An Unlikely Acquaintance

Part 18

"I see you laugh at me, Miss Lydia and to think! I considered you a friend!"

Mr Wickham's feigned disappointment only made Lydia laugh all the louder, joined by Kitty, Mrs Bennet and even Elizabeth. Jane mustered a smile but no more, for, whilst she thought Mr Wickham amiable and handsome and undeniably charming, there was something about his latest story that did not quite ring true.

Quite without her meaning it to, Jane's gaze strayed to the opposite side of the room where her father and Colonel Fitzwilliam were engaged in a lively game of chess. She longed to join them, although she had never before displayed even the slightest interest in the game and to walk across the room to watch it - were she able to walk without assistance - would draw more attention than she wished to court.

How disappointed she had been when Papa had claimed Colonel Fitzwilliam's company for his own, and still more so when Mr Wickham had sat so close to her. She knew his closeness was enviable for Lydia scowled and even Lizzy had squeezed a little nearer to her sister if only to thus be closer to Mr Wickham too. Lizzy asked a question that precipitated another of Mr Wickhams's stories and Jane did her best to swallow a sigh. She was not sure what was wrong with her. Ordinarily, she enjoyed storytelling, and Mr Wickham certainly possessed the skill to construct a good narrative. He was often cast as the hero in his tales, which she was not fond of, but he told them with such vigour and enthusiasm, and so engaging a smile, that it was hard not to be drawn in. Yet there was something about his familiar manner, tonight especially, that seemed to get on Jane's nerves. She was perhaps the only member of her family not disappointed when they were at last called to dinner, and her delight grew when Mr Bennet glanced her way, before shoving Colonel Fitzwilliam towards her.

"Colonel Fitzwilliam will escort you in, Jane. Go on, away with you. I shall need to regroup and consider my strategy for our second game, for you are far worthier an opponent than I gave you credit for."

Mr Bennet's voice was gruff, but his eyes twinkled with amusement, and Jane was given to understand that he rather liked the young colonel a good deal more than he did his friend.

"Miss Bennet." Colonel Fitzwilliam bowed, offering her his arm and Jane gratefully accepted it, leaning on it rather heavily than she wanted to in order to stand.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, hoping she did not hurt him. Then she recalled how easily he had carried her back to Lodgbourn when she had first turned her ankle and thought it unlikely.

"It is I who must apologise." He grinned, lowering his voice to a whisper so that Jane was forced to lean closer. "I hope Wickham has not driven you all completely to distraction with his boasting."

Jane laughed, clamping a hand over her mouth immediately for fear she would be called to tell what she had found so funny. Her gaze met Colonel Fitzwilliam's, cheered by his wry smile, and they walked a pace or two in silence. Jane barely winced when she stepped on her still-injured ankle, for her escort helped to secure their progress.

"I am pleased to think you have one friend here in Meryton, at least, Colonel Fitzwilliam," Jane said, biting her lip to keep from smiling. She did not wish to betray herself too soon. Surely it was my eagerness that drove Charles away. She frowned, cursing herself for still calling Mr Bingley by his Christian name as if she still had the right to think of him in any way hers. He was not, nor ever will be, now. I merely allowed myself to be swept up in romantic silliness. She would not make the same mistake a second time, and her features soon rearranged themselves, almost without her meaning them to, into an expression that on less delicate features might have been considered haughty.

"Yes, one friend." Colonel Fitzwilliam's smile grew cynical, but before Jane could enquire as to the cause of his apparent change in feeling, they had reached the dining room and he helped her into a chair, pausing to be assigned a seat of his own.

"You will sit with me, won't you?"

Jane had uttered the question aloud quite without meaning to, and her tone had sounded so hopeful, verging on eager, that she silently cursed herself a second time for not maintaining a tighter grip on her emotions.

Unlike Mr Bingley, who might have beamed and agreed with a flourish, Colonel Fitzwilliam's nod was scarcely a nod at all, although he did obediently accept the seat next to her, the tiniest smile confirming to her that he was not displeased with her suggestion.

"Perhaps you will tell me how you and Mr Wickham are acquainted," she said, leaning a little closer to him so that he might hear over the riotous entrance of the rest of her family and Mr Wickham himself, who made a great show of escorting each lady in turn to their seats, laughing and carrying on as if they were the oldest of friends and not still quite newly acquainted themselves. Jane recalled another gentleman who was less than enamoured with Wickham's tomfoolery. "Or perhaps I can guess it. It is through your cousin, of course!"

Colonel Fitzwilliam had lifted a glass of water to his lips and had been taking a sip at the moment Jane posed her question, for he choked and it was a moment or two before he was able to respond, his voice strained and taut.

"My cousin?"

"Why, Mr Darcy, of course." Jane frowned, wondering whether she had been mistaken. "You are cousins, I believe? He was lately staying in Hertfordshire and told us Mr Wickham was a little known to him. I merely thought..."

"Yes." Colonel Fitzwilliam nodded, speaking shortly. "We met through Darcy and now meet again through the regiment." He turned peremptorily to Mr Bennet, who was wearing a rather irritable expression on his face as if he did not admire Mr Wickham's behaviour half as much as the womenfolk of his family appeared to. "I wonder, Mr Bennet, have you much experience in playing chequers? I learned the game overseas and it is similar enough to chess that a fondness for one often leads to a fondness for the other. I have a set. Perhaps we might play together one of these days..."

Mr Bennet brightened, eagerly dominating the conversation with games of his preference, and Jane was left to stare dejectedly at her plate and wonder what she had said to offend her friend.

At least I need not fear appearing too eager, she thought, bitterly waiting for Elizabeth to stop teasing Mr Wickham and notice her. She wished for her sister's counsel and her help but she would be given neither if Lizzy's attention was perpetually absorbed in a man she claimed to have no fondness for whatsoever.