Darcy lifted a brow and observed him in silence.
Richard bridged the fingers of both hands and stared at them before he began. “It was back in ‘09. I was stationed in Porto, do you remember?”
“Clearly.”
“Well, I met this young Portuguese lieutenant—Noronha was his name. We saw one another around the card tables, that sort of thing, but during the Battle of Porto, his horse was shot. I was near at hand, and I went back for him.”
Richard’s mouth worked, his face contorting with a myriad of memories. “We were both wounded in the battle, just seriously enough to take us out of the action for around a month. Noronha was the son of an old noble family, and was permitted to return home while he recovered. I think it was more to keep up civilian support than anything else, but he managed to secure a release for me as well.”
Darcy turned back to the window. “Then you spent a month in this Noronha’s household. So far you have said little to reassure me, Richard.”
“Does the name not comfort you somewhat? He was the man to secure your release, was Captain Rodrigo de Noronha.”
Darcy snapped his gaze back. “He—and others—told me there was some old connection with you, but suggested it to be of a more personal nature, and not limited merely to you. The implication was that you were acting with your father.”
“My father?” Richard shook his head in apparent puzzlement. “The only contact Father ever had with them was that Senhor de Noronha sent Father a fine box of cigars. He never even smokes them. No, their connection is but an incidental one.”
Darcy turned about in agitation. “Then who else was there? Did this Noronha have an associate?”
Richard seemed to sneer, and looked abruptly at the floor. “Vasconcelos. I remember him. He is the monster. Noronha is just a puppet.”
Darcy straightened, his back to his cousin, and drew a long shuddering breath. “I met him,” he answered shortly.
“I do not doubt it. I was told they wanted some deed from you, but I had no idea what they were talking about. Do you?”
Darcy could not answer the question directly. He stared out at the shrubberies, his fingers twitching. Richard, wisely, did not press him for an answer.
“Who told you?” he asked in a weak, breathy voice.
“Who? Noronha, of course.”
“And you have never yet told me how you connected him to my disappearance.”
“Well,” Richard sat back and crossed one leg over the other knee. “I did what any self-respecting earl’s son does. I hired a private investigator, because I wanted to find out who had killed you and run him through myself. Believe you me, it would have been far less trouble to leave you in the grave.”
“And?”
“Noronha has a small shipping line, a family business for at least a couple of generations. My investigator turned up the name of one of his ships. That is all.”
“All! You cannot honestly tell me that you would abandon Georgiana and set sail for Portugal on so slight an inducement!”
“I did not abandon her! I found Miss Bennet, did not I? She has done better with her than I could have, for Georgiana was starting to take on the business of the household before—”
“Before someone attacked her!”
“I was about to say, ‘before Aunt Catherine returned,’ but yes, I suppose that was the same day.”
Darcy hissed and turned back to the wall. “Our aunt has made no secret of her ambitions. She wants Pemberley as a jewel in her cap, and could not get it through me.”
“Darcy! You do not mean to suggest that our aunt would conspire to have you taken. Naturally, it has occurred to me as well, but what could she gain by it?”
“Control, of course. It would matter little to her that you are not her natural son; she would have ruled you utterly.”
“Now that is where you are mistaken! She wished for me to wed Anne, and for Georgie to marry some viscount. It was my father who promoted an engagement to Georgiana. He was responsible for that announcement, I am sure of it, attempting to force my hand! He had no idea that I was not in the country, for Miss Bennet and her uncle managed things well in my absence.” He grinned rakishly. “Gardiner even agreed to post a letter about a week after I sailed, so Father never missed my correspondence.”
Darcy’s fists clenched. “I have heard enough! Even were you not intentional, you have been complicit, Richard. Edward Gardiner has gained substantially by these affairs.”
“Darcy!” Richard was rubbing his forehead, “Gardiner told me when I first approached him that he had a new business opportunity that would demand much of his time. It had nothing to do with you! Why, I even have a letter from him here somewhere, talking about this new textiles agreement he has with a merchant in Brussels. Egad, how conceited are you, that you assume everything is about you?”
