoyance, for the matter of Mr. Wickham’s appearance still played on her mind. When the conversation appeared likely to continue for several moments and noting her sisters could come to no harm on a village street, she excused herself, wishing to learn if hersister’s claims of Mr. Wickham’s return were accurate.
The carriage to which Lydia had pointed was a nondescript conveyance, lacking any defining characteristics or markings to indicate its owner. It was the sort of carriage owned by a man who made his livelihood by hiring his services to those in need of transportation. At present, there was no one in evidence either near or inside the vehicle, the horse tied to a post, standing placidly while it awaited its master’s return.
A hint of movement from within the carriage caught Elizabeth’s attention, and she realized the coach was not so abandoned as she had thought. Curious, she edged closer, intent upon seeing if Mr. Wickham was within. The figure within, however, was not a man, but a rather thin woman with her hair tied in a tight bun at the back of her head. Then she turned, her face coming into the light, though she did not look in Elizabeth’s direction. A shock of recognition pierced Elizabeth’s composure, for unless she was very much mistaken, she knew the young woman within. It was Miss Anne de Bourgh!
Earlier that same morning, Darcy received a visitor that surprised him very much.
