“Of course there are, but Mr. Wickham is not one of them.”
“Out, Lizzy.” He pointed to the door.
Elizabeth sighed. But she left. She had lost her special bond with her father. He thought the worst of her, and the saddest part of it was that she had indeed broken his trust. Things would never be the same between them ever again. She regretted that bitterly, but she could not do anything about it all now.
She would have to try elsewhere.
She went down to the drawing room, where her mother was fussing over Mary while Lydia and Kitty talked about their own marriages.
“When I get married, I want a blue dress,” said Kitty.
“Yes, blue is lovely,” said Lydia.
“It does not matter to me what I am wearing,” Mary said imperiously. “I shall be happy knowing that I am entering into a holy state of union with my husband.”
“Yes, Mary,” said her mother. “I think you and Mr. Collins will be quite happy together.”
Elizabeth cleared her throat. “I have something to tell you about Jane.”
Her mother went right on as if she hadn’t heard Elizabeth. “I never thought you’d be the first of my daughters to get engaged, but I am pleased about it. Lord willing, Jane will be secure soon too.”
“She won’t be, because Wickham is a horrible man who is going to hurt her,” said Elizabeth.
Her mother turned to her. “I think you had better get out of my sight, Elizabeth. I am so angry with you that when I see you, I feel quite overcome.”
“But you have to listen to me,” said Elizabeth. “Jane is lying to you about—”
“What are you saying, Lizzy?” came Jane’s horrified voice from behind her. She seized her sister by the arm and dragged her back out of the drawing room.
Jane pulled Elizabeth all the way back the hallway, out of earshot. “How could you?”
“Jane, I have to do something. I can’t let anything happen to you!”
“You can’t stop it,” said Jane. “I am going to recommend to Mama to have you locked in your room for your wickedness.”
“She won’t listen to you,” said Elizabeth.
“I think she will,” said Jane.
And it turned out that Jane was right, as Elizabeth had known, deep down, she would be. Elizabeth was locked in her room and was not permitted to come down for supper, punished as though she were nothing more than a sulking child.
* * *
“Collingsworth!” said Elizabeth, when the servant opened the door with a dinner tray. “Tell me, has Jane gone yet?”
“Oh, yes,” said the servant. “Not but a half hour ago, she left to go to Netherfield. She is traveling to London with Miss Bingley and the Hursts.”
“No, that is not what she is doing at all,” said Elizabeth. “You must help me. I have to go after her. Please, I beg you, don’t lock me back in.”
“But I’m under strict instructions to do just that. If I don’t, I could get in monstrous trouble.”
Elizabeth didn’t want the maid to bear the brunt of her own transgressions, but she couldn’t stay locked in the room either. She chewed on her lip for a moment and then made a decision. “You’ll have to tell them that I took it from you by force.”
“What?”
“Yes, say that I leapt upon you and wrestled it from you and that you were overcome and could not stop me.”
“Oh, well, that sounds terribly exciting.” Collingsworth smiled. “But you, Miss Bennet, that sounds as if it will make things go worse for you.”
“If I can save Jane, I don’t care,” said Elizabeth. She held out her hand for the key.
Collingsworth handed it over. “I suppose I shall need to muss my hair a bit and make it look as if I fought back.”
“Oh, indeed,” said Elizabeth. “I am sure that is just what you should do.”
* * *
Elizabeth arrived at Netherfield, out of breath, a painful stitch in her side, just as dusk was falling. She didn’t see any carriages waiting to leave, and so she ran directly to the stables.
There, a groom was brushing down the lone two horses left in the stalls.
“No,” said Elizabeth. “I’m too late, aren’t I? All the horses are gone?”
“Miss Bennet, is it?” said the groom. “I remember you from when your sister was sick. Did you walk all the way here again?”
“Where is Mr. Wickham?”
“Oh, he’s long gone,” said the groom.
“Did he leave alone?” said Elizabeth. “Was my sister with him?”
“He was alone,” said the groom, looking confused.
