by Anne Louise
“I wish to apologize to you all. The last few days have been quite harrowing. You might have witnessed the arrest of our footman, Mr. Stevens. His real name is Samuel Woods and he orchestrated my kidnapping. He used his skills as a forger to invite me to inspect a property that I was considering buying not far from Dover, but I was knocked unconscious and locked inside a stone gatehouse. I managed to dig a tunnel with my hands and a piece of wood and after several hours of such work I finally escaped. Later, as I retraced my trip, I met a man and his wife and they agreed to help me.”
No person stirred as Darcy continued to tell his story.
“The next morning the man and I saw the local magistrate, a man named Mr. Blackman, and he assigned men to observe the gatehouse. Later, those men watched as the two men who kidnapped me approached and began to argue, when suddenly the younger man hit the other man on his head and the man died. When the magistrate’s men saw this, they chased him but he took my horse, because it was the closest to him. Hercules was having none of that, such that the great beast threw the man off and he broke his neck against a stone wall.”
Darcy could hear several of the servants react to learning of Wickham’s murder.
“Mr. Adams, the local magistrate in town, travelled to meet Mr. Blackman and he returned to town and told me these things. After discussions with others, we decided to return to Darcy house to confront Mr. Woods. The magistrate has asked me to ask you for your help. Accordingly, I must ask you to cooperate and sit for interviews so we might get an understanding if anyone here saw Mr. Woods acting strangely. Mrs. Pierce has a list of persons and alphabetically she has listed your names and time that you should sit with my man, Mr. Jennings, and answer his questions. We are allowing eight minutes per person. Finally, Georgiana and I are pleased to be back with friends. Darcy House is my other family, and my cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam will stay a few days as will our good friend, Miss Elizabeth Bennet.”
When Darcy concluded his talk, he was greeted by the others who welcomed his return even as Mrs. Pierce reached out to the staff and began to tell those what time they would be interviewed. All interviews were private and a footman watched the door open every eight minutes or less as a person would exit and a new one would enter. The process took several hours but Mr. Jennings continued before rescheduling the remaining interviews on the morrow. Mrs. Pierce told those affected as soon as she learnt the remaining interviews would be held later. Mr. Jennings told each person that they would get in trouble if they spoke with anyone else about their interview. He did not ask the same questions to everyone, but changed them and allowed some to ask their own questions.
After the first day, he had named six people who he wanted to question again. Later, meeting in Darcy’s study, Mr. Jennings said that one man, another footman, seemed very nervous and said that recently he overheard Mr. Woods speaking with a man he did not recognize. The men were outside so the two could not be seen, but he described the other man and Darcy was certain the man was George Wickham, but the footman said he did not know the man. He heard them speak of letters but next turned around and never spoke of this to anyone
A female servant heard someone walking very early the morning when the last ransom letter was delivered and next heard the outside door open and a loud knock and heard a person hurrying back before the others responded to the loud knock. When asked if Mr. Woods room was nearby, she said it was further up the hall around the corner.
Before dinner, Mr. Jennings returned to his office, after telling Darcy he had work to do, but he said he would return in the morning.
The dinner was a private affair and all seemed relaxed from the stress over the last few days. Even the dinner the night before had not been so relaxed as all felt on guard in front of the Earl of Matlock and his wife, and they tried hard to please the others and not look ridiculous in doing so.
Now, back at Darcy House, the friends talked freely.
“Cousin, will you join Elizabeth and me in visiting with the children? We will only be there for a couple of hours.”
“Yes, Georgiana, I should enjoy the company with you and the Miss Bennets and the children.”
“That decision was made like a military commander who had easily made up his mind, was it not?”
“Darcy, I suppose that is partly true. One reason is that with all of the interviews yet to be held, it will be more enjoyable visiting around the young women, plus I wish to spend more time with Miss Bennet.”
“You seem a tad bit uncertain? Why not ask Miss Elizabeth if Miss Bennet would welcome your visit?”
