A detail, but it seems rather odd to me:

She had been watching [Wickham] the last hour, [Mrs. Philips] said, as he walked up and down the street.

Apart from the fact that Mrs. Philips has had nothing to do for the past hour but watch someone walk back and forth ;-), why would Wickham (or Wickham and Denny - I'm not sure which) spend an hour walking up and down a village street? Was Wickham waiting for someone, perhaps Denny? Was he checking out his new home? Did the two of them have something to discuss? Didn't they have anywhere else to go? If it was for exercise, I think they would have chosen a different location!