Chapter 11

As March loomed, they learned that Lydia was to visit the new Mrs Forster, Harriet Prentiss as was. The regiment was to decamp for Brighton to prepare their summer camp. Lydia was to go help her friend set up housekeeping, and keep her company for three weeks while the regiment moved their camp. Elizabeth and Mary were uneasy about the idea of Lydia with no family chaperonage at a camp full of soldiers at such a young age, but they had no power to forbid the visit. Neither did they wish to see Lydia regress to her old ways out of spite if she were prohibited from going. Elizabeth sent a note to Longbourn and bid her father to at least send Lydia with a maid who was responsible for her chaperonage while she was away, and that she would even provide a maid and pay for it herself, but as she expected, she received no response.

Later that month, Elizabeth, Mary, and Diane went to Windmere, Diane's estate in Kent. Elizabeth planned to stay two weeks to look over the books and manage business with the steward, a third son of a minor gentleman who served with Colonel Fitzwilliam, and had been happy to leave military service to marry his father's parson's daughter, and manage an estate.

Her estate business was concluded with a minimum of fuss, and Elizabeth even managed to have several visits with Charlotte while they were in Kent. While Elizabeth and Charlotte had always kept in touch by letter, Charlotte was most surprised and amused when she began receiving letters from Kitty and Lydia. The two girls felt very grown up with their fashionable stationery gifted to them by Elizabeth. She purchased it when Jane and her husband left Hertfordshire. so the younger girls could keep in touch with their sister. Sadly, Jane did not reply to her sisters often.

Charlotte remarked to Elizabeth what a difference she observed in the girls just before she left, and how that difference seemed to grow with each letter she received, until she began to find their correspondence quite enjoyable. In fact, it became a true comfort when she was feeling homesick for Meryton. Though not a chess master by any means, she knew how to play, and lately was persuaded by Kitty to begin a game by correspondence, and was impressed by the younger lady's enthusiasm for the game.

Elizabeth was unable to visit Charlotte in her home, for she did not want to cause trouble for her friend and cousin. Lady Catherine knew she was in the area, of course, and naturally raised a fuss about it, though she saw no reason to make the lady aware that she was the fair cousin who gifted the generous pianoforte. This would only make Charlotte's life more difficult, which Elizabeth did not wish to do. When Charlotte visited her, and on the one occasion she entertained Mr and Mrs Collins for dinner, she sent her smallest (but still immensely comfortable) unmarked carriage, that was usually used by her servants, to convey them to Windmere, for it was three miles from the Hunsford parsonage, and too far to expect the Collins to walk at night.

When their time in Kent was over, Elizabeth, Mary and Diane began the welcome journey to London. It was not a very long journey, and could be completed in less than a day. When they stopped for luncheon and to change horses, Elizabeth and Mary, accompanied by Miss Carmichael and two guards, took Diane and Beau for a walk in a nearby field of wildflowers, stretching their legs, and ensuring that the small child and the spaniel would nap heavily when they returned to the carriage.

As they sat in the private room Elizabeth reserved for them and enjoyed their meal, Elizabeth heard a familiar and loud, shrill voice shrieking beyond the door, "Let him go! Let him go, you brute!"

Mary looked at Elizabeth in terror as they listened to their youngest sister's voice shrieking from the other side of the door. Elizabeth quickly rose, motioned for Mary to stay, and left the room swiftly with Miss Carmichael and two footmen. Her sister was hanging off the back of no one other than Colonel Fitzwilliam, who was attempting to shake her off as she pummeled his head with her reticule. Her companion, Mr Wickham, was attempting to evade another man who turned out to be none other than Mr Darcy.

" Ahem !" Elizabeth cleared her throat. When the objects of her attention did not immediately notice her she tried again. " AHEM !"

Colonel Fitzwilliam turned about and Lydia sprang off of his back. "Lizzy! What are you doing here? Isn't it wonderful! Lieutenant Wickham and I are to be married!" Lydia cried as she threw herself into Elizabeth's arms. "Please, make these hideous beasts let him go! We were minding our own business, and they quite attacked us for no reason!"

"Why on earth would you wish to do that? I thought we recently had a talk about penniless officers, Lyddie," said Elizabeth sternly.

Wickham took one look at Elizabeth's guards and made for the door, only to have the two men he was trying to escape collar him immediately. Elizabeth knew her staff were more than capable of ensuring Wickham's capture; however, she was still greatly relieved that Mr Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam were present.

