Page 78 of Near Pemberley

“When he was younger, my father believed him almost incapable of fault.”

Mrs. Annesley looked up slightly at this.

“He possessed charm enough,” Darcy continued, “to persuade nearly everyone who wished to think well of him. Good humour. Ease. Readiness of manner.” A faint bitterness touched his voice. “Many mistakes appear less dangerous when accompanied by pleasing manners.”

Lydia listened with unusual seriousness. “He fooled everybody?”

Darcy gave a faint, humourless smile. “Not everybody. But enough.” He paused slightly before adding, “He nearly deceived my father entirely. And my father was neither weak-minded nor inexperienced.”

Georgiana lowered her sewing completely now. “And me,” she said quietly.

Darcy’s expression softened at once. “Yes.”

Lydia looked between them uncertainly.

“I never thought…” She hesitated. “I never thought clever people could be taken in, too.”

At this, Darcy’s eyes rested on her more steadily. “Intelligence alone does not always protect people from deception.”

The words seemed spoken from a deeper reflection than Lydia entirely understood.

“One is most easily deceived,” he continued after a moment, “precisely where one wishes to trust.”

Quiet settled over the room again.

Rain moved softly against the windows.

Lydia then whispered, “I was vain.”

“Yes,” said Darcy calmly. “You were.”

Fresh tears gathered in her eyes.

“But vanity is common at fifteen.”

Lydia stared at him.

Mrs. Annesley’s expression altered faintly with surprise.

“What matters more,” he continued, “is that Mr. Wickham understood how to encourage every weakness likely to flatter him or advantage himself.”

Lydia looked down at her hands. “He always said my family did not value me enough.”

Darcy’s expression darkened. “Of course he did.”

“And he laughed whenever I worried.”

“Yes.”

“He said rules were stupid and old-fashioned.”

Darcy’s gaze remained fixed upon the fire. “A man who profits from destroying boundaries generally dislikes them very much.”

The bluntness of the remark startled even Mrs. Annesley slightly.

Lydia was quiet for a long moment before speaking again in a smaller voice.

“I thought if a gentleman admired a girl enough, nothing else mattered.”