The Meryton Murders

by Victoria Grossack

  “Oh!” cried Elizabeth, remembering. “Lydia asked that I write her a long letter! She could have then sent it on to Mrs. Younge so that she could imitate my handwriting. I was not blackmailed till after I sent Lydia that letter.”

  Jane conceded that the circumstances against Lydia and Wickham seemed very black, and was grieved to think that her own sister could be so guilty and so cruel. Jane, however, insisted that they should not assume that Wickham and Lydia were guilty, but should investigate further.

  Elizabeth suggested that as they lacked confidence that Wickham and Lydia could be trusted, that they turn to other friends for assistance. Wickham was supposed to be with his regiment in Newcastle. Darcy, through his cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam, was acquainted with Colonel Thorne, the commander of Wickham’s regiment. Darcy would write to Colonel Thorne and explain the situation, and ask for his assessment and his interference.

  Lydia was in London with their aunt Gardiner. Mrs. Gardiner was not Lydia’s favorite aunt, but London with its shops and theater and other amusements was inducement to visit. Elizabeth said she would write to Mrs. Gardiner, so Mr. and Mrs. Darcy dedicated the time till the evening meal in writing letters; even Miss Bingley wrote one to Mrs. Hurst.

  Mr. Philips and Mr. Clarke were too discreet to let many details slip, but Mrs. Philips, in her apartment, had no inhibitions to prevent her from discussing what had been learned that day at Netherfield. She would have set off for Longbourn immediately, but Lady Lucas and Maria Lucas called on her as soon as she returned to Meryton. The news that the deceased Mrs. Smith had also been Mrs. Younge, a woman who had attempted to defraud Mr. Darcy, traveled through Meryton with wonderful velocity.

  Rumors swelled, making Mrs. Smith far more glamorous in death than she had ever been in life. Some said she had been a comtesse who had narrowly escaped the horrors of the French revolution; others said she was the natural daughter of a governor of one of the colonies; and another set vowed that she had been an actress on the London stage. Kitty, after visiting the Lucases, reported these conjectures to her family.

  “I cannot believe it!” exclaimed Mrs. Bennet, but her tone suggested that she did, even though it was unlikely that all, if any, of the rumors could be true.

  “Perhaps, Mrs. Bennet, after you finish marrying off your daughters, you will take to a life of crime?” teased her husband.

  Mrs. Bennet scolded her husband for implying that she would ever commit forgery and murder, while Kitty was amazed that anyone could tell so many lies.

  “Lying is wrong,” moralized Mary. “We must resist telling falsehoods, no matter how great the temptation, and it is especially sinful to bear false witness.”

  The Lucases, as Kitty had mentioned, were also speculating, and when Mrs. Collins heard about everything, she demanded use of the Lucas chaise, and journeyed again to Netherfield Park, just two days after the miniatures had been identified. They first went through the niceties, with Mr. Darcy expressing his regrets about the death of Mr. Collins, and Jane saying with patient impatience, that the great event would be any day now – “I know I have been using that phrase for a while, but eventually it must be true” – and her receiving calm encouragement from Mrs. Collins.

  Mrs. Collins then changed the conversation to Meryton’s current obsession. “I understand from Mrs. Philips that you have a miniature of Mrs. Smith, who was known as Mrs. Younge when she worked for Mr. Darcy. May I see it?”

  Mr. Darcy fetched it at once. Mrs. Collins examined it in the light, and then said: “Just as I thought; this is a likeness of Mrs. Ford!”

  Not everyone remembered that Mrs. Ford was the faithless nursery maid from the Hunsford Parsonage, so explanations were necessary, but when they were given everyone was astonished.

  “Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Younge, Mrs. Ford!” exclaimed Mr. Bingley. “How many names did the woman have?”

  The fact that Mrs. Smith had also been Mrs. Ford cleared up other perplexing matters. “So, Charlotte, when you thought you saw Mrs. Ford heading in the direction of Mrs. Smith’s lodgings, you actually saw Mrs. Smith herself,” Jane remarked, while Elizabeth said that she believed she understood why Mrs. Smith had refused so many of Mrs. Philips’s invitations. “Mrs. Smith must have feared being recognized by you, Charlotte, and so she would not have gone to places where you might have met.”

