Elizabeth hurried towards her four sisters even as they hurried towards her.
“What is going on?” Jane asked.
“Oh, Lizzy, we saw what you did! Was that man attempting to take your virtue?” Kitty asked in her breathy way.
Mary said, “I sent John Lucas to fetch his father, Lizzy.” Sir William was the local magistrate, and Elizabeth was impressed that Mary had taken such a sensible step. She wondered, though, if a soldier’s misdeeds would require the colonel in charge.
She did not have to ask Fitzwilliam, because as they approached the group of men, she heard her intended request that Mr Bingley find the colonel in charge of the regiment. “Start with the inn,” he suggested. “The colonel will likely be staying in a private home, but there should be many soldiers drinking ale and happy to tell you where to find their leader.”
Elizabeth said, “You should know that Mary has sent for the magistrate, Sir William, and also that the name the so-called lieutenant has been going by is Morris.”
Fitzwilliam embraced her briefly and then gathered her to his side as he said, “I have an arrangement by which I get regular reports about Wickham’s condition. I am shocked that I have not been informed of his escape. Also, I am incredibly impressed that you recognised him after so brief an encounter, so long ago.”
Jane asked, “Where did you meet this man, Lizzy?”
“In Ramsgate. You and I were at a milliner’s shop, looking at the bonnets in the window, and this Wickham fellow came up to us and started asking questions and making suggestions. That’s when we met Mr Darcy.”
“Oh!” Jane studied Wickham’s face and admitted, “I do not remember what the man looked like, and I do not recognise him.”
After a bit more discussion, complete with eager questions from Kitty, and slightly inappropriate questions from Lydia, Jane decided that she should take the three youngest Bennets home. Elizabeth wanted to stay with Wickham to explain her actions; Fitzwilliam assured them that he would see her home eventually.
Wickham had decided to stop howling in pain and start cursing. Mr Hurst suggested that they find a way to gag the man, and when Wickham moved from cursing to insults, Fitzwilliam laughed, saying, “I do not mind what my former friend says about me.”
At that point, however, Wickham switched to making lewd suggestions about Elizabeth, as if he was begging to be gagged—and so Fitzwilliam whisked into a nearby store, purchased a cravat, and used it to gag Wickham.
Soon after that, Colonel Forster appeared and introduced himself, and then Sir William arrived. Fitzwilliam swiftly apprised the men of the facts: Lieutenant Morris was actually George Wickham, who had been imprisoned at the Debtors’ Prison in Dover Castle. He did not know how he escaped, or when, and he worried that there really was a Lieutenant Morris incapacitated or possibly murdered, with his papers stolen.
Elizabeth told about her actions and reported that Wickham had told her he had rented rooms in the King’s residence. “I also saw him say something to Miss Mary King, while the regiment was marching—but I have no idea what he might have said.”
Fitzwilliam added that he got regular reports on Wickham, but of course those reports had to be forwarded to his current location from London. “If I receive any information, I will let you both know,”
Colonel Forster untied the gag and asked a few questions, but when Wickham claimed that Elizabeth had been outrageously wanton, and he seemed to wish to follow up with a further complaint about her, Sir William said, “Shut that man up. I have known Miss Elizabeth her entire life, and she is a delightful lady who does not need to hear these sorts of lies about herself. We can question him later.”
The colonel and the magistrate discussed where to keep Wickham while they investigated the matter, and Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth, relieved that the authorities were taking the incident very seriously, finally left with Mr Hurst and Mr Bingley. They walked the horses back to Longbourn, and Mr Hurst took charge of taking all the horses to the stables. Mr Bingley hurried inside to check on Jane, and Elizabeth was so glad to have a few minutes of privacy to seek comfort in her intended’s arms.
“You are so courageous,” Fitzwilliam whispered into Elizabeth’s hair. “I very much wish to wrap you up in my arms and never let you go, and perhaps even scold you and demand that you never put yourself into possible danger in the same way, again. But I suspect that I should, instead, simply compliment you on your intelligence and nerve, and I should thank the Lord that you are safe.”
“Yes, I believe that you imprisoning me for my own safety would be a misstep on your part, Fitzwilliam.” Her genuine laughter, undimmed by the day’s drama, rang out.
The restof that day was both more usual and more pleasant. Mr Bingley and Mr Hurst both returned to Netherfield, but Fitzwilliam stayed for dinner.
They had just finished eating when Fitzwilliam’s valet arrived holding an express. As they suspected, the letter informed him that Mr Wickham had escaped prison. Two men had been murdered and their faces bludgeoned; the murders were presumed to be related to the Wickham escape. One of the two had been identified from a scar on his back as being one of the Dover Castle guards. The other was as yet unidentified.
Fitzwilliam swiftly made his excuses, after sharing the letter with Mr Bennet and Elizabeth, and he said, “I should show this information to both Sir William and Colonel Forster. I will ride to Lucas Lodge first, given its proximity.”
Elizabeth suddenly felt deeply exhausted. She brushed aside the worries that Wickham—the man with whom she had spent so much time that day, in hopes that others might arrive to arrest him—might be guilty of two murders.
It did not bear thinking about the danger she may have faced.
Nine
Darcy seemed particularly exhausted when he returned to Netherfield that night, and Bingley did not blame him one bit.
He had himself felt an unpleasant shock to his system that morning, to have Mr Conrad burst in on him and Darcy, claiming that someone was approaching the manor house at speed. They had both jumped up and run to the front door, expecting it to be a man, possibly an express rider—and then he had felt a second shock when he realised it was Miss Mary, riding a horse he did not recognise. She had called out her message from Elizabeth—and the rest of the day had spun by so swiftly, with shouted orders, pounding rides, elevated heart rates, and finally the blessed relief of seeing Jane again.
He had been reassured to see that Jane was safe, and she looked well—quite relaxed, in fact.
Bingley regretted having to turn down the offer of dinner at the Bennets’ house. However, Hurst had helped with the Wickham mess—taking time to grab saddle bags that had safety equipment and some small tools, riding and walking alongside him and Darcy as needed—and Bingley could not approve the idea of separating Hurst any longer from his wife, nor did hewish to challenge his guest to find Netherfield as the sun set and the scenery dimmed.
