“You will hear no argument from me, love, but you know my mother and Aunt Fanny can detect a lady that is with child from miles away. Have they asked you pointed questions yet?” he arched a brow.
“Nothing so far. If one of them suspect, or say something, I will not lie, but I will not volunteer the information otherwise.” Marie promised.
“You have made me so happy, my Marie. But please send Finch back in so I can make myself presentable for company. He will suspect something when he sees me grinning like a fool; but luckily his sense of decorum and propriety will not allow him to broach a subject I do not open first.” He winked down at his blushing wife and again fell in love with her all over again as all men do when they hear such news.
After another series of hugs and kisses, Lady Hilldale called the valet back in and departed her husband’s dressing room, descending the stairs to the drawing room with a most contented look on her countenance.
Once both the Earl and the Viscount had returned to the drawing room, the drama of Wickham’s capture was shared. The story of how Wickham was drawn out of Meryton by the brave tenant daughters that imitated the Bennet sisters was told.
They were informed of Wickham’s intent and his plan had been most unceremoniously interrupted at the point of Richard and William’s swords. Father and son were exceptionally proud of the courage Georgie had displayed when facing him and expressed their true regrets for having missed the now infamous slap, and more importantly the look on his face after, which was reported as shocked beyond belief.
The wastrel who had attempted to leech off Darcy for years was now safely ensconced at Marshalsea, and he would never be able to hurt anyone again. Both men were relieved. A blight on all levels of society had been at last excised.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The men from Bedlam, accompanied by Biggs and some of his fellow footman, were tasked with the unpleasant chore of retrieving Lady Catherine from her temporary housing in the coal cellar so they could transfer her to the conveyance that would take her to her new home.
When they opened the door, the expected stream of expletives and vitriol burst from the lady’s mouth. A moment of lucidity occurred when she saw the men in the white suits, and she suddenly realised Bedlam was not an idol threat; it was to be her reality.
She struck out with all she had, but her rebellion was quickly quelled and the great Lady Catherine, in a filthy gown, was gagged and trussed up like a chicken being made ready for roasting.
She watched helplessly as she was picked up by two of the orderlies and was taken out the servant’s entry at the rear of the manor to the waiting equipage. She, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, daughter of an Earl and widow of a Baronet, was taken out of the servant’s portal! This was the final humiliation she would endure, and she intended to make sure everyone knew she was most seriously displeased.
On the road, the orderlies were relieved she sank back into her fantasy world. In Lady Catherine’s mind, she was sitting in her grand carriage on her way to give the monarch an audience she had but the day before condescended to grant.
Her realisation she was being taken to Bedlam was, unfortunately for those that loved her but possibly most fortunate for herself, her last lucid moment. This truth may have, in fact, been what had broken her last tenuous ties with reality.
She sat in the carriage, not grasping why she was restrained so she could not move or order any of her subjects to do what she desired. It was the last trip she would ever take in a carriage while still on the mortal coil.
As the carriage passed by the front of the house on its way up the drive, the occupants of the house watched it sadly but without remorse. This was the only way to save her life, and she had quite demonstrated she was completely insane when she attacked her own daughter with a knife.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The next day it was decided that by the end of the week, the whole party would decamp to London so Lizzy could start acquiring her trousseau. Bennet was well pleased he had not leased out their townhouse he had purchased from the down on his luck Lord who had more in common with Wickham’s gambling habits than he would have liked to know.
Bennet sent an express to let the Gardiners know they were coming to London, and another to Mrs. Kerry O’Grady, and Mr. Humphrey Thatcher, the housekeeper and butler at the house on Grosvenor Square, to inform them of their plans and with the instructions to employ whatever staff was needed for their upcoming stay.
In the same express, Bennet instructed his butler that the house would be henceforth named Bennet House, thereby removing the last vestiges of the previous owner who had lost his way.
The Bennets would bring some servants with them, to include the head cook, maids, and some footmen to supplement the staff until the new servants and staff were added and the house was fully staffed.
Also travelling with the party, as always when the Bennets journeyed away from Longbourn, was Biggs and his group of very large footmen that doubled as bodyguards, as well as a good number of well-armed outriders. The Bennets personal mounts were being led by some of the outriders so they would have them available in town.
Both Darcy and the Earl sent similar expresses to their housekeepers and butlers to open their townhouses. In his express, Darcy instructed Mrs. Killion, his housekeeper, to make sure the house sparkled and to air out and clean the mistress’s suite.
He stated with no improper pride he would be bringing the future Mrs. Darcy to tour the house and he wanted her to inspect the suite and have her request whatever changes she desired made.
His mother, Lady Anne Darcy, had decorated that set of rooms over thirty years prior not long after she had married George Darcy. The rooms had been closed by his father right after his mother passed almost fourteen years ago and had not been used since.
Members of theTonwho were still in town would see the obvious signs of the wealth of the Bennets when the convoy of carriages arrived as the family moved into their grand townhouse, now proclaimed asBennet Housethanks to the new brass plaque which replaced the previous one.
Even before they arrived, the close association with the houses of Matlock and Darcy was noted, andthe Tonwould soon understand the Bennets were a family with the best of connections and they looked to be wealthy in the extreme.
Once word of the massive dowries for each daughter and the extent of the Bennet land holdings began to be whispered about, the matchmaking mamas who were still in Town salivated with the news the family would arrive any day now.
These fortune hunting mothers thought that they would have an advantage over those already in the country, only to find out two daughters were being formally courted, and another was the Elizabeth Bennet mentioned in the betrothal announcement to Fitzwilliam Darcy.
The Bennets were only known by a select few close friends of the Fitzwilliams, mostly members of the peerage, so members of polite society had been abuzz trying to find out who would have the gall to take Mr. Darcy away from their daughters.
