Page 133 of A Debt Inherited

He did not move towards the sound. Not yet.

Kerr’s eyes dropped to the bag, then returned to Wickham. “You were told to bring an answer.”

“I brought a better one.” Wickham’s smile did not reach his eyes. “Darcy offers himself as surety until the money is called for.”

Kerr went still. Surprise crossed his face first; calculation followed close upon it.

“I see Miss Bennet first,” Darcy said.

* * *

Darcy House, late afternoon

Colonel Fitzwilliam had not left Darcy’s house.

He had seen to Perseus, sent for reinforcements, and instructed Hudson to provide whatever four veterans might require before taking the field on English soil.

They arrived without ceremony and settled where the room best served them.

Villiers stood nearest the door, as he had stood nearest too many doors in Spain, Portugal, and worse places men did not name in drawing rooms. He had been Fitzwilliam’s batman long before he had become his shadow in a fight; he could hear trouble through two walls and sort it before a footman had finished announcing it.

Harris and Simms occupied opposite sides of the hearth. They were armourers by trade and Quince Men by blooded reputation, two of that quiet company whose name had once run so close behind the colonel’s that officers learned caution when they spoke of impossible work. Harris was narrow, grey-eyed, and clean-shaven, with a hand that never rested far from his coat. Simms looked heavier and slower until one noticed that nothing in the room escaped him. Between them, any blade in London would have found kin.

The bell rang below.

Villiers’s head turned. A moment later, hoarse words rose from the hall: Mr Darcy. Express. Longbourn.

Villiers opened the library door before the footman reached it. James stood below, one hand braced against the newel post, dust from road and field streaking his coat. His face had gone grey beneath it.

“For Colonel Fitzwilliam,” James said, holding up the sealed sheet.

Villiers took it and glanced once at the seal. “Well done, James. Spill any blood?”

James blinked. “No, sergeant.”

“Good lad. Leave that to the colonel. Kitchen with you.”

“But Mr Darcy—”

“Will still need you breathing when next he gives an order. Off you go.”

James’s mouth tightened, but he bowed and let the footman take him towards the servants’ passage. Villiers shut the door and crossed to the desk.

“From Longbourn, sir.”

Fitzwilliam broke the seal. He read the first lines in silence. Then he looked once at Villiers, Harris, and Simms.

“Attend.”

He read aloud, omitting the initial.

Miss Elizabeth Bennet, daughter of Mr Thomas Bennet of Longbourn, was taken yesterday afternoon between Oakham Mount and the lower lane. A covered cart was seen near the mill lane. The demand is ten thousand pounds, to be delivered by Mr Bennet’s hand.

Wickham brought the demand and is to return at noon for Mr Bennet’s answer.

The man named Kerr, whom we encountered with Wickham at Ramsgate, may be involved. Bennet recalls the name Kerr in connexion with Lord Julian Ashby’s family. This may be an old grievance attached to Bennet, as well as the Darcy and Fitzwilliam families, though Bennet does not yet know the nature of the present demand beyond money.

Roark’s name has arisen. I do not know whether he directs this matter, lends men to it, or only furnished Kerr with means. Go to Roark before you come to Longbourn. If he has a hand in this, he may know where Miss Bennet is held, or who does.