  “Is it possible that Mr. Collins did see her and recognize her, and that explains why she murdered him?” asked Mr. Darcy.

  “That – that is my suspicion,” said Mrs. Collins, her voice trembling. She was generally calm, but this possibility was much even for her. For a few minutes, her friends focused on restoring her tranquility. Elizabeth squeezed her hand affectionately, Miss Bingley offered her a handkerchief, and Mr. Bingley poured her a glass of wine.

  “This woman was far more evil than anyone could imagine!” cried Jane. “How could one person do so much?”

  “Apparently she was very enterprising,” remarked Miss Bingley.

  Mrs. Collins soon regained self-command, and Mr. Darcy said that if Mrs. Collins were not too distressed, she might be able to give them some useful information. He had only had a few brief exchanges with Mrs. Younge, but as the woman had actually lived under the same roof as Mrs. Collins for a month, she might have more information about the woman.

  “If that information can be trusted,” said Miss Bingley.

  “Of course Mrs. Collins can have no confidence in her references or whatever she said about herself,” said Mr. Darcy, “but she may have clues to her habits and her preferences. Did you notice anything unusual about her? Perhaps some correspondence?”

  Mrs. Collins said that Mrs. Ford had seemed a competent nursery maid, quite good with little Lewis, and that she had noticed nothing unusual.

  Mr. Bingley asked if Mrs. Collins had received letters demanding money, but Mrs. Collins said she had not. Jane then asked if Mr. Collins might have received a demand that Mrs. Collins did not know about.

  Imitating Mr. Collins’s style of correspondence would require true artistry, thought Elizabeth, but she refrained from uttering this thought aloud. Jane’s question caused Mrs. Collins to smile, and she said, “If I did not know about the demand that Mr. Collins received in the past, how could I know about it now, when I cannot ask him? But I do not think so. If he had received such a demand, I am sure that I would have detected an unevenness in his temper, and I did not. He was only distressed when Lady Catherine was distressed, and given how angry her ladyship was, and the fact that she came to Meryton when Mrs. Jenkinson is ill, I believe that she must have received some sort of extortion attempt. Besides, Mrs. Ford, as I think of her, targeted the wealthy. Although Mr. Collins had reasonable expectations, our means were relatively modest.”

  After some discussion, they concurred that this was likely the case. Mrs. Collins could confirm that some correspondence of Lady Catherine’s had vanished, for a time, while Mrs. Smith-Younge-Ford was in the Parsonage. It had been found again, but it had disappeared long enough for someone to study the style and the penmanship. Extortion also explained why Lady Catherine had traveled to Meryton in the first place. Giving a lift to Mr. Collins had hardly seemed like a sufficient reason for such a journey; if her ladyship had wished to show him such attention, she could have lent him the carriage without her undertaking the trip as well. Moreover, she had stayed in Meryton, at the Inn, not just one night but two, even though she was vocal in her disapprobation of the town.

  “I believe, from the way your aunt spoke to me, that she actually suspected me of being the instigator,” said Elizabeth. “She was angry and suspicious and frankly, unintelligible.”

  Mr. Darcy was at first indignant that anyone could suspect his beloved Elizabeth of anything, but he calmed down when she pointed out that Lady Catherine’s views were not so unreasonable. She and Mrs. Collins and she were both from Meryton, and so if Lady Catherine had been compelled to bring money to a certain spot in the neighborhood, her ladyship was likely to suspe
ct the people she knew from that neighborhood. No one had connected Mrs. Smith with Mrs. Ford, so the real culprit had gone undetected.

  “I will write to my aunt today and let her know that the extortionist is dead and that she can therefore relax,” said Mr. Darcy. “And clear your name of all involvement.”

  “At least of that crime,” said his wife.

  Then Mr. Darcy posed another question. “Mrs. Collins, when this woman was with you, did you notice any letters that she received, or that she sent? Perhaps correspondence with a banker? If we track her contacts we may be able to retrieve some of the money that she extorted.”

