Page 155 of A Question of Character

Outside, a gust of wind scattered leaves against the library windows.

Finally Darcy rose.

“I ordered Fletcher to make inquiries.”

Bingley blinked.

“Inquiries?”

“Into Wickham.”

“What sort?”

“Debts. Gaming. Improper conduct.”

Bingley’s expression brightened.

“That seems sensible.”

“I should have done it weeks ago.”

“It is done now.”

Darcy crossed to the window.

“If Fletcher returns with evidence against him, Elizabeth will have the truth.”

“And if he does not?”

The question remained suspended between them.

Darcy rested one hand against the cool glass.

Beyond the lawn, autumn stretched across the Hertfordshire countryside in muted gold and green.

If Fletcher came back empty-handed...

If no debts appeared.

No seduced daughters. No creditors… and no gaming hells or whispers.

Then what?

Would that erase Ramsgate?

No.

Would it prove Wickham innocent?

No.

But it would prove something else.

That the man presently living in Meryton bore less resemblance to the youth Darcy remembered than he had wished to believe.

Darcy closed his eyes briefly.

He thought of Elizabeth standing in the garden.