Chapter 19

A fter enduring their mother's raptures oft times punctuated with: "I knew Jane could not be so beautiful for no reason," Jane and Elizabeth were more than ready to escape the house the next morning, and head towards the meeting point with Charlotte.

"Jane, how can you leave the house, you must wait here for your betrothed to arrive," Fanny worried. "What will he say if you are off rambling about the country side like Miss Lizzy? No, no, it will not do, you need to remain here. He may break off the engagement if you…"

Placing a calming hand on her mother's arm, Jane responded evenly and soothingly, "Mama, Charles is on his way to London to see his solicitor regarding the settlement. He will not be returned until the morning of the ball."

"Well then I suppose there is no harm in your visiting Charlotte Lucas with your sister," Fanny waved her daughters away as she calmed herself.

Thankfully the day was clear, and even a little unseasonably warm, which made the walk that much more pleasurable. Elizabeth kept the pace of the walk to one she knew Jane would be able to maintain with ease. "As I am sure I will never find a man who will want to tie himself to a woman who is educated, impertinent, and opinionated, I will be your ten children's spinster aunt who will teach your daughters to play the pianoforte very ill," Elizabeth teased.

"Ten children! Thank you for that, Lizzy. Why only my daughters, should not their brothers have the same pleasure of learning to play the pianoforte ill like their sisters?" Jane jested back. She hoped Lizzy would find her match one day, just as she herself had done.

"Janey, you will be a very happy woman. Your tempers are by no means unlike; you both like to see the best in others. You are each of you so complying, that nothing will ever be resolved on; so easy, every servant will cheat you; and so generous you will always exceed your income," Elizabeth stated playfully. She was well aware neither Jane nor her future brother would be so. When tested, they both would be revealed to have wills of steel.

"Lizzy!" Jane gently bumped her sister's shoulder with her own. "Only two things you said are based in fact: I will be very happy, and our tempers are not dissimilar." Jane stopped and restrained Lizzy with a hand on her forearm. "Do you remember when I told you that Mr Darcy may have been attempting to apologise to you?" Elizabeth nodded warily. "He has in fact being trying to do so, since minutes after he uttered the words he has regretted ever since. If you would ever allow him to do more than greet you, you will hear a full and sincere apology from him."

As much as Elizabeth wanted to reject Jane's words out of hand, if true, it was another brick destroyed in the wall of certitude in her rectitude. Along with all of the other questions she had begun to ask herself, she could now see, she had erred, she could not ignore what Jane had just told her. Also, Papa's advice had been far off the mark.

"When I see him next, I will allow him to address me," Elizabeth conceded. ‘ I have been wrong about so very much, and with regard to so many things!" she silently chided herself.

She shook off the reflection with a wry smile and noticedCharlotte already waiting at the point in the path where they had agreed to meet. Greetings were exchanged in short order. "Where should we walk?" Elizabeth asked Jane and Charlotte .

"We are close to Oakham Mount. What think you two if we go sit on the summit. It is, after all, such unexpectedly nice weather, there is not a breeze, and it is even a little warm today," Charlotte suggested.

No one objected so the three friends set off for the mount which was less than a mile distant.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

As they had planned to, Lieutenants Denny and Wickham began their walk to go survey the hunting cabin; the one the youngest Bennet had agreed to meet Wickham at later that evening.

The two were in fact on duty, but they had two other officers stand in for them claiming they had urgent business which could not wait. They headed towards the hill the locals called Oakham Mount and the woods which reached almost to the foot of the eminence.

It was not a long walk. The two men guessed that it was not much more than a mile until they reached the base of the hill. They did not see the cabin right away, so they walked around the hill. At first they saw nothing, but then, set back at the point where the woods began, built a few feet from the hill, just before the tree line was the cabin.

It was not locked so there was no impediment for the two to enter and scout the interior. Inside was one room. There was a cot in one corner, a rack to rest guns, some shelves with nothing but dust on them, and a steel stove where a fire could be laid. The cabin had the musty smell of long time non-use, so Wickham and Denny opened the three windows wide, along with leaving the door open.

Wickham looked at the cot. "I will need to bring a sheet or blanket when I come here to meet that light skirt at five," he told his friend. "You had better get a move on and convince the older flirt to allow you to take her virtue, otherwise I will, after I have bedded that little slut later today, and then you will owe me ten pounds."

"It is not my fault Miss Kitty would not permit me to kiss her yesterday at Longbourn, like her younger sister allowed you," Denny whinged peevishly. "Not everyone has your talent for prevarication, you even fooled Miss Elizabeth, and she is reputed to be intelligent. Will you not try and ruin her as well?" Denny paused. "Wickham, are you sure there will be no talk of debts we left behind in Westingham, or about the merchants' daughters you promised to marry?"

"None, besides, I will leave debts here as well. When that prig Darcy hears about them he will pay them, as he has done in the past. It is one of the ways I force him to pay for my life," Wickham bragged gleefully. "The promise of marriage is how I get the stupid girls, like Lydia Bennet, to surrender their virtues to me. You should try it, you tell them: if you want to prove your love to me, you will anticipate our vows. It works every time."