“Did my sister leave with Miss Bingley, then?”
“I have not seen your sister since the ball last night,” said the groom.
“No?” Elizabeth felt her gut twist. Of course Jane wouldn’t have met Wickham’s carriage here. They likely had another spot where they would meet. She was with him even now. What was she going to do? She wrung out her hands, thinking. Then she looked up. “Listen, how likely is it that you’d let me take that horse?”
“Well, I don’t think my master would like that,” said the groom.
“No,” said Elizabeth. “Of course he wouldn’t.” She’d have to go back to Longbourn and see if she couldn’t get a horse there. She could ride after them as fast as she could. She knew the general route taken to Scotland. Maybe she could overtake them. Probably not, but she had to try. She nodded at the groom. “All right, well, I suppose I must take my leave, then.”
“Are you walking again? In the dark? That can’t be a good idea,” said the groom. “No, I insist that you go inside and see Mr. Bingley.”
“I can’t see anyone,” said Elizabeth. “If he sees me like this…” Oh, what did it matter? She was already ruined, was she not? She must save Jane from the same fate.
* * *
“What are you doing here, Miss Bennet?” said Mr. Bingley. “If you’ve come to call on my sisters, I’m sad to say that they’ve taken leave of me today. They don’t enjoy the country as much as they thought they would and have headed back to London.”
“No, I know this. I have heard,” said Elizabeth. She and Mr. Bingley were in one of the drawing rooms in Netherfield.
“Only I remain behind,” said Mr. Bingley. “I shan’t stay for too long, I don’t think. I could stand a bit of solitude, though.”
“I’m looking for my sister,” said Elizabeth.
“Here?”
“Well, no, not here precisely. That is, I think she’s with Mr. Wickham.”
A very different look came across Mr. Bingley’s face. “Wickham, you say? What would she be doing with him?”
“Well, I know you are not going to believe me, but I don’t think Mr. Wickham is in possession of a very strong character. So, even though my sister thinks he was telling the truth when he told her they would elope—”
“Elope?” Mr. Bingley was on his feet. “Oh, no. He’s not going to elope with her. He told me himself, on numerous occasions, that he had no intention of marrying her.”
“You do believe me!”
“Of course I do. Why after that business with Darcy and Wickham last night, I asked him to leave and not to darken my door again.”
“You did?” said Elizabeth.
“I don’t know what has gone on between them,” said Bingley. “Darcy’s tale has always seemed fanciful to me, but I am not sure that Wickham is as innocent in it all as he claims. After the way he has behaved here, in my own house, with your sister, I have rather revised my opinion of Wickham. And the fight in the fountain? Well, I would rather not play host to that again.”
“I know you have no reason to help my sister, but—”
“I have every reason in the world,” said Mr. Bingley. “Come, we’ll take my coach. We’ll go after them as best we can.”
Elizabeth smiled at him, feeling real hope for the first time that day. “Oh, Mr. Bingley, thank you. Thank you so much.”
CHAPTER TWEN
TY-TWO
“Well, that is quite a tale,” said Mr. Bingley from the opposite side of the coach.
“It is, isn’t it?” said Elizabeth. “Anyway, it is all over for me, so you can see why it does not matter if I am here with you unchaperoned. But I would not wish this on Jane. She is too good, and Wickham is too wicked.” Her gaze kept flitting up to the pepperbox revolver that was hanging above Bingley’s head. She assumed it must be there as a measure of protection against roving highwaymen.
“Truly, I am not sure what to say to you of Darcy,” said Mr. Bingley. “There was a time when he and I were friends, and I thought him the most honorable of men, beyond reproach. But now, I could not venture to comment upon his character.”
“That is exactly where I have settled,” said Elizabeth. “I also thought him honorable, but his current actions do not seem to be. However, I have only myself to blame. I did not behave as a proper gentlewoman should. I brought it all down upon my own head.”
“Now that seems a bit harsh,” said Bingley. “I would not say that. We are sometimes too quick to censure in our society, I think. The virtues of forgiveness are extolled from the pulpit, but few are the men who put them into practice.”
