When he arrived back at the estate, he entered through the kitchens and asked Mr Douglas to request an audience with the master on his behalf. Douglas returned and ushered him via the servant corridors to the master’s study. He related all to the master who told him that he had done very well and instructed him to keep as close to this Jones as possible. Once Branch departed and headed back to the stables, George had his butler find Lord Matlock and Mr Bennet to request that they join him in his study.
Once he finished telling them what the incognito guard had relayed, Andrew let out a rare invective for him.“It has to be our former aunt!” he surmised.
“I agree, Andrew,” his uncle replied.“If it is her, this is exactly the underhanded type of thing that she would attempt to try to punish us for her perceived grievances.”
“Former aunt?” Bennet asked.
“Yes, Anne Ashby’s former mother…” George told Bennet all about the‘venerable’and clearly insane Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
“You know, Uncle George, when that murderer George Wickham disappeared, he had no funds, just the shirt on his back. I would wager that those two miscreants have somehow found their way to each other!” Andrew spat out.
“What do you intend to do?” Bennet asked.
“As they have no idea we know who their spy is, and he is being carefully watched, we will allow this to play out for some time and hopefully net both murderers at once,” George informed them.“With this Jones being so confident that Branch believes him, we will funnel information we want our adversaries to know through him; then we will put a plan in place when we learn of what will be attempted.”
Andrew and Bennet agreed with the plan of action. Soon after, the three men returned to the rest of the family and shared what they knew with their wives, Elaine, and the older children.
When Jones walked back into their shared sleeping quarters, Branch asked him how his meeting with his brother was. Jones apparently was comfortable lying to people because he didn’t hesitate to say that he had enjoyed his meal with his brother, Phillip. Branch started his campaign to get closer to the Trojan horse in their midst, even as Jones continued to believe that getting information from Branch would be a breeze.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
When her footman reported to her on his return, for once Mrs Fitzpatrick was not displeased. After all the years of waiting, the pieces were finally falling into place, and she would soon show her ex-family that they should never have disrespected her. She had not informed him yet, but Wickham would have a role to play in her plan.
‘At last,’she told herself,‘I will get my revenge, and then I will take all that is due me!’Her daughter and her new husband were not excluded.‘When I have dealt with the Darcys and Fitzwilliams, the Ashbys will be next. How dare they steal my estate from me!’
Unfortunately, her insanity had deepened over the course of her isolation. She ignored the fact that even if she did succeed in killing anyone, she would have no way to access their funds. And while the murder of the maid was a memory long forgotten for her, no one else had removed it from the list of things she would be required to answer for.
George Wickham had been incensed when he had read of his half-sister’s marriage. Rosings was lost to him! The fact that he had never had a way of claiming it did not enter into the equation for him, for it was what he was owed, and that was all he needed to consider. He knew that the old lady was getting ready to unleash her revenge against the Darcys and Fitzwilliams and hoped that she would allow him to play a role.
If he were, he further hoped that he would get to fulfil his deepest desire of finishing the job he had attempted all those years ago and kill Lady Elizabeth Fitzwilliam. Finding out that she was not a mongrel had only made him hate her more. He fantasised about watching the life fade from her eyes as he choked the life out of her. He would have to intensify his search for the old lady’s fortune so that he would be able to escape England as soon as the deed was done.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
With the help from his friend Darcy, in the more than two months since his father’s death, Charles Bingley was starting to manage all aspects of his estate. Darcy, although tempted to do so at times, had not jumped in and done things himself, limiting himself to the giving of advice as needed and when requested. The two friends, along with Mr Nicholas Church who was Netherfield’s steward, were in the study planning the spring planting before Darcy was scheduled to depart for Pemberley to attend the joint birthday celebrations of his sister and cousin.Hurst sat in on most of their meetings, and except for the occasional question remained unobtrusive, but he too was learning a lot.
Will was impressed at how Charles no longer relied on others to make decisions for him as he fully assumed his new role as head of his small family. Both Darcy and Mr Church advised him on matters. He asked a lot of good questions, then made the final decision on his own. If either man thought that his decision was wrong, he no longer accepted it at face value and approved the change. They would have to show their reasoning to be sound, and the consequences were considered for making the change or choosing not to.
Will was grateful that it was not him that was thrust into his inheritance at such a young age. He was so thankful that his father was still very much hale and healthy, and that he had not had to experience the pain that Bingley, Andrew, and Rich had suffered. He tried to imagine how different he would have been had that come to pass. Pulling himself from his maudlin thoughts, he thanked God that he did not have to learn the answers to those morbid questions.
Martha was well pleased to have the three Hursts and her mother with her, so she would not be alone with her grief for the long hours that her son was busy learning from his friend. The only times the burden of grief lifted was when she was entertaining her granddaughter. Mary had the Hurst’s colouring, brown eyes with dark hair. If one did not know better, they would mistake her for a sister of Lady Elizabeth Fitzwilliam or Kitty Bennet. At two and some months there were signs that she would be precocious, intelligent, and a very curious young girl.
Louisa had not told anyone yet, but she was increasing again; she wanted to feel the quickening first, which she estimated would be in the next month or two. Her mother shot her knowing glances but did not say anything, waiting for her daughter to come to her.
Charlotte Pierce and her daughter Emma were almost daily visitors. Her already deep friendship with Louisa became deeper still. Emma and Mary played together like sisters and were never happy when it was time for Charlotte to enter her gig and return to the parsonage. On days that the weather was inclement, Louisa would send one of their carriages to collect and return her and Mary’s friends.
Will was very much looking forward to departing for Pemberley the following morning. He missed all his family members, but there was one that he missed above all others—Elizabeth. He loved her and being distant from her just made his heart ache so much more. The less than two years to her come out seemed like millennia to him. He was still questioning her feelings for him and was worried about what he had gleaned from his mother’s letters where she had mentioned that his friend Wes had been spending a lot of time around Elizabeth. The morrow and the next day of travel could not pass fast enough so that he would be able to see her again.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“You know, Lizzy, if I am ever in need of a horse and none are available, I would be able to ride Aggie,” Amy teased as they rode across a field at Pemberley with Georgiana and her younger sister Kitty with Aggie loping along in between Saturn and Brown Beauty. At eleven, Kitty felt very privileged to be allowed to accompany her older sister and cousins for such adventures.
“I think that you may be a little too big for Aggie now,” Elizabeth returned.
“You are not calling me rotund, are you Lizzy!” Amy shot back while she smiled.
“I would never dare,” came the impertinent reply.
“I see that your brothers arrived today,” Amy observed.
