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William to finish one of his interminable speeches. Otherwise, Miss Elizabeth might have had the presence of mind to refuse.
    He was aware of Bingley watching him with pleasure and Caroline watching him with a frown. The other guests were watching him with stupefaction! They had not expected Mr Darcy to dance with anyone, least of all Elizabeth, for his disparaging remarks about her beauty had spread like wildfire round the town.
    Once he had her, however, he did not know what to say to her. Conversation did not come easily to him and even if it had, he would rather have watched her dancing than distract himself by speaking. She had a way of moving that entranced him, and the sparkle in her eyes made him want to take her in his arms.
    He had never felt like that about any woman before and he did not know how to react.
    ‘Are you always so silent when dancing?’ asked Miss Elizabeth.
    Her tone of voice was not friendly and he wondered what Wickham had been saying about him. Telling her lies, he supposed, or half truths, to make her hate him. It was Wickham’s way with women. He preyed upon their tender hearts like a proverbial wolf in sheep’s clothing.
    Her next words proved how accurate his fears had been, for her remarks showed him that Wickham had told her about the living. What he had not told her was that his behaviour made him unsuited to the church as a profession. No one who had seen Wickham drinking and wenching at university, and afterwards, could have thought him a good candidate for a clergyman. But of course Wickham had not told her this, and Darcy did not feel he could talk of it to a lady.
    He felt his dislike of Wickham growing.
    They tried two or three subjects without success and their conversation came to an end. The dance, too, ended, and Elizabeth escaped with evident satisfaction, and joined Mr Wickham again.
    Darcy longed for the evening to end. It was torture to watch her with Wickham, but somehow he could not look away.
    As he watched them, he found himself wondering where Wickham had found the money to buy such an expensive suit of clothes.
    The answer came the following day.

Chapter Six
     
    Mr Darcy and Mr Bingley were to dine with Colonel Forster and some of the other officers. Mr Bingley’s sisters had invited Miss Bennet to join them in the gentlemen’s absence. Miss Bennet arrived before the gentlemen left. She apologised but said that she had been ready early and so she had set out, for it looked like rain. Her decision had been a good one, for the rain started shortly after she arrived and so she had escaped a wetting, which could easily have led to a bad cold.
    Mr Darcy and Mr Bingley left Netherfield Park at five o’clock and joined the male group in Meryton shortly afterwards.
    Colonel Forster was a sensible man who knew a great deal about the war against Napoleon, and as the gentlemen ate, they discussed the war. But after dinner, as they sat over their port, the conversation turned to more domestic matters.
    ‘I am glad you took Netherfield Park, Mr Bingley,’ said Colonel Forster. ‘It is good for us to have a noble house which is occupied in the neighbourhood. I hear you are thinking of holding a ball.’
    ‘I believe I will,’ said Mr Bingley.
    ‘I hope you will invite the officers?’
    ‘Of course, you will be very welcome. And, if rumour is correct, we will soon be welcoming a Mrs Forster in our midst.’
    Colonel Forster smiled and sat back in his chair, his red coat and gold epaulettes glowing in the candlelight.
    ‘If the lady accepts my hand, then yes, you will. I only wish there was more company for her here. There are a lot of unmarried young ladies, but no newly married matrons with whom she might become friends. I am trying to persuade George Wickham to bring his wife to Meryton. He seems settled here for the time being, but he says that she does not like to travel and that she is settled at their home in the country.’
    ‘Wife?’ exploded