“Mr. Darcy, I hope you do not normally embarrass your cousin like this?”
“Thank you for noticing, Miss Elizabeth. The man is constantly acting this way. I do not know if he feels superior to me or he does this to keep me below him, but he is not interested in my happiness.”
“Ha! Cousin, you have had the better of me for years. Anyway, we can at least agree that we like to tease each other.”
“Elizabeth, how are we to understand these men?”
“Georgiana, they are both hopeless amongst superior females, but Jane and the children will enjoy our visit.”
“Then it seems I will be alone. Perhaps before Miss Bennet leaves to return home, we all might attend the theatre? Georgiana, what do you think about the Miss Bennets and Richard and us making a long evening?”
“But Mr. Darcy, I did not pack a nice dress when I visited. Frankly, I braced myself for the worst and going to the theatre was my last thought when I left for town.”
“That is not a problem, Miss Bennet, you will see.”
“Elizabeth, I must say goodnight to everyone, but one way or the other, I should love to attend the theatre, be it tomorrow or another day. We could all use some entertainment to get our thoughts off all the recent unpleasantness.”
“I suppose Jane and I could find something appropriate for the evening, good night, Georgiana.”
Once Georgiana left for bed, Colonel Fitzwilliam opened the doors for purposes of propriety, but no servants were nearby and all had been excused after the dinner to give the Darcys private time with their guests.
Minutes later Darcy’s cousin announced he was going to bed and next Darcy was alone with Elizabeth.
“Mr. Darcy, why did you not understand what I said about my dress?”
“Miss Bennet, you wrote to Georgiana that the Gardiners did not come to Longbourn for Christmas but wrote and said they have a new dress that they are holding for you and your sister.”
“Oh my! I had completely forgot about that, but you remembered.”
“There is little that I do not remember about you, Elizabeth. I am so happy that you have come into my life. My thoughts and hopes were entirely of you and Georgiana whilst I was trying to escape, and that allowed me to escape. You must know that such a thing has never happened to the Darcy family before. I was a fool to move so quickly on that letter to inspect the property. In the future, I will learn from this, for I am fortunate to be alive.”
“William, you called me by my Christian name, but why were you in such a hurry to visit the place?”
“When I was a child, my father took me to visit the estate which his friend owned. It had a good view of the cliffs and the channel and I could see the ships with their billowed sails. I only visited that one time but I remember my father often spoke of buying such a property. Oh! Now it is all coming back to me. When I returned to Pemberley, I told Wickham of my visit and he must have remembered and later told Mr. Woods and planted the seeds of my kidnapping.”
“That sounds correct to me, but why the haste?”
“I remembered you told me of the few times you saw the channel and I could see by your smile how much you enjoyed it. One night I spoke of that with Mrs. Pierce and Mr. Woods probably overheard. Hopefully the magistrate will learn more from Mr. Woods.”
“So you were thinking of me?”
“Yes, I was thinking of us. I thought to have a home that
we could visit in the future. Hopefully all will go well and your father will approve of our courtship?”
“He will approve, William, and so will my mother. Since her sickness and her meeting you, she is no longer interfering in marrying off her daughters right away, though she still wants to see Jane marry first.”
“Elizabeth, what does your sister think of my cousin?”
“We have not spoken much about him but I gather she likes him and he makes her laugh and they seem to look at each other a lot. I caught your aunt and uncle watching Richard and Jane’s interaction and could see they are pleased.”
“They are pleased with both of you and hope that there will soon be a double wedding, but perhaps they are hurrying things?”
Darcy did not mention that Richard’s brother was very sick. He did not want any woman to seek out Richard for marriage with the knowledge that he would soon be Viscount. Such knowledge would only attract fortune hunters, but Darcy did not see Elizabeth’s sister that way. He now understood the reason the Fitzwilliams keep the news of their eldest son’s sickness to themselves. Darcy had first hoped that his friend Bingley might become romantically attached to Miss Jane Bennet, but his friend had sounded serious when he said that he had no desire for children.
