“I am, Lizzy,” Anna assured her. “I did not see a man to fear, but rather a pathetic shell of his former self. He holds no power over me any longer.”
Darcy beamed with pride at his sister’s reaction as well as happiness that his Elizabeth had thought of Anna right away. He knew he needed to give her more time, but how he wished he was already engaged to her. Now they had other things to worry about, like extracting the information they needed from Wickham.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Louisa and her Thomas were relaxing in the afterglow of making love when they heard the sounds of at least one carriage and the hooves of many horses in the drive.
Bennet stood, donned his robe and made his way to the window. “Almost everyone is here, and I see Biggs and Johns dragging a man towards the stables,” he told his wife. “I thinkour honeymoon is over for now. I cannot imagine them all descending on Longbourn without good reason.”
“I agree,” Louisa responded. “We need to dress so we can see what caused them all to arrive here.”
After kissing her husband, who rang for Hill to attend him, Louisa slipped out of the door which led to the mistress’s chamber. She rang for her maid. Soon enough, she and Thomas were dressed and made their way down the stairs to find a rather full drawing room.
“Louisa and Papa, you must know that had this not been of the utmost importance, we would not be here intruding on your honeymoon,” Jane said for herself and her sisters.
“We do understand that, Jane. Why do you not tell us why everyone is here and why Biggs and Johns were dragging some wretch to the stables?” Bennet said.
“Do you remember the story we told of the man who importuned Anna in Ramsgate?” Fitzwilliam enquired. He saw Bennet and his wife nod. “The man in the custody of Biggs and Johns is that man. We found him in the uniform of a militia officer trying to importune your three eldest daughters in Meryton. Rest easy, Bennet; they were well guarded, and he did not harm them.”
The news caused Bennet to relax. Had the seducer harmed a hair on one of his girls’ heads, he would have run the man through.
“Papa, when the man was apprehended by John and Brian, knowing that he is for the gallows, he told us that he had been paid by someone…” Elizabeth hated saying the words but nevertheless she needed to say them. “Someone employed him to murder Lulu.”
“WHAT!” Bennet thundered. His first inclination was to retrieve his tipped foil from his study and run the bastard whohad planned to harm his Lulu through.
“Bennet.” Matlock rested his hand on his new friend’s shoulder. “Think. I am sure you want nothing more than to end him, which he deserves. However, we want the one who was willing to pay him to harm Mrs Bennet. If he tells the truth and delivers the proof he claims to have, then Wickham will be branded, transported, and have more than a decade of hard labour. If he ever returns to the United Kingdom, hewill behanged. The one who solicited his help is the one who needs to have his neck stretched. If you take your justifiable anger out on the miscreant, we may never have the proof we need against his employer.”
“Collins!” Bennet spat out.
“It cannot be any other,” Jane opined. “The only other who may want to do Lulu harm is safely locked away at Bedlam.”
“Ladies, if you will remain here, we will have atalkwith this Wickham.” Bennet looked at his beloved wife with pleading eyes. As much as they were partners in all things, he did not want her to see the possible violence they would need to use to gain what they needed.
Louisa nodded her agreement and watched the men file out of the drawing room.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
In the stables, one of the guards had run a rope through a ring in a beam which supported the roof. Wickham’s hands were bound by said rope and above his head. A man was holding it and if need be, he could pull the rope, thereby making Wickham far more cooperative.
“Mr Bennet, ‘e says the proof be in his coat,” Biggs related.
In a flash, Fitzwilliam and Darcy sprang into action and were soon on their stallions galloping towards the town. They vaulted off at the inn and had Captain Carter summoned.
“Colonel, Mr Darcy, how may I be of service?” Carter asked confusedly.
“The coat Wickham was wearing; please tell me you did not burn it,” Fitzwilliam demanded.
“I was about to, but then I decided to wait until Colonel Forster arrives. It is still in one piece. We did not even urinate on it like we wanted to. What a dishonourable bastard,” Carter stated.
The cousins breathed a breath of relief. “May we have custody of the coat temporarily, please, Captain?” Fitzwilliam requested. “The proof we need to apprehend the one who employed Wickham to murder for him is supposedly in the jacket somewhere. We would greatly appreciate it if you lent it to us for now. As soon as we retrieve what we need, it will be returned for you to do with what your colonel decides.”
“Of course.” Carter turned on his heel and was back in a matter of minutes, the coat, minus the insignia of rank, in his hand. He handed it to the men and bade them farewell.
It was a much more relaxed pair of cousins who made the one-mile ride back to Longbourn. On entering the stables, Fitzwilliam handed the coat to Bennet.
“Where?” Bennet demanded.
Knowing he had played his last card, Wickham realised his only chance now was to avoid the noose. “Inside lining,” he managed.
