Jameson jumped out of the wagon and stormed toward the house. Elizabeth visibly slumped with relief. Shaw waved with his pistol to gesture they should climb out.
As they walked to the house, Wickham fell into step beside Elizabeth.
“Did you really agree to marry him?” he murmured.
Elizabeth looked at him directly. “I did. I think few women would turn down such an opportunity.”
Darcy felt a flash of revulsion to hear Elizabeth talk in such a manner though he could not blame her. It had been his idea to claim they were engaged, and he had forced her to come up with a way to make it believable no matter how challenging.
“I did not take you for someone so cold and calculating,” said Wickham. Elizabeth shrugged.
“You have met my cousin at Aunt Phillips. You know what sort of man he is. Do you imagine a woman would not take any opportunity she could if it helped her escape having him as a husband?”
Wickham did not reply.
Chapter 8
As they approached the building, Elizabeth stared up at the sign swinging from it in astonishment. An inn! Surely they would not keep them there? People would come and go all the time. It would be far too easy for Elizabeth and Darcy to attract someone’s attention for help. Her heart lifted a little, and she glanced at Darcy with a smile.
Her smile faded when she saw the grim look on his face.
“What is it?” she whispered. She glanced uneasily at the gang as they unloaded the wagon and Jerry went inside to be greeted by roars of delight.
Darcy nodded toward the sign.
“I suspect this is a smuggler or thieves inn,” he said in a flat voice.
Elizabeth glanced at the sign. A faded image of a stag swung in the night breeze, its image lit up by flickering torches. She did not recognise it, but an ominous shiver came over her.
“Do you know where we are?”
“No, but if I am right about this place, we will find no aid here.”
Elizabeth looked down the long, wind-swept carriage track.
“But we are on a road. There must be people passing through here all the time. Surely we have a chance?”
“What are you whispering about?” Jameson barked. “If you’re plotting anything, we will have you separated.”
The idea of being locked away alone was even more horrifying than the thought of being shut away with Mr Darcy. Elizabeth clamped her lips shut, but Darcy turned to the man coolly.
“I was comforting Miss Bennet. As you can understand, she is quite distressed.”
Jameson brought his torch closer to Elizabeth’s face. Fortunately, her distress at the idea of being separated from her only ally was believable enough that he moved back with a satisfied grunt.
“Wouldn’t do you any good to try anything, anyway. You won’t find anyone willing to help you here.”
He walked away and shouted inside for the grooms to come and help with the wagon then returned and held up his pistol. The grooms hurried about, but they glanced at Darcy and Elizabeth indifferently as if there was nothing remarkable about seeing a finely dressed lady and gentleman standing uncertainly with a pistol trained on them.
Jerry sauntered back out in high good humour.
“I miss this place when I am away,” he said. “Well, we had best get you to your lodgings. No, not that way. You will come by this entrance.”
Elizabeth hesitated for a moment. Everything in her wanted to shy away from entering that dreadful place. A click of a gun followed by Darcy’s firm, comforting hand on her arm changed her mind.
Jerry led them around the back to what appeared as a cellar. He pulled it open and gestured for them to enter. Elizabeth peered into the dark depths and swallowed.
“It’s safe,” said Jerry. “There are steps there; see?” He held his torch above the door where Elizabeth could see narrow steps leading into the darkness.
“You will keep us down here?” she asked. She raised her chin, trying to hide the terror she felt.
Jerry smiled.
“Are you afraid, Miss Bennet?”
“I would be a fool if I did not feel a little apprehensive.”
Jerry’s smile broadened. “You are no fool. But no, we will not keep you here. We are just taking an alternative route to your lodgings.” He nodded towards the steps again, indicating she should go down. Elizabeth turned to them and drew a deep breath. Before she could move, Darcy stopped her.
“I will go first,” he said. “You may keep your hand on my shoulder while I find the way.”