Darcy inhaled slowly, closing his eyes. Those had been Elizabeth’s words, almost verbatim. In his early days as master of the estate, he had learned that if two people he trusted advised the same, it was likely a wise course. The question remained: did he trust Richard?
“Darcy, you must let me help you,” Richard’s voice now pleaded. “Two heads are better than one, they say.”
“Richard,” he slitted his eyes open, gazing thoughtfully out the window. “You mentioned that you knew Captain Noronha, and that he was the one who released me. That is not the whole truth of the matter, for there was another.”
He turned to see his cousin’s face suddenly bloodless. His mouth gaped helplessly for a breath, then he seemed to swallow and stare at the floor. “The captain’s sister,” he answered brusquely, and spoke no more.
“And she was married to the son of the very Vasconcelos of whom you spoke. Are you still so certain that the connection is innocent? Perhaps the affair had gone sour, and I was desired to return home at precisely this time to complicate matters for whomever Vasconcelos had previously taken as his partner. Perhaps you have been blinded yourself, Richard.”
Richard bolted to his feet, trembling with a fierce rage. “The lady is innocent! What is more, she is as much a victim of Vasconcelos and Noronha as yourself, if not more so. Do not you dare profane her name with such slander!”
Darcy stiffened in surprise, stepping back toward the safety of his window alcove. “You do not consider the connection suspicious?”
Richard turned about, as if searching for something to throw, and then settled for a sound punch to the pillow on which he had sat. “Forget I ever offered to help. My carriage leaves immediately. Give my regards to Georgiana and Miss Bennet.” And with that, he stalked out, muttering curses all the way.
48
Weston
“Mr Wickham, you are late!” Mrs Annesley stood back from the door of the cottage, a frown lining her features.
The gentleman—if he was such—swept from his mount with a gallant bow. “Forgive me, Mrs Annesley. The fault was not mine, but I cheerfully accept your censure. May I enquire after your health, madam?”
“You may not.” She extended a hand to receive what he had brought her, but drew it back in dismay when he merely approached with empty hands.
“Mrs Annesley, you would not send a caller away without refreshments, would you? Of course not, for only a perfect gentlewoman could have found employment as Miss Georgiana Darcy’s companion, and you, madam, are indeed a gentlewoman.” He saluted with a flourish of his hat and advanced, giving her no option but to fall back.
“Mr Wickham, this is most irregular!” she objected. “You are not permitted to enter the house. That was the agreement!”
“It was,” he concurred with a smile and a satisfied nod at the comfortable room. “Matters have altered somewhat. I find myself in need of your assistance, Mrs Annesley.”
She crossed her arms. “Do you think I would help you, Mr Wickham? I know too much about you!”
“I think,” he turned about with a cheerful grin, “
you have little choice, Mrs Annesley. I require a safe place for a few days, and I’ve a mind that the room off the back of your kitchen will serve nicely.”
“What have you done? Gone and killed a man this time?”
“Me? Oh, no, no, no, Mrs Annesley.” He began to stroll about the room, touching the little knick-knacks and baubles he found arrayed thereabout. “Our generous benefactor has encountered some difficulties, that is all.”
“Generous! We both know very well that he has not been the source of funds for either of us.”
“Why would he be? That would be pure folly, Mrs Annesley, for he intended to come into his new fortune by summer. What matter a few pennies here and there from the Pemberley coffers?”
“It matters because I was not told beforehand that such would be the arrangement.” She withdrew a handkerchief and dabbed at her mouth, her face suddenly flaming in mortification. “Had I known, I certainly never would have agreed to any of this!”
“Would you not? And pray, would you have confessed your brother’s condition to your employer to openly beg assistance, or would you have simply let the French pox20 take him?”
The woman bent over her handkerchief, but solemnly reached her open hand back toward him. “Have you brought the medicine, Mr Wickham?” she asked hoarsely.