  Mrs. Collins considered, then told what she remembered: the woman she had known as Mrs. Ford had not received any letters at the Parsonage; nor had she sent any. But Mrs. Collins added the caveat that she could not depend on her memory to be completely reliable. Mr. Collins often handled the post, and when Mrs. Ford had stayed at the Parsonage, she had been busy with her new infant and so many details might have escaped her. Furthermore, Mrs. Ford could have gone into the village to send or to retrieve any letters. Queries there might yield some information; she offered to undertake them, once she returned to Hunsford.

  “If it is not too much trouble,” said Mr. Bingley.

  “Or Lady Catherine could make the inquiries,” suggested Elizabeth. “I am certain that the men at the post would be make every effort to answer her questions. Do you think that she would mind, Charlotte?”

  Mrs. Collins thought the suggestion was excellent – it was the sort of mission that her ladyship would enjoy – but its execution depended on the situation with Mrs. Jenkinson.

  Mr. Darcy said that he would include this request in his letter to his aunt. He rose and repaired to the library to write the letter.

  “What could Mrs. Smith have sent to Lady Catherine?” Bingley wondered.

  “We should not speculate,” said Jane, who could tamp down her curiosity easily when a matter did not concern her. “Especially as we know that Mrs. Smith operated by constructing falsehoods – which means that it could be anything.”

  Elizabeth had several ideas, but because of her promise to her ladyship, felt obliged not to mention them. “You are too good,” she said.

  Mrs. Collins said she needed to return to Lucas Lodge. Mr. Bingley escorted her to her carriage, and then went to the library to mention some details that Mr. Darcy might wish to include in his letter to his aunt. Elizabeth had planned to go for a walk, but rain threatened, so she remained indoors with the other ladies. “This Mrs. Smith-Ford-Younge was a very bold woman,” she remarked.

  “Do not tell me that you admire her, Mrs. Darcy,” said Miss Bingley, who clearly hoped that Elizabeth would utter this opinion so that she could have the pleasure of despising her for it.

  “Not at all. From what we know, she has committed many crimes, and has conspired to create lifelong unhappiness in many people. She apparently felt no remorse for what she had done. But if she generally felt no remorse for what she had done – then how could she feel enough remorse in order to take her own life?” asked Elizabeth.

  “We do not know that she felt no remorse,” said Jane. “Perhaps she did, and after the death of Mr. Collins, her guilt was too much for her to bear. Besides, my dear Lizzy, as you have never been a criminal, how can you know what she felt?”

  Elizabeth thought that her sweet-tempered sister probably had even less insight into guilty hearts than she did, but she was not going to make this claim before Miss Bingley.

  “Or else Mrs. Smith believed she was about to be discovered,” suggested Miss Bingley, who, like Elizabeth, was not disposed to think well of everyone. “She may have expected that Mr. Collins’s death would be taken as an unfortunate accident. Yet many in Meryton were convinced it was murder.”

  Miss Bingley, thought Elizabeth reluctantly, had made an excellent point.

  CHAPTER XLII

  Everyone was desirous to learn what would come back from the inquiries sent to London, Newcastle and Hunsford. Mr. Bingley was the most sanguine. “If there is a chance that I could retrieve the money…”

  He did not complete his sentence, but everyone understood his meaning. The possibility of Mr. Bingley’s purchasing Rushburn especially pleased Elizabeth and Miss Bingley. The former was eager to have Jane in the county next to Derbyshire, while the latter was eager to depart from the one she was in.

  Jane was more cautious. “Although an estate of our own would be wonderful, it may not be possible to recover the money. We should not be too hopeful, only to be disappointed later.”

  “On what could Mrs. Smith have spent the money? Mrs. Philips’s lodgings were not very dear and Mrs. Smith was not, from all accounts, living extravagantly,” said Mr. Bingley optimistically.

  Mr. Darcy had his doubts, because they did not know that Mrs. Younge had had the money. And if Wickham had the money, Wickham could have spent it on debts of honor.

  They all eagerly awaited the post.

