It is with great sorrow I write to inform you that your honoured father passed away on the 29th day of this month. The Mr. Harrisons both agree the signs point to an issue with his heart which was heretofore unknown.
If you by some miracle receive this and are able to reach Pemberley before the interment, you will be allowed to attend. However, thereafter, the same rules regarding you and Darcy land or property will be enforced.
Regardless of the disagreements which have passed between us, I am deeply sorry your father has been called home and I convey my heartfelt sympathy to you.
As you are aware, your father gave you your legacy of £500 before you departed my estate. He had told you, I am informed,there would be nothing more after that. On cleaning his house after his death, a sum of £675 was discovered. Your father did not leave instructions for what was to be done with the funds, hence, as far as I and my solicitor are concerned, they belong to you. They have been sent to my London solicitor, Mr. Horace Rumpole.
If you make your way to 221 Baker Street, office suite B, he will turn the funds over to you.
With my condolences,
FD
Wickham was in a state of shock. Not so much that his adoptive father had passed away, but that Darcy had taken the trouble to not only find out where to send a letter and write to him but was willing to turn over the blunt.
As he hailed a hackney cab to take him to Baker Street, he told himself it was no more than his due that the money should be his.
It was an uneventful ride to Baker Street where the small carriage stopped at 221. Office B was up the stairs. He was shown into Mr. Rumpole’s office without delay as the lawyer had no client with him at that time. Mr. Rumpole asked him three questions only the son of Lucas Wickham would know. Satisfied the man before him was in fact George Wickham, he rang for his clerk who handed Wickham a pouch of banknotes.
He was soon on his way to the nearest gambling hell, evidently having forgotten, or not caring, about having lost four hundred pounds so quickly the last time he had tried his hand at cards for serious money.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
A few weeks after he received notification from his solicitor’s office that Wickham had collected his money, Darcy received a letter from his Aunt Elaine informing him of the date of Andrew and his fiancée’s wedding.
Although he had told everyone he would remain at Pemberley for the summer, he would make his way to Hertfordshire in June.
His new steward, Edwin Chalmers, had been an under-steward trained by the late Mr. Wickham. Thanks to the excellent education he had received from his predecessor he was far further along than Darcy had suspected he would be. That took his last excuse to remain at Pemberley away.
If it had been anything other than his cousin’s wedding, Darcy would have found a reason to remain in Derbyshire for the remainder of the summer. No, he was not slipping back into his hermit-like ways. It was simply Mr. Wickham’s passing had stirred many unresolved emotions regarding his father’s death which Darcy had thought had been permanently tamped down.
He admitted to himself he bore a little resentment towards his father for leaving him when he did. While Lucas Wickham had been alive, Darcy had not allowed himself to indulge those feelings. However, it was now something he had been doing since Mr. Wickham’s death.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Lady Catherine was furious that one of her nephews she had wanted to engage to Anne, but had been refused, was to marry a lowborn nobody.
As much as she wanted to write to her brother and his wife and deliver her opinions along with orders to have her noble nephew break the engagement, no matter how much it irked her to hold her peace, she did.
It galled her that with the upcoming marriage, she would be related to the Bennets. Not only had the one daughter interfered and spoiled her plans in 1800 but now one of the upstarts was to be her niece. It was not to be borne, but she knew not how to prevent it without causing herself to be sent away.
She was sure if she expressed her righteous indignation, her husband would use it as a pretext to banish her to Ireland. She could not risk that, there was too much at stake. She had been able to save up fifty pounds which was intended to be paid to the man who had created the will she would use when her husband passed away.
At least it was safe with him so even had her chambers been searched no one would discover the document which would be her salvation.
All she had to do was to find a way of getting the new information to him. She needed him to add the estate in Bedfordshire to her documents he was keeping safe for her. She would not allow an additional estate to be excluded from her future property.
Her problem was the watchdogs her husband had assigned to her. Not only that, but she could not take a chance of trying to bribe any of the servants at Rosings Park. She was sure her attempt would be reported to her husband. It was a quandary but she was confident in her exceptional intelligence, she would solve it soon enough. It was possible she would have to wait until her useless husband shuffled off the mortal coil.
As soon as he did, she would be released from her prison. It would take a ride into Westerham and for her to call on the man, get the codicil regarding the estate added, and then present it.
Dreaming of everything being hers was the one thing which caused her to smile.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
As the month of June, and Jane’s wedding approached, her younger sisters spent as much time with her as possible before she left Longbourn.
After the amount of her true dowry had been revealed to the Earl and Andrew, Bennet and Fanny had informed theirdaughters regarding the true extent of the family’s wealth and their fortunes. They had, however, made it clear the facts were not to be broadcast to keep the knowledge from fortune hunters. At the same time, Bennet had explained the restrictions on the dowries if one of them either eloped or married without permission.
