“Darcy, Colonel Fitzwilliam,” he said, barely even looking at her, “I need your help. I know you despise us, but I do not know anyone else who can aid me.”
Lady Catherine sputtered as she looked at this interloper.
Darcy hurried over, followed by Elizabeth and Colonel Fitzwilliam. “Bingley, what is the matter?”
Everyone gathered close around to hear him speak.
“Mr. Wickham kidnapped my sister.”
“Mr. Wickham?” Darcy blinked at that information. “Whatever was his reason? Who? Do you mean Mrs. Hurst orher?”
“Caroline.”
Elizabeth gasped. “No — but what. How, why?”
“Uh, that is.” Charlie flushed. “I can explain. We think. So you see Lydia came back late this afternoon. On Caroline’s horse. Good god, I can hardly believe this has happened.”
Colonel Fitzwilliam pushed a large glass of brandy into Bingley’s hand. “Drink it all up. Now man.”
“But—”
“Drink it.” This was the commanding voice of a confident military officer. A man accustomed to being obeyed.
Charlie drank back the whole without further question.
“Now first: Who is Lydia?” Colonel Fitzwilliam said in a firm interrogator’s tone.
“My youngest sister,” Elizabeth said quietly instead of Charlie. “She left her school and has returned to Longbourn recently.”
“What precisely did Miss Lydia say about Mr. Wickham and Miss Bingley?”
“It was all a complicated mess. Hard to understand at first. That is Lydia was blubbering, and well—”
“The key points, Mr. Wickham. When did Miss Lydia see Mr. Wickham?”
“She had gone to meet him by prior plan. He had convinced her to elope with him, but—”
“She wouldn’t have!” Elizabeth gasped.
Except, Elizabeth knew that shewould.
Mr. Darcy placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, and she looked at him. Georgiana stared at Charlie with a pale face. Elizabeth felt a sick sensation.
“Precisely when did Miss Lydia see Miss Bingley?” Colonel Fitzwilliam asked.
“Ah, well. So Lydia had decided that she was not going to go off with Mr. Wickham, and he then made a great fuss about it, and well, they set off, and—”
“And your sister interfered with Mr. Wickham’s attempt to kidnap Miss Lydia. Is that the core of it? — but how did she end up kidnapped herself? Did he threaten them with a weapon?”
“Yes. Lydia said there was a revolver.”
“And why did Mr. Wickham go off with Miss Bingley rather than Miss Lydia?”
“Lydia said that Caroline convinced him that she would be a better choice to marry, since she had control of her own fortune, and did not need to go to Gretna Green. She had been chasing them with her horse, but Wickham threatened her so she could not continue chasing them and announce everything to the next town.”
“I understand. Did Lydia know about what their intended destination was?”
“We have assumed it would be London. But how can they be found? There is not a moment—”
