Detective Mary

Chapter 54

Lydia runs off with Wickham after all.

The word "elope" exploded with Mrs. Bennet almost instantly.

If it were not for the fact that there were still many guests at Netherfield Manor, and that Lydia was not the only daughter who would lose her reputation if it were made known, Mrs. Bennet, who could not hide anything in her heart, would have screamed out in disarray.

Fortunately, Mr. Bingley was quick to react, and he sent all the guests away in a courteous manner, ending the party without most of them realizing that anything had happened.

When the party had dispersed completely, without waiting for Catherine to speak or for Mrs. Bennet to break down, Mary spoke up, "Lydia couldn't have eloped with Wickham, and even if she had wanted to, Wickham wouldn't have been so brainless as to choose the wedding day."

"Really?!"

Mrs. Bennet was so emotional that her voice changed pitch.

The mother, who had never much cared for her third daughter, seized Mary's hands in hers, "Do you mean it, Mary? Your little sister wouldn't do such a silly thing, would she?"

Darcy: "I don't think so either."

Mary exudes a look of surprise.

He was a real outsider in the situation, and, in Mr. Darcy's character, he would never have interfered had he not been sure of the grounds.

Everyone looked at Darcy, his eyebrows wrinkled, but the tone is very calm: "I understand Wickham's person, he needs money but never true love, as for Miss Lydia ...... is not in his choice of spouse."

This is said euphemistically, but anyone present can understand the subtext - Lydia does not have property to inherit, Wickham is absolutely not because he likes her to take her away.

And so it was.

The elopement fiasco in the original story was just Lydia's wishful thinking. She loved the handsome Wickham, but because of her short-sightedness and superficiality, she didn't see the man's character and decided that he was the man of her destiny, so she had to be with him.

For Wickham, however, he would not have married Lydia if Lydia's elders, or even Mr. Darcy, had not come forward with financial and future guarantees.

In his eyes, Lydia is just a plaything that he is willing to fall for.

But now, Lydia had long since grown suspicious of Wickham, and even if she still liked him, she wasn't compelled by him anymore. Mary felt that in the previous few arguments, she could clearly see that Lydia was wavering, she was just spoiled and refused to give in.

In that case, the possibility of Lydia running away with Wickham was simply not plausible.

As for why Catherine would say that ......

"Katie," Mary spoke up, "Come on, what's going on?"

"I was just, just coming back from church," Catherine replied with immense nervousness, "and saw Lydia and Wickham talking together, just as Mary of Meryton called out to me for something, and I left her aside with Mr. Wickham. By the time I remembered it, everyone was at Netherfield Manor, and both Lydia and Mr. Wickham had disappeared!"

Mary quickly counted the time, "By that reckoning, it's actually only been three hours since they left."

In that case, it couldn't have been an elopement. After all, picking a time to leave when everyone was there really wasn't something a smart person could do, Lydia was a silly girl all right, Wickham wasn't silly.

If he was stupid, how could he have fooled so many people with his flawless appearance?

--Not to mention that everyone around Meriden knew it was Jane's wedding day, and it was too obvious that Miss Jane's sister had left overnight with a red uniform.

Having been discovered, Mr. Bennet could, with a little inquiry, have found out where they were going.

So if Wickham really wanted to elope with Lydia, he would never have chosen the night of Jane's wedding.

Mary's earlier mention of elopement was with the idea of throwing out the worst consequences to scare her. But I didn't expect that it didn't scare Lydia, but rather scared Catherine.

This also caused Catherine to have a preconceived idea, and seeing Lydia and Wickham missing at the same time, she directly shouted out the word elopement.

Thinking this through, Mary was vaguely relieved, but did not let her heart drop.

"Elopement is unlikely," she judged, "and before that Mr. Wickham asked Lydia to go to Meriden for a stroll, so perhaps it was just the two who went to Meriden?"

"In the evening?"

Mrs. Bennet's nerves could hardly stand it, and she instantly cried out, "Lydia, that damned girl, does she want a reputation or not?!"

"Enough!"

Mr. Bennett had a headache from the noise.

His face was very hard to look at, and it was evident that the father, who was usually negligent in caring for and restraining his daughter, had not at all expected this kind of a mess.

It was Mary's remark that Lydia could not have eloped that put Mr. Bennet in a better mood. The father, who had always been careless about everything, curbed his sarcasm, "I'll go to Meriden and see."

Mr. Bentley: "I can go with you so as to divide the time. William, how about you look after the ladies here?"

Darcy shook his head.

"I think," he held a different opinion, "that if Wickham had wanted to be alone with Miss Lydia, he might not have chosen Meryton at night."

"You mean?" Mary asked.

"...... It's a nice moon tonight," Mr. Darcy said with a look of disdain, grudgingly, "and do you know of any place in the vicinity where there's open, unobstructed ground, where you can enjoy a full moon? "

"......"

Mary probably got it.

What do scumbags do best? Coaxing girls. So how do you coax a girl? Naturally, find a romantic place to be alone with her.