“That is true,” said Elizabeth.
“We are especially hard on women,” said Bingley. “I have been thus myself. I would condemn any woman in a situation like your Mrs. Fortescue, thinking that she ought to have been stronger, ought to have resisted. And then I watched Wickham go to work on your sister.” He shook his head. “I have never seen something so vile. He used her own goodness against her. Whatever Darcy is, he is not that.”
“No,” said Elizabeth.
“I shall go and see him for you,” said Bingley. “I can’t say I will do any good. But if he can be convinced to do the right thing by you, then I will send him to you at once.”
“Oh, thank you,” said Elizabeth. “I do appreciate that. I can’t believe there has been no word from him.”
“There is an inn up the road here,” said Bingley. “Perhaps we will discover Wickham and your sister there. Wickham is not the sort of man who would ride all night to get to his destination. He likes his comforts. I only hope we will be in time.” He sighed. “Even if not, I think it would be monstrous to hold your sister accountable for all this.”
“I think so, too,” said Elizabeth.
“It has practically been against her will.”
“That is just the thing,” said Elizabeth. “I’m not sure that it has.”
“What do you mean?” Bingley raised his eyebrows.
“I don’t know, and perhaps I am speaking out of turn, but I think that… Oh, this is going to sound dreadful. I can’t say it.”
“Now, you must say it, or I shall die of curiosity.”
“You speak of forgiveness, but I am not convinced that we should need to be forgiven for the things that men and women feel for each other. Certainly, they are natural, and part of God’s own plan for us. Certainly…” She shook her head. “Never mind. I am sorry. I should not have said anything.”
Bingley sat back in his seat, thinking this over. “You are saying what? That such things should not be considered a sin? Even if they occurred out of the bonds of marriage?”
“I don’t know if I would go so far.” She sighed. “Perhaps I am saying that, however.”
“Well, it is all very well to say that,” said Bingley, “but if we don’t adhere to some kind of structure, everything would fall apart. Why, if we were all free to… to be with anyone we pleased, no one would have any idea who was the father of what child, and then… well, what would be the inducement to a man to stay with a woman and her children at that point?”
Elizabeth wrinkled her nose. “I had not thought of it that way.”
“I mean, perhaps it wouldn’t matter,” said Bingley. “After all, I can see what inducement a man might have toward your sister, ruined or no, but it all becomes complicated with children and inheritances and estates. Raising another man’s child and pretending it is your own flesh, that’s a tall order…” He furrowed his brow. “But still, a man might be induced… might be…”
Elizabeth drew back. “Mr. Bingley, you are in love with Jane!”
“What?” said Mr. Bingley, going red in the face. “I wouldn’t say that, no. How could I be in love with her? She has paid me no mind, and she has been focused only on Wickham. It would be folly for a man to love a woman who could not love him back. Absolute folly.”
Elizabeth smiled sadly. “Someone just today told me that love makes fools of us all. I think it may be true.”
“But it is a special sort of villainy to take advantage of that, as Wickham does,” said Bingley.
“To be sure,” said Elizabeth. She turned to look out the window and uttered a little cry.
“What?” said Bingley.
“Stop the carriage,” said Elizabeth. “Stop it now.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Jane was on the side of the road, her hair streaming behind her, clutching her dress to her chest. It looked as if the fabric had been torn.
Elizabeth was out of the coach before it had truly stopped moving and rushing to her sister. “Jane!” she cried out. “Jane!”
Jane saw Elizabeth and faltered. Suddenly, she burst into tears.
Elizabeth closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around her sister. “Oh, Jane, my sweet sister, what has happened?”
Jane let herself be held, her shoulders shaking.
Elizabeth clung to her, and they stood thus for some time.
Mr. Bingley approached slowly, concern all over his face.
When Jane saw him, she pulled back, trying to wipe at her tears. “Oh, I did not realize.”
“I do not mean to intrude on a sisterly moment,” said Bingley.
