“Fanny, please. As your husband, I demand that you listen to me. When I tell you all, you may ask all you will so that you and I can come to an accord, do you understand?” He asked gravely and his wife nodded slowly. “Lizzy has learnt information about Lieutenant Wickham from a credible source which proves he is no gentleman. He is a gamester, a wastrel, a despoiler of maidens that abandons them to deal with any andallconsequences alone, a leaver of unpaid debts, and a lying manipulator. His tale of ill-use at the hands of Mr Darcy, which you and my silly younger daughters accepted as gospel, was naught but lies based on a kernel of truth.” Bennet stated.
It was said with the kind of authority Fanny had not seen for a long time. In seeing the man she married re-emerge, she settled and listened to all he had to say.
Bennet explained everything that Lizzy had passed on about Wickham, and when she looked doubtful, he refuted her disbelief with the proof of debts and the document that Wickham signed resigning all claim to the living in return for the money. He asked if his wife had questions about Mr Wickham, adding that other than Colonel Forster no member of the Militia would be permitted at Longbourn. As she saw the truth of the matter, Fanny Bennet did not complain, and asked him to go on to the good news.
Bennet knew that this next part would be very hard for Fanny to grasp at first, so he proceeded at a steady pace as he explained about his true wealth. He told her about Netherfield Park and Bennet Fields, his and the girls’ stakes in Gardiner and Associates. He pointed out for his Fanny, for his beloved Fanny, that she would not have to make do with only five thousand for her and their daughters. She alone would also have the interest on one hundred thousand pounds and the use of Purvis Lodge, which he had recently purchased with the help of her brother Phillips to be converted to a dower house. He also explained that Elizabeth was making Collins a proposal to end the entail if she felt the time was right, and that if he accepted, Fanny wouldneverhave to leave Longbourn, although even with the entail she had many choices of places to live. If the entail was broken, then a dower house would be constructed on Longbourn’s land and Purvis Lodge would be torn down and that small estate used to enlarge the park at Longbourn.
Bennet had expected loud exclamations or fainting, bouts of nerves or repeated hysterical laughing with a fluttering hanky, but not this. His wife sat stock still. She was not even blinking, not making a sound. At long last she lifted her head and met her eyes. “You, Thomas, have allowed me to believe that we are poor, that neither I nor my girls have a future, and now you tell me that we are as rich as the royal family! Why, Thomas? Why did you torment me so? Why did you allow me to make such a fool of myself in front of our girls and our friends? Did we not love each other when we first married? And you now add the insult that Lizzy, Mary and Jane know, but I did not. How can they ever respect their Mama?” she asked with absolute sadness and hurt. It hit Bennet suddenly what he had selfishly put his wife through.
“You are correct. I owe you an apology, a very deep apology, Fanny. I always intended to tell you, but I had too much fun. I should never have treated you as an object of sport. I am sorry, Fanny; I do apologise, my dear girl, from the bottom of my heart. There is no excuse for my behaviour.
“I simply became used to the way things were and I certainly did not want everyone to know the truth of our situation. I was worried that if you knew, you would tell Hattie and Lady Lucas, and then everyone would know. I thought that this was the way to protect against fortune hunters, but Lizzy has a far better way that she suggested in her express to me. It was very wrong of me. Can you ever forgive me?” he asked sadly. He was being forced to re-examine his actions for a far longer period of his life than he was comfortable with.
“I can see that you are sincere, Husband; I may yet forgive you. It may be a while before I do and it will take me longer to stop being angry with you. Believe it or not, I still love you, so this hurts far more than if I did not,” she stated softly while silent tears fell.
“Thank you, my dear. I have to go into Meryton now and address the Wickham issue, but I promise that we will talk later. I love you, too, Mrs Bennet. I too never stopped loving you and expected that you would be overjoyed and undone. I am so very sorry for my behaviour.” He lifted her hand and kissed it gently as he squeezed her hand to convey his deeper love. Seeing how calm his wife had become drove home that he should have told her the truth years ago, for their lives would have been infinitely better. He kissed his wife and then called for his horse, Jupiter.