He grumbled and withdrew a phial from his pocket. “This is the last of it. I’ll not perform the service again, Mrs Annesley, not while half the country is hunting for my head, and there is no more money forthcoming to make it worth my while.”
She clasped the glass bottle, tilting it to watch the mesmerising, thick silver fluid. “It does nothing for him,” she murmured aloud, as if to comfort herself. “A waste of money. I should never have consented….”
“And not tried to help him? Tsk, tsk, Mrs Annesley, but you are too much the lady for that. Even the appearance of aid is better than nothing at all. Gives the old boy hope, do you know. And now, what have you got around here to eat? I am famished.”
“You are not staying, Mr Wickham! Oh, no, I absolutely insist. You must go. What if it were discovered that you were here?”
He laughed. “It would harm neither of us any further, I would warrant. And do not think of running to the authorities, because you would instantly look as culpable as I. Miss Darcy’s loyal companion, taking bribes and knowingly abandoning her post? For shame, Mrs Annesley.”
She turned away from him, hot tears spilling down her cheeks. “That I should have come to this!” she lamented, her hand clutching the phial until her fingers ached. “I used to be respectable!”
He shrugged and tossed his hat on the sofa, then began to unbutton his coat. “Yes, yes, then some foolish man had to go and ruin your life. I have heard it all before, Mrs Annesley. Be so good as to fetch some tea, will you?”
She rounded on him, eyes blazing. “Tea! I would drop arsenic in your tea, had I any sense. A man who would betray the family who brought him up, the daughter of your patron—I am ashamed to know you, sir! You are a dissolute wretch, and you have led me down a path from which I can never recover!”
He seated himself and began to pull at his own boots, with little success. “Never? Oh, people such as we always land on our feet. Be a good lass, and lend me a hand with this boot.”
Her mouth dropped open in astonishment, but whether at his casual request or his declaration that she was like himself, she could not be certain. Everything about the man was offensive. “Mr Wickham! I am nothing like you are! Do you even care what happens to that poor girl? No, you never did, Mr Wickham! She was only ever a means to a comfortable life for you!”
“Georgiana Darcy? Oh, of course I cared for her. A fine girl like that? What man would not be interested in her person? I never wished Darcy any harm, for that matter. But you may set your mind at ease, Mrs Annesley, for from what I can discern, Miss Bennet has done an admirable job of shielding Miss Darcy in your absence. So admirable, in fact, that some while ago I was instructed to discover a way to lure her away from Pemberley as well. Sadly, someone else was rash and employed a very clumsy kidnapping attempt before I could do anything. After that, I doubt a hurricane could have drawn her off.”
Mrs Annesley bit her lips and shivered in relief. “Miss Bennet has been a faithful friend?”
“Unfortunately, but I would have expected nothing less of the wench. Blast Fitzwilliam for dragging her up here to Derbyshire! Last thing I would have expected. He was easily enough distracted. A word or two to his investigator’s informants, drawing eyes away from London and toward Portugal… took the bloke forever to come round to the point, but he put it all together at last. Such a pity that he left the she-wolf to guard the den! And now that Darcy has returned, I—”
Mrs Annesley whirled about, her face ashen. “Mr Darcy returned?”
“Oh,” he stretched in his seat, giving up on his boots. “Did not I mention that? It turns out that he was not disposed of as promised, and is, in fact, alive and well. Rather inconvenient. No, do not think of running to him, Mrs Annesley, for I have seen him, and he is half mad. Why, he even lost his temper with a lady, and one he used to admire, if I am not mistaken. He would eat you as soon as look at you. ‘Tis a pity, I suppose, for our erstwhile benefactor, for now Miss Darcy is not the sole heir to Pemberley as she was supposed to be. There is still the matter of that Portuguese fellow, though, so I think things may yet become rather interesting. I shall bide my time here, and see what comes of it.”
“You shall do no such thing, you heartless blackguard! To think I would give shelter to one who could bring harm upon Mr Darcy, who was kind to me, or Miss Darcy, the sweetest girl in the world! I cannot believe I did not know of your involvement from the first!”
