Ruined Forever
Page 33
Chapter Thirty
Heavy chains about him, Wickham was loaded onto the back of the prison carriage. Elizabeth did not watch. All her attention was on Netherfield. Where was Darcy? Why was he not here? Surely by this time he had been notified that she was found.
She hugged herself against the chill of the night air, and the fear growing in her heart. One night spent outside of her family home, one night spent with a scoundrel, and her reputation was finally and completely ruined. Now even her father would be required to withdraw his support.
If she was lucky, he would grant her a small allowance. How foolish of her to spend so much on her wardrobe. She would not need it now. A simple cottage in a village where she was not known, and a life spent contemplating what might had been.
“Lizzy! Elizabeth.”
Suddenly warm arms surrounded her and a solid body held her tight. It was Darcy! Warm, strong and still hers!
“My love,” he begged. “Tell me all is well with you.”
She cuddled closer to him, her chilled arms climbing under Darcy’s heavy coat, and she clung for the first and last time. “I am unharmed.”
“Thank God. Oh, Thank God,” Darcy kissed her untidy hair. “Come, dearest, we must take you home. Your Father and Mother are beside themselves with worry.”
Elizabeth said nothing, contenting herself with pressing her face against his chest.
A moment later his embrace loosened and he turned away. Now it begins, thought Elizabeth. Now he will leave me, his duty fulfilled and no one will say a word against him.
“Is there anything more you require, Mr. Darcy,” said Colonel Forster.
“No. My fiancée and I will take Bingley’s curricle to Longbourn. I directed the stablemen to have it put to before the search began.”
“Fiancée,” whispered Elizabeth. “Still?”
Darcy looked down at her and smiled. “Surely you did not doubt that your knight would save you? Although I am informed you saved yourself.”
“I have done my best,” said Elizabeth even as tears leaked down her cheeks and she tightened her grip on Darcy’s coat. “Oh, but I am so glad you are here! Pray, sir, do not leave again. I could not bear it.”
Colonel Forster coughed and took himself away.
Darcy waited until the Colonel’s back was turned before raising Elizabeth’s face to receive his kiss. Oddly this was more warming than any coat.
“I do not deserve you, Mr. Darcy.”
“We shall argue that at length, my dear, once you are safely Mrs. Darcy.” And he laughed even though a few tears were decorating his face as well. “Which shall be soon, for I am finally in possession of a Special License and fear I cannot trust you out of my sight. No more wandering alone for you. Henceforth you shall not leave our house without my company!” His hands tightened on her. “Do you agree to this plan?”
“It has my complete agreement!”
“And now you must go home, refresh yourself and rest…” began Darcy.
“HA YAH” A whip cracked overhead. Horses screamed as they pulled against the weight of the heavy prison carriage, then launched themselves down the road.
“What? Who?” Shouted Colonel Forster.
“Lydia,” sighed Elizabeth, closing her eyes. “Oh, Darcy, that is Lydia at the reins and Wickham is in the back. The idiot girl is trying to save him!”
“To horse! To horse!” shouted Colonel Forster.
The militia scrambled out of Netherfield, around from the rear of the house. The stablemen near fell out of the way as Darcy and Elizabeth scrambled into their curricle and joined the chase.
“What could she possibly be about?” demanded Darcy. “I tell you, Elizabeth. If any of our daughters behave like this, I shall lock her in a dungeon myself.”
Elizabeth, clinging desperately to the bench seat, laughed. “And if one of our sons should do so, what shall you do then?”
“Build more dungeons,” said Darcy.
Far in the distance they could see Lydia whipping up her horses and driving them on.
“They will not be able to keep that speed up for long,” said Darcy. “How skilled a whip is your sister?”
“I have never seen her drive, or ride, Darcy. Our father was not inclined to teach us. Only Jane and I know how.”
“Then,” Darcy whipped up his own horses. “She will not know how to manage that turn after the bridge.”
“Dear God! Faster Darcy, faster! Wickham said the bridge was weak.”
The remainder of the militia recognized the same danger. All increased their speed and some tried to overtake the now runaway carriage.
Wickham, who had only been thrown roughly into the back instead of tied in, was the first casualty of the chase. Unable, due to his bonds, to hold on, he bounced from the carriage onto the rough, frozen road, and lay still.
Lydia, seeing him fall, dropped the reins, and shrieked. The wheels struck the guardrails of the bridge and the whole carriage, horses and all, tumbled into the creek.
“No! Oh, Darcy, no!” cried Elizabeth as Darcy hauled on the reins to avoid a collision.
Some of the riders had halted to give aid to the fallen Wickham. Others milled about on the bridge, staring into the black depths. A few were directed down to investigate the state of the horses that were shrilling and thrashing about in their broken traces with thankfully undamaged limbs.
