"Darling?" called Mrs. Wickham as she doffed her wrap and crossed the short hallway to her husband's study. "Are you at home? Oh! Yes you are, and burning candles, too, I see. Well, it is on your head if we cannot afford more until Michaelmas, it shall not trouble me. La, you should have come to the party with us, we had such a time. I met the most charming people. Mrs. Flynn wanted to leave early and I didn't, so she introduced me to her new friends who have just come up from London. My, were they elegant, not even Lizzy has such finery, I daresay. What are you drinking, Wickham, it smells positively vile. And so kind, they were! They offered right away to take me home whenever I desired. The lady in particular, I knew straight away we should be such friends. I told her all about you and how you are so often gone from home, and she said she thought you were a rascal. How do you like that! She said she knew a trick we could play on you and I said wouldn't it be a laugh. Lord, I feel lighter on my feet than I have in years, though I shall have to have new dancing shoes if I am to go out again tomorrow. Oh, I have not told you their names, and that was the nicest part, for the lady and I got on so well that before the evening was done we had resolved to call each other by our Christian ones. I said to her, 'Oh yes, my dear, of course you must call me Lydia!' And she said, 'And I am Darla.' Is not that pretty? Wickham, darling, won't you let me come and sit in your lap?"
May 12, 2007
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