Defending Elizabeth

Chapter 16

Elizabeth returned to Hunsford and made an excuse to Kitty that her head hurt. Kitty saw Elizabeth to bed and arranged for her tea to be brought to her. In all honesty, Elizabeth's head hurt from gritting her teeth together, and what she needed more than anything else was time to consider what Mr. Darcy told her.

Why was he so devoted to making her miserable? It seemed she was not the focus of his spite; he had been ruining Mr. Wickham's life for much longer. And to try and ruin their engagement, just to hurt Wickham! Elizabeth's jaw clenched harder at the thought that Darcy, who was born with everything, would do anything within his power to damage Wickham. What an abominable person!

Bessie, the maid, brought tea in and left it on the side table. It was all Elizabeth could do to manage a smile for her. Bessie did nothing wrong; Elizabeth realized she needed to be exceedingly careful not to take her anger out on anyone except Mr. Darcy. She barely tasted the tea as she sipped it, but enjoying the ritual nonetheless.

If Darcy's plan was to drive her away from Wickham, he failed miserably. Anything that was good for Darcy could not possibly be good for Wickham, or, by extension, her. Elizabeth remembered back to the Netherfield Ball, where Wickham had been so eager to protect her from Darcy. Her mouth softened into a small smile. Wickham made it clear that night he would protect and defend her; were those not agreeable characteristics for a husband?

Why, she hardly remembered her earlier concerns about Mr. Wickham. Perhaps she should find Mr. Darcy and thank him for providing her with the clarity she was lacking. Mr. Darcy's ungallant behavior had reminded her just what a gentleman Mr. Wickham was.

As she finished her tea, Elizabeth thought uncharitable thoughts about how her engagement would enrage Mr. Darcy. All that work to convince her to refuse Wickham, and all he did was strengthen her decision. She smiled to herself, happy she would be bringing joy to a man like Wickham and sorrow to one like Darcy.

***

Elizabeth's chastisements of Darcy could not possibly be harsher than those in his own mind. He had planned to speak with Elizabeth for several days, but she had surprised him on the path. He had hoped to convince her Wickham was a dangerous rogue, but the conversation did not turn out at all as he intended. She insisted on being offended at every word which came out of his mouth. What was more, she completely believed the falsehoods George Wickham was spreading about him.

Ah, Wickham: the rock in the boot Darcy could never rid himself of. He had lacked grace when he deduced Wickham had proposed to Elizabeth, but he had not lacked insight. Elizabeth believed Wickham either had or was soon to make an offer. She had not shown a single sign during their dinner at Rosings she had formed this connection; he suspected it to be a recent occurrence. But how could that be, with Elizabeth in Kent and Wickham in Hertfordshire?

Perhaps Wickham followed Elizabeth to Rosings. Darcy could not imagine why he would do so; if Wickham hoped to confront Darcy, he would choose more neutral ground. Likewise, the trip was long, and, although the militia members seemed to spend most of their time trifling about, Darcy suspected Wickham could not be absent long enough to travel to Kent without his superior officers noticing.

What other methods were there, then, by which Elizabeth could have bound herself to Wickham in the few days since the dinner at Rosings? There was always the post, but the impropriety of sending a letter through the post to a woman one had no current connection to--surely even George Wickham would not attempt such a thing. A large part of the reason Wickham did so well in society was his ability to pretend to be genteel. Writing a letter to a woman he was not engaged to would risk that impression.

Perhaps he did not understand the situation properly. What if Elizabeth promised herself to Wickham prior to her trip to Kent? There were not many things Elizabeth did poorly, but he noticed she sometimes spoke without thinking of the ramifications of what she might say. He did not think she would have made it through the entire dinner, and the conversation with the Colonel afterwards, without making some sort of allusion to her engagement, whether intentional or not.