Elizabeth met his eyes for a moment, then nodded. Darcy climbed down the first few steps, then stopped. Rather than wait for her to take his shoulder, he turned and held out his hand. After a moment’s hesitation, Elizabeth took it and followed him into the dark.
The air smelled of damp stone as they waited for Jerry to follow with his torch. The cellar grew brighter with each step he took, and Elizabeth looked around. The cellar was surprisingly bare apart from barrels of ale and wine. She rather expected it to be filled with treasures from the men’s plunders. As if reading her thoughts, Jerry smiled.
“We would keep nothing here where they might be found by anyone who walks down those steps. Come with me.”
Jerry walked past them straight up to a wall. He paused there for a moment before disappearing. Elizabeth gasped and blinked in confusion, convinced there must be something wrong with her eyes. His face appeared a moment later, and their astonishment seemed to gratify him.
“Come along.”
Elizabeth glanced at Darcy and followed him to the wall. As they moved closer, Elizabeth saw a fissure that allowed passage behind it. If she had not seen Jerry disappear, she would have missed it entirely.
The wall led them to a tunnel. The stones were slippery with damp. As Elizabeth’s gown caught on her delicate slippers, she stumbled slightly before Darcy caught her.
“Be careful with that gown,” Jerry called over his shoulder. “It will be worth something at the market.”
Surely he did not mean to — Elizabeth glanced at Darcy, and he shook his head silently. Taking a calming breath, she walked behind him.
They appeared to go deeper underground, causing Elizabeth to fear they were being kept under the earth until the tunnel took a turn upwards. They climbed until they came to a door. Jerry listened for a moment before tapping on it. The door opened with a click and Jameson peered through. Jerry led Elizabeth and Darcy to another room panelled in dark wood. Elizabeth barely had a chance to look around before he led them on again, this time pressing against a panel until it clicked.
The passage behind it was cold but not as damp as the first one. What sort of place was this? Who built it with so many secret doors and passages? Elizabeth had read of such places in novels but had never imagined them to exist in real life. Though she ached with guilt for Darcy and the injury he had taken in trying to help her, a small part of her could not help feeling comforted by his presence. If he were not with her now, she could not imagine how worse it would have been. At the knowledge that she felt grateful for the presence of the man she had abused all over Meryton, a short laugh escaped her.
Jerry stopped at once. He swung his torch toward her with a frown.
“What is so funny?”
Elizabeth shook her head, still struggling to suppress her laugh with little success.
“This. All of this.” She waved her hands around to encompass everything. “I should have danced and then left for home with my family before discussing the evening with my sisters, and yet here I am instead. I imagined how tonight would go many times, but this is not it.” She chuckled again.
Jerry looked at her closely then raised an eyebrow at Darcy.
“I apologise if the lady has lost her mind. She will make you a poor companion if she has.”
Darcy’s face hardened in the flickering light, and his body shifted as if he were about to take a step forward. Elizabeth gently restrained him without Jerry noticing. If these
men wished to believe her mad, it made no mind to her. Perhaps it would lead them to be less careful of her.
Jerry finally stopped at another wooden panel. He leaned on it, and it opened with some effort. Darcy and Elizabeth followed him through into a small bedchamber. He gestured towards the bed.
“You will stay here for tonight at least.”
Elizabeth stared at the bed, aghast.
“Here? But we are not married yet.”
Jerry shrugged. “What of it? You are to be married anyway, or so you claim. It is not as though your path in life is changed by sharing a room with your future husband before the wedding.”
Elizabeth cast an anxious look at Darcy. Darcy glared at Jerry, his fists clenched. Jerry smiled.
“If you are that precious about it, I can always arrange for you to sleep elsewhere. I warn you, there are few rooms so you will have to share with someone else. Which man here is a better option than Mr Darcy?”
Elizabeth pressed her lips together. Without a word to Jerry, she crossed the room to sit on the bed then looked at him defiantly. Jerry laughed.
