As soon as he had the money, Wickham planned toborrowa horse and ride to Liverpool. On reaching the next town, he would acquire a change of clothes and a disguise so St Claire’s men would not find him before he made his escape.
The murderous conspirators stood and shook hands and went their separate ways.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
As Wickham rode to meet the insane clergyman, he was pleased to see there was a waning crescent moon. It gave a little light, but not too much, and it was barely above the horizon. Behind the mount he was riding, he was leading a horse which had bags with the items they needed to have a roaring fire going very soon. He had slipped into the stables after midnight andborrowedtwo horses. He was not willing to request militia horses as there would have been too many questions.
He cared not about the lives of the residents and servants which would be lost, only that he would be hurting Darcy, and Fitzwilliam for that matter, in the worst way. It was justice that if he could not bed Georgiana Darcy and gain his fortune from doing so, she should die without knowing a man.
On arriving at the gatepost, there was no missing Collins with his corpulent body. He stood out even in the darkness. “Did you acquire the tinder pistol, and do you have my fifty pounds?” Wickham queried.
“Yes to both,” Collins stated. He handed the banknote over and proudly held up the flintlock tinder pistol for Wickham to see.
“Between us, we will need to carry the bags. If we take the horse the bags are tied to with us and it whinnies, or the hooves make too much noise on the gravel, we may be undone before we are able to reach the house.” Wickham could see the man did not like the idea of doing physical work. Well, neither did he, but there was no choice. Gaining his revenge on Darcy was well worth the effort. He dismounted and detached the bags from the second horse’s pommel. Then, he tied the horses to a low fence across the lane. They were too far distant from the house to wake anyone even if they whinnied.
Thankfully, given the nature of what was within, the bags were not too heavy. They each carried what they needed to as they entered the estate with Wickham leading the way and Collins following him. Wickham walked onto the dormant grass of the park. It made a light crunch underfoot; however, it was not close to as loud as the gravel would have made.
They placed the bags near a side wall of the house and walked around it to see how many doors there were. Three were counted. The front door, a side door leading to the park, and the servants’ rear door at the kitchens.
“We need to make a pile of kindling at each door,” Wickham whispered. “We will begin with the front door and work our way back to the rear of the house. With that done, we will use the tinder pistol to light each one, starting with the back door. As soon as the fires are burning, we need to disappear into the night. Come, let us fetch one of the bags.”
Together they built a pile with the items Wickham had acquired. Wickham placed the char cloth near the base of the pyre last, so it would be ready to catch the spark when he fired the tinder pistol.
The two stopped briefly to admire their handiwork. Suddenly, both felt pain in their heads, and their worlds went black.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Wickham was the first to regain his senses. When he tried to move, he discovered he was shackled; he attempted to speak, but he was gagged, and when he wanted to see where he was, he discovered he was wearing a blindfold. He started to squirm, but nothing helped.
A few minutes later, Collins stirred and found himself in the same situation as the man who had been willing to help him murder people indiscriminately. Finding himself bound, gagged, and sightless made Collins relieve himself in his pants.
“It seems that our guests are awake,” Hurst stated nonchalantly. They were in a windowless room in the cellars below Longbourn.
“Can we not just burn them on a pyre like they planned to do here?” Fitzwilliam enquired. “After all, that is what they intended for every living soul at Longbourn, so in my mind, burning them to death is justice.
At that, Wickham also relieved himself. That was Fitzwilliam’s voice. What was he doing here?
“It seems that your idea of gifting these two bastards with the same fate they wanted my family, staff, and servants to have is not very palatable with them, if the smell of urine is anything to go by,” Bennet growled.
“It would rid us of Wicky once and for all without him being able to spew lies in court,” Darcy opined. “Among others, these two wanted to murder the two ladies I love most in the world. So to me, if they lose their heads in the Tower, swing at the end of a rope, or are consumed by fire, it makes no difference as long as neither are free ever again.”
At that point, both captives began to shake with fear.
“Biggs, Johns, remove the blindfolds, but leave the gags for now,” Hurst ordered.
The two miscreants shook their heads as they tried to adjust to the sudden burst of light when the blindfolds wereroughly pulled from their eyes. Collins looked around fearfully. Other than Wickham, he recognised no one.
Until Wickham saw Colonel Forster, Captain Carter, and Lieutenant Denny present and glowering at him, he had hoped once he was allowed to speak he could use the fact he was in the militia and under the regiment’s justice as an avenue of escape. Evidently, that way was closed to him.
This was the second time one of his plans had been discovered in totality. How could that be?
“If I were a gambling man like the parasite here, I would wager he is asking himself how it is we always seem to know what his criminal schemes are,” Hurst stated with a grin. “Perhaps this will help enlighten you in a small way. Paul Biggs, come forward.”
“Aye, Sir.” Paul Biggs, John Biggs’s younger and smaller brother, stepped forward.
Wickham stared at him for some moments before he realised he knew the man. The deaf man who had worked for Karen, and now that he could see him up close, for St Claire as well! How was it that no matter the noise made in his presence, he never flinched in the smallest measure?
“Wicky, Wicky, Wicky. You were playing chess against one as accomplished as Darcy’s affianced. You had lost the game before you began, and you just did not know it,” Fitzwilliam mocked. He turned and shot the quaking clergyman a feral look. “And you, you imbecile! My sister, Jane, never compromised my brother, Viscount Hilldale. It was he who pursued her. It is a love match, you simpleton, just like my cousin’s to Elizabeth will be. By the by, neither he nor anyone in my family had anything to do with the voiding of the entail. The Regent owed someonesome boons, and it was he who made the request to end it, even though the Bennets have a son who is the heir apparent.”
