Chapter 14

A week after the ball, all the guests had returned to town and the Darcys and their friends began their journey to Pemberley, where an express from Charles was waiting, having been delivered the day before they arrived.

Darcy,

I swear, (blot) wife has (blot) mad. (Blot blot blot) on returning (blot blot) in order (blot blot blot) Lady Darcy and (blot) midwives. We (blot) in (blot) yesterday, and (blot blot blot) the (blot blot) tomorrow.

Forgive me for (blot blot blot) especially after (blot blot blot blotblot) but Jane insists that Lady (blot blot blot blot) her.

We (blot) immediately (blot blot) last letter, so if you (blot blot blotblot) Caroline, (blot blot blot) missed us. I pray (blot) matter has (blot blot blot) but, if necessary, I (blot) travel to (blotblot) and withdraw the funds for (blot) villains (blot blot blot).

Again, forgive (blot blot blot blotblot) I can deny my (blot blot blot) in (blot) condition, and I trust (blot) Jane's confidence that (blot) Darcy will (blotblot) her (blot) open (blot).

(Blot blot),

Bingley

Darcy was bemused as he attempted to read the letter and went upstairs to find his wife, who was settling the children into the nursery with Mrs Hurst while Charlotte was ensuring that Miss Long found her room comfortable.

Darcy shared the letter with Elizabeth and the Hursts, and Elizabeth said, "It sounds like they might be coming here. Do you think they are coming here?"

"The express was sent from Liverpool, according to the messenger," answered Darcy. "It is difficult to be sure, but yes, I believe the Bingleys may be en route to Pemberley."

The renovations for Tatton Hall had been completed, including surprise plumbing and bathing chambers, which were a gift from Elizabeth, but the manor only had a skeleton staff. The Darcys had been planning to hire more people when they had word that the Bingleys were returning, and they had thought there would be more time. The Bingleys would need to stay at Pemberley until their house was ready to receive them. Elizabeth went immediately to Mrs Hayes and had the extra master suite of rooms, and the lying in chamber and nursery opened at the far end of the guest wing, so the Bingleys could have quiet and privacy. She then sent word to the convent, requesting assistance with hiring a wetnurse who was knowledgeable and competent in the practices encouraged by the midwives. Elizabeth also had the guest nursery that she and Charlotte used when they arrived at Pemberley opened and prepared for use, glad that she had decided to keep the rooms that they had used during that time exactly as they were when Charlotte had moved William into the family nursery, so the house was well prepared for Mrs Bingley's needs.

Late the following afternoon, twenty minutes after a shot had been fired from the gatehouse to alert the house, a carriage and four pulled up the drive to Pemberley. Elizabeth, Darcy, and the Hursts were waiting as Charles Bingley stepped down from the carriage and handed out an enormously pregnant and radiant Jane Bingley. Charles exclaimed in delight to see his sister and her family, and Jane threw herself into her sister's arms.

"Forgive us for arriving with so little warning. You did get my express, did you not? No sooner did we receive your last express, than Jane suddenly decided that she could not possibly survive childbirth without Lady Darcy and her midwives, and nothing I said would deter her. We must make haste for home! Jane wanted to be with her sister, and she said I must come home to assist mine, and we could stay away no longer. I was terrified the entire journey that she might deliver the babe on board a ship. The child is due any day."

"Of course, Jane is correct. I would never dream of turning you away at any time, and yes Jane, I quite agree that here at Pemberley with a trusted midwife and doctor is the best possible place to bear a child. I am so glad you've come home! We only arrived yesterday, and it is a shame we did not know earlier that you were coming, because Mama would have wanted to be here. She has talked of little but calling you home for months and months," Elizabeth answered as Bingley greeted his sister and her husband and son joyfully. She turned and asked Mrs Hayes to send a message to Mr Lloyd and also the convent asking Sister Augustine to come the next morning to examine Jane.

Elizabeth told Jane all about the arrangements that had been made so far to make the Bingleys comfortable, and assured her that a nursemaid would be hired forthwith, and a wet nurse too if Jane wanted one. "Of course, you will want to open your own house, but since we knew not that you were coming, Jane, we had not the time to hire servants. There is still only a skeleton staff in place. But I do hope that you will stay here as long as you like. You simply cannot consider opening your new home when you are so close to your confinement. Please consider staying here at Pemberley for some time."

"Lizzy, I cannot say how relieved I am at your invitation," breathed Jane, as the party entered the hall. "That is just what I was hoping for. I know that all I have wanted since marrying is a child, but as my time draws closer, I find that I begin to doubt my abilities and I become desperately afraid. I came because suddenly I realised that I needed you, Lizzy. You and your midwives. Nothing would make me feel safer than consigning myself and my child to your care. I fear that running such a household as Tatton Hall would be quite beyond my abilities just now."

"Do not fear Jane, you are quite welcome here. You and Charles must consider Pemberley your own home for some months before considering another move. You shall all be quite well looked after at Pemberley, and you can hire the best servants that can be found at your leisure, instead of troublesome ones all in a hurry." Elizabeth comforted her sister.