“I was not involved at first,” he protested. “I was merely a tool, just as you were. We are stuck with one another, Mrs Annesley.”
“Absolutely not! And you will absent yourself from this house at once, Mr Wickham. My brother is dying, and the disease has got to his head! I’ll not have you here to trouble him.”
He raised his brows and smiled in that charming way of his. “Mrs Annesley! I do not intend to make myself a burden. Surely you will need a clever head about, to establish yourself respectably once more when the time comes. Think of me as your knight, madam. You may as well confess that you have no means of recovery without my assistance. Now, about that tea?”
~
Pemberley
“Colonel! You are not going?” Elizabeth rushed down the front steps of the house, still draping her shawl over her shoulders.
Richard turned reluctantly. “I bloody well am, Miss Bennet.” He heaved a sigh, braced a hand upon the door of his coach, and looked back up at her. “Forgive my language, Miss Bennet. Hardly the thing before a lady.”
“Has he not relented? Oh, I was afraid of this!”
“Relented? My dear woman, are we speaking of the same man? This is the fellow who won the fencing championship at Cambridge after tying with the same opponent twice, and then going a full nine-minute round to finish him off! Darcy does not relent, Miss Bennet.”
Elizabeth offered a sad smile. “He is rather… obstinate. Even my aunt described him as such, and that after only a short acquaintance.”
“Mrs Gardiner knows what she is about. Perhaps I will pay a call on her, when I have returned to London.”
“Colonel, is there no other way? Mr Darcy is like to say many things he may regret. I cannot believe he truly wishes for you to go. There are so many things I must tell you; about Mrs Annesley, and the account books, and—”
“No, Miss Bennet. I wish to leave, and with all due respect, I am not inclined to discuss it.” He waited for the footman to place the stool and offered a short bow before mounting the step. “I think it unwise for Mrs Wickham to attempt travel, and so I shall conveniently neglect to take her. I hope this will cause you no hardship, Miss Bennet.”
She frowned at the ground. “Mr Darcy may be d
ispleased that she is to remain for now, but then I am no longer certain that he desires my presence, either.”
The colonel allowed the footman to close the door, and leaned out the window. “Darcy can go hang himself, Miss Bennet. I love the man like a brother, but his insults have touched a little too near. At present, the only thing that could cause me to delay is for you to express your own desire to quit Pemberley. I should be honoured to escort you, Miss Bennet, and Mrs Wickham if such is your wish.”
“And what of Georgiana?”
He looked away. “Darcy will see to her, naturally.” He drew a long breath. “I know what you are about, Miss Bennet, and I dare not attempt to cross swords with you in debate. My mind is set. Perhaps in a month’s time I may write, and see how things stand.”
“A month? Do you suppose matters will keep for so long?”
“It does not matter, for my assistance is not wanted. I will bid you a good day, Miss Bennet.” He rapped the top of the carriage, and it started to roll. Gazing down at Elizabeth, his eyes full of regret, he raised a hand in farewell.
Elizabeth watched the carriage as it rolled out of sight, then turned around to see Darcy himself lurching to a halt in the doorway. His eyes were fixed on the empty drive, and his mouth opened as if to cry out, but he was disappointed. A moment later he saw her hesitating on the stair below him, and gave a start. Again, he looked as if he desired to speak, his whole body drawing up for the effort, then his courage failed and he sagged.
He looked back into the house, then down to her once more. If he could not find words, his eyes spoke deeply and simply of his remorse. Elizabeth ascended slowly, until she stood only one step below the landing.
His fingers twitched at his sides. “He is gone, is he not?”
She nodded.
He was staring down, seemingly at her hands, when his eyes cautiously lifted. “Elizabeth… have I offended you, as well?”
“Oh, William,” she breathed, rising to the last step. “I… I was hurt, I will confess, but my affections are not the work of a day, and I shall not be easily turned aside.”
These Dreams: A Pride and Prejudice Variation Page 50
