“Mr. Bingley promised you would not forsake Elizabeth without good reason.”
“The reason is tied to this business with Mr. Wickham,” Darcy confided. “Therefore, I should join Mr. Bennet so we might devise a plan to recover Miss Lydia.”
With that, Darcy trailed Mr. Bennet along the passage to the man’s private room. He pointedly closed the door and without permission, assumed a seat before Mr. Bennet’s desk.
“I asked Miss Bennet to send word to Bingley and Colonel Fitzwilliam to join us,” Darcy announced.
Mr. Bennet’s eyebrow arched in disapproval.
“You are very free with your instructions in another man’s house.”
Darcy smiled in wry amusement.
“Why do we not discuss Miss Elizabeth’s future before the others arrive? It would not do for us to be sniping at each other.”
“What is there to discuss?” Mr. Bennet quipped. “Other than my dearest child’s life is relegated to that of a spinster, what concerns might I possess?”
Darcy permitted his ire free rein.
“Did I not say five minutes prior that I mean to make Elizabeth my wife. Perhaps you should spend less time bemoaning what occurred a sennight prior and set your mind to making alternate plans for Miss Lydia’s future?”
“Why do you not explain ‘what occurred a sennight prior’?” Bennet charged.
“I thought my cousin offered you an explanation,” Darcy insisted.
“When Colonel Fitzwilliam called upon Longbourn after that disastrous day, I was not of the mind to listen to his pledges upon your behalf. I heard bits of the story via Miss Bennet, but I would prefer to hear ‘the truth’ from you, Sir. You have no idea how my Lizzy suffered from your rebuke. Elizabeth rarely cries; yet, my dearest girl spent some four days doing little beyond grieving your absence at the church.”
Bennet’s words went a long way in explaining Elizabeth’s stubborn resistance to renewing their understanding. His fiancée protected her heart: The realization provided Darcy hope.
“Very well,” Darcy said evenly. “The day before the wedding I made a call on Rundell, Bridge, and Rundell for I commissioned a ring specifically designed for Elizabeth. When I exited the shop, several men insisted I join them in a nearby alley. I offered them my purse, but they did not mean to rob me. A man hired my assailants to deliver a message to the gentleman residing at Darcy House.”
“What offense did you practice?” Bennet accused.
Darcy frowned his response.
“You possess little respect for me.”
He paused in purposeful warning.
“Perhaps that is best. It will make the fall more dramatic.”
With a shrug of indifference, Darcy continued, “The man erred, a fact he readily noted when he joined his hirelings in the alley. It appears Mr. Wickham was the real culprit. Wickham claimed Darcy House as his, and the gentleman’s henchmen followed me by misstep. Wickham and I are of a similar stature.
“The gentleman ordered his men to bind me and drop me off in the woods outside of London. They left me with bruised ribs and multiple cuts and bruises. Once I managed to work my restraints free, I walked until a farmer and his hound discovered me. Once I returned to London, the surgeon forbid me to travel.”
“Why did you not send word to Elizabeth?” Mr. Bennet demanded.
“It was several days after the wedding before I achieved a rescue. I sent Colonel Fitzwilliam as my courier, but by then Elizabeth left Longbourn. It took me several days to locate her.”
“Then you spoke to Lizzy in London. Did Elizabeth forgive your slight?” Mr. Bennet asked through tight lips.
Darcy tired of Bennet’s posturing. He responded with a hint of steel.
“You are behind the times, Bennet: Your daughter Elizabeth is not with your Brother Gardiner.”
“What mean you by this nonsense?” Bennet hissed. “Mr. Lester left her in Cheapside.”
“No nonsense,” Darcy said with perverted pleasure. “Miss Elizabeth perfected a ruse at your coachman’s expense. Your daughter hired a hack to return her to the coaching inn at Watford. There she purchased the fare to Brighton.”
“Elizabeth cannot be in Brighton,” Bennet insisted. “If she were, someone from Meryton would have noticed her and informed Colonel Forster.”
“Very true,” Darcy said smugly. “I doubt if Miss Elizabeth thought upon the Meryton militia being housed at Brighton when she considered the Prince’s favorite watering hole. From what I understand, Miss Elizabeth wished a bit of freedom before claiming a life as a spinster.”
