Page 8 of Her Favourite Daughter

She walked for over a half hour until the babe fell asleep, as was her wont on these walks. It was imperative for Jim that she be asleep because he wanted as little noise to attract notice from the footmen at the house as possible. Once Becky was sure the girl was well and truly slumbering, she swaddled her and then headed towards the stand of oak trees.

Even though most of the time once Lady Bethany was asleep, the mistress or the nursemaid would head back to the house, the footman did not question the nursemaid about why she was not doing that.

Jim was waiting where he would not be visible to those at the mansion. He crept up behind the footman and struck the man with his cosh. As soon as Jim hit the footman, he dropped to the ground. Jim then advanced to where Becky stood with the perambulator.

“Just like you did, Tom, not too hard for me,” Becky said softly.

“Of course, you be me sister,” Jim assured her. The truth was he could not afford to have her as a witness after it was discovered the girl was dead. It was her life or his, and he had no intention of swinging.

Becky turned and waited.

He pulled his arm as far back as he could and then struck her with as much force as he was able to. He did not know it, but the blow was enough, but to make sure, he hit her head a few more times. Then, he lifted the babe. Luckily, she was still sleeping. He placed her on some blankets on the floor of the carriage he had rented.

The footman, Tom, who had been struck by a glancing blow, felt like he had the worst of aches in his head. His eyes opened to see Becky allowing a man to hit her. He could tell that for some reason the criminal killed her. Next, the man picked up Lady Bethany and went to place her in the carriage the footman could see. Tom drew the pistol he carried, like all of the Leeds footmen did, from the inside of his uniform. He could not shoot while the man held the little lady, especially as he was seeing two of them, and his hand was shaking thanks to the blow to his head.

As soon as the door was closed and Lady Bethany was nowhere to be seen, Tom pointed the pistol towards where he thought the man was. He squeezed the trigger and the hammer slammed forward, causing the flint to make a spark. The last thing Tom remembered before he lost consciousness again was the loud report of his weapon firing.

Jim heard the gunshot and felt something hit somewhere on his back. Damned Becky, she never mentioned that the footmen were armed. She was in hell now, so there was nothing more he could do to punish her. He felt well, so Jim climbed up onto the box and soon had the single horse travelling to the southwest. He was sure that by the time pursuers rode, they would have no idea of his direction. After all, over the last few days, he had made many tracks leaving the area, most either to the southeast or to Scotland in the north.

He drove in the direction of northern Nottinghamshire and then into Lincolnshire. By the time he reached Gainsborough, he felt rather sluggish. Outside of the town, he drove on a lane into a forested area. He stopped the carriage to rest because he felt very tired.

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

The cart, securely covered with strong tarpaulin, had departed the previous afternoon and would reach Longbourn a few days after the family departing Grantham did.

The Bennets left their home early in the morning of the fifth of August and began the journey south. Grantham was near Beverly, so first they travelled southeast to move away from the River Humber. They journeyed through South Cave, heading towards Howden. The coach was then directed towards Blacktoft, some miles after where the Humber split into the Trent and Ouse rivers. Thanks to being relatively narrow, there was a bridge across the Ouse River which they used.

From there, they were in Lincolnshire and made for Gainsborough, where they would take a nice long break. There was no intention to swap out Lord Grantham’s horses, which led to frequent and lengthy stops.

In the opinion of Fanny and Bennet, this schedule was ideal for their children, so they would be able to stretch their legs every two to three hours.

Less than a half mile before they arrived at the Goose and Gander Inn, Fanny noticed a forest. She was feeling restless and felt it was calling out to her. As soon as they came to a halt, Fanny turned to her beloved. “Thomas, please take Janey to play while I feed James. Sophie, please wait just outside so you can take him once he is sated. I intend to take a walk after I have fed him.” Fanny cocked her head in the direction of the trees.

Bennet smiled at his wife, knowing how much she needed these walks to settle her spirit. After kissing his wife’s cheek, Bennet alighted before helping his daughter down. He led Jane towards a grass-covered field for her to burn off some of her energy. One of the footmen handed the nursemaid out before closing the door.

As soon as it was just Fanny with James in the carriage, she lowered all of the blinds and fed her son. Soon enough James had had his fill. He belched without any patting of his back and looked rather proud of himself. Fanny put herself to rights and raised the blinds. Soon, James was holding Sophie’s hand walking towards Thomas and Janey, with the latter running to and fro with abandon. It did not take long before James was trying to catch up to his sister.

Fanny drank in the pleasing vista before turning to make the short walk to the forest so she could commune with nature and calm herself.

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

Leeds was riding in the northwest part of his estate with the steward when one of his footmen galloped towards them. The man only slowed the horse when he was close.

“Your Grace, Lady Bethany has been taken…” the man began to say.

He did not need to hear more. Leeds kicked his stallion into a gallop in the direction of the manor house. This could not be happening! Was this someone aiming to gain a ransom or was it more nefarious? That led Leeds to think of the pair of miscreants at their estate in Kent. He promised himself he would not rest until he recovered his dear girl, and if the de Bourghs had a hand in this, he would make sure they both lost their heads.

Chapter 3

When the shot was heard at Kiveton Park

Everyone who heard the shot coming from the stand of oak trees froze. First to react were the two footmen who had been on duty near the front doors. They had seen the nursemaid pushing Lady Bethany and their fellow footman enter the stand of oaks just before the discharge of a pistol.

Both men drew their weapons from beneath their livery jackets and ran towards the stand of trees. They found Tom lying in the dirt and groaning. Acrid smoke was still rising from the barrel of his pistol. While one man assisted Tom, the other went to the side of the prone form of Mrs Younge. There was no helping her. It was then he saw the perambulator. The man ran to it and felt a cold chill when he noted that Lady Bethany was not within.

He walked forward inspecting the ground and found the spot where a carriage with a single horse had stood. There was some blood on the ground and all he could hope was that Tom had managed to hit the bastard who had kidnapped Lady Bethany.

As there was nothing they could do for Mrs Younge, the two footmen left her there. One assisted Tom to stand, and the other pushed the empty perambulator as they made their way back to the house.