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“When I return to London, I shall not come back to Hertfordshire. It is time I let Netherfield go.”

In love with the notion of being in love, Bingley poured another drink. Somewhere in all of England there has to be another woman as wonderful as Jane. I shall simply go on hoping and praying that one day I will find an angel I can claim as my own.

As much as the Bennet family would have liked to keep the news of Lydia’s scandalous behaviour a secret, it was impossible to keep such a thing concealed. Upon hearing Caroline Bingley agonising over the horrible state of affairs, Georgiana’s feelings were a mixture of mortification and astonishment. George Wickham had already proven himself to be less than the man she thought he was by his despicable behaviour towards Ben, but even she never suspected him capable of such mischief as this. What kind of man would run off with another man’s intended? Her thoughts now tended towards Lydia whom Georgiana always thought of as being rather silly, what with the way she paraded herself before any officer who gave her the slightest bit of encouragement. How she could possibly be Elizabeth’s sister was but one of the questions that had raced through Georgiana’s mind upon first making Lydia’s acquaintance at Pemberley over Christmas.

How could she be so thoughtless as to throw away a promising future life with a man as amicable and caring as Mr. Bingley for the uncertainty that must surely await her with the likes of George Wickham?

That Lydia was young and wild and terribly foolish must surely be her excuse for falling prey to George Wickham’s charms. Still, as heartbroken as Georgiana was for the shame that had befallen the Bennet family and, by extension, the Darcy family, she could not help secretly rejoicing that she had not been the means of bringing it about.

Elizabeth came upon Georgiana, who was staring out the window. “Georgiana, I have rather disturbing news to impart. It has to do with my sister Lydia and⁠—”

The younger woman interrupted. “Mr. Wickham?”

“How do you know?”

“I overheard Miss Bingley discussing the matter with her brother.”

“I am so sorry. I wanted to be the one to tell you, for I realise how much you admire him.”

“Oh, you need not apologise to me. It is true, I did at one time think very highly of Mr. Wickham, but that was before I learned of his true character.”

“Pray, what happened?”

“Oh, let us just say a troubling aspect of his character was revealed to me by a dear friend. By the bye, I must thank you for not confiding my misguided secret of thinking so highly of his worst enemy to my brother. I would hate having him know how foolish I was.”

“Your secret is safe with me. With that said, I will not promise to always be a party to keeping secrets from my husband.”

Georgiana faintly smiled. Exactly—this is precisely why I hesitate to go into detail of what happened to turn me against Mr. Wickham. I should hate to think what my brother would do if he knew Wickham had threatened to turn Ben over his knee.