“Give her your jacket,” said Elizabeth.
“Of course,” said Bingley, shrugging out of it.
“What did he do to you?” said Elizabeth.
“Oh, Lizzy!” said Jane and burst into fresh sobs.
Bingley stepped forward to drape his jacket over Jane, then thought better of it, and simply held it out to Elizabeth.
“Thank you,” said Elizabeth, taking the jacket. She pulled it over Jane’s shoulders. “Come, let’s get you into the coach. We can talk there.”
Jane nodded and swallowed her tears. Sniffling a little, she made her way back towards the coach. Elizabeth helped Jane in, and then she stopped to speak in a low tone to Bingley, asking if he could give her a moment alone with her sister before he joined them.
“Of course,” said Bingley.
Elizabeth settled in next to Jane and put her arm around her. “You don’t have to talk about it. We’ll simply sit for a few minutes until you are under control, and then Mr. Bingley will take us home.”
“He changed,” said Jane.
“Wickham did?”
“Yes,” said Jane. “He got so very ugly.” Her face twisted, and Elizabeth thought she might start crying again. “The way he spoke to me! I never thought he’d say those sorts of things. You were right about him all along, and I wouldn’t listen to you. You must forgive me. You really must.”
“Oh, hush, there is nothing to forgive. I was charmed by him in the beginning too. And he made you promises. How were you to know otherwise?”
“When I continued to refuse him, saying that I wanted to wait until we were wed, he got angry,” said Jane. “He said that he had gone to more trouble for my… oh, he used a word I’ve never heard. Cunny, I think it was.”
“What?” said Bingley from outside the coach, outraged. “He said what?”
“Mr. Bingley!” said Elizabeth. “When I said I wanted to be alone with my sister, I should think that made it clear I did not wish us to be overheard.”
“He said,” continued Jane, her voice stronger, “that he’d gone to more trouble than having me could possibly be worth, but that there was something about me. I was so pretty that I’d
bewitched him. He said that I’d cost him his friendship with Bingley, and yet he didn’t care. He had done all this, and now he wanted his reward, and he was going to have it, no matter what.”
“Oh, that blackguard!” said Bingley.
“Well, that’s when he grabbed hold of me and I had to fight him,” said Jane.
“No!” said Bingley. “Monstrous.” He sucked in an audible breath. “I shall kill him.”
“We struggled,” said Jane. “There was a bed, even though I had told him we could not share a bedchamber. He pinned me down on it, and I was frightened, and I kicked him.”
“Oh, good for you,” said Elizabeth.
Jane nodded. “I kicked him and kicked him until he let go of me and then I ran. He yelled after me that I’d be back because there was nowhere else for me to sleep, and that I should have to beg him to let me back into his bed when I did.”
“That’s it,” said Bingley, swinging back into the carriage. “We’re going to find him and I’m going to kill him. He doesn’t deserve to live.”
Jane made a little squeak.
Bingley slammed the door of the carriage shut and banged on the top of the coach.
The driver yelled at the horses, and it lurched forward.
“Wait, Mr. Bingley, what are you doing?” said Elizabeth.
“I don’t know how I could be more plain,” said Mr. Bingley. “I’ve said it twice.” He got to his feet and pulled down the revolver from overhead.
“We’re going the wrong way,” said Elizabeth. “We need to get Jane home.”
“Yes, and we will go back, of course,” said Bingley, retrieving a box from beneath one of the seats. He began to measure gunpowder into the muzzle of the gun. “First, however, I must remove Mr. Wickham from the world.”
“How are you going to do that?” said Elizabeth. “You aren’t going to challenge him to a duel, are you, because I have already forbidden Mr. Darcy from dueling him, and if I have to forbid you as well—”
“Dueling is too good for him,” said Bingley, inserting a ball into the muzzle and pushing it down with a long metal ramrod. “Dueling is something that is done between equals to settle a disagreement. Wickham is an insect.”
Mr. Darcy's Indiscretions Page 34