"Mayhap I will use that on Miss Kitty," Denny averred. "Now what about Miss Elizabeth, will you not take her maidenhood as well?"

"I wasted such a good tale on her, and yet I have not heard one word of it repeated at all! I was so sure she hated that bastard Darcy so much she would believe anything I said, even as I contradicted myself over and over again," Wickham spat out. "Do you know that prig thought just because I refused to take orders and he paid me three thousand pounds in lieu of the living, that was enough? How was I to know he would use the paper I signed giving up any rights to the living against me when I attempted to get more funds from him.

"All of the time I spent charming that bore, old Mr Darcy was wasted. I thought he preferred me above his son, but no he did not. Do you know what I was left in his will?"

"No what?" Denny enquired. He was rather surprised to hear that his friend had been paid three thousand pounds all at once. He would have been able to do much with that amount of money. However he knew Wickham loved games of chance, and was not very good at gambling.

"I expected at best to replace the prig as the heir to Pemberley, or at the very least, be gifted one of the satellite estates, but no, all I was bequeathed was one thousand pounds and the Kympton living when it became available if I was to take orders. Can you ever see me making sermons? I suppose it would have made it easier to bed girls as who would not trust a clergyman? That being said, it was just too much work. That idiot Darcy fell for it when I said I needed the value of the living to read the law. I was not meant to toil for my money!" Wickham paused and then grinned, "The supposedly intelligent Miss Elizabeth believed me when I painted Darcy as a dishonourable man."

"You said so, so he is not thus?"

"No, he is too honourable for his own good. He wastes so much money on caring for his tenants, staff, servants, and charities. Money which he could have given to me! What a fool, caring about others, when he should be like me, only caring for myself. Denny, you have heard how he insulted Miss Elizabeth at that assembly, have you not?"

"Yes, there are few who have not."

"That is why I thought she would have spread my tale by now since from what I was informed, she had no problem telling one and all what he said. I digress. I did not tell the chit, but my former friend is rather shy, and at times, when he feels pressure he says the wrong thing without meaning to do so. Based on what that simple girl told me, she refused to allow him to speak to her, and I am certain he would have begged her pardon had she permitted him. I am the reason, you know, why he would have been greatly discomposed," Wickham boasted.

"How could you have achieved that? You were not here before the assembly. Even those of us who came to scout with the Colonel arrived afterward."

"You remember I told you Darcy refused to pay me more when the living in Kympton fell open?" Denny nodded. "I swore I would take my revenge on him. You have heard me mention his sister, Georgiana, she is fifteen or sixteen I think." Again Denny nodded. "I saw an advertisement in The Times of London in which Darcy was seeking a companion for his sister. I contacted this woman who believes me in love with her, Karen Younge, and convinced her to apply for the position of companion. We paid some coin to have forged characters written, and we sent them to Darcy House. She was granted an interview and thanks to my teaching her what to say, she was employed and neither Darcy, nor his cousin, Richard Fitzwilliam—the co-guardian, verified the characters. I knew Darcy would be too proud to do so. After about a month, Karen suggested her charge would benefit from some time at the coast. As the prig owns a house in Ramsgate, that is where they went. I waited until Darcy returned to London and then I accidently met Miss Darcy and her companion on a walk along the beach.

"Soon I had convinced her she was in love with me, Karen encouraged her to accept me as a suitor, and she agreed to elope with me. She has thirty thousand pounds as her dowry."

Denny's eyes got as large as they could when he heard the amount of her fortune. Such a sum could set a man up for lifetimes. "As you are in the militia, I assume it did not go according to plan."

"Hell and bugger, it did not. The damned prig arrived in Ramsgate three days earlier than expected! Only a day before we were to depart for Gretna Green. Karen had made sure to intercept any letters from her to her brother or any from him to her. It was part of what we used to convince her we were the only ones who cared for her. The bloody bastard was concerned at no letters being received, so he came early, and the mousy little bitch told him all. I barely escaped with my life and Karen was sacked on the spot. He told me if I ever repeated this he would set his cousin after me. The man is a Colonel in the Dragoons and would sooner run me through than look at me. I believe that he threatened Karen with arrest for fraud if she breathed a word." Wickham paused for some moments. "Denny, you will not repeat what I told you about little Georgiana will you, it will not go well for either of us if Colonel Fitzwilliam comes to seek retribution."

"Wait, are you talking about the same Fitzwilliam who was the hero of The Battle of Bu?aco?" Denny enquired.

"Yes, the same. Now do you understand why you need to remain silent about what I told you?" Denny nodded emphatically. "Do you know that Elizabeth Bennet believed me when I said Miss Darcy was proud and disagreeable, the little mouse is anything but." Wickham looked around the cabin. "We should return to Meryton, we told those two fools who stood in for us we would not be away too long. It is good we are far away from anyone else; it has been freeing to be able to speak to you on all of this. I do not know how yet, especially after Darcy turned tail when I thought he would attack me that day in Meryton, but I will find a way to make that man pay me my due."

