Wickham waited five minutes and then made it seem like he was headed for the taproom. When no one was paying him heed, he turned and made his way up the stairs. He found the door with the number four on it and knocked once. His prey opened the door and admitted him without delay. He pushed the door closed and made sure to lock it. He led Miss Bingley into the room, which he noted was a single chamber, and not a suite. What cared he as long as he gained her dowry plus the added amounts he would demand from her brother and Darcy, which the prig would pay to keep his humiliation away from society.
He sunk onto one knee. “Miss Bingley, Caroline, you are everything I ever wanted in a wife and have fallen in love with you. Will you marry me on the morrow?”
“Oh yes, George! I will marry you. Once we have Pemberley, you will take your rightful name will you not?” Miss Bingley gushed. “That way, theTonwill honour us as is our due.” Wickham nodded it would be so.
Pulling Miss Bingley to himself once he stood, Wickham crushed his lips to her thin, hard ones. It was one of the worst kisses he had ever experienced, but it was a means to an end, so he made it seem like it was the best ever. He kissed the bony woman a few times.
Never having been kissed before, Miss Bingley was breathless. “You said we are to marry on the morrow. Do you have a license?” she enquired.
“I do have a common license. The rector will write in your name on the morrow as long as you attest it is by your own free will we are marrying, and that you are of age to consent without a guardian.”
“I am three and twenty (she was a year older) so I need no permission from anyone.”
“My darling girl, that is perfect.” Wickham paused for effect. “I wonder if you would be willing to anticipate our vowsthis night like my beloved parents did? It will make them a vivid part of our love story.” He wanted to make sure even if the brother arrived at the church before they were married, there would be no question that it was necessary.
As it was only one day, and it would mean the soon-to-be master of Pemberley could not back out of his proposal to her, Miss Bingley agreed. The act caused both of them pain.
They separately thought it was well worth it as it would ensure they got their due.
Chapter 15
“Where were you Sunday after church? You disappeared like an angry father was chasing you,” Denny jested when Wickham eventually returned to his room past dinner time that night. “If you are hungry, the landlord left a plate with some bread and cheese in the dining parlour.”
“It will be my last night in this damned militia,” Wickham boasted. “After tomorrow, I will have the means to purchase my discharge from the regiment, and be free of all of the rules that Colonel of yours imposes.
“And where pray tell will you, who does not have two pennies to rub together, get your hands on such a sum as five hundred pounds?” Denny asked rather sceptically.
“I am to marry the Ice Queen on the morrow in the morning. Will you stand up with me? As soon as the clergyman verifies all is legal, and she is not being forced, we will be married,” Wickham related with a face splitting grin. Ever since he had left her bedchamber at the inn, he had been ebullient as he imagined all the money he would have to spend as soon as he was given her dowry. At last he was marrying a woman of wealth without the benefit of a settlement to protect her fortune.
He had imagined it would have taken more than some words of flattery and the yarn he had spun. In fact, he had been prepared to compromise her in the dining parlour. This was far better as there was no need for subterfuge at least as far as the vicar was concerned. She would attest to her age, and her willingness to marry him, so from Wickham’s point of view, itcould not have worked out in a better fashion.
Denny was beyond amazed. He knew Wickham played fast and loose with the truth, but if this was not a fact, a request to stand up with him at the church, to act as a witness, would not have been made.
“This I have to see. I will stand up with you,” Denny agreed. “But you must tell me how you managed to melt her heart and gain her agreement.”
“It was simple really. I was able to offer her a chance to gain that which she desires most in the world,” Wickham replied inscrutably.
Seeing that he was somewhat hungry, especially after beddingthat, something he never intended to repeat, Wickham made his way to the dining parlour where he cut some slices of bread and cheese, and along with a glass of wine, he took the meal up to his chamber.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Elizabeth had not slept very much Sunday night. She was ambivalent about what she felt she needed to do on the morrow. On the one hand, she was keen to finally say what she felt she needed to say to her parents. On the other hand, there was a better than good chance she would not again be sleeping in the bed she had shared with Jane for quite some time; the bed she now shared with Mary.
If it came to that, she would be sorry to leave Longbourn. Then again, without Jane’s serene presence in the home, it had all changed. Of course, she loved her younger sisters, but it was not the same. There was a hole in her heart, and Elizabeth was not certain, despite her promises to Janey, that organ would ever be made whole again. Given the coming confrontation, because it would be contentious, Elizabeth decided she needed to take a walk just as the dawn began to break. A ramble always cleared her head and assisted her to think clearly. Today of all days she needed to be focused.
Since the Gardiners would return to Gracechurch Street on the morrow, it had to be today. Elizabeth was well aware how fortunate it was to have her aunt and uncle present when she spoke to her parents. That way if either she decided she could not remain at Longbourn and see them every day, or she was banished for what she would say, she would be able to leave with the Gardiners immediately.
Before she had gone to bed the previous night, Elizabeth had spoken to Aunt Maddie and Uncle Edward in their bedchamber. They had not attempted to discourage her from her path and had assured her they would support her no matter what the results would be.
Thanks to Mary being a heavier sleeper than Janey, when Elizabeth slipped out of the shared bed, her younger sister hardly stirred.
As she had thousands of times before, once she was dressed in a sturdy walking dress—dyed black of course—and had her walking half-boots laced, Elizabeth made her way downstairs. As she always did, after she buttoned her heavy coat and pulled on her warmest gloves, she made for the kitchens, attracted by the delectable smell of freshly baked rolls and muffins. Cook gave her a winsome smile of welcome and wordlessly handed her a cloth with some warm items wrapped inside. Like the rest of the staff and servants, Cook had been much subdued since Jane had passed away.
Elizabeth struck out from the kitchen door, crossed the kitchen garden, and opened the gate in the low stone wall. Having learnt this lesson years before, she made sure the gate was securely closed to keep the pigs out of the vegetable garden. She had made this mistake only once when she was seven, and after seeing the devastation, not to mention the scoldings from both her father and mother, she never made that error again.
Without planning it would be her destination, Elizabethfound her feet carried her towards Oakham Mount. She had not been back to the summit since the dreadful day her dearest sister’s mortal remains had been consigned to the earth. She did not stop walking until she arrived atherboulder. Like she had on that day, she removed her bonnet and gloves, but did not remove her coat. Next, Elizabeth pulled the warm cloth from her deep pocket and slowly unwrapped the treats Cook had given her. There was a muffin which had been baked with slices of apple in it, a roll, and a small apple tart. For the first time that morning, she had a ghost of a smile. Cook was well aware how much she enjoyed baked goods which had apple in them. She would have to bestow her appreciation on the wonderful woman when she returned home.
Here, on the highest spot in the area, with the breeze blowing from the east, Elizabeth felt she was closer to her beloved sister in heaven. “It has been less than a fortnight since you were called home. I know that is no time at all, but how I miss you, Janey. Every minute of every hour of every day I think about you, and what was robbed from you as well as me, from all of us really, that horrendous day we lost you,” Elizabeth told the breeze as she began to cry. Her tears were never far from the surface now.
