Shortly after Lizzy and Jane returned to Longbourn from their travels, Lizzy was finally able to unburden herself as to what had transpired at the parsonage. Jane’s response was to be expected. Because of his place in society, she was greatly surprised by Mr. Darcy’s offer of marriage and equally dismayed by the mode of his declaration. However, it was merely in the blink of an eye before she went from chastising the gentleman for assuming so much to feeling sorry for him.
Jane was even more surprised when Lizzy acquainted her with all of the facts concerning Mr. Wickham and Miss Darcy. She now believed the very worst about him, and she would shortly have proof of it.
The Bennet family had very good relations with their servants, but it was Mrs. Hill whom they loved and trusted. Because of her many years of service to the family, there were very few topics that were not freely discussed in front of her, and Mrs. Hill understood that any confidences shared with her would remain within the confines of Longbourn. However, Mrs. Hill often shared news of what was going on in the village and the surrounding farms because every piece of gossip was quickly circulated amongst the servants of the farmers and shopkeepers.
“I was talking to the Smart girls,” Mrs. Hill began. “All four of them was hired by Miss Bingley when she come to Netherfield, and while the Bingleys were there, they hardly shared a thing of what was going on abovestairs, afraid they was of being sacked. But now that the lot of them are gone, they could hardly wait to get all of it out. But I doubt that you two would be wanting to hear such tattling.”
“Oh, how wrong you are, Mrs. Hill. We want to hear every juicy morsel, and nothing should be left out,” Lizzy said, laughing. Although Jane had resigned herself to the fact that Mr. Bingley and she would not see each other again, Lizzy understood her sister would want to hear everything she could about him.
“First of all, Martha said Mr. Bingley was as nice as could be, and the only thing that could put him in a sour mood was two rainy days in a row so he couldn’t go out riding. What Martha said about the others was that Miss Bingley was never happy with their work and was always complaining, that Mrs. Hurst went along with anything her sister said, and that Mr. Hurst couldn’t be kept from the port wine no matter what his wife said to him. The only juicy piece of gossip was that Miss Bingley was flirting with Mr. Darcy all the time, but he wasn’t paying her no mind. She heard that from Jeremy Stockard, who was hired on as a footman. He could hardly believe that people were willing to pay him good money to stand by a door with a powdered wig on his head, so the ladies wouldn’t have to open it themselves. But that’s what Miss Bingley wanted, so he lined his pockets and kept his mouth shut.
“I says to Martha, ‘Well, there’s not much news there. It’s just as you’d expect,’ and she said that was true but there was a surprise, and that was Mr. Darcy. Now, I know you don’t like Mr. Darcy, Miss Lizzy, but it seems that he was a good friend to Mr. Bingley, and when Mr. Bingley decided to have the ball, well, there was no way it could happen without some help. So Mr. Darcy sent a letter to wherever he lives in Derbyshire, and the cook, butler, and a wagonload of servants come down to get everything ready for the big night. And all of Mr. Darcy’s servants went on and on about how good it was to work for him and Miss Darcy. Well, I never would have believed it from what I heard about him from the time at the assembly when he snubbed Miss Lizzy.”
Jane looked at Lizzy out of the corner of her eye. It seemed as if evidence was building that her sister had seriously misjudged Mr. Darcy.
“But that’s nothing compared to what’s being said about Mr. Wickham,” Mrs. Hill said in a conspiratorial whisper. “Sally Smart, who works for the Drapers, says Mrs. Draper has been crying on and off for days because Mr. Wickham didn’t pay any of his bills. What Sally said was that Mr. Draper had ordered some expensive heavy fabric and a brass clasp from London for a cloak that Mr. Wickham wanted made special. He told them he’d pay them when he got paid, but he never did, and Mrs. Draper is afraid he never will. And once word got out that Mr. Draper hadn’t been paid, others from the shops said they were owed money too. But they hadn’t said nothing before with Mr. Wickham being an officer and a gentleman and all. But Mr. Corbin said, gentleman or no, he’s writing to Colonel Forster. He wants his money.”
There was more news, equally bad, about Wickham taking liberties with some of the local girls, as well as extensive gaming debts and displays of bad temper and drunkenness. If only half of the rumors were true, Wickham was as vile as Mr. Darcy had described him.
Both sisters were truly distressed by Mrs. Hill’s news, but Lizzy was heartsick. She could hardly bear to think about how she had taken sides in Wickham’s favor and at the expense of Mr. Darcy. Now, she completely understood the look of disgust on his face before he left the parsonage and the necessity of his writing that awful letter.
“Lizzy, I can see what you are thinking. But it was not only in the matter of Mr. Wickham on which your dislike of Mr. Darcy was based. You had other provocations.”
“Yes, I did. However, in the light of all that I now know, it can be argued that I am a terrible judge of character.”
Jane was beside her sister in a moment. “You are too harsh. The Wickhams of the world succeed because they excel at deception. He succeeded in fooling everyone, Lizzy.”
“Except Mr. Darcy. Apparently, he never succeeded in fooling Mr. Darcy.”