Taking the filthy sheet and coverlet from the cot with them, the two Lieutenants pulled the door closed, but left the windows open to help expel any remaining smell of mould or mustiness.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

At the same time, about forty feet above the cabin ,on the summit of Oakham Mount:

The three friends had not long seated themselves on the one bench below the oak tree, stark with no leaves, when they heard the sound of walkers from below. It did not alarm them as it was not an uncommon occurrence to encounter others enjoying the area, even if it was on Longbourn's land.

Their voices were easily identified as belonging to Lieutenants Denny and Wickham in the still air, Jane whispered, "Should we make ourselves known?" As soon as they heard mention of the two youngest Bennets and the intentions of the men, any thoughts of revealing their presence was gone.

They silently made their way to the edge of the hill closest to the hunting cabin as possible, and sat on some rocks. What they heard was troubling in the extreme, but for Elizabeth as she heard how her prejudices had been used to play her for a fool, she was devastated. How had she been so deaf, dumb, and blind? The more they spoke the more she accepted one man had all of the appearance of goodness, while he was evil incarnate, and the other had the actual goodness.

The tears began when they heard the plans for Lydia and Kitty, although the Bennet sisters took hope when they heard Lieutenant Denny lament Kitty had denied him any liberties.

Neither Jane nor Charlotte gave Elizabeth ‘ I told you so ' looks when the truth of Mr Wickham's lies about Mr Darcy were heard. The more the men spoke, the more Elizabeth questioned her own intelligence, or lack thereof. The contempt Mr Wickham showed towards the godfather he claimed to love above all others was easily evident. He almost sounded proud at the seductions and debts he had left behind him in Westingham. It sounded like the only reason many tradespeople in the realm were not beggared by the man leaving debts in his wake, were the actions of Mr Darcy. As she heard the truth of the kind of man Mr Darcy was, Elizabeth thought she could not feel worse.

She was wrong. When Mr Wickham related his attempt to elope with Miss Darcy, the lengths he and his paramour had gone to, just to hurt Mr and Miss Darcy, the tears flowed freely from all three ladies on the summit, none more so than Elizabeth. The man was driven by jealousy and a mercenary nature, and as long as he was able to, he would acquire what he needed off the back of another's work. For Elizabeth the coup de grace was when the despicable libertine boasted about how he had misled her regarding Miss Darcy's character.

All three clapped their hands over their mouths to stop any sounds escaping which would betray them to the odious men. At various points in the retelling each of them had the burning desire to scream out their disgust at the men, especially one of them, in the cabin below. They were greatly relieved when they heard the men's resolve to leave, followed by the sound of the cabin's door being closed. Although they lowered their hands shortly after the sounds made by the men faded as they walked away from the cabin, Charlotte, Jane, and Elizabeth did not move for another ten minutes to be certain the men were well clear of the area.

Charlotte and Jane stood, but Elizabeth sat on the rock, rocking back and forth. She was in shock. She who always thought herself correct in all things, was a silly girl, as silly as Kitty and Lydia. She knew nothing. Who was she? She certainly was not who she thought she was.

"Come Eliza, we must go. We have to save Lydia from ruin, and I think we need to speak to Mr Darcy," Charlotte took charge of the situation. Although Lizzy sat on the rock in her own world, Jane was shaken to her core as well.

"I believe Mr Darcy went to London with Charles…" Jane saw the way Charlotte looked at her. Before the disgusting men had arrived, she was about to tell of her engagement. "Mr Bingley proposed and I accepted him yester-morning. He is on his way to London to see his solicitor. As I said, I believe Mr Darcy accompanied him. That was not the only proposal given at Longbourn yesterday." Charlotte cocked her head and had a quizzical look. Jane gave a brief synopsis of the offer Mary received and rejected.

"That man was a fool. He tried to propose to me after he left Longbourn, I too rejected him out of hand. Even at my age, I am not desperate enough to accept such a man," Charlotte shook her head. "Like me, Mary is not very romantic, but I believe she made a wise decision."

The two who had been standing reached down and helped Elizabeth to slowly stand. She had just ceased her rocking back and forth as the tears ran freely from her eyes, and she was one who almost never cried. "Lizzy, there will be time to consider your errors, but now is not the time for self-indulgence, we have sisters to save," Jane said firmly.

"You have the right of it, Janey. There will be much time to think later." The look on her face became one of cold anger as she began to consider what needed to be done. "Charlotte, will you and your father go warn the shopkeepers not to extend any credit to any of the militia members?" Elizabeth cogitated for a moment. "That way, Mr Wickham will not think it is aimed at him. Also, we will have to have Lydia write a note telling him she is indisposed, and will be happy to meet with him when she is well. From what he said to Mr Denny, it sounds like he bolts at the first sign of trouble."

"That is the Eliza I know and love. Together, we will walk back to where we met this morning, I will go speak to Papa, and you do what you have to so your sisters will be protected," Charlotte stated. "We will make sure word is spread. Daughters, especially those of tender age, need to be well protected while the militia is encamped here."

Elizabeth knew she had much to discover about herself, but that would have to wait. They had to act first, and then when the town and her sisters were made safe from the worst man she had ever met, she would have time to consider all she needed to think about.