Page 17 of Her Favourite Daughter

In the evenings when Bennet and Fanny spoke in their shared bed before they allowed Morpheus to claim them, they would discuss their day and how rich they were in the family they had. There was no disagreement that, notwithstanding the accident that claimed Father and Henry, the life of the family had improved significantly since Lizzy had become a member of it.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

The Osbornes, Fitzwilliams, and Darcys arrived in London the day after the epistle Leeds had sent with his courier to His Majesty reached the king.

As soon as he entered Leeds House on Portman Square—Winchester House on St James Square, his primary London residence, was in the middle of being rebuilt and would not be completed until the end of 1792 or early 1793—Leeds wrote a note to the king and sent one of his men to St James’s Palace with orders to place the missive into the hands of Major-General Robert Goldsworthy, His Majesty’s chief equerry. It was the most direct method to address the king, as military men were not interested in all the politics like a member of the privy council would be.

Three hours later, a reply from George III, written by Lieutenant-Colonel Greville, another of the king’s equerries, was received in which he granted his permission for the Duke of Leeds and the Earls of Matlock and Holderness to accompany members of the Royal Guard when they made their way into Kent on the morrow to arrest Mr and Mrs de Bourgh.

The duchess and two countesses wanted to be present for the arrest but accepted that they could not be.

The apprehension of the criminals on the morrow would more than likely not illuminate where Bethie was, but it would be satisfying to see Mr and Mrs de Bourgh when they realised that all their scheming had been for nought.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

“Why did you command the butler to remove my letters I have written to the king instructing him to reverse his illegal order stripping my… our titles and removing you from the line of succession? You have cast each of my letters into the fire! This is not to be borne!” Catherine de Bourgh screeched.

“Your letters are tantamount to an admission of our parts in the plan to kidnap and murder Lady Bethany. Rather than reverse the order, you will be responsible for our arrest for treason followed by execution,” de Bourgh shot back.

“Treason! You never told me we could be accused of treason for removing the impediment to us becoming the Duke and Duchess of Leeds!” Catherine lied.

He let out a bark of derisive laughter. “I most certainly did,” de Bourgh responded. “In fact, it was the reason I cited for this whole path being one of insanity. Then, God forgive me, I gave in to my greed and conspired against the babe with you. And for what, so you would finally be above your brother and younger sister? Do not forget that there was never a guarantee that my cousin would not outlast me; in which case, even without his daughter, you would have never been duchess. Perhaps you are so delusional that you thought you would be able to murder Leeds as well?”

Catherine looked away. Had that lowborn nothing Younge succeeded, his next task would have been to dispose of the current Duke of Leeds. Now, unless one of her letters ordering the king to change his edict reached him, she would never be a duchess. It was unacceptable that she would never be higher in rank than her brother-in-law and sister.

Before either Mr or Mrs de Bourgh could continue their argument, the drawing room door was kicked open and members of the Royal Guard marched into the room. They were followed by none other than the Duke of Leeds and the Earls of Matlock and Holderness.

Even if his wife was not aware of what this meant, de Bourgh was. They had found proof of what he and Catherine had attempted to do, and the soldiers were here to drag them to the Tower.

“How dare you…” Catherine tried to bluster before she was cut off.

“HOW DARE YOU? Not only did you have my daughter kidnapped with the aim of having her murdered, but you just admitted to wanting to have me murdered as well,” Leeds growled.

“I know not of what you speak,” Catherine prevaricated. “You must be in your dotage.”

“Mrs de Bourgh, we were on the other side of the door as you and your husband spoke of your disgusting plan. In addition to three peers of the realm, the major and his men heard every word. Even had we not had your husband’s confession already, your own words would have condemned you,” Matlock stated with disgust.

No matter how much he searched his memory, de Bourgh could not remember confessing to anyone. He had a faint recollection of seeking solace at the parsonage, but he could not remember any of the details.

“Major, have your men apprehend these criminals,” Leeds ordered. “You will need to gag the termagant.”

In a trice, Mr and Mrs de Bourgh were clapped in irons. The major had one of his men gag the screaming criminal virago. As the soldiers began to lead the two prisoners out of the drawing room, de Bourgh stopped before his brothers-in-law.

“How can you stand by and watch family members be executed?” de Bourgh pleaded. “Surely you can have the sentences commuted?”

“Even had I not given my word, I would not have done so. I might also ask you, how could you stand by and condone having a young babe murdered?” Matlock shot back. “You two made your own bad decisions, and because of your avarice and delusions, you have brought great sadness to a family who deserved none.”

“I agree with my only brother-in-law,” Holderness spat out at the cowering man. “You and your criminal wife deserve whatever the law allows as punishment for your heinous crimes.”

Leeds nodded to the two soldiers with de Bourgh, and they marched him out of the room. “Matlock, you need to go claim your niece,” he suggested. Leeds would accompany the major and his men back to London.

Matlock and Holderness made their way up to the nursery, where they found their niece, who was soon to be Matlock’s daughter, seated very still on a chair. “You there, why is my niece seated like a China doll without moving?” Matlock demanded.

“The mistress demands Miss de Bourgh cannot get any dirt on her dress, so she commands that the little miss sit very still and do nothing to soil her clothing,” the nursemaid explained, her head down. “I tried to disobey Lady Catherine, but she struck me and threatened to sack me without a character if I ever attempted to gainsay her again.”

“Firstly, she is no longer ‘lady’ anything. Secondly, she is not your mistress as of right now. Finally, Anne will never see her again,” Matlock stated. He knelt before his timid daughter, as she was as of that instant. “From now on you will come live with my wife and me, and we will be your Mamma and Papa.”

As Anne had spent almost no time in her birth mother’s company, and that was only when the woman wanted to scold her about some perceived error, and had never met her birth father, she was not at all troubled by what the kind man who knelt before her told her. She looked at the other man questioningly. He looked like a nice man to Anne.