Page 148 of The Long Road Back to Yesterday

“I have made your inquiries.”

Fitzwilliam put aside the letter he had been reading. “And?”

“The militia is not simply the regular army wearing a different coat. Do not assume the penalties are identical. There are circumstances in which a militiaman may be brought before a court-martial, but what can be done depends upon his status, the offense, and whether the regiment has been embodied.”

“So, desertion does not necessarily give us the weapon I hoped it might.”

“Not one I would rely upon.”

Fitzwilliam accepted the answer. “Then we must find another.”

“Yes.”

Richard settled into the chair opposite him. “Have your investigators found Wickham?”

“They have found his trail. At present that may be more useful.”

“How much does he owe?”

“Enough to demonstrate that three thousand pounds did not improve his habits.”

Richard gave a dry laugh. “Your father could have handed him ten thousand and accomplished little more than delaying the inevitable.”

* * *

The next report arrived two days later in the evening post.

This one was different.

Fitzwilliam read it once, then returned to the beginning and read it again.

The investigator had followed an unpaid account to a town where Wickham had lived for several months.

A former landlord remembered him well and, after some persuasion, supplied the name of a gentleman with whom Wickham had once been acquainted.

Their association had ended badly after some trouble involving the gentleman’s daughter and an accusation of theft.

Fitzwilliam sent for Kendall, who arrived that afternoon and read the report in silence.

“This requires more than the word of a former landlord. I shall have the investigator approach the gentleman directly, if he is willing to receive him, and determine whether a complaint was ever made to a magistrate.”

“If there was, I want to know what became of it.”

Kendall looked again at the report. “If this proves true, Wickham’s difficulties may extend considerably beyond debt.”

“I sincerely hope so. My ultimate goal is to see him transported, but whether we can uncover a crime sufficient to accomplish it remains to be seen.”

Over the following days, Fitzwilliam waited for further reports as May drew closer. On the morning of April twenty-seventh, he woke before dawn wondering if this would be the day Elizabeth returned.

But how would he know if she had?

When he came down to breakfast, Georgiana was already at the table. One look at him seemed to be enough.

“How will we know, Fitzwilliam?”

* * *

The scent of Jane’s fragrance was the first thing Elizabeth noticed.