“With Lizzy, I should have realised it would not be a traditional proposal.” Bennet shook his head. “Although I would love to hold onto Lizzy, as well as all of my daughters, for many more years, I am not so selfish as that. Yes, Darcy, you have my permission and blessing to marry Elizabeth. I would appreciate a six-week engagement at a minimum. We do not need anyone speaking of a patched-up affair.”
“We have not discussed a wedding date yet, but if I were to guess, Elizabeth will want Jane at the wedding, and I believe it is still at least two months before Jane and Andrew will agree to travel with Robert, and I am certain that they will not leave him at home.” Darcy paused. “I will have a draft settlement for you within a sennight.”
“Do you not need to know about Lizzy’s dowry for that?”
“I have heard that it is around two thousand pounds, but that matters not. I have more than enough money already, and I plan to use the same settlement for Elizabeth that my father used for my mother. Elizabeth will never want for anything, even if I meet an untimely end.”
“What you heard is what I wanted to be known in order to ward off fortune hunters. Last time I spoke to Gardiner, the dowry was around eight and twenty thousand pounds. Not for all four remaining unmarried girls; rather, it is each,” Bennet announced.
“It will be left under Elizabeth’s control,” Darcy insisted once the surprise wore off.
“That talk is premature. Do not forget Lizzy will have something to say on the subject.” Bennet stood and extended his hand. “Welcome to the family, Son.”
When the two men walked into the drawing room, they found that an announcement was superfluous. Fanny had not missed Elizabeth’s dreamy look, and it had not taken her long to wheedle the information out of her second daughter.
It was into this celebration that the Hursts and Bingley walked.
Chapter 32
Wickham was becoming dissatisfied with his benefactor. He had done everything St Claire had so far charged him to do and, in his mind, was not being rewarded as he deserved to be.
After a few days working alongside Denny, he had become Colonel Forster’s sole personal assistant. From that day on, rather than just open the epistles and sort them into personal, militia business, and from other officers in the army, Wickham was able to read them, especially the last group.
He had been diligently sending the information he had gleaned from the letters from some high-ranking men in the regulars to St Claire. In his mind, he had sent St Claire more than enough for the man to prove his case and have Colonel Forster court-martialled for disobeying orders. As such, he had written to the man and asked him when he would receive the fifteen thousand pounds, as Wickham was sure that he had sent more than enough information for St Claire to act upon.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The butler brought St Claire the latest letter the courier had delivered from Wickham. The man had turned out to be a veritable font of information about the movements of the British forces in the Peninsula. That officers showed such weakness that they would write about such things only proved that the emperor was correct. The English and their empire needed to be under his heel.
Given the vast amount of valuable information Wickham was providing, St Claire had sent the governor of King’s Bench Prison a bonus with the instruction to look for more men like Wickham.
He opened the letter with anticipation and began to read.
24 October 1811
Militia Encampment
Bedford
Bedfordshire
St Claire:
I remind you that on Monday coming, the 28th day of October, the regiment will move to the new location of Meryton in Hertfordshire.
Colonel Forster, Captain Carter, and some other officers and men located an area which is to be used for our encampment there. This leads to my writing this missive.
There is nothing new to report since my last one, which allows me to believe that I have sent you more than enough information which will enable you to make the case that Colonel Forster has contravened his orders. That being the case, is it not time for me to leave the militia and return to London and claim my reward of £15,000?
You told me you needed to know if the colonel was disobeying orders, information which I have provided aplenty.
Please write and let me know if I have completed the task you sent me here to accomplish. I will be forever grateful that you rescued me from King’s Bench. However, you did say I was free to go, unencumbered, at any point. Rather than do that, I am writing to youwith this request as a mark of the gratitude I feel for your assistance.
Your servant,
George Wickham
St Claire slammed his fist on his desk and yelled for his butler to attend him. The man entered and closed the door securely behind him. “Jacques, our man in the militia, wants to leave his post before we are ready to end his life,” St Claire said in his native tongue.