  Mrs. Gardiner, located in London, was the first to respond. She reported that Lydia had been a little more generous lately, purchasing some presents for the children – but she did not believe that Lydia had somehow acquired a very large sum of money. Mrs. Gardiner had also told her niece of the suicide of Mrs. Smith, whom she had known as Mrs. Younge, as well as Mrs. Younge’s confession to killing Mr. Collins. Lydia had been shocked by this, but she had not appeared guilty. Perhaps she was dissembling, but Mrs. Gardiner did not think so. She would, however, remain vigilant.

  Colonel Thorne’s letter arrived next. He, upon Colonel Fitzwilliam’s request, had already been keeping an eye on Wickham, particularly his habits and his expenses. When Wickham had returned from Hertfordshire he had settled several outstanding accounts, but other than that, Thorne had not noticed anything unusual, and he had assumed that the extra cash had been a present from his brother-in-law. Thorne reported on his conversation with Lieutenant Wickham where he had informed him of the suicide of the woman he had known as Mrs. Younge. Wickham had appeared both shocked and grieved for the rest of the day, but he had not done anything especially unusual afterwards – he had only drunk a lot of wine, and to be truthful, Lieutenant Wickham drank a lot of wine even when he was not grieving. Thorne certainly did not believe that Wickham had suddenly become wealthy.

  Mr. Bingley’s spirits were dampened by the indications that the Wickhams did not seem to have his money; but then he put his hopes on to the response from Lady Catherine. Her ladyship had just as much reason as he did to discover the money.

  Lady Catherine, as she had been contacted last, was the last to respond. Her ladyship wrote that she hoped that Mr. Darcy could assist her in retrieving her money, but with Mrs. Jenkinson on her deathbed she had to devote every moment to her daughter Anne. Nevertheless, she had made a few queries. She had gone to the Parsonage to interrogate the servants, who could tell her nothing, and then she had gone to the post office in Hunsford. The men working at the post office confirmed that Mrs. Ford had personally mailed letters and had received them, too, sending them to several addresses in London and to a Mr. Philips in Meryton.

  “Mrs. Smith wrote to my uncle Philips!” exclaimed Jane.

  “Of course she did,” said Elizabeth. “She hired lodgings from him.”

  The innocuous explanation was rather disappointing.

  “What about the letters to London?” inquired Bingley.

  Mr. Darcy explained that Lady Catherine had pressed the men employed at the post office, but they had not been able to give her any addresses in the city.

  “It will be difficult to discover my money in London,” said Bingley, his spirits falling again.

  “Difficult, but perhaps not impossible,” said Mr. Darcy, and he said he would write to the London bankers and ask if they were aware of money that could have belonged to Mr. Bingley or to his aunt.

  The Darcys rather wished that they could return to Pemberley, but Elizabeth would not go till she was certain that Jane
was safe.

  And Jane, sweet Jane, was becoming frustrated on her own account. Where was the child? She had never seen an elephant but she was sure she was as big as one! Perhaps she would be this size for the rest of her life!

  Mrs. Bennet reassured her that she would not, and then destroyed the comfort that she had just given by wondering if Jane had miscalculated and if she might have to wait another month.

  CHAPTER XLIII

  The sun was setting earlier but the days were still warm. Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy went shooting together while Elizabeth and Miss Bingley took turns sitting with Jane. Miss Bingley had a respite from Mrs. Bennet’s regular visits because the horses were needed for the harvest.

  One golden day, Elizabeth invited Mrs. Collins to a little excursion with the baby. Elizabeth fetched her friend and her friend’s nursery maid in her carriage and had Wilson drive them to the field with the large horse chestnut tree. They spread a blanket in the shade and entertained Lewis for about twenty minutes by blowing on as many dandelions as they could find. He then fell asleep and they could talk of other matters.

  Elizabeth then pointed at the hollow in the horse chestnut tree. “That is where the box was hidden.”

  Mrs. Collins went to the tree and searched inside the hollow. “It is empty now,” she reported. “I wonder what Mrs. Ford did with that box?”

  “No one seems to know,” said Elizabeth, who wished that she could find Mr. Bingley’s money for him and Jane. She stared for a while at the tree, willing that it would yield its secrets, and then let her gaze wander towards the river, where two boys were fishing. “Charlotte, I am such a fool! I did not think that anyone could have observed Mrs. Younge going to the horse chestnut tree, but those boys were here; they might have seen her!”