Caroline and his mother had been berating him about his ‘low-born’ friend. When he told them he was no longer friends with the other boy, they had crowed over their success until he had told them the split had nothing to do with them. Nevertheless, they were pleased the connection was broken.
He never did meet the Darcy fellow whom Wickham accused of stealing; a charge Charles knew beyond any doubt was false. The only thief he had ever met was Wickham himself. He thought it possible that even though young Mr Darcy was a year ahead of him, if they were perchance in the same college, they could meet at Cambridge.
He was sad that Mother had passed and that he would have to mourn the full six months as society’s rules dictated. However, because of the way she treated Lulu, Charles had never been very close to his mother. It was good he would not have to listen to her going on about rising in society any longer. Now if only Caroline would cease beating that particular drum.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
In some ways, Arthur Bingley felt relief at his wife’s passing. No, he had not wished her to leave the mortal world, but over the years as more of the mask she had worn cracked, and he came to know the real Mavis Bingley, the more he had fallen out of love with her.
When she had made those unacceptable comments about Lulu, it had been bad enough. However, she then had inculcated Caroline not only with the nastiness against Lulu but also her ideas about rising in society as well.
Other than his late wife and Caroline, there was no one in the family who was unhappy with their status as tradesmen. They were the only two who wanted to rise in society. Unfortunately, Bingley’s wife hid this side of herself until after Lulu had been born. By then, it was far too late to do anything about it.
Aside from swearing that he would allow Caroline to attend the seminary in London on Mavis’s deathbed, he had vowed nothing else. She had tried to get him to promise he would purchase an estate. The best she got from him was a promise that her husband would leave it to Charles. It would be up to their son, but he would not impose his will on Charles.
Whatever his boy chose would be acceptable. After all, Bingleys had done rather well in trade for many years, and this Bingley would not abandon his profitable business on the whims of his late wife or his too high-in-the-instep younger daughter.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Cambridge, October 1802
George Wickham was bent on revenge. That damned prig, William Darcy, had shopped on[1]Wickham to his godfather about taking liberties with a maid, and the debts he had left in Lambton. Why should his godfather complain about paying some trifling debts when he was so damned wealthy? Evidently, Richard Fitzwilliam had backed up his nemesis’s words, so the old man had not dismissed them like he was wont to do in the past.
William, or Fitzwilliam Darcy, was a year older than Wickham. He would receive everything while Wickham would have to subsist on nothing and work for his money. How was that fair? If it had just been his word against that of the Darcy heir, Wickham was certain he could have talked his way outof the trouble. The problem was that Richard Fitzwilliam, the second son of the Earl and Countess of Matlock, had added his voice. Fitzwilliam was someone who petrified Wickham. Not even the older Fitzwilliam brother, Lord Andrew, Viscount Hilldale, scared Wickham like Fitzwilliam did.
The Darcy son was too honourable to take too much action against Wickham, but Fitzwilliam had no scruples, as had been proved when he had thrashed Wickham for trying to play a rather dangerous prank on his cousin. Since then, Wickham had given Fitzwilliam a wide berth.
At least little Anna Darcy, who was six, still thought Wickham was someone good. Her mother, Lady Anne—Lord Matlock’s sister—had died soon after Anna’s birth, so she was always looking for affection. Wickham thought the girl annoying, but her father liked his attention to the child, and he never knew when he would be able to use his relationship with little Anna to his advantage.
Now if he stepped out of line, left one unpaid debt in his own or a Darcy’s name, old Mr Darcy would break with him. He threatened that he would remove Wickham from the will and withdraw any and all patronage. The allowance his godfather gave him had been cut in half.
Because of his godfather’s edicts, Wickham would have to live like a papist monk unless he wanted to lose all the advantages of being Robert Darcy’s godson.
He could do nothing himself, but he would get others to act in his stead. To that end, he stole the purses of rather large twin brothers. One afternoon, hebumpedinto the Medford brothers quite bychance.
“Medfords, it is very fortuitous that I found you two,” Wickham stated. “Did you perhaps lose your purses?”
“We did, what do you know of it, steward’s son?” the oldest Medford twin demanded as he pulled Wickham to himby his cravat. “It would be some bastard like you to steal from us.”
“Me steal? You wound me.” Wickham put on a sorrowful look. “It was that prig Darcy who stole your purses. I saw him hide them in a box under his bed. You know, my father is Mr Darcy’s steward, and I am his godson, so we see one another often. If you do not believe me, go confront Darcy, and you will see your purses are where I said they will be. When you see I am telling the truth, you can have him charged for theft.”
“That is because you stole them, and hid them in young Mr Darcy’s suite,” Charles spoke up.
He had seen Wickham sneaking into the Medfords’ chambers and seen him remove the purses. Then, Charles had followed him and watched while he entered a suite of rooms where the students in their second year resided. As stealthily as he could he had made his way to the cracked door and had seen where Wickham hid his ill-gotten gains.
Based on his experience with Wickham at Eton, he had waited for the miscreant to leave. Then he had slipped into the suite and retrieved the purses. When he saw the names on the door—Fitzwilliam, R and Darcy, F—Charles knew that Wickham was trying to cause trouble for the one he had railed against at Eton.
“You are the son of a tradesman, who will believe you?” Wickham asked with false bravado.
“You two Medfords were out of your chambers at four in the afternoon yesterday, were you not?” The large twins nodded. “I watched it all. As he tried to steal my purse at Eton, I followed Wickham. I watched him slip into a suite and hide the purses in a box which he pushed under the one bed. I retrieved them for you.”
“What has Wicky done now?” A voice which made Wickham turn white asked. Of all the luck for Fitzwilliam toarrive.
“He better not be in trouble. He knows that my father has him on a very short leash,” William Darcy drawled as he stopped with his cousin. “Is there something you gentlemen need to tell us?”
Wickham tried to slink away, but the younger Medford restrained him.
The story was told with Charles Bingley relating his piece as well. William Darcy and Richard Fitzwilliam informed the others why Wickham was bent on revenge against the Darcy heir. The twins agreed that the last person who needed to steal from anyone was Darcy. By the time all was told, Wickham was as frightened as he had ever been, and even though it was a chilly day, he was sweating.