Wickham conceded defeat, and Elizabeth spoke. "Mr Darcy, Colonel Fitzwilliam. It is good to see you gentlemen."

"Lady Astley, I had not realised you and my cousin were acquainted," said Mr Darcy awkwardly, glancing at Colonel Fitzwilliam.

"We met in London through the introduction of General Bradley. Colonel Fitzwilliam refers his veterans who are looking for work to my employment. I believe you are acquainted with Lieutenant Wickham, Mr Darcy? He was just preparing to tell me about his plans to marry my sister," answered Elizabeth.

"Wickham, you wretch! Will you never cease running away with young girls you do not intend to marry?" exclaimed Darcy, who appeared to be vibrating with rage.

" Of course he intends to marry me!" snapped Lydia.

"Gentlemen, if I may. Let us remove this discussion to my private parlour," suggested Elizabeth, who stepped away momentarily to have Banks arrange a room upstairs with the innkeeper.

They returned to the private parlour, where Elizabeth arranged for Diane and Beau to go upstairs with the nurse and Miss Carmichael, with a footman outside the door. Elizabeth dismissed the other servants from the room, and turned to the group. She made the necessary introductions for Lydia, Mary, and Colonel Fitzwilliam, and then turned to her youngest sister. "Well Lydia, what have you to say for yourself?"

Lydia related how Lieutenant Wickham began to court her almost the moment she arrived in Brighton. Colonel Forster instructed all of the officers to stay away from Miss Lydia, due to her young age. However, young Mrs Forster was a romantic, and provided opportunities for the couple to meet.

"Lydia, if you were planning to be married, how do you come to be on the road to London and not Scotland or Hertfordshire to gain my father's approval?" inquired Mary, who seemed to have quite caught the colonel's attention.

"La, that is simple." Lydia responded "My Wickham received a letter yesterday that he has been left a legacy, and that he must go to London to collect the funds. We were to go there and then continue to Hertfordshire for Papa's blessing! I planned to spend the night with Aunt and Uncle Gardiner. I sent them a letter, so they will be expecting us."

Darcy growled, "Wickham, you have no one to leave you a legacy. What are you about with such lies?"

Wickham looked at Elizabeth. "You probably thought you had the last laugh while I was sitting in the lock up due to your snub, Lady Astley, but now I will have the last laugh when your younger sisters will never be wed due to your whore of a sister's ruin. If you acted like a true lady and allowed me to court you, we could have been happily married ourselves now. I hope you are happy with the results of your pride and arrogance. I only regret that I had not the time to sell the wench to a brothel before anyone could stop me."

Elizabeth's eyebrows raised at his language as everyone else in the room gasped in shock. Colonel Fitzwilliam stepped forward to silence the man's vicious words, and with a swift crunch, broke Mr Wickham's nose. Elizabeth embraced her sister as the young girl dissolved into tears, and the gentlemen looked on in shock. "There, there, Lydia. Remember, dignity and poise, dear."

Lydia sniffled and raised her chin high. "I am sorry, Lizzy and Mary. I thought I was doing right. I thought if we went on the mail coach and stayed in London with Aunt and Uncle Gardiner, that everything would be well."

"I suspect that whatever the good lieutenant said about your letter, it never even left Brighton." Elizabeth observed. "How did you leave things with the Forsters?"

"I did not tell Harriet before we left, for we did not wish the colonel to interfere," answered Lydia miserably. "I left her a note in my room."

"And we must go and address that situation immediately," replied Elizabeth briskly, rising from her chair. "Girls, please go upstairs with the footman outside to the room I reserved for Diane, and take a few minutes to refresh yourselves. I will go to make sure the carriage is ready, and have Mr Banks settle with the innkeeper, after which he will collect your trunk from the mail coach, Lydia. Colonel Fitzwilliam, do I correctly assume that you have business with this man, and that you will ensure he is managed accordingly? I wish never to see him again and if I do, things will not go well for him."

"Lady Astley, I cannot recall a time since I was twelve when I did not have business of one kind or another with George Wickham," responded Fitzwilliam easily. "I do indeed have a number of concerns that I would be very pleased to discuss with him. Then I shall be happy to turn him in for desertion. You know what happens to officers who desert in wartime do you not, Georgie? Wickham began to shake uncontrollably, and a large wet patch appeared on the front of his uniform.

