“He was brought up on charges in the Meryton regiment and sent to London to await the assizes. He escaped his captors, and my brother Richard has had men scouring London for him ever since. About a week ago, we received information fromone of Richard’s friends in a position of intelligence for the army; he was seen in Hampshire, near the estate of his former commander, Forster. Apparently, he had a relationship with Mrs. Forster when they were in Hertfordshire, which he wished to continue.”
“But then he decided he liked me better,” Lydia said. “Of course, it was only because he heard of our new fortune at the Christmas party. Imagine that, Lizzy! I am wounded – as if I were no better than Mary King, that nasty, freckled ninny.”
“Lydia,” their aunt admonished. “Remember what we spoke of.”
“Oh, yes. Well, I thought it a great lark to go away with him and prove to Harriet that I am a hundred times prettier….”
“Lydia!” Mrs. Gardiner grew more severe, and her youngest niece shrank back against the sofa.
“When Darcy saw your letter, Miss Elizabeth, he felt responsible; he has known Wickham all his life, and this is not the first time he has been obliged to step in. He told me that he blamed himself, for he did not make Wickham’s character known in Hertfordshire. If he had warned the good people of Meryton, surely Miss Lydia would never have given him a moment’s notice.”
The viscount gave her sister far too much credit, but Elizabeth smiled gratefully at him. “And since yesterday, you were able to recover her?”
“Darcy managed everything. He asked our contacts to scour London in search of them, while we rode south, thinking to intercept them on the road if they had not reached town yet.”
“Had they not? Surely for word to reach Longbourn of their disappearance, and then news of it to be sent here….”
“Pure luck, to own the truth,” the viscount said. “We found them at a coaching inn just south of London.”
“At an inn? Lydia, you did not… please tell me he did not….”
Lydia pursed her lips and blew. “He wishes! He tried to… you know – well, you might imagine… but….” Lydia wrang her hands in her lap and Georgiana murmured gentle words of encouragement. “I thought I should like to… oblige him. But when the moment came, suddenly I was frightened. I remembered what Harriet told me of her marital duties, and a method of avoiding them. So, I pretended to only want some liquid courage, but I really only drank enough to make Mr. Wickham drink with me, and he had plenty. Finally he fell asleep, and I… I made our clothing very untidy. In the morning I told him that he had… gotten what he wanted. And I was right, for he was glad to have ruined me!”
Lydia burst into tears, as bold in her shame as she was in moments of confidence. Elizabeth was moved by her sister’s courage, both in how she had acted, and how she spoke for herself. “I am proud of you, dearest. That was very clever.”
“It was,” Georgiana agreed. “I wish I possessed such tenacity.”
Lydia wiped away her tears on her sleeves and then pressed Georgiana’s hand in hers. “Oh, my poor, wounded friend!”
“Georgie accompanied us in the carriage,” the viscount explained. “We were well armed to protect her from any danger, and Darcy thought that if we were fortunate enough to recover Lydia, we could make up a story that we had collected her from her friends to bring her to London. Georgiana lent the scheme complete respectability.”
“I was terrified the entire time,” Georgiana sighed. “But it was worth it to be of use, and when I heard of Lydia’s courage….”
“And when I heard what you had suffered,” Lydia wailed, throwing her arms around Georgiana.
Thinking of what she had read in Elinor’s letter, of Mr. Wickham seducing a young lady of Colonel Fitzwilliam’s acquaintance, Elizabeth sucked in a sharp breath. If it had been Mr. Darcy’s own sister who Mr. Wickham had tried to elope with for her fortune, this could only deepen Elizabeth’s regret for how she had spoken to him yesterday. Indeed, she had several times, over the course of their acquaintance, made barbs to Mr. Darcy about Mr. Wickham’s plight.
“I have been an awful, boorish fool, that I ever believed that man,” she cried.
“Come, now, Lizzy,” Jane said gently. “You have been wrong about some others I could name.”
A smile tugged at Jane’s lips, and again Mr. Willoughby winked at Elizabeth. She smiled back at him. “I owe you an apology, too, sir.”
Mrs. Hatchard smiled diplomatically. “I think we can all agree to forget the less pleasant events of the past few days, and never speak of them again. Why should we? There are many happier topics of great interest at present. We might look forward to a wedding or two… or three?”
Mrs. Gardiner coughed. “And I hear the Dashwoods have had the shock of their lives! Norland Park has been restored to them.”
Elizabeth raised her brows in astonishment, but she made no comment. It occurred to her that her father was not here, nor was Mr. Darcy. And then she heard a distinctly sardonic laugh in the distance, and her head turned in the direction of the open doorway. Across the hall, another door opened, and her father emerged from Mrs. Jennings’s seldom-used study. He was laughing still as he turned to clap Mr. Darcy on the shoulder.
As her companions began to whisper excitedly amongst themselves, Elizabeth stood, paying their chatter no heed. And then she rushed forward, uncertain to whom she was hastening. But her father opened his arms to embrace her, laughing heartily.
“Well, Lizzy, how very clever of you to sleep through the excitement. Just what I would have preferred to do myself, but here I am. I have come to London, which your mother would rather do, but I despise – and she is keeping to her rooms, which I should rather do, and is not at all her custom!”
“Despise it all you like, I am glad that you are here,” she chided him.
“Yes, well, if I wanted to be perfectly useless, I might have stayed home, but to see you and your sister Jane so well recovered is a comfort, indeed. And you have made some verytolerablefriends, my dear.” Mr. Bennet chuckled, glancing back at Mr. Darcy.
Elizabeth looked over at him; Mr. Darcy was staring at her intently, as he had ever done at Netherfield. She had the sudden recollection of him in the very room the day before, telling her that he had loved her even then, when she believed he looked at her only to find fault. But could he love her now, after she had abused him so foolishly?