I'm afraid Wickham used this same trick to deceive Miss Georgiana Darcy when he was at Pemberley Hall, which is why Mr. Darcy is so well versed in Wickham's methods of pleasing girls.

"There."

Mary nodded, "It's in Longbourn, in the farmland behind our house, I'm on my way to find her."

Elizabeth interjected just then, "I'm coming with you!"

At the end of the evening, how could the two ladies go out alone! Mr. Darcy did not think twice: "I will accompany you."

As for Jane, who had just become Mrs. Bingley, she stayed at Netherfield Manor to reassure Mrs. Bennet and Catherine. The eldest sister instructed Mary and Elizabeth twice, with a worry that could not be dissipated between her brows.

While she was only worried about Lydia, Mary was a little angry.

It was Jane's wedding day! The whole family was looking forward to Jane's wedding day. But when the wedding goes perfectly, Lydia makes a mess of it.

Fortunately, Mr. Bentley, though gentle in nature, did not give in to the point of loving and protecting his beloved. Not only did he not get angry, but without saying a word, he immediately assumed the responsibility of a brother-in-law and offered to help find Lydia.

Unfortunately, with Mary's previous three times of knocking, Lydia was not so foolish as to take the wrong last step.

Following Mr. Darcy's speculation, they did find Lydia and Wickham in Longbourn's farmland.

The moon was clear and bright, reflecting the whole night cleanly like a dark curtain, and even more so, the scene in the farmland was unobstructed in front of them. Ice-cold light plated on the pair of men and women standing in the farmland, the officer was tall and straight, the girl was petite and lovely, just by looking at the silhouettes it was as if they were a pair of beautiful people.

The ...... premise is that they did not hear Lydia s cries.

As she walked towards Lydia and Wickham, a few meters away, Mary heard Lydia sobbing vaguely, and then realized that she was keeping her head down not because she was shy, but because she was crying.

Elizabeth's reaction was quicker than Mary's.

The daring second sister stepped forward with the hem of her skirt and straddled directly between Wickham and Lydia, glaring indignantly at the culprit: "You're really out of line, Wickham! How dare you bully our sister at Jane's wedding?"

"Hazing?"

Wickham reacted as if startled by the attack in turn, "I think there is some kind of misunderstanding, Ms. Elizabeth."

Elizabeth: "How dare you argue?!"

Said she, twisting her head to look at Lydia who couldn't stop crying, "What excuse do you have when we saw it with our own eyes?"

Wickham frowned instantly.

He glanced up at Mary and Darcy, and then thought to himself that he understood the general idea.

"I think," Wickham changed his look to one of disdainful condescension, "that perhaps you have heard the slander of me from the sidelines, Miss Elizabeth, and I will not argue, for this is not the time to do so, but you have truly misunderstood me. It was not I who bullied your sister, Miss Lydia; in fact, it was she who invited herself here."

"What--"

"If you don't believe me, you can ask Miss Lydia herself."

Wickham's handsome face was filled with deep disappointment, as if Elizabeth had insulted his character and denigrated his "noble and honest" soul.

"After your eldest sister's wedding, Miss Lydia offered to speak with me alone," Wickham explained, "and though I thought it inappropriate for a man and a woman to meet in private, I agreed to do so as I did not feel comfortable with her waiting alone. Little did I know that after three words, Miss Lydia would have to confide her love to me."

Mary: "......"

Wickham saw Elizabeth turn pale before continuing, "While I was grateful for Miss Lydia's attentions, I could not agree to her out of gratitude. Miss Lydia only burst into tears after I expressed my regrets about it and confessed that I in no way had anything against her. I in no way deny that it was my responsibility, yet I do not think I did anything wrong."

With that he glanced purposefully at Darcy.

"I am sorry you misunderstood me, Miss Elizabeth," he said coldly, "and now that I am relieved to have you accompanying Miss Lydia, I beg to be excused."

The words were spoken with an extraordinary degree of desperation, almost in the manner of a decent man who draws a line in the sand immediately after having suffered an insult to his character.

Mary's face sank.

Although I did not expect it to be just so ...... but thank God, it is better to ask someone to confess than to ask someone to elope.

Frankly speaking, Mary appreciates the image of women who are bold and proactive and take the lead in love in literary works. In her opinion, the image of burning souls for love is really beautiful and touching, and the pursuit of freedom of love is indeed an important step in the awakening of women's consciousness and their opposition to feudal bondage.

For example, in Oscar Wilde's Salome, Salome, who wants the head of a saint for not being able to get his love; and Juliet, who chooses to be martyred even after discovering her lover's "death" in Shakespeare's novel, are all worthy of praise for this kind of role.

These girls who sacrifice their lives for love are clear-headed and persistent, and more importantly, they know what they want.

Did Lydia know what she wanted? Mary was skeptical.

She knew neither what kind of man Wickham was, nor what the future held for her after confessing her love to him-or, to take a step back, after Wickham responded to her love.

Even Mary felt that this wasn't love at all for Lydia, nothing more than an impulse, coupled with an exasperated unwillingness to admit that Mary was right yet again.

Wickham turned and strutted away, maintaining a cold yet polite demeanor as he brushed past Mary and nodded at her.