Apparently his visit to Liverpool had persuaded him otherwise. Bingley had previously said he wished for children and Darcy now thought that was the reason his friend did not take much interest in Jane. It certainly was not her looks, for Jane was a classic beauty and was matched by a pleasing countenance.
“Elizabeth, there are so many things that I wanted to do with you and show you, including Pemberley, but you have your own thoughts and wishes and I wish you to have your say as well. I have mentioned these things, but please speak up whenever you desire to speak of your wishes.”
“I should like to go on a walk with you. That is something that I do each day, but not since I arrived back in town.”
“How thoughtless of me, for you told me you like long walks early in the morning. Elizabeth, if you plan to walk early in the morning, I should like to join you. We can walk as far as you wish.”
Darcy could see the smile on Elizabeth’s face as she moved to sit closer to him near the fire.
“That pleases me very much, William. You see, it is usually the little things in life that make me happy, but when I saw you coming with your doctor to help my family and our neighbors, I could hardly control my emotions as I knew for the very first time how much you cared for me. When I read of the kidnapping, I had to come and see what I could do, but I was near certain that I had lost my chance for happiness.”
“Miss Bennet, I never had a chance to tell you about Mr. Wickham. He was the son of my late father’s steward. When his father died, my father allowed him to live at Pemberley. My father was his godfather and loved him. My father’s will provided Wickham the ability to enter religious orders. Earlier my father paid for his studies in college and later at Cambridge, and by granting him the living of a Curacy at Klympton, which was dependent on Pemberley, Wickham would have been guaranteed a most honorable social position.”
“Then he must have been a foolish man?”
“One day he came to me and rejected the offer to take a church and asked for a final settlement of three-thousand pounds in lieu of the living. He told me that he would use this money to study the Law, but I never believed him. Soon the money was squandered and I refused him any more.”
“Then few would disagree with that action?”
“Regarding his true nature, the man is a layabout, a Ne'er-do-well wastrel. He has no moral compass and is unprincipled. The man is a charmer of women and prefers young women, sometimes younger that fifteen, using his good looks and flattery to his advantage as a seducer and libertine. Wickham easily attracts the young and most impressionable who believe themselves to be in love with him. He always makes a good first impression with those he meets. The man has charm enough but he readily captivates his audience with friendly ease and frankness and any young woman getting his full attention would be pleased to believe whatever he said, but Wickham is a liar, and is a debaucher and a depraved libertine.”
“You must be happy he is dead, are you not?”
“No, that is only partly true, but Wickham had sunk to the lowest form of depravity. He died trying to destroy me. He used to tell me that my father loved him the most. At least I do not have to worry that he might have tried to seduce my sister.”
“But now you will not have that to worry you.”
“Elizabeth, he has children by at least three young women, one of whom he raped when she was fourteen. It is likely that I will go to my grave knowing that I had the power to put the word out on Wickham. I easily could have had him arrested and sent to debtors prison for debts he owed all over and certainly in Lambton and in town. That would have kept him from these young women and would have protected him from being killed by a father or brother or male friend.”
“When did you learn he had fathered children by different young women?”
“I only learnt of such things in the last few months.”
“Then you must not blame yourself. I am certain if you knew he had done this to these young women that you would have done something.”
“Yes, you are correct, I would have had him arrested.”
“William, you said Mr. Wickham had many enemies, so I wonder how it is that he has not been found out and punished by those he has hurt?”
“It is not that people have not tried, but they have to work hard to make a living and fathers have a family to provide for. Wickham preyed on young woman from poor families who were hopeless and saw him as their future. I am certain some men are still looking to get back at him. He spilled his seed everywhere he went.”
“Why do you think he killed the other man at the gatehouse? It must have been more than an argument?”
