An End to Estrangement - A Pride and Prejudice Variation

Part 25

"I am not convinced your sister is all that fond of me, Miss Lydia!"

If Mr Wickham had attempted to extract himself from Lydia's grasp, he had not tried particularly hard, and Lizzy was struggling to construct an argument for why he ought not to be permitted to accompany them on their errands throughout Meryton.

"Lizzy!" Jane prompted, elbowing her gently in the side.

"Yes?" Lizzy turned to face her, dragging her attention back to the matter at hand, a detailed discourse on ribbons, and trying not to eavesdrop any longer on Mr Wickham's whisperings with Lydia.

"You are so distracted this afternoon!" Jane remarked, with a laugh. She held both ribbons out to the haberdasher, shrugging a little and acquiescing to purchase both when she could not decide on a preference for either.

"Am I?" Lizzy ran a finger along a length of satin, admiring the sheen of blue. Jane slipped it free, adding it to her choice and paying for three instead of two. She turned to frown at Elizabeth, her curiosity giving way to concern.

"You are not sickening for something, I hope?"

"No," Lizzy said, with a short sigh. She almost wished she could claim some illness, for a cold might explain her tendency towards melancholy of late.

"Good, then you will not abandon me to Sir William's dinner alone!" Jane shuddered as if the thought of attending such an evening without Lizzy beside her was a fate worse than death. Lizzy was quick to squash this suggestion.

"You do not need me there!" she said, folding her arms across her chest and allowing Jane to steer her further into the shop. "You shall have Mama and Papa and our sisters. Not to mention Mr Bingley."

"Precisely why I shall need you," Jane retorted. She tilted her head to one side. "And ordinarily you would be only too eager to come. Are you sure you are not unwell?" She reached a hand up to Lizzy's forehead, but she dodged out of her reach.

"I am just being silly," Lizzy confessed. "Of course I wish to come, and of course we shall enjoy ourselves." She shot an arch look over one shoulder at Lydia, who was lecturing Mr Wickham on the important differences between French and Belgian lace. For his part, he appeared interested, but Lizzy remained convinced he heard nary a word of Lydia's chatter. Even Kitty seemed to have grown tired of Lydia's showing off and was propped in a corner, staring balefully at the sister who had completely forsaken her to stand at Mr Wickham's right-hand side.

"Are you already acquainted with Mr Wickham?" Jane asked, her voice scarcely a whisper and designed that none but Lizzy should hear her. "I thought you might be. You looked so peculiar when Lydia introduced him."

"Did I?" Lizzy shook her head vigorously. To admit a connection with Mr Wickham would mean admitting the truth of all that had passed to bring them together, and to separate them. It would mean acknowledging Mr Darcy...

"I was just surprised." She smiled, stiffly. "I oughtn't to have been, for it seems there is not a single soldier stationed at the regiment that our sisters do not claim some acquaintance with." She swallowed, seeing Jane's own brow furrow with concern, and feeling a little guilty for deceiving Jane into more worry about Lydia than was perhaps necessary.

"I am not convinced Mr Wickham is a very appropriate friend for Lydia to cling to," Lizzy remarked, her heart hammering in her chest. "Perhaps we ought to steer her back to Mr Denny who seemed altogether more harmless."

"Yes," Jane mused, distracted by a plethora of horrors her mind was clearly conjuring as related to Mr Wickham. "Well, then that is all the more reason to look forward to our evening at Lucas Lodge, for I do not suppose they shall invite people they do not know, and you know Lydia always much prefers the company of whoever is present than weeping and wailing over those who are not."

Lizzy nodded, and together the party made their way out of the haberdashers and onto the bustling Meryton high street.

"Where next, ladies?" Mr Wickham asked, smiling beguilingly at each in turn. "I should like to offer myself as your escort and chief bearer of burdens, so do feel entirely at ease in asking me to fetch and carry whatever you require."

"In that case, perhaps we might -" Kitty began, before Lydia squealed a response that drowned out whatever suggestion she had been poised to make.

"Look! There is Mr Bingley! And Mr Darcy! Oh, shall we not ask them to join us, Jane?"

This was accompanied by a wicked glance at Jane, who did not immediately summon an answer to keep Lydia from lifting an arm and waving it vigorously in the direction of the two gentlemen.

"Mr Bingley!" she called. "Mr Darcy! We were just about to take tea. Join us, won't you?"

Lizzy had looked away from Mr Darcy almost immediately she looked at him, and was surprised to see Mr Wickham's merry features turn ashen as he hurried to extract himself from Lydia's arm and stride purposefully away.

"Forgive me! I have just recalled a previous engagement..." he called over his shoulder.

"Oh! Mr Wickham!" Lydia wailed, before recalling herself to the presence of two other gentlemen. "Bother!" she muttered, before her expression became all sunshine once again.

"Well, now you really must consent to join us for tea!" she declared, sidling closer to Mr Bingley. "How lovely that our paths should cross today!"

"Indeed!" Mr Bingley beamed, glancing past Lydia to Jane, who seemed to be all that he saw. "My sisters are here, too, so we shall make quite a merry party." As if recalling, then, that he was not alone and thus answering for more than himself, he turned to his friend. "You don't mind it, do you, Darcy? I am quite partial to a spot of tea myself. Lead on, Miss Lydia, for surely you know where is best for us to take our refreshments!"