Page 147 of Near Pemberley

Silence settled between them.

Wickham recovered first. “So this is revenge.”

“No.”

“What then?”

“Justice.”

Wickham laughed again. “My dear Darcy, debtor’s prison?”

“Unless you can pay all this, yes.”

“You would really imprison an old school companion? Why?”

“I would imprison a man who abandoned a young lady.”

Something flickered across Wickham’s face. It was gone almost immediately. “Lydia Bennet appears to have acquired herself a formidable protector.”

Darcy’s expression did not alter. “She has.”

A faint smile touched Wickham’s lips. “Why? She is nobody to you.”

Darcy remained perfectly still. “That is where you are wrong.”

“You surprise me, Darcy. Lydia Bennet? Is she not too young for you?”

“I could have said the same about you. This now seems a tendency of yours. You target young ladies who are not yet women. I sometimes wonder whether you fear older women would see through you.”

“Touché. I do like them innocent. Though I admit, they can be tiring with their virtue.” He stood.

Darcy took a single step towards him before he realised he had moved at all.

“Why now?”

“I should have dealt with you properly after Ramsgate.”

One of the men shifted behind Darcy.

Darcy lifted a hand very slightly.

The man became still again.

Darcy looked at him for a long moment. Part of him knew the magistrate alone would suffice. Another part remembered Georgiana. Remembered Lydia. Remembered Miss Elizabeth’s quiet voice:

I want him punished.

“Before I hand you over to the magistrate, you will fight me.”

“What? You are not serious. Come Darcy. She is not worth your trouble.”

Darcy shook his head. “Every gentleman who trusted you has regretted it. Every family that welcomed you has suffered for it.”

“Do not become sanctimonious with me.”

Darcy looked at him steadily.

“I offer you this chance to act as a gentleman. If you win, I’ll let you go. If I win, you go to debtor’s prison. Because you are not actually a gentleman, you can fight me with your hands.”