“Contrary to your opinion, I do not associate with such rabble. I prefer gamers with something to show, but those men must have been at their last farthing to have taken employment invadingthishouse.”
“And they were looking specifically for me?”
Wickham snorted. “They had a miniature of you, likely from someone’s personal collection. Here it is,” he drew it from a pocket. “It is fortunate for me that I am fair where you are dark, or they would have slain me without a moment’s hesitation. As it was, they thought little enough of my life.”
“That is interesting about the miniature. Please, do go on.”
Wickham sighed and related all the events in which he was involved, until he stumbled at the point when the young girl, heavy with his child, had thrown herself before a loaded pistol on his account. He halted there, and seemed to have developed a mild cough.
“And afterward?” Darcy probed.
“Well,” Wickham cleared his throat, “that Irish footman cornered the last two in the drawing room with the sword from above your chair there,” he flicked his eyes over Darcy’s head. “Don’t be angry with the lad, Darce, for you ought to have seen how swiftly he replaced it. After that, I know little else, for I was carrying my dear Lydia to a bed. I thought her dead at first, until I tried to lay her down and she held my neck.” He fell silent then, staring at the desk, then unconsciously brushing a red stain on his shirt.
Darcy permitted the moment of silence, gazing thoughtfully. “Wickham,” he resumed after a moment, “after we speak to the earl in the morning, I am to deliver you to the nearest regiment.”
Wickham’s eyes raised, then lowered in defeat. “I understand.”
“Of course,” Darcy continued casually, “my attention will be diverted somewhat. There are any number of ships waiting in harbour at this very moment; some bound for the Continent, some for Africa, some for Canada or the West Indies.”
Wickham narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “What are you offering, Darcy?”
Darcy leaned forward. “Three thousand pounds. You board a ship and tell no one where you are going and you never return. So long as I am quite rid of you, I shall be content.”
“And my wife? What of her?”
“Assuming she recovers, she and the child will be looked after. In a few years, you will be presumed dead, and she will be free. That is my condition—you never trouble her again.”
Wickham swallowed and drew a shaky breath. He blinked rapidly, then resolve formed in his eyes. “No,” he whispered.
“I beg your pardon?”
Wickham’s shoulders raised. “No,” he repeated, in a firmer voice. “I cannot… cannot just leave her.”
“It is likely death if you are delivered to a regiment. How does she profit from that?”
“I will not have abandoned her a second time. No, Darcy,” he gulped another draught of air, closed his eyes, and repeated himself. “I shall not leave. You are not rid of me quite so easily this time.”
“You will accept the judgment of a court-martial rather than freedom and independence?”
Wickham gazed at his hands. “Darcy, what she did this night… no one has ever cared enough for George Wickham to risk their own life. I should have died tonight, but she, who of all people in the world has the most reason to despise me, would have given herself for me. How could I betray her again? No, I never shall, and I have cheated death already. You may place me before the firing squad, Darcy, and I will die if I must, but my last words will be of devotion to her. She deserves no less.”
“You think my betrothal to her sister will purchase you favour in this house? Remember, Wickham, that I hold all your debts, or enough of them to condemn you. A near relationship to me will bring you under closer scrutiny, not the reverse. I will see you in debtor’s prison at the first infraction, should you survive your court-martial.”
“I have made my pledge, and I shall stand by it,” he vowed. “I am not afraid of you, Darcy. Should I be granted a second chance at life, I intend to spend it proving myself worthy of a woman such as she.”
“Many vows are made in the passion of the moment,” Darcy scoffed. “A year from now, when the babe is squalling for bread and your wife is heavy with a second child, the bloom will fall from this heady romance you have conceived. The first moment an empty-headed miss happens upon your path, or you see an opportunity to cheat someone out of a hundred pounds, you will fall back to your old ways.”
“Care to wager on it, Darcy?” the other countered.
Darcy lifted a brow. “Upon what stakes?”
Wickham smiled. “Nothing. I expect nothing from you ever again. If I am still alive after the army has had its way with me, I will seek employment as a shopkeeper, if I must, to repay my debts and care for my wife. That would be a nasty blow to your pride, would it not? A brother-in-law in trade?”
“Mr Gardiner is in trade, and somehow I have survived my acquaintance with him. What do you offer if you should fail in this scheme?”
Wickham spread his hands. “As you say, Darcy, you hold my debts. What is the worst prison you can think of? Of course, you will have to shelter my family, for I know you would not condemn your own wife’s sister and her gentle babes there. I think I should like five daughters. Does not that sound a lovely number?”
Darcy’s mouth quirked. “I fail to see what I gain in that circumstance.”
