Pride and Prejudice and Prudence: A Pride and Prejudice Variation by Wynne Mabry

Author:Wynne Mabry [Mabry, Wynne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-08-30T22:00:00+00:00

To Stay or To Go?

Mr. Darcy shared his thoughts with Prudence on the next day. Not the ones about Elizabeth, but the idea of going away from the neighbourhood while Wickham was staying in it.

“I will come back again,” he said. “The regiment is only here for the winter, so I will probably pay another visit to Bingley in the spring.”

“I hope so. It has been fun talking to you sometimes. I think of you as being like an uncle. I never had any real uncles, but I used to talk to many of the officers in my father’s regiment, and it was like having lots of relatives.

Mr. Darcy felt a pang of guilt. This explained why she was so comfortable talking to him. She must have felt the loss of that company along with her father, and now she was going to feel a new loss with his departure. Perhaps he should not have been so friendly to her when he was only a visitor to the neighbourhood, but having done so, he now felt that it would only be right to keep up the connection.

“I will definitely come back,” he promised. “I will visit Bingley as often as he is willing to put up with me.”

“I still wish that you were not going away. Not just because I will miss you, but also because it will be like a victory for Mr. Wickham.”

That struck him forcefully. They were sitting on her favourite branch again, and he looked at the ground and remembered jumping into the leaves. He swung his legs in the air and considered how unrestricted he had come to feel since meeting Prudence. He had discovered the sort of freedom which had allowed him to think of making an unconventional marriage. Even though he had given up hope of that, he still did not want to let others dictate his actions. Maybe he should not let Mr. Wickham drive him away.

“What did Mr. Wickham do?” Prudence asked. “Can you tell me?”

Mr. Darcy felt that he could. She could be counted upon for discretion, and she had enough maturity and worldliness to understand the situation. He explained to her what their connection was and gave her a general idea of the sort of behaviour which he had observed in Mr. Wickham as they grow older. Then he told her all about the living, and the money which Wickham had asked for instead, and his later requests to have the living after all.

“He was stupid,” Prudence opined. “I suppose he spent all the money without bothering to think what he would do when it was gone. Even I know better than that. I used to hear Papa and his friends talking about investments and returns. He told me once that we did not have very much money, but that what we had was carefully managed.”

“He was a sensible man,” Mr. Darcy said, a little surprised by this revelation since Mrs. Merivale kept a carriage and lived in good comfort, but he supposed that some other money must have come her way.

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