Before I leave, Mr Darcy, may I inquire after your sister? I have heard that Miss Darcy was unwell. I hope she has improved?" said Elizabeth, ignoring the pathetic wretch on the floor.

"Sadly, my sister is most unwell indeed," said Mr Darcy despairingly. "I have only left Pemberley for a short time to assist my aunt in Kent, and I must return to her soon."

"I am grieved to hear that, sir. I hope you have an excellent physician at Pemberley? If you would like another opinion on her condition I can recommend one of my late husband's colleagues. I can think of two or three who are excellent doctors, and may be willing to travel to Derbyshire," Elizabeth said kindly, understanding the gentleman's anguish.

"That is very kind of you, Lady Astley. If you would send the direction of those doctors to Darcy House, we would greatly appreciate it," said Colonel Fitzwilliam. "Darcy and I share the guardianship of Miss Darcy, and we have been greatly worried about her. Only the concern for our aunt's estate management could bring Darcy south, and we plan to return to her as soon as we are able."

"Miss Darcy is fortunate to be so well looked after by such a brother and cousin," ventured Mary, turning pink. "She must surely get well with the two of you to help her."

Colonel Fitzwilliam, who was attempting in vain not to look at Mary, blushed to his roots, bowed, and turned to call in Darcy's footmen to load Wickham into the carriage. The officer tripped over his own boots on his way out.

Eyebrows raised at her sister, Elizabeth took her leave of Mr Darcy, and went upstairs with Mary to seek her family. The innkeeper sent up a small meal for any whose meal was interrupted downstairs, for which Elizabeth was grateful. She bid Lydia wash her tear stained face, and they all returned downstairs to their carriage and departed, now in the direction of Brighton.

*****

She found Colonel Forster berating his wife when she arrived. Elizabeth did not even bring Lydia into the house, having sent her sisters and most of her staff to a hotel nearby.

Apparently Mrs Forster did a fair job of hiding Lydia's absence, and Colonel Forster had just found out about the situation. Elizabeth explained the scene at the inn from that afternoon and Mr Wickham's capture by Colonel Fitzwilliam, who was bringing the deserter to London.

Colonel Forster did not like Lady Astley (he never cared for strong women) but he was not a stupid man. He assured her that there was no time for anyone to learn of the incident, and that his wife would not only learn discretion, but she would also have no visitors for the foreseeable future. Wickham was known to be a deserter, and now it would be known that Lydia left Brighton with her family. He would set out for London to make his case about Wickham tomorrow.

Colonel Forster had no desire to have the reputation of his regiment destroyed, for then he would be ruined. A colonel whose regiment was unwelcome everywhere was of no use to the Army.

Elizabeth, Lydia, and Mary called upon Mrs Forster for appearance's sake the next morning before setting out for Hertfordshire. Elizabeth sent Diane and Beau to ride in the second coach with her nurse and Elizabeth and Mary's maids, so the sisters could speak alone.

Lydia cried much of the way home. She was helped to see that while her intentions were good, she still left the protection of those who were trusted with her. Such an action was not only wrong but could be dangerous and have had disastrous consequences. She apologised many times, swore off officers forever, and begged her sisters to forgive her, which they readily did.

Eventually they reached Longbourn. Elizabeth sent Lydia's trunks in, and then sent Mary, Diane, and the carriages on to Netherfield with instructions to return for her when they unloaded. Following Lydia into the house, they found Mrs Bennet and Kitty in the drawing room. Elizabeth decided to make this a family meeting, for it concerned them all. Also, Elizabeth knew Lydia would tell all to Kitty anyway, so there was no point in speaking to Mr and Mrs Bennet in private. She asked Mrs Hill to inform her father he was needed in the drawing room before joining her stepmother and sisters.

When Mr Bennet entered the drawing room, Lydia herself confessed the story to her family, tearfully begging their forgiveness. Mrs Bennet appeared on the point of hysterics, then eyed Elizabeth, who winked at her and lifted her chin. Mrs Bennet knew all would be well, and remembered her composure. Mr Bennet was more agog at this exchange than he was by Lydia's revelations. Elizabeth pointed out that while Lydia attempted to do the thing somewhat correctly by travelling publicly and notifying her family, she had been entrusted to someone who never should have been given charge of her.

