“Me neither!” Kitty exclaimed.
Mary was silent, but then her opinions were hardly ever canvassed. She would have loved to be married to a clergyman, but it was not something she felt comfortable articulating. She had noticed how the man looked at her with distaste, as most men did.
“You will not have to marry him, girls. It will be Miss Lizzy who shall do her duty,” Fanny asserted.
“Mama, she will never agree to marry him,” Lydia predicted.
“It shall be as I say,” Fanny stated not brooking any more dissention.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
George Wickham strutted down Meryton’s High Street like a peacock the following morning, kitted out in his lieutenant’s uniform, with Denny at his side. He saw numerous young girls in the town so, as far as he was concerned, there would be no shortage ofentertainment.
One thing that had given him pause was the reaction when he mentioned the estate where he grew up and the name Darcy. Just before he launched into his well-rehearsed tale of Darcy cheating him out of his inheritance, Colonel Forster asked if Wickham knew Colonel Fitzwilliam.
There was only one man of his acquaintance he feared more than theSpaniard,and that was Richard Fitzwilliam. Wickham was sure the only reason he was still breathing was because after his failure in Ramsgate, Darcy had restrained his cousin somehow. He could hide from theSpaniard’smen, but not from Colonel Fitzwilliam. From that man, there was nowhere he could hide. Fitzwilliam would find him if he set his mind to it.
Wickham thanked his lucky stars he had not launched into his woe-is-me tale with Darcy cast as the villain, as he was sure the information would get back to Darcy’s cousin within a day or two. He would have to be more careful than was his wont in this town.
He spied two young girls in the thirteen- to fifteen-year-old range entering the smithy’s shop, and he decided that he would restrict himself to tradesmen’s daughters until just before he made his escape, unless of course there was a gentleman’s daughter who threw herself at him.
“Denny!” Both men turned around as Denny’s name was screamed out from the other side of the street.
“Miss Kitty and Miss Lydia Bennet,” Denny informed Wickham who had looked at him questioningly. “They are the youngest of five daughters and live on an estate, Longbourn.”
“Do they have fortunes?” Wickham asked as he began to calculate how to get his hands on someone else’s money again.
“From what I have been told, they will have one thousand pounds each, and then only when the mother, who is hale and healthy, dies,” Denny reported.
Wickham was disappointed. None of the Bennet chits could provide him with some much-needed blunt. He could not show his face in London until he paid theSpaniardwhat he owed.
“It is good to see you back from London,” Lydia stated breathlessly after she and Kitty ran across the road to talk to Denny and find out about the handsome officer with him.
“Thank you, Miss Lydia,” Denny bowed. “May I introduce you to my friend?”
“Please do,” Lydia cooed while Kitty remained silent.
“Miss Catherine Bennet, Miss Lydia Bennet, this is Lieutenant George Wickham, who joined the unit yesterday. Wickham, Miss Kitty and Miss Lydia Bennet,” Denny performed the introductions.
“It is good to have another officer join the militia,” Lydia said as she batted her eyelids at the handsome officer.
‘Just my luck—I need to keep away from gentlefolk. I would be able to bed this hussy in no time at all,’ Wickham commiserated with himself, ‘if she is as willing as she seems, I may just make an exception for her.’ “It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Kitty,” Wickham bowed over her hand, “and Miss Lydia.” He repeated the same for the younger girl.
“I am afraid we must away as we must join our mother when she visits our sister who is ill at another estate,” Lydia huffed. She would have much rather remained in the exceedingly handsome Mr. Wickham’s presence.
The two Bennets reluctantly took their leave and started their walk back to Longbourn.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“Lizzy, take your younger sisters to the drawing room and wait for me there,” Fanny Bennet instructed when she visited her daughter at Netherfield Park. “Tell me how your plans are proceeding,” she asked Jane as soon as the door was closed.
“I will compromise Mr. Darcy tonight. For some reason, I have not been able to turn his head, so this is the only way,” Jane informed her mother.
“You are a good girl, Jane. You took my lessons to heart,” Fanny praised her favourite. “You will be married to a man as rich asCroesus and Lizzy will marry that horrid Collins man.”
“Is he really that bad?” Jane asked.
“I have never had my sense of smell so assaulted before. He boasted he only bathes once afortnight!” Fanny reported. “Miss Lizzy cannot expect better.”