“Yes, I thought so. I am sure Mr Darcy here appreciates the situation even if you do not.”
“How long will we be here?” Darcy demanded.
“One night, one week, one month — it depends on how long your uncle takes to respond to us. I should warn you, though that we will not keep you forever. If your uncle proves difficult, we shall not put ourselves to the expense of caring for you.”
“Will you let us go?” Elizabeth asked.
Jerry chuckled. “Aye, we will let you go. But not in a state that will enable you to come after us. So, let us hope your uncle is as generous as Miss Bennet believes he is, Mr Darcy.”
With a mocking bow, he moved toward the door.
As soon as it closed, Elizabeth stood up and turned to Darcy.
“What are we going to do?” she asked. “There must be a way for us to escape here.”
Darcy frowned and motioned for her to lower her voice. He walked to the door and pressed his ear to it.
“We must be careful about what we say. I can hear Wickham outside,” he said softly.
“And what if he is? I am sure he knows we are not really engaged.”
“Actually, he does not.” Darcy walked to the bed and sat on the end. Elizabeth eyed him nervously. “I do not know if you are aware of this, but I have known Wickham for a very long time. He believes we are engaged, and he is not happy about it.” He loosened his cravat. “You were very convincing when you persuaded him you would accept my hand for your own gain, though you dislike me so much.”
Elizabeth flushed. She moved to the chair set on the opposite side of the room to the bed.
“What of it? That is hardly news to you. I am sure you disliked me as much as I do you.”
Darcy gave her a long look before shrugging.
“That is no matter now. What matters is what we will do. Did you notice anything on our journey? Did you hear anyone speak about where we were going?”
Elizabeth shook her head.
“They said nothing where I could hear. As to where we are, I am not a sailor, sir. I do not read the stars. I know we travelled south, but we took some turns after that, and I am not sure which direction we continued in. I saw some houses, but they were cottages, and one was much like the other. I saw no road signs. Naturally, they stuck to small, country lanes. No broad thoroughfares with convenient markers. No crowds of people I might wave too. And quite some time ago, we entered a forest. We travelled through it for at least two hours. I am guessing,” she added at his curious stare. “But apart from that, I am afraid I spent too much of the journey afraid you would die, so I was not as attentive as I always am to my surroundings.”
“I suppose I cannot blame you for that.”
“Thank you for your understanding,” said Elizabeth. There was a bite to her words. Darcy had been touching the bump on the side of her head, but he forgot about it as he looked at her in surprise.
“You seem cross,” he observed mildly. “I take it the evening has not gone as you expected?”
“Oh, I had planned that when we were abducted, they would at least give us separate rooms,” said Elizabeth.
Darcy grunted. “I had counted on not receiving a broken head.” He sighed. “I am sorry, Miss Bennet. I could not see any other way to protect you than to pretend we were engaged. If Wickham were not present, I would have claimed you as my wife.”
Elizabeth released a breath. “That is not why I am out of sorts,” she said. “I know you had to lie, and I am grateful to you for it. I am sorry if I am taking my distress out on you. It is not right. You are only in this situation because you wanted to help me.” She looked up at him. “Thank you for that. It was courageous of you.”
“You do not need to thank me,” said Darcy a little gruffly. “It is the least I could do for my betrothed.”
Elizabeth looked so astonished, Darcy’s lips quirked at the corners. She smiled at him, the first real smile he had seen from her all evening.
“I believe you made a joke. I did not know you were capable of it.”
“I am capable of many things.” His voice dropped, and he rose to his feet. “I hope among them is the ability to escape a den of thieves.”
He went to the window and tried to open it, but it was fastened tight.
“I think it is not the first time they have had unwilling guests here,” he said, stepping back in frustration. “And the shutters are on the outside so we cannot even hope to attract anyone’s attention.”
Elizabeth went to stand at his side. She tried the latch, but it was stuck fast. She released it with an exasperated sigh.