Bennet’s first stop was at the Derbyshire Militia’s encampment where he asked to see Colonel Forster and was subsequently shown into his office. After pleasantries were exchanged, Bennet shared his knowledge with the Colonel. At first Colonel Forster was sceptical, unable to believe he had been so truly hoodwinked, but Bennet made the astonishing offer of asking him to read his daughter’s missive, and the Colonel was jarred out of disbelief upon doing so. The Colonel then could not doubt that the proof existed, or it would not have been referenced and offered with Mr Darcy knowing her uncle was in the law.
“Captain Carter!” called the Colonel. His officer entered and saluted, “go get Lieutenants Sanderson and Denny and then report to me with them forthwith.”
“Yes, sir,” Captain Carter saluted his Colonel again, frowning as he left because Mr Bennet was in the Colonel’s office and it was not likely to offer an invitation to tea.
A quarter-hour later the three officers entered the Colonel’s office, and at the Colonel’s request closed the door. After compliance and saluting, the Colonel was able to at last come to the point. “Does Wickham owe debts of honour?” he demanded. There was a moment of silence as they glanced at Bennet, but the Colonel had asked a direct question and it could not be avoided.
“He owes me thirty pounds, sir,” Denny admitted quietly.
“Me he owes fifteen, sir,” Saunderson stood straighter as he admitted the concern.
“Thank you, Saunderson. What of you, Carter?” The Colonel looked the third officer in the eyes.
“Between debts of honour and what he has borrowed from me, it is almost forty pounds, sir,” Carter stated clearly, the scope of the whole astonishing.
“That is five and eighty pounds, and just between you three. Without allowing Wickham to know what you are about; I want you to make a list of every debt the man has to every member of my unit as soon as you leave this office! Do I make myself clear?” The Colonel demanded.
“Yes, sir!” the three chorused as they saluted then they were dismissed to carry out their orders.
Bennet and Colonel Forster then went to every merchant in Meryton, and while they asked about the debts that were owed, they warned each that Wickham was a danger to their daughters and asked them to pass that on to all they knew who had girls and ladies in their care from two and ten to two and thirty.
Two hours later they returned to the Colonel’s office with a list that totalled a staggering three hundred and fifty pounds. The biggest debt was to the tavern where the wastrel ate and drank on credit. Not long after the two men returned, there was a knock on the door and Captain Carter, after saluting his commander, handed over a list. The tally was of such an amount so that when added to his debts in town it equalled more than almost eight hundred pounds.
Bennet departed to go talk to his sister, Hattie Phillips, knowing that once he told her it would soon be everywhere. When conveying the information about the wastrel to his sister, any last vestiges of doubt about the character of one Mr George Wickham were removed when the mountain of debts was revealed. From the Phillipses he rode to Lucas Lodge to share the news.
While deciding how to proceed with his troublesome, dishonourable officer, Forster was handed an express by his adjutant.
London Training Grounds
6 April 1812
We have not been introduced; I am Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam of the King’s Own Dragoons. I am writing to you as I have been informed that you have one George Wickham as an officer in the Derbyshire Militia.
The man is well known to me, as are his propensities. I am informed that you may have been warned about the man by one Mr Bennet of Longbourn. If so, then you should already be aware of the sizable debts that the man always leaves behind when he slips out of a town. My guess is that he is not very worried as he knows that you are to decamp for Brighton soon.
If my estimation is correct and Mr Wickham has accumulated debts to the local merchants and debts of honour, I leave you to punish the man as you see fit. I trust that any coin that he has, plus any wages that he has due, no matter how small the amount, will be used to pay what can be to the merchants. My recommendation is that you have investigated how many young ladies the man has ruined already as he has been there for months, according to my information. He prefers young and impressionable girls, and has the habit of promising marriage then telling the unwitting victim that if they love him, they will agree to anticipate their vows. I only hope that none of his victims are with child, as he has at least five natural children that we know of and has never given one a thought but for the amusement at having gotten what he wanted.
Once you have dispensed the appropriate justice, please have him escorted in irons to Southampton where he will join the infantry as a regular soldier and be on the continent forthwith. The order to transfer him is enclosed with my missive.
With honour,
