“Mr.Wickham?”
Elizabeth nodded vigorously.“Mr.Wickham.Colonel Fitzwilliam told me he was a reckless gambler—”
“That is not surprising.”
“—and that he leaves debts in his wake wherever he goes.”
“How could he afford to pay for anything on his income?”
“And who do you suppose discharges those debts after Wickham has left the area?”
“Who?”
“Mr.Darcy!”
“Mr.Darcy?”
“Yes!”
“But why?”
Elizabeth shrugged.“I do not know.I asked the colonel the same question and he said Mr.Darcy feels some sense of responsibility for Wickham because he had been his father’s ward and a favorite of his.Colonel Fitzwilliam fears the Darcy patronage spoiled Mr.Wickham and taught him to be a monster.”
“A monster?”
Elizabeth made quick work of telling Charlotte what the colonel had told her of Mr.Wickham’s spending habits.Charlotte was appropriately shocked, and Elizabeth was able to forget her own stupidity for a time in the face of Mr.Wickham’s villainy.
“There is more.”
Charlotte leaned forward, elbows on her knees.
“He is a bald-faced liar,” said Elizabeth emphatically.
Charlotte leaned back.“Have you proof of this?”she asked carefully.
Elizabeth explained about the living Wickham had supposedly been promised, and the money he had been given in exchange for relinquishing any claim to it.
“Four thousand pounds!”cried Charlotte.“A prudent man could live some time on that amount of money.”
“You needn’t look at me like that, Charlotte.I already think myself the greatest fool in Hertfordshire.”
“We are in Kent.”
“Then I am the greatest fool in two counties.How could I have believed such a man?”
“He was very charming,” said Charlotte in a conciliatory fashion.
“You are too good to say you told me so, but we both know that you were not convinced by him.”
“Not entirely, no.But I did not truly give him much thought.”
Elizabeth fell back on the bed dramatically.“The good colonel also said there was more that was not fit for a lady’s ears, but that Wickham was not to be trusted around ladies, especially young impressionable girls.”
Charlotte’s eyes widened.“That is disturbing indeed.”
“Indeed.”Elizabeth threw her arm over her eyes.“How could I have been so blind?”
“He was a very convincing liar.”Charlotte attempted to be consoling, but Elizabeth knew she was dying to tell her friend she had been a fool who should have listened to her older and wiser friend.
