“Tell me what this is about or be on your way, I have no time for Hertfordshire’s games,” Lord Jersey insisted.
“This is as serious as can be, my Lord,” Wickham assured the Earl. “You have no doubt heard whispers of the Duke’s predilection for imposing himself on married women, and in most cases forcing himself on them.”
“Yes, I have. It is one of the many reasons I and others tried to have him defanged,” Lord Jersey acknowledged.
“It is because you and the Duke of Bedford led that effort that he has marked your wife to be his next victim. He knows Lord Bedford is too powerful and well connected to attempt something, but he feels you…” Wickham related the Duke’s instructions to him to the Earl and his son.
By the time he was done with his telling, Lord Jersey had to restrain his son from seeking the Duke out that day and calling him out.
“Why are you turning on your master, and what do you expect from me? Some sort of reward?” the Earl questioned.
“I am doing this for the protection of the new Duchess,” Wickham averred simply. Seeing the disbelieving looks on the two men, he told them all how he had assisted the Duke to find the information which had forced his choice of wife to accept him. He related all up to, and including, the Duke’s plans for her once he had an heir. “I am not proud of what I have done in service of His Grace, but I will not stand by and allow him to harm Lady Elizabeth. She is someone who treats everyone with respect and cares about the welfare of her staff and servants, something the Duke knows not how to do. Furthermore, she is only seventeen years old.” Wickham paused. “I will not lie, I would like to leave England and have some money saved, so if you decided to offer me a reward, I would happily accept it, but it is not something I will demand.”
“What do you propose?” Lord Jersey enquired.
Wickham laid out what he wanted to tell the Duke about Easter Sunday. “If you agree, we will allow him to see you depart St. George’s—I will suggest we wait near your house, but he will want to see you at the church—with your children while the Countess makes for Jersey House on her own. You will go to the back of the house entering via the servants’ door. His Grace would never imagine a peer would enter his house via a door servants use.
“He must see Lady Jersey enter the house, but she will continue through the house and exit the way you and the Viscount enter and join her daughter in the coach. When the ‘bribed’footmen supposedly abandon the house, they too will go around to the back of the house as soon as they are able and can no longer be seen from the carriage in which we will travel. I will lead him to your bedchamber, given his desire to do his deed on your bed. He will be armed and as such, when one ofyour men shoot an armed intruder, it will be discovered after the fact he is a duke.”
“Father, I believe the plan Mr. Wickham proposes is sound and will work,” Lord Westmore opined.
“How do we know this is not a ruse?” Lord Jersey demanded.
“Do you have a trusted man?” Wickham asked.
“I do, why do you ask?” the Earl averred.
“Send him back with me,” Wickham urged. “I will place him in the servant’s corridor which runs next to the master’s study. There is a hole in the panelling to allow him to watch and listen. I will tell His Grace all is planned and suggest I need money with which to bribe your footmen. He will be able to report back to you on the veracity of my claims.”
The Earl had agreed to that. A few hours later his man returned and reported that which Mr. Wickham had told them was, unfortunately, accurate.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“It is your intention to seek your fortune in the former colonies, is it not?” Lord Jersey verified with Wickham.
The Earl was not a violent man, but he had felt nothing but pleasure when he had aimed his shot at the Duke and pulled the trigger. He had watched dispassionately as the ball hit its mark and the bastard fell over, dead even before he hit the floor.
“With the money I saved and the four thousand pounds the late dukecontributed, I will be seeking passage to the Americas as soon as may be,” Wickham confirmed. “I ask only you allow me a little time to write two letters. One to Her Grace and the other to my father, and then I will leave your house.”
“In anticipation of your choice to depart for the colonies, I have arranged a first class passage on a Dennington Lines shipfrom Liverpool. You have a sennight to arrive and embark on time,” Lord Jersey told the surprised man. “And for the service you did my family, I have five thousand pounds in banknotes for you.” The Earl paused. “Try and live an honourable life from now on.”
Wickham was taken aback and a little choked up. He had not expected anything, but it was most welcome. Least of all he had not anticipated words of kindness from the Earl. He was shown to a room and sat at an escritoire to write his letters. The butler took them from him and was told he had been instructed to send them express.
With well over ten thousand pounds to his name, Wickham left Jersey House to begin his long journey to his new life. Another shock awaited him outside. The Earl had one of his spare coaches waiting to convey Wickham to Liverpool.
Once Wickham had departed, Lord Jersey sent for a doctor and the magistrate to report an unknown intruder had been shot in his house.
Chapter 26
On the afternoon of the Tuesday after Easter, the younger set was having a picnic in the park. As was usual, both men took the opportunity to be close to his lady, Andrew was sitting next to Jane and Lawrence Portnoy was attending to Charlotte.
At the same time, William found himself inexorably pulled to sit next to Lady Elizabeth. As had become their usual practice, they were in a deep discussion about a book. This time, one he was currently reading, and Elizabeth had read some weeks ago. Although he suspected Lady Elizabeth had taken a position she did not hold which was contrary to his own to spark debate, William enjoyed debating with the beauty far too much to let her know he was aware of what she was doing.
“William,” Lydia called out. “Is it true you have fished in the lake at Lizzy’s estate many times before the day you met Lizzy there?”
“It is, why do you ask? Are you like your Uncle Edward who loves to fish?” William responded with a smile.”
“No, I have never attempted to fish. It is just unfair you have seen Lizzy’s estate and we have not,” Lydia pouted.