“Perhaps we can break it? We could throw something at it, and it might break the shutters on the other side, and then — why are you smiling?”
Darcy shook his head, his face adopting its usual sober expression.
“I am just imagining you tearing the bedpost free with your bare hands and using it to bring the inn down around our ears. But I am afraid it would not work. They will have someone outside the doors, and they will be inside in a moment. If not, they would be on the ground waiting for us by the time we climbed down, assuming we even could.”
“There must be a way for us to escape,” Elizabeth insisted. “They cannot keep us here like this. Perhaps others are staying here who will help us get free?”
Darcy crossed the room and slumped into a chair.
“Not in this place. You saw the tunnels and the secret doors. It is a haunt for thieves, highwaymen and other sorts who will probably dance at the end of a rope before they are thirty.”
“But there must be something —“ said Elizabeth. She stopped when she saw Darcy. He leaned his head into his hand, his eyes closing. She ran to him at once. “Mr Darcy. Mr Darcy, what is the matter?” she demanded. She struggled not to raise her voice in her terror. Darcy seemed to struggle to keep his eyes open.
“It is nothing. My head is just a little — I think I am —“
He slumped forward, his head landing on his arm. Elizabeth cried out and ran anxious hands over his face, calling his name repeatedly. Darcy was still breathing. She sighed with relief though her heart still pounded. What if that blow to the head had been more severe than she realised? Anything might happen to him during the night.
Elizabeth ran to the door and drummed on it with her fists.
“Open up. Quickly.”
The door opened with such force, Elizabeth stumbled backwards. Jameson glared at her.
“Try something like that again, and I will not hesitate to put an end to either of you,” he snapped.
Elizabeth swallowed, but she would not allow him to scare her into silence.
“Mr Darcy is —“ she began. But Jameson left, slamming the door behind him. Elizabeth stared at Darcy in despair. What was she going to do?
Chapter 9
The door swung open the following morning. Elizabeth raised her he
ad with a start. Her neck ached from spending the night sleeping in a chair with her head resting on the bed. Jerry looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
“He took the bed for himself and allowed you to sleep like that, did he? I thought he was more of a gentleman than that.”
Elizabeth glanced at the bed in alarm. Darcy was sitting up, clutching his head where he had been hit. She almost forgot about Jerry in her relief.
“Are you well?” she asked. She moved to sit beside him on the bed and tentatively touched his bruised forehead. The swelling looked like it had reduced.
“Very touching,” murmured Jerry. Elizabeth rounded on him at once.
“Mr Darcy could have died during the night. I called for help and received nothing but threats. You will find it hard to obtain your precious ransom if you do not take better care of us.”
Jerry held up his hands.
“My deepest apologies, my dear Miss Bennet. Mr Darcy received a knock to the head. It sometimes follows that a man can fall into a deep sleep afterwards, but he usually recovers. I have plenty of experiences with knocks on the head and have often found it so.”
“I do not doubt you have received plenty,” said Elizabeth sharply. She was prevented from saying more by Darcy taking her hand in his.
“I am well, Miss Be — Elizabeth. I slept and nothing more. Even the ache is gone this morning.”
Elizabeth looked into Darcy’s grave eyes with concern.
“You are sure? You do not pretend to reassure me?”
A slight smile flickered over his face. “I am sure.”
“There, you see?” said Jerry. “He just needed to sleep it off. Do not worry, Miss Bennet. Your wealthy young man is not about to slip through your fingers. You will still marry soon enough.”
Darcy stood up from the bed. Though he insisted he was well, Elizabeth could see he was still slightly unsteady on his feet.
“Well, you have us here now,” he said. “What now? I wish to write to my uncle at once. The sooner he has the letter, the sooner this business will be taken care of.”
“We will start that soon enough. For now, I have brought you breakfast. It is not much, but the innkeeper here is rather stingy and —“
Follies and Vices Page 5