"Just because Mr and Mrs Prentiss have decided to marry off their child to the first bidder does not make that child a matron, nor render her fit to chaperone anything more precious than a china doll. Mrs Forster turned seventeen only months ago, and she should never have been entrusted with Lydia's care. This family must take better care with one another before something more dire happens. Just because I am blessed with many sisters does not mean I would be comfortable losing any of them. Mrs Bennet, I will have your word that forthwith, you will make Kitty's and Lydia's safety your highest priority, and will not allow them to be entrusted to anyone who is unfit to take charge of them, even if that makes them upset with you. You are their mother and their chaperonage begins with you, madam."

"I cannot speak how happy I am to be home." said Lydia resting her head on Kitty's shoulder. "Now that I think about it, I am glad that I did not get married. I do not think I am ready for it."

"Indeed you are not, young lady! What are you thinking of, accepting a proposal at only fifteen! You must stay here with your Mama for a number of years yet before you shall consider a husband!" clucked Mrs Bennet as she began fussing over Lydia and turned her attention to herding both girls out of the room and up the stairs. "Lady Astley, thank you for your considerate care of your sisters. I assure you, I will see them entrusted to no one unsuitable in the future."

"Ah, so it is Lady Astley now, is it?" drawled Mr Bennet as Mrs Bennet's fussing faded up the staircase.

"You will find, I think, that in the absence of anyone who cares about her and her daughters' welfare, Mrs Bennet has learned to finally appreciate the support of someone who actually does," Elizabeth said pointedly. "Once my step-mother understood that she need not fear the hedgerows, and that her daughter's company could be a blessing, rather than a frightening burden, it is obvious that she has finally been able to calm down and be reasonable. It is a shame that her own husband could not see fit to provide her with such security," she finished as she rose to her feet and saw herself out. There was no point in trying to talk to Mr Bennet. The man cared for nothing but his books.

*****

Mr Darcy was troubled for many reasons after his encounter with Lady Astley. Nothing was as it seemed, and he was confused. Elizabeth's sister may have run off with Wickham, but that was the only part of her behaviour that made any sense. The older one no longer seemed so severe, and was even pretty and sensible, and her manners seemed more polished. The youngest sister behaved as a nearly perfect young lady during the conversation at the inn once her sister had appeared.

Yes, she left her hosts without telling them, but she also did not attempt to elope, precisely. The girl thought her betrothed was returning her to her family and even attempted to send a letter stating her intentions, and had travelled publicly. It was understandable that Wickham was able to deceive the young girl. Darcy just hoped she would be well. And why was his cousin blushing at Miss Bennet and tripping over his feet? Darcy had known his cousin for all of his twenty-eight years, and Richard had never once blushed in his presence.

At least he finally obtained from Richard an account of the lady's social and financial standing, and an explanation for why she was residing in a dower house in Hertfordshire. He knew from Bingley that she owned Netherfield, but Richard, who visited Astley House regularly when Elizabeth was in town to ensure that all was well with her household, knew more about the matter. Richard was not in the habit of gossiping about Elizabeth to anyone, but he trusted Darcy with his life, and it was obvious his cousin had an interest in the lady.

Darcy had done nothing but worry over his sister's illness and pine for Elizabeth all winter. Now that he considered it properly, he realised that he was actually pining for a woman. It took seeing her again for him to realise how much he admired her. Darcy did not want Mrs Bennet as a mother-in-law, but perhaps they would not need to see much of the Bennets.

Indeed, Mrs Bennet seemed to wish to have little to do with Lady Astley when they were all in company in the country. Perhaps the match was not as bad as he originally thought.

His butler came in with a message from his cousin, who had taken the carriage to deliver Wickham to the barracks. There had been an accident with the carriage, and while they were attempting to manage the horses, Wickham had somehow cut his bonds and escaped. The carriage could be easily repaired, but now Wickham was at large.

This was a disaster. Elizabeth would now be in danger from Wickham, who had already been nursing a grievance. The danger was now intensified. Darcy knew Wickham, and knew he would revenge himself upon the lady as soon as possible.

He did not have time to court her properly, he mused. With his sister ill, he needed to return to Pemberley as soon as he could. And now she was in danger from Wickham. It would be in her best interests to marry, and quickly. He considered Lady Astley a remarkably intelligent woman, and believed she would not insist on a courtship. In fact, he felt certain she would be happy, and perhaps even relieved to wed him just as soon as he asked. Soon, he decided, soon, he would propose at the earliest opportunity.