“Do not speak so gaily of Lizzy’s prospects,” Bennet ordered.
“I find nothing in Miss Elizabeth’s choices to my liking,” Darcy retorted.
“Then if Elizabeth is not in London or in Brighton, where pray tell is my daughter?”
Darcy stretched out his legs in comfort. The conversation shifted to his control.
“Miss Elizabeth’s kind heart sent her upon another adventure.”
Darcy chuckled when he considered his betrothed’s impetuous nature. He would spend a lifetime in amazement at his wife’s daring.
“At Watford, Elizabeth took the acquaintance of Mrs. Bylane, a woman set for Portsmouth to reunite with her sailor husband. After the woman purchased her fare, Mrs. Bylane learned said husband would come ashore in Brighton instead.”
Mr. Bennet closed his eyes and shook his head in disbelief.
“Elizabeth traded the coaching fares with the woman,” Bennet said in affection.
“Oh, yes, Miss Elizabeth set out alone for a port city of which she held no knowledge,” Darcy disclosed in equal regard.
“Does Elizabeth remain in Portsmouth?” Bennet asked in concern.
“I saw her last evening. She resides with Commander and Mrs. Harville, a good-hearted couple who let her a room so Miss Elizabeth would not be alone in a strange city.”
Darcy sat forward to press his point.
“As Commander Harville is to return to the sea soon, it would be best to retrieve Miss Elizabeth before someone discovers she is not ‘Mrs. Bryland.’”
“Mrs. Bryland?” Bennet asked with amused interest.
“Yes, your daughter pretends to be a widow, but Miss Elizabeth did not realize a widow is as fair a target as any woman,” Darcy explained. “The Harvilles cannot continue to offer their protection.”
“Does it bother you, Darcy, that others find Elizabeth desirable?” Bennet taunted.
“Do not think for a moment that I do not desire your daughter,” Darcy declared baldly.
Bennet’s frown lines deepened.
“I would prefer not to dwell upon that image,” Elizabeth’s father admitted.
Darcy ignored Bennet’s continued objections.
“You will retrieve Elizabeth from Portsmouth while I track Miss Lydia’s whereabouts,” Darcy instructed. “I want my affianced under your roof so we may set another date for the wedding.”
“And if I ignore your orders?” Bennet challenged.
“I will leave you to your dilemma with Miss Lydia and wish you well with Mr. Wickham’s manipulations. Meanwhile I will return to Portsmouth, gather Miss Elizabeth to me and set sail for Scotland.”
Darcy smiled in sardonic amusement.
“You see I moved my newest yacht to Portsmouth when I learned of Miss Elizabeth’s presence in the city. Did I mention the ship’s name? It is Lizzy’s Delight: The perfect name for what I plan for Miss Elizabeth’s future.”
Chapter Eleven
“May I inquire as to when Miss Lydia traveled to Brighton?” Colonel Fitzwilliam directed his question to Mr. Bennet. “I was in Brighton for several days and was unaware of your youngest daughter’s presence in Colonel Forster’s household.”
Darcy and Mr. Bennet came to a truce of sorts while they waited for Bingley and Fitzwilliam to arrive. After he tolerated Bennet’s animosity directed squarely at Darcy, Darcy now took pleasure in watching Elizabeth’s father squirm unde
r Fitzwilliam’s close scrutiny. The colonel knew how to bring the proudest man low.
“The household was at sixes and sevens after…”
Bennet shot a tentative glance to Darcy.
“After my lack of an appearance,” Darcy finished Mr. Bennet’s statement.
The man nodded his affirmation.
“Lydia is most difficult to manage when confinement is necessary; with Mrs. Bennet taking to her bed and Elizabeth to her quarters, Mrs. Forster’s offer appeared prudent to eliminate Lydia’s protestations. I knew Forster to be a sensible man. The invitation showed itself as ideal.”
Bingley’s frown lines deepened.
“Even so, I would not say Mrs. Forster, who is but nineteen, possesses the maturity to serve as a proper chaperone for Miss Lydia. Mrs. Forster is younger than Miss Bennet and Miss Elizabeth and the same age as Miss Mary. One should not extend Forster’s reputation for responsible actions to his wife; Mrs. Foster is known to be quite flighty.”