“Wickham was not one to drink too much. His livelihood was dependent on card games so he drank little when he gambled. Of course, we do not know about the man he killed, this Mr. Stone, though Mr. Jennings and Mr. Adams have men looking into it. We will learn more in the coming days and we will certainly learn more about Mr. Woods.”
“But to get back to Mr. Stone, it makes no sense that Mr. Wickham would jeopardize the kidnapping plot when they had you locked inside the gatehouse?”
“That is true, Elizabeth. The men who saw them argue said they never went as far as the gatehouse. They probably both drank and the man who killed Wickham must have been very drunk. Perhaps he said something to Wickham that cost him his life?”
“We know they argued over money, but could it be possible that Mr. Woods hates you? He likely is the man who knocked you out.”
“We only know that Wickham knocked the man over the head and killed him. That suggests that the other man did the same to me.”
“Let us get on a different subject Elizabeth. It has turned colder and might snow. Do you still want to walk if it snows?”
“Yes, William, if it snows but a few inches, then I want to walk. Besides, we have had little snow this year. I must leave to get some sleep.”
She stood up and bent over and quickly kissed him on his lips before giggling and hurrying to her room before they could get in trouble.
The next day was busy. The friends went for a long walk and finally had more time together. It did not snow and Mr. Jennings and Mr. Adams arrived at Darcy House and continued interviewing the staff as Elizabeth, Georgiana and Colonel Fitzwilliam visited the Gardiners. The next day Darcy and Georgiana took Elizabeth to see more of London and they stopped by to see her Uncle Gardiner at his new warehouse on The Thames. They were there only a few minutes before it began to snow. Mr. Gardiner told Darcy that he was very pleased that he was safe and that his two eldest nieces would join their friends for an evening out. Both his wife and he could see that Elizabeth and Darcy were in love, but now they suspected the same with Jane and Darcy’s cousin.
That evening
Darcy and Elizabeth joined Jane and Colonel Fitzwilliam and Georgiana for dinner at The Hawk and Dove and next attended a play at the theatre. By now Darcy had little doubt that his cousin and Jane Bennet were very close. With her staying in town three more weeks, Darcy thought that perhaps they might be engaged before he and Elizabeth.
They only had a couple of inches of snow but the scene was beautiful and the friends had a good time. Elizabeth and Jane could not get over the heads turning to watch them in Darcy’s private box. That night Jane stayed at Darcy House and the sisters shared a bed.
“Well, Lizzy, we have not had much time to talk. Tonight was the best time I have ever had with friends. Mr. Darcy’s cousin is very special and I like him very much.”
Elizabeth was not one to push things but was happy for Jane and knew in good time that she would learn even more good news. Jane did tell her that she and Colonel Fitzwilliam saw each other everyday, and sometimes twice a day.
“Oh, Lizzy, I am so happy that your Mr. Darcy is safe and that I have met his cousin. No man has moved my heart more than him. He is all I ever wanted in a man and he told me he cares for me.”
“Now, Jane, let us get some sleep. Mr. Darcy and Georgiana are taking me home in their coach. Our uncle asked him to bring some of the Christmas presents he has been holding including dresses for our sisters. I really think it was Mr. Darcy’s idea.”
“Lizzy, he will ask father to approve of your courtship.”
“That might happen, Jane, and then you will be next.”
CHAPTER 6
After Darcy first handed Georgiana into the coach he did the same for Elizabeth. His eyes spoke of his eagerness to get away from town for a few days and spend more time with Elizabeth and Georgiana. For Elizabeth, she did not have to ride in a public coach, which she usually entered with trepidation. Most coaches were old and provided little comfort. They were often crammed with people, hogging the window seats and who sometimes appeared not to have bathed in a month. Riding on the public coaches was fraught with anxiety and sometimes the coaches had accidents. Elizabeth believed the drivers often would push the horses to make up time. She also did not miss having men stare at her and give her that creepy feeling that most young women have felt at times.
