Page 101 of A Most Unwelcome Acquaintance

“A pair of boots,” he said when they finished. “Mr. Wickham’s ruin advances from cards and dinners to leather.”

“Papa,” Jane said, “Mr. Pritchard’s distress seemed genuine.”

“That is because a gentleman’s delay is a tradesman’s loss.”

Elizabeth sat opposite him. “Kitty knew that Wickham had spoken of money due to him. She also repeated a different account of what Mr. Darcy did.”

“Different from what?”

“From the account he gave us at Aunt Phillips’s, where he said the elder Mr. Darcy intended him for the living, and that the son denied him after his godfather’s death. Kitty says Mr. Darcy had already turned his father against Wickham and blocked his entry into the clergy.

Mr. Bennet considered this. “Both may be true.”

“They may, but he did not present them as parts of the same history. He offered each as the cause of his loss.”

“And you dislike causes that multiply.”

“I dislike stories that change with the listener.”

“That is a useful dislike.”

His mild tone irritated her. “You seem very willing to find amusement in this.”

“I am willing to find it in most things. It does not follow that I fail to see them.”

Jane sat beside Elizabeth. “Should we prevent Kitty from seeing him?”

“If I forbid it now, she will conclude that everyone has turned against Wickham and that she alone is loyal enough to understand him.”

“She said as much today,” Elizabeth replied.

“Then we must avoid making the delusion more attractive.”

“What will you do?”

“Speak to Colonel Forster.”

“Mr. Darcy has already done that.”

“Yes, and you objected because he would not tell us the result. I shall try to conduct my secrecy in a more acceptable fashion.”

Elizabeth looked at him, but he had returned his attention to the book.

Mary sat near the window throughout the conversation, copying music. Elizabeth assumed she was not listening until she set down her pen.

“Mr. Wickham said something else at Aunt Phillips’s,” she said.

Bennet looked over the top of his book. “Mary has entered the inquiry. We may now expect order.”

Mary ignored him. “He said he had prepared for the church because the late Mr. Darcy wished it. He described giving up another course of study in obedience to his godfather.”

Elizabeth remembered the evening. Wickham had spoken at length, and everyone had listened because he spoke well and they disliked Darcy.

“Yes,” she said. “He said Mr. Darcy’s father intended him for the living from boyhood.”

“He also said he did not learn that Mr. Darcy meant to deny him until after the old gentleman’s death,” Mary continued. “I remember because he spoke of having no time to choose another profession before his resources were exhausted.”

Jane understood first. “Then Mr. Darcy could not have prevented him from taking orders before his father died, not unless Mr. Wickham already knew he would not receive the living.”