She found Jane in the upstairs sitting room, arranging a bunch of winter pansies in a tiny vase.
Jane looked up with her usual gentle smile. “Lizzy, you look worried. Has something happened?”
Elizabeth closed the door behind her. “Yes,” she said. “Something has happened, and I am afraid we must do something about it.”
Jane set down the flowers at once. “What is the matter?”
Elizabeth hesitated only a moment. “It concerns Lydia.”
Jane’s eyebrows knitted together with immediate concern. “Has she done anything particularly imprudent?”
“Not yet,” Elizabeth replied. “But unless we interfere, I am very much afraid she soon will.”
Jane listened quietly as Elizabeth repeatedwhat Lydia had said to Kitty. By the time she finished, Jane’s expression had grown serious, though her kindness prevented her from speaking too harshly of their sister.
“Lydia is certainly too thoughtless,” Jane said at last. “But perhaps the officers will not encourage her.”
Elizabeth looked at her steadily. “Jane, that is the worst of what I have to tell you. I have come into some information about Mr Wickham. I cannot tell you all, for some of it was told to me in confidence. But I have come to have the gravest concerns about Mr Wickham’s character. He is not the upright, honourable man he has presented himself to be.”
“I am sure that cannot be so,” Jane protested. “Cannot there be some mistake? I have the greatest respect for your judgement, Lizzy, but could there not be some misunderstanding?”
“There could be,” Elizabeth said. “I cannot deny it. And I shall tell you frankly that I told our father as much, to no result. But for my part, I am convinced Lydia’s danger is great enough that we should not ignore it.”
Jane said nothing for a moment. “I should like to believe,” she said carefully, “that Mr Wickham would not willingly lead Lydia into anything improper.”
Elizabeth sighed softly. “I should like tobelieve it, too.” For a long moment, she weighed what she ought to do. Knowing that Jane’s honour and good sense were above reproach, she would share the source of her information if she must. But Mr Darcy had trusted her with the most important secret of his sister’s life. Not even her faith in Jane could justify sharing that secret before it was absolutely necessary. But if Jane continued to insist that Mr Wickham could not be really dangerous —
Before Jane could reply, another voice spoke from the doorway. “I shouldliketo believe it, but I do not. Not for a moment.”
Both sisters turned in surprise.
Mary stood just inside the room, holding a small volume of sermons in one hand and looking at them with an expression of great seriousness. “You need not trouble yourselves to pretend ignorance on my account,” she added calmly. “I heard every word.”
Elizabeth stared at her. “Mary, how long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough,” Mary replied, “to conclude that you are considering something of great importance for our family, and perhaps even for all our neighbours as well.”
Jane turned to their sister at once, reaching out a conciliatory hand. “Mary, we were not intending to exclude you.”
Mary closed the door behind her and came forward. “I am very glad to hear it,” she said. “For I have concerns of my own about Mr Wickham.”
Elizabeth and Jane exchanged a glance. Mary’s tone contained an unusual degree of determination.
“I should like,” Mary continued with quiet dignity, “to assist you.”
Elizabeth was the first to recover from her surprise. “Assist us?” she repeated, studying Mary with a mixture of curiosity and amusement. “I was not aware that we had yet formed a plan.”
“Perhaps not aloud,” Mary replied, taking a chair near the small writing desk. “But your expression suggested that one was very near.”
Jane smiled faintly. “Mary may be correct in that. Lizzy rarely enters a room looking so resolved unless she intends to reform the world.”
Elizabeth sat down opposite them. “I do not aspire to reform the world,” she said. “Only to prevent Lydia from doing something that might disgrace us all.”
Mary inclined her head gravely. “A most reasonable ambition.”
Jane folded her hands in her lap. “Lydia is certainly too careless,” she said gently. “But we must be cautious not to judge too severely. Young people are often foolish without meaning any real harm.”
Elizabeth sighed. “Jane, it is possible to commit great harm through foolishness as well as through ill intent. And Lydia is determined to be foolish in the most public manner imaginable.”
