Detective Mary

Chapter 25

Actually, Mary did have her own agenda when she suddenly became so active in socializing.

Seeing that Wigham Wickham was about to win the affections of all the unmarried girls around Meriden, for one thing she really wanted to see what the famous scamp really looked like, and for another ......

"Although I don't know Mr. Darcy very well, I think he's a very bad-tempered man."

Mary still could not help it, and burst out laughing when Mr. Wickham uttered these words.

Wickham: "......"

Her sudden laughter caused the youth with the stony expression to freeze, then spoke with politeness, "What are you laughing at, Miss Mary?"

"Nothing," Mary hastily curtailed her smile, "just thinking of Mr. Darcy's always stern face, he does seem to be in a bad temper."

--Two, it was Mr. Werhane Wickham she was waiting for to utter this denigration of Mr. Darcy.

All told, Wickham had met several Miss Bennet's only three times. And Elizabeth knew him just in time to bump into Mr. Darcy, and the awkwardness and detachment between the two men was plainly a story. Elizabeth had had it on her mind for a long time, and today she finally couldn't hold back her curiosity and asked.

And Mr. Wickham, without trying to find out what the situation was, just heard Elizabeth say that Mr. Darcy had once treated her rudely, and cajoled to get the bad word out.

"I hope he has not been rude to you too." Mr. Wickham said to Mary.

"Not really," smiled Mary, "only Mr. Darcy was very blunt in his speech, and said bluntly that my character was not well suited to being a lady."

Mr. Wickham exuded a look of surprise, and then he wrinkled his handsome eyebrows, "Then that is too much!"

If Mary wasn't a girl who traveled through time and space, it would indeed be quite excessive. But then again, if she wasn't a girl who traveled through time and space to come over, her character wouldn't be so.

Thus, Mary simply sidled her head as if nothing had happened, "And you, sir? I see that you have a really bad impression of Mr. Darcy, I'm afraid that something unpleasant has happened before."

"Not exactly something unpleasant."

Mr. Wickham closed his eyes.

In the original novel, what Wickham is saying to Elizabeth at this point is that Fitzwilliam Darcy's father, a large, kind and generous landowner, made a will that once said he would give him a parsonage, but when the old Mr. Darcy died, and when the parsonage became vacant, Darcy himself refused to give the position to Mr. Wickham, because of his hatred for him, thus refusing to give it to him.

It sounds as if Mr. Darcy was a mean and cold man who despised the common people, and even disregarded the future of others. This statement makes Elizabeth, who is already prejudiced against Darcy in the novel, feel even more contemptuous and hateful towards him.

It must be said that Mr. Wickham's words of regret, his look, and his gesture of pain, but not of common sense, are very convincing.

Thus, even though Elizabeth, who had received Mr. Darcy's apology, still looked confused, Lydia could not sit still.

"How could he!"

From the first moment she saw Mr. Wickham, Lydia could not take her eyes off him. Now indignation was written all over her pretty little face when she heard that he had been treated harshly.

She looked so incredulous and indignant that it was fortunate Mr. Darcy was not present, or Lydia would have rushed to her face and questioned her.

"Is there no way of exposing this villain," spoke Lydia, "to expose him?"

Mr. Wickham's tone was heavy, "Nominally he has done nothing wrong, and I don't care to ruin a man's reputation by shady means."

Lydia: "But he ruined your future!"

Wickham: "Perhaps God has other plans for me, and I'm not here in Meriden now."

This was said in a sincere tone, and his eyes gleamed as he looked at Lydia, which in turn called Lydia's cheeks to blush, and he even became a little embarrassed.

Geez.

Mary looked on in awe, both amazed that there was someone as cheeky as Werhane Wickham in the world and shocked at the brilliant blush on Lydia's face.

He can say that, it's obvious that you're using shady tactics to destroy Mr. Darcy's reputation, right? Are you really not afraid of being exposed.

As for Lydia, she has never known what to do, and is becoming more and more lawless based on her beauty and Mrs. Bennet's favor, and many people even feel that she is behaving frivolously - such a spirited and bold girl, but she actually blushed because of Wickham's words!

No wonder she eloped with Wickham in the original story, Mary now realized that Lydia's naive and selfish nature was one aspect of her thinking, and on the other hand, she probably loved this amazing scum from the bottom of her heart.

Stopping Lydia from being a fool was already a major problem, and it would be even more problematic if she hadn't eloped out of a superficial desire to please, but had actually fallen in love with Mr. Wickham.

Mary pondered this for a moment, but eventually just gathered her thoughts.

"That's very kind of you, sir," she sighed, deliberately complimentary, "a gentleman of your integrity and sincerity is rare nowadays."

Her words landed, and before Wickham could respond, Elizabeth raised an imperceptible eyebrow.

While others didn't know, Elizabeth knew that Mary definitely didn't have good intentions.

Her sister was not one to give compliments lightly, especially since she had long expressed her doubts about Mr. Wickham's character, and she was not going to be gullible just because of a few one-sided words.

Even Elizabeth thought there was something wrong in it, all right, especially since Wickham Wickham had said that Mr. Darcy was jealous of old Darcy's kindness to him, and thus holding a grudge - and how could a small-minded man, prone to holding grudges, ever admit to his wrongs with sincerity and candor?

To say that he was arrogant and insolent, even if he was bad-tempered, Elizabeth would not deny, but to say that Mr. Darcy had ruined Wickham's piety out of jealousy, Elizabeth did not think Mr. Darcy was that despicable a man.

So she just gave Mary a deep look, "Do you really think so?"

Mary: "Of course!"

She turned her head to look at Elizabeth, and with four eyes, the two sisters were instantly connected.

"Alright, alright, I know you were all waiting for that line from me." She laughed.

Even Lydia tensed at the word 'sentence', not to mention Elizabeth.

Anyone could forget yesterday's events, but not Lydia! Mary swore that she could put an end to Wickham's attentions to the Bennet sisters with a word.

She'd be sent five hats if she lost!

"What?" Wickham asked.

"It's just an apology," Mary spoke up rightfully, "I told Lizzie before that you were a good-looking man, pleasing in every way, and that you might not be treating Lizzie with genuine affection, but it seems now that I was wrong about you."

Mr. Wickham shook his head, "It's all right, miss."

Mary: "You are a man of integrity, and even when coerced by Mr. Darcy, you are indifferent, which shows that you are a man of noble character who does not value money. I even said to Lizzie yesterday that I was afraid that you were mistakenly thinking that the Longbourn place was rich and greedy for money before you made a big offer."

"Mistakenly?"

"Because we sisters can't inherit Longbourn, ah," said Mary, smiling; "that Mr. Collins is the father's heir, and our dowry is pitifully small for a young lady. But I don't think Mr. Wickham will think less of us for that, will he?"

"...... Of course not."

The words were spoken, but anyone could see the subtle stiffening of Werhane Wickham's smile.