Darcy kept the smirk from his lips. One reason he and Bingley became ready intimates was they held similar values. Despite the differences in their upbringings, they were both firstborn sons, meant to assume their family’s assets. Such responsibility hones a man’s preferences. Bingley admired Miss Bennet’s handsome face, but more importantly Darcy’s friend spoke often of the lady’s good sense. Likewise, Darcy admired Elizabeth’s quick wit and astute opinions as much as he did her alluring attractions. A man who chose a partner purely for her comely appearance lived to rue the day.
“Mrs. Bennet thought the idea a fine one,” Bennet offered in excuse.
Their group offered Bennet no more censure. It would prove fruitless to beat a dead horse: The Bennets were not likely to change their parenting skills or the lack thereof.
“Where do we go from here?” Darcy asked, at length.
Fitzwilliam shared, “Mr. Wickham and Miss Lydia left Brighton together on Sunday night and were together almost to London, but not beyond; they certainly are not gone to Scotland.”
“Then I think you and I should be to London,” Darcy confirmed. “I know something of Mr. Wickham’s haunts, and you can move among his associates in the militia.”
“What of me?” Bennet inquired.
“You and Colonel Forster should return to Brighton. Question Captain Denny and Wickham’s other intimates. Plead with Mrs. Forster to share what Miss Lydia said of the event. Someone among Wickham’s companions possesses knowledge of his whereabouts.”
Darcy paused before adding a truth Mr. Bennet had yet to consider. Bennet was thinking only in terms of an elopement.
“Most recently, Mr. Wickham raised the ire of several powerful men,” Darcy explained. “The man who set his hirelings on me is among them. I fear Wickham runs scared, and Miss Lydia is a useful tool to evade the creditors.”
Mr. Bennet paled.
“Surely you must see it is unlikely that any young man should form such a design against a girl who is by no means unprotected or friendless and who was actually staying in his colonel’s household. Could Wickham expect Lydia’s friends would not step forward? Could the cad expect to be noticed again by the regiment after such an affront to Colonel Forster? His temptation is not adequate to risk.”
Bingley added, “It is really too great a violation of decency, honor, and interest for Wickham to be guilty of what you insinuate, Darcy. I realize you have long been at odds with the man, but I cannot think so very ill of Wickham.”
“Not, perhaps, of neglecting his own interest; but of every other neglect, I believe Wickham capable,” Darcy countered. “If, indeed, it should be so! But I dare not hope it. Why should Mr. Wickham and Miss Lydia not go on to Scotland, if that is the case?”
Bingley challenged, “There is no absolute proof that they are not gone to Scotland.”
“Oh, but their removing from the chaise into a hackney coach,” Fitzwilliam interjected, “is such a presumption! Moreover, no traces of them were to be found on the Barnet road.”
“Supposing them to be in London,” Mr. Bennet thought aloud. “They may be there, though, for the purpose of concealment, for no more exceptional purpose. It is not likely that money should be very abundant on either side; and it might strike them that they could be more economically, though less expeditiously, married in London than in Scotland.”
“But why all the secrecy?” Darcy argued. “Why any fear of detection? Why must their marriage be private? You would offer few objections, Sir. You knew nothing of my concerns, and Miss Elizabeth is not at Longbourn to speak against the joining.
“Moreover, by Colonel Forster’s account, Mr. Wickham told others he was not persuaded to marry Miss Lydia. In my opinion, Wickham will never marry a woman without money and connections; he cannot afford to do so. Surely Miss Elizabeth spoke of Mr. Wickham’s desertion of her for Miss King’s sudden inheritance.”
Mr. Bennet’s features hardened. Darcy would bet this situation would make Elizabeth’s father more circumspect.
“You are saying Lydia possesses little beyond youth, health, and good humor to make Wickham forego every chance of benefiting from a well-placed marriage.”
Elizabeth’s father spoke barely above a whisper as reality claimed the man’s composure.
Darcy nodded his agreement. He did not wish to deflate Bennet’s hope, but Elizabeth’s father never previously dealt with a man of Wickham’s temperament. If they were to recover Lydia Bennet, they must not carry delusions into the fray.