As the party entered the hall, Charlotte and Lydia came forward to greet them. Considering how much bad news and ill tidings there was to discuss, the rest of the household had stayed away until Darcy and Elizabeth had a chance to speak with the Bingleys privately, but Charlotte and Lydia had wished to greet the arrivals briefly. It was a mistake. After imparting to Jane how glad she was to see her looking so well, Charlotte took the Hursts' boy upstairs to the nursery as Jane looked at Lydia and said, "You are a woman grown, Lyddie. I see the young girl I knew in the lovely woman before me. Is Kitty at Longbourn with Mama and Papa, or has she married?"

Suddenly the group went silent, and the mood turned as if a bucket of ice cold water had been thrown upon them. Lydia burst into tears and fled up the stairs, where Georgiana was peering nervously down, and the two disappeared at the top. Jane suddenly looked terrified and clutched her husband and said, "Lizzy…"

"Let us all go into the drawing room, there is tea and refreshments waiting," Darcy said quietly, as the party soberly turned in the direction he suggested. "There is much to discuss about events which occurred in your absence."

*****

Louisa whispered in Elizabeth's ear as they entered the room, and Hurst went and sat quietly while his wife went and began pouring the tea for everyone to assist Elizabeth. Elizabeth and Louisa had become quite close, considering all the worry about their sisters they had each endured. The Hursts were trusted members of the family now, after all they had gone through with poor Caroline. And since his son had been born, and Caroline had become bearable, Mr Hurst had begun to sleep and drink less, and exert himself intelligently much more. The man spent hours closeted with Darcy discussing estate management and how to improve his lot once he inherited. Jane sat with her husband on a chaise and took a deep breath and said in a trembling voice. "Please, do not keep us in suspense any longer. Is poor Kitty ill?"

"No," whispered Elizabeth.

"Is she…dead?" demanded Jane.

"No," whispered Elizabeth again.

"Not that we are aware of," amended Darcy, earning him an angry glare from his wife for such a suggestion.

"Did she run away?" cried Jane.

Elizabeth looked to Will as tears spilled down her cheeks, helpless, and unable to speak the words to describe what their father had done. Darcy understood and began to speak. "As you remember, we agreed that we would not inform you of matters you could do nothing about. Indeed, Elizabeth chastised me soundly for having written to you about Lady Whitman."

"Yes, yes, Darcy. We forgive you for whatever you withheld. We knew that tragedies might occur while we were away and that you would not wish to upset Jane, considering the circumstances. What is it, man?" demanded Charles insistently.

"A few weeks after you left for the continent, the family went to Netherfield, and later London, as planned. Mrs Bennet sprained her ankle, and Lydia requested that Catherine stay to assist with their mother, so we left her at Longbourn and continued on to London. Before we had left, there had been a drama with Miss Marianne. She had been meeting Viscount St Claire in secret."

"Yes. We saw the announcements in the papers when he married and later became a duke, and she married some other fellow. I was fortunate to be able to have access to the English papers while we were travelling," Charles said, encouraging Darcy to go on.

"I had written to his father, requesting that he control his heir and informing him that the young man was no longer permitted on my property. The duke apparently made inquiries, obtained the wrong information, and mistakenly determined that his son was courting Kitty. The duke travelled to Longbourn while we were in London, suspecting nothing. He made a bargain with Bennet, and purchased Catherine for the price of thirty thousand pounds."

"He WHAT?" cried Jane, clutching her husband even tighter.

Darcy met Jane's eyes sadly, "Your father sold Catherine to the duke, who hid her away somewhere to ensure his son could never marry her, and then the man died. Elizabeth has spent two years and over seven thousand pounds searching. This is only the second time she has consented to return to Pemberley since Catherine has been taken. We were here only briefly for the harvest last year, but otherwise, Elizabeth has preferred to remain in London where she can send and receive information quickly."

Bingley sat in stunned silence, and Jane was ashen. "My… My father…. My mother? Where… where is my mother?"

"We travelled to Hertfordshire with all haste, and removed Mrs Bennet and all of the female servants except the cook, who had no wish to leave, within hours of learning of the matter. Mr Bennet took his money and abandoned Longbourn, which we eventually made him sign away his rights to in favour of his heir. The property is currently in trust for the boy. Mr Bennet is now an Oxford Don, and Mrs Bennet has been invited by the Fitzwilliams to make her home with them in Kent."

"What could possibly have been done with her?" demanded Jane as she began to cry.

"There are a number of possibilities, but we are reasonably certain that if she is actually still in England, that she must be in a private house, for we hope that we have searched every establishment where she might possibly have been held. We believe that the duke would have forced her to marry another, and likely removed her from the country entirely. It was also possible that she might have been married to a tenant farmer on one of his estates, but each parish at all of his properties has been searched thoroughly. Rectors have been questioned; church records searched. Servants and tenants and local gossips have been bribed, dozens