“Can you see her?” demanded Elizabeth as Darcy drew the curricle alongside Colonel Forster.
“Not a sign. Colonel Fitzwilliam has gone down, but I cannot … please Miss Bennet, we cannot hold out too much hope. She was standing up when the cart went over.”
“Oh, please, Darcy,” Elizabeth caught his arm. “Find her.”
“As you wish.” Darcy handed her the reins and jumped down, climbing carefully over the slippery frost-covered rocks and down under the bridge. Elizabeth waited, her heart pounding loud enough to be heard in Longbourn. Eventually, his dark head appeared back above the level of the bridge and Darcy came to take Elizabeth’s hand.
“My dear,” he said. “I have found her, but I cannot bring her up.”
Elizabeth pressed her hand to her mouth. “Oh, Darcy, what am I to say to our Mother?”
“That she has the most intelligent and silliest daughters in the kingdom,” replied Darcy. “Come now, your Sister is asking for your aid. Apparently she has damaged her frock and cannot appear before her friends, and the other officers in such a state. She needs your shawl, apparently, to cover the tear in her skirt.”
Elizabeth stared, then she laughed. “She will never change.”
“My hope is, that she will not get worse!”
Epilogue
Fitzwilliam Darcy of Derbyshire married Elizabeth Rose Bennet in a quiet ceremony in the front parlor of her parent's house three days later. This concession was required since Anne de Bourgh desperately wanted to witness the ceremony, but was too unwell to attend a church service after traveling up from London.
Mrs. Bennet was beside herself when she was informed that an Earl, his Countess, their son, a Baron, and the Baron's wife, would all be present for the wedding. And in a state of despair, when informed that only close family would attend the actual service.
Jane and Bingley took pity on her and allowed her to organize a lavish ball at Netherfield for those persons prevented from witnessing the nuptials. The finest moment of Mrs. Bennet's life came when the Earl of Matlock asked her to dance the quadrille.
At least now she knew why her husband refused to dance, and she quite willingly sat at his side for the remainder of the celebration.
The author predicts, with confidence, a life of happiness, prosperity and joy – and some quarrels about silly things, irritated moments and burnt toast for the Darcy's – (just to make the joyous moments more enjoyable.) But we shall grant them their privacy and wish them well.
As for the rest of the family...
The last act of Anne de Bourgh's life was to attend the wedding of her
cousin, Fitzwilliam Darcy. Her journey to Longbourn was undertaken in very short stages and she resided in the downstairs parlor after the ceremony. She went into a decline shortly after that journey, and by her own request was buried in the cemetery of Meryton.
Some confusion attended the fate of Mr. George Wickham. While he was awaiting trial for theft and desertion a Press Gang broke into his prison and carried him away along with several other miscreants. If he managed to survive His Majesty's Navy, no one knew. Certainly no one cared.
Lydia, sad to say, never did improve. She was sent from school to school, eventually spending a few years in Scotland where the excesses of her behavior, boasting, profligate spending, and impropriety were a constant distress to her parents. Eventually she escaped from school and married without notice to her family.
Aside from the occasional begging letter little is known of her life thereafter.
Kitty was quite happy to stay in London to develop her art, and while she never had a painting accepted by the Royal Academy, she did develop quite a following amongst the wealthier tradesmen, and was commissioned to do many of their family portraits. Eventually she married a gentleman of means, who took her traveling around the world the better to develop a new style of landscape art.
Mary, frustrated by the many novels her father demanded she read, eventually wrote one herself to teach others how it should be done. To her astonishment, and the astonishment of her acquaintances, the novel was a success, and she was called upon to write many others. Fearing that as she was the last unmarried Bennet daughter it would fall to her to look after her parents, Mary moved to Cornwall the better to experience the moods of Bodmin Moor, and she somehow failed to receive any letter commanding her return.
Lady Catherine did change her will; disposing of what personal property she had upon Richard Fitzwilliam in the hope of gaining influence over him. Richard married a woman he met in Spain and remained there with her family until Lady Catherine was safely dead.
Oh, and one more fate must be reported. Mr. Fitzwallace, the vicar, was sent to Africa. The exact details of his fate are confused. He was either eaten by a tribe of cannibals, or forced to marry the daughter of the shaman. It is unknown which situation the gentleman concerned would have disliked the most.
The End
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty - one
Chapter Twenty - two
Chapter Twenty - three
Chapter Twenty - four .
Chapter Twenty - five
Chapter Twenty - six
Chapter Twenty - seven
Chapter Twenty - eight
Chapter Twenty - nine
Chapter Thirty
Epilogue