Bingley asked in awe, “Can you think that Miss Lydia is so lost to everything but love of Mr. Wickham as to consent…?”
Darcy’s friend did not finish his question, but each man in Bennet’s study understood the implication.
Mr. Bennet sighed heavily in resignation.
“I permitted my youngest too much latitude. I fear Lydia is given up to nothing but amusement and vanity. I am sorry to say that since the militia first quartered at Meryton, only officers filled Lydia’s head.”
“And Mr. Wickham possesses every charm of person and address to captivate a woman,” Fitzwilliam said in harsh tones.
Darcy knew his cousin thought if not for providence Georgiana could be in Miss Lydia’s position.
Darcy spoke boldly and honestly.
“I know Wickham as he really is. He is my father’s godson and my most constant youthful companion. As much as it pains me to say so, Mr. Wickham is profligate in every sense of the word; he possesses neither integrity nor honor. Mr. Wickham is as false and deceitful as he is insinuating.”
Bingley had yet to abandon hope.
“When they all removed to Brighton, did you have no reason to believe Miss Lydia and Wickham fond of each other?”
Acceptance of the truth scarred Mr. Bennet’s features.
“Not the slightest. No symptom of affection on either side brought notice, and you must be aware that with a family of six females, had anything of the kind been obvious, it could not be thrown away. When Mr. Wickham first entered the corps, Lydia was ready enough to admire him, but so all were. Every girl in or near Meryton was out of her senses about Wickham for the first two months.”
Bennet’s description struck a sour note with Darcy for he knew Elizabeth among those who sought Mr. Wickham’s attentions.
“Wickham never distinguished Lydia by any particular attention, and, consequently, after a moderate period of extravagance and wild admiration, Lydia’s fancy for Mr. Wickham gave way, and others of the regiment, who treated Lydia with more distinction, again became my youngest daughter’s favorites.”
* * *
Mr. Darcy remained absent from Portsmouth, and Elizabeth’s desolation returned. She cursed her stubbornness for sending the gentleman away. Her determined distance proved the straw to upset Mr. Darcy’s cart.
“What can I say?’ she murmured as she looked out upon the sound from a point on the hill looking down on the town. “I am not one to trust easily. Too often when I do permit my guard to slip, I am prov
ed mistaken. Mr. Wickham is a prime example. Although I do not know the extent of Mr. Wickham’s offenses, I do know Mr. Darcy is not capable of the ill will of which Wickham accuses him.
“Mayhap I would be less susceptible to the least of Mr. Darcy’s criticisms if I did not desire his good intentions.”
“Talking to yourself?” a familiar voice came from behind her.
Elizabeth spun around to discover Captain Wentworth not six feet removed.
“I did not hear your approach, Sir,” she said in embarrassment.
The captain came to stand beside her.
“I meant no offense, Mrs. Bryland. I searched you out. Mrs. Harville told me of your intentions to climb to the look out point today.”
“I am fond of a hearty walk,” Elizabeth offered in explanation.
Wentworth smiled easily.
“You are of a healthy disposition, I assume.”
“Only once did my mother worry for my well being. A measles outbreak claimed me and two of my sisters, while Mama was in London on errands. Needless to say, my mother did not approve of my father’s lack of care of his children.”
“Men hold no sense in these matters,” Wentworth claimed in sympathy.
Elizabeth’s eyebrow arched in a challenge.
“Then humanity must succumb to the diseases of the world for physics and surgery are the domain of men.”
“Touché, Mrs. Bryland,” the officer said with a wry twist of his lips.
Elizabeth returned her attention to the Sound.
“It is so beautiful,” she said wistfully. “I always wished to know more of the world. Before I traveled to Portsmouth, all I ever knew was Cheapside, Hertfordshire, and a bit of Kent. There is so much yet to learn and so much I will never see. It makes me quite sad to think upon it.”
Elizabeth felt the warmth of Captain Wentworth’s breath across her cheek as the man moved closer.
“It is still possible for you to possess your wish,” he said softly.
Elizabeth recognized what would follow; she knew because Mrs. Harville alerted Elizabeth of the captain’s intentions. Such was the reason she sought her own company for the last few days rather than sharing the outings planned by the Harvilles.
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