But Mary didn't let him go.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Wickham," she spoke without moving, "it was our sister who was rude in the first place, but she disappeared for no reason, and please understand our concern."

Wickham's face looked a little better when he heard Mary give Wickham the benefit of the doubt.

He glanced at Darcy, saw the latter look puzzled, mistakenly thought that the other party is because Mary "position reversal" surprised, inevitably took on a little color of satisfaction.

He was not aware that Darcy was thinking about what Mary was going to do - although Fitzwilliam Darcy had not had much interaction with the Third Lady Bennet, he would not mistake her for a good-natured character.

"It's all right," said Wickham, "some misunderstanding is inevitable."

"Yes, I am sorry that Lydia misunderstood your motives," she said calmly; "though you asked her to dance, and asked her to be alone, and were warmly ingratiated at every turn, it is true that you had no idea of her."

Wickham: "......"

It wasn't until then that Wickham realized what Mary meant.

His smugness solidified on his handsome face, "With all due respect, young lady, you were the one who asked me to ask your sister to dance."

Mary tickled the corners of her mouth.

"You'll do whatever I want you to do?"

So I want you to go eat ...... you go too? Mary mentally spat, but of course there was no way she could say this. The third young lady of the Bennet family just kept her trademark fake smile, "Fine then, I want you to leave Meriden immediately and never come halfway near where Lydia is in your life, do you do it?"

Wickham couldn't strain his expression, "You're simply-"

Mary: "Or I'll tell everyone about your debt."

Elizabeth: "What?"

Mary spoke out of turn, and not to mention Elizabeth, even Darcy, who grew up with Wickham, exuded a shocked expression.

Wickham himself stiffened when Mary said "debt".

"You ......"

He didn't say anything for a long time.

This reaction made everyone in the room understand everything.

"How did you know?!" Wickham spoke up.

"You are so close to Lydia," Mary said, raising an eyebrow and maintaining her smile, "did she not tell you that I was going to London to assist Mr. Sherlock Holmes in solving a case? You grew up in Pemberley Manor, so naturally you know the name of Sherlock Holmes, don't you? Wanting to investigate you, a mere commoner doesn't even need Mr. Holmes to come out, I can just come alone."

"......"

Wickham's appearance at this point could no longer be described as wretched.

Of course, Mary hadn't actually investigated Wickham. She had no evidence.

But in the original Pride and Prejudice, Wickham owed a huge debt after leaving Meriden, which proved that the man was addicted to gambling. He was desperate to join the army in Meriden, Mary just swindled Wickham, I did not expect him to be defenseless, directly exposed.

"So, Wickham," Mary taunted, "you'd better leave overnight, or else don't blame me tomorrow after even the three-year-olds in Meriden know you're a gambler."

With those words out of her mouth, Mary said no more as she walked straight to Lydia.

Upon learning that Wickham was even in debt, Lydia cried even harder, shivering almost as if she had broken down.

Looking at her in this state, Mary actually felt a little pity for her.

In fact, Lydia is only fifteen years old this year. In the twenty-first century, a fifteen year old girl is still a junior high school student, which is the age of youthfulness, full of fantasies, and also the age that gives parents and teachers the most headache, especially difficult to manage.

A junior high school student who has gone through nine years of compulsory education would still do something stupid because of emotional impulsiveness, let alone Lydia who has not received any systematic education and has almost no one to discipline her.

Mary also has some responsibility in this regard.

In years gone by, if she had paid a little more attention to Lydia, perhaps it would not have come to this. One can only say that people are always partial, and just as Mrs. Bennet favored Lydia, so Mary preferred to spend time with her sisters than her silly sisters.

Reason knew that Lydia should be prevented from doing foolish things, but she had not led her to realize her limitations.

Luckily, it wasn't too late to realize her mistake.

Jane had found her happiness, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy were no longer mistaken, and Mary felt that it was necessary for her to assume the responsibilities of a sister as well.

She looked deeply at the pearly Lydia and gathered her heart.

"As for you," said Mary to Lydia, "you and Catherine will go with me to Milton in a few days."

"You go away before I--"

Lydia's retort, which had been about to come out of her mouth, came to a screeching halt at Mary's irrelevant command.

She froze before remembering what "Milton" was, "I'm not going! I'm not going with you to some shitty town up north, you'll suffer on your own, not me!"

But you have to go.

The only person in the whole house who could keep Lydia in check was, I'm afraid, Elizabeth, and Elizabeth was going to be a guest at Pemberley Hall with her aunt and uncle, so where could Mary let the silly girl go and bother Mr. Darcy and be a light bulb between him and Elizabeth?

Then you can only take yourself around, although she is shallow, willful and no brain, in addition to that good-looking face in Mary's opinion is useless and annoying, but in the end is his sister ah.

This girl does not care, who knows what else can cause trouble?

Mary was her usual opinion: she could hate and bully her own sister, but no one else, least of all the scum.

"It's not your decision to make," Mary retorted with rare forcefulness, "I'll convince Dad about this, and you'll go home tonight and pack your bags."