Page 103 of A Most Unwelcome Acquaintance

“I knew Wickham used my name in his shop. Pritchard would not tell me the amount because Wickham did not open the account himself.”

“Did you pay it?”

“No.”

She had expected the opposite. “Why not?”

“Because payment would confirm the promise Wickham invented. It would also encourage every man he misled to extend him further credit in the belief that I will settle it.”

“That leaves Mr. Pritchard to bear the loss.”

“I offered to buy the boots from him if he returned them unworn. Wickham had used one pair and ordered another.”

Elizabeth remembered the boots beneath Mr. Pritchard’s arm, one marked by wear and the other almost new.

“Why order two?”

“One was for himself. The second was for another officer who denies asking for them.”

The explanation was plain, and therefore more difficult to resist than an accusation.

“Mr. Denny hinted that Mr. Wickham’s expectations change with his audience,” she said.

Darcy resumed walking. “That has always been his method.”

“You say that as though every inconsistency proves the whole of your case.”

“No. I say it because I recognize what he is doing.”

“And you expect me to accept recognition as evidence.”

He looked at her. “What would satisfy you?”

“Facts that do not depend upon your judgment.”

“You heard one this morning.”

“I heard a tradesman repeat what Wickham said. I did not hear him say it.”

“Then you need him to confess.”

“I need enough to know whether I am condemning a dishonest man or joining a powerful one against someone who cannot answer him.”

Darcy’s face hardened, but he controlled his reply. “Wickham has been answering me for years, to people who know neither of us.”

Elizabeth regretted the phrasing, though not the caution behind it. “Kitty repeated another version of the living.”

He waited.

“She said you worked against him before your father died and denied him a living. Mary remembers that he first said he abandoned the church after your father’s death, when you refused him the living.”

Darcy’s mouth tightened. “He did not abandon the church because of that.”

“You see? That is the difficulty. You correct the conclusion and refuse the history.”

“I have told you that the history concerns matters I will not place before Meryton for entertainment.”

“I am not Meryton.”