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looked a great deal surprised.

      «You may be surprised, Miss Bennet, at this statement, after seeing, as you probably did, the very cold manner of our meeting yesterday. Are you much acquainted with Mr. Darcy?»

      «As much as I ever wish to be», cried Elizabeth very emotionally. «I have spent four days in the same house with him, and I find him very unpleasant».

      «I have known him too long and too well to be a fair judge», said Wickham. «It is impossible for me to be impartial. But I think your strong opinion of him would astonish other people».

      «I can say he is not at all liked in Hertfordshire. Everybody is displeased with his pride. You will not find him more favourably spoken of by anyone».

      «I'm afraid», said Wickham, after a short pause, «the world is blinded by his fortune and importance, or frightened by his high and proud manners, and sees him only as he chooses to be seen».

      «I think him, even on my slight acquaintance, to be an ill-tempered man». Wickham only shook his head. Then he said he wanted to know whether Mr. Darcy was going to stay at Netherfield much longer. Elizabeth didn't know anything about it, but she hoped that Mr. Darcy's being in the neighborhood would not affect Mr. Wickham's plans.

      «Oh! No, I won't be driven away by Mr. Darcy. If he doesn't want to see me, he must go. We are not on friendly terms, and it always gives me pain to meet him, but I have no reason for avoiding him except a sense of very great ill-usage, and most painful regrets at his being what he is. His father, Miss Bennet, the late Mr. Darcy, was one of the best men that ever lived, and the truest friend I ever had. This Mr. Darcy's behaviour to myself has been scandalous, but I think I could forgive him anything and everything except his disappointing the hopes of his father and disgracing his memory».

      Elizabeth listened to him with growing interest, but thought it indelicate to ask more questions.

      Mr. Wickham turned to more general topics, Meryton, the neighborhood, the society.

      «It was the prospect of good society», he said, «that was my chief motive to enter the… shire. I knew the regiment to be a most respectable one, and my friend Denny tempted me even more by his description of a gallant society in Meryton. Society is necessary to me. I have been a disappointed man, and I don't like solitude. I must have work and society. A military life was not my aim in life. I was brought up for the church, and now I would have possessed a very good living if that had pleased the gentleman we were speaking of just now».

      «Indeed!»

      «Yes, the late Mr. Darcy, in his will, left me the best vacant living as his gift. He was my godfather, and loved me a lot. He was so kind to me. He wanted to provide enough for me, and thought he had done it; but when the living got vacant, it was given elsewhere».

      «Good heavens!» cried Elizabeth. «How could it happen that his will was ignored? Why didn't you ask for legal help?»

      «There was informality in the terms of the will which didn't give me any hope to get help from law. Mr. Darcy chose to treat it as just a conditional recommendation, and to say that I had lost all privilege to it by extravagance, imprudence, in short anything or nothing. The living became vacant two years ago and was given to another man. I haven't done anything impertinent or imprudent to deserve to lose it. Perhaps, having a warm, unguarded temper, I had spoken my opinion of him, and to him, too freely. I can remember nothing worse. But the fact is, that we are very different sort of men, and that he hates me».

      «This is quite shocking! He deserves to be publicly disgraced».

      «Some time or other he will be, but I cannot forget his father, so I can never expose him».

      Elizabeth thought him to be a very honourable man and even handsomer than ever.

      «But what», asked she, after a pause, «can have been his reason for such cruelty?»

      «A deep dislike of me born by jealousy. His father's unusual affection for me irritated him, I think, very early in life. He could not stand the sort of preference which was often given me».

      Elizabeth was shocked by such injustice, such inhumanity on the part of Mr. Darcy.

      After a few minutes' silence she said, «I remember his saying one day, at Netherfield, that he is consistent in his resentments, has an unforgiving temper. His character must be dreadful».

      Wickham said he couldn't be just in his judgment of Darcy's character.

      Elizabeth was again deep in thought, and after a time exclaimed, «To treat like this his companion from childhood, connected together in the closest manner!»

      «The greatest part of our youth was passed together. We lived in the same house, shared the same amusements, were objects of the same parental care. My father devoted all his time to the care of the Pemberley property. He was most deeply respected by Mr. Darcy, a most intimate, trustworthy friend. When, immediately before my father's death, Mr. Darcy gave him a voluntary promise of providing for me, I am convinced that he felt it to be as much a debt of gratitude to him, as of his affection to myself».

      «How strange!» cried Elizabeth. «The very pride of this Mr. Darcy should have kept him from being unjust to you! There is no pride in dishonesty, and he treated you dishonestly».

      «It is amazing», replied Wickham, «for almost all his actions may be traced to pride; pride had often been his best friend. But we are none of us consistent, and in his behaviour to me there were stronger impulses even than pride».

      «Can such detestable pride as his have ever done him good?»

      «Yes. It has often led him to be liberal and generous, to give his money freely, to show hospitality, to help his tenants, and support the poor. Family pride and filial pride, for he is very proud of what his father was, have done this. He has also brotherly pride, which, with some brotherly affection, makes him a very kind and careful guardian of his sister. Everybody says he is the most attentive and best of brothers».

      «What sort of girl is Miss Darcy?»

      He shook his head. «I wish I could call her friendly. It gives me pain to speak badly of a Darcy. But she is too much like her brother: very, very proud. As a child, she was affectionate and pleasing, and extremely fond of me; I have devoted hours and hours to her amusement. But she is nothing to me now. She is a handsome girl, about fifteen or sixteen, and, I understand, highly accomplished. Since her father's death, her home has been London, where a lady lives with her, and supervises her education».

      «I am astonished at his intimacy with Mr. Bingley! How can Mr. Bingley, who is good humor itself, be in friendship with such a man? Do you know Mr. Bingley?» Elizabeth asked.

      «Not at all».

      «He is a friendly, charming man. He cannot know what Mr. Darcy is».

      «Probably not, but Mr. Darcy can please where he chooses. He can be a real conversationalist if he thinks it worth his while. Among those who are his equals in social importance, he is a very different man from what he is to the less prosperous. His pride never leaves him; but with the rich he is liberal-minded, just, sincere, honourable, and perhaps pleasant».

      The whist party soon afterwards broke up, and the players gathered round the other table. Mr. Collins sat down between his cousin Elizabeth and Mrs. Phillips. Mrs. Phillips asked him about his success at whist. He said he had lost, but asked her not to feel uneasy about it.

      «I know very well, madam», said he, «that when persons sit down to a card-table, they must take their chances of these things, and happily my circumstances allow me to lose five shillings without much regret. There are undoubtedly many who could not say the same, but thanks to Lady Catherine de Bourgh, I am far beyond the necessity of paying attention to little matters».

      Mr. Wickham got interested, and after watching Mr. Collins for a few moments, he asked Elizabeth in a low voice whether her relative was very intimately acquainted with the family of de Bourgh.

      «Lady Catherine de Bourgh», she replied, «has recently given him a living. I don't know how she first noticed Mr. Collins, but he certainly has not known her long».

      «You

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