Elizabeth was tendingto the strawberries when she heard voices coming from the direction of the stable.
“He might only go to a lock-up house until he finds a means of paying the debt. He may have friends to help him.”
“That man is sure to make friends, but is equally incapable of retaining them,” Mr Darcy said. “The need to borrow from unscrupulous lenders and banks to pay his debts of honour, rather than appealing to any of those men in the first place, leads me to hope he is as friendless as he deserves.”
“I suppose you are correct. The writ against him is returnable; the sheriffs need only to find him.”
The gentlemen had been in her sight, but were so engrossed by their conversation they did not notice her sitting amongst the beds. Elizabeth asked, “They need only find whom?”
Colonel Fitzwilliam started, but looked at his boots rather than answer. A shade of hauteur overspread Mr Darcy’s features, but he too said nothing. She looked expectantly for a long moment, but neither gentleman spoke. Mr Darcy gave a slight bow and walked away.
Elizabeth picked up the basket of strawberries with a huff while Colonel Fitzwilliam followed his cousin. Mr Darcy then stopped, turned quickly, and came back to her before she had finished rising.
“There is no reason for you not to know of what we were speaking.”
“Darcy, are you cert?—”
He turned his head sharply, but Elizabeth could not see his expression as he looked at Colonel Fitzwilliam. Whatever it showed, his cousin went into the house without a word. Her husband then took her basket and set the strawberries at her feet.
“You will either condemn me as a vindictive man, or you will absolve me. Either way, I must know your thoughts on the matter. I know enough of your disposition to be certain of your honesty.”
His gravity caught her notice, and she nodded. “I will be as frank as you would expect me to be. Who are these sheriffs looking for?”
“The man who seduced Georgiana.”
“For what purpose?”If only seducing a young girl was a punishable crime.
“I have been acquiring Mr Wickham’s legally enforceable debts in Ramsgate, London, and Bath. Tradesmen, merchants, and, more recently, moneylenders and bankers. He borrowed extensively to gamble in private clubs, on horse races, on prizefighting.”
“I see. His debts must be substantial.”
“They are well over two thousand pounds.”
Elizabeth gasped. That was twenty percent of Mr Darcy’s entire fortune. “How did—” It would be rude to ask how he could afford such a sum. “You acquired a writ for this Mr Wickham to appear?”
Mr Darcy set his jaw. “The summons is not enough if the man cannot be found. The writ was obtained shortly before Georgiana died. That is why I went to town then, to the Bow Street group next to the magistrate’s court. I wished to meet with the sheriff’s officers who arrest debtors.”
She was incredibly surprised. “You left your sister’s bedside to hire a bailiff to find Mr Wickham and haul him off to prison?”
He swallowed thickly. “You think me blinded by a vindictive spirit?”
“No. I know you want justice for her, for how this man injured her, but you might have sent Colonel Fitzwilliam to meet the runners. It is clear to me now that he has been your agent in this affair.”
“They do not like that term, I learnt.” She gave him a blank look. “They do not care to be called runners, but I convinced them to serve my writ.” She gave him another look that he understood instantly. “I wanted to see the men myself, to impress upon them that they must pursue Mr Wickham, and that I would pay any price.”
He wasted his fortune to buy the debts and hire these runners to search the country for Wickham. “You spent all of this money to put him in the Fleet or King’s Bench? Good heavens, I am surprised you simply did not challenge the man to a duel.”
He gave a small laugh that disrupted his grave manner, as she had hoped. “That is ridiculous, and you know it. Duels are a complicated form of conflict resolution with more risk than reward. I would never be so reckless.”
That was true enough. This carefully executed and legal recourse suited Mr Darcy’s manner better than pistols or swords. Still, the furious look in his eyes whenever he spoke of Georgiana’s corrupter made her wonder if the idea of his death satisfied something darker in Mr Darcy’s heart. “You hope to consign him to debtors’ prison, if only he could be found? Is it worth it?”
“He seduced my fifteen-year-old sister in the hopes of injuring me and acquiring her fortune. Mr Wickham would sell his soul for money. And he would be right, come to think on it, for he would be exchanging dung for gold.”
She wondered what Georgiana’s “fortune” could have been. Perhaps it need not have been much for a dissolute gamester, desperate for funds and who hated Mr Darcy, to pursue Georgiana even though she was not an heiress. “You dearly wish to see this man punished,” she said softly.
Until now Mr Darcy had spoken with calm composure and measured words. He now walked backwards and forwards across the garden, fidgeting with Georgiana’s mourning fob.
“Seducing an ill, fifteen-year-old child—for revenge and for money—is not a crime for which I can have Mr Wickham arrested. Hedeserves a stronger punishment than what I can find for him. He has borrowed to gamble and has not repaid, and fled his creditors. It is as close as I can get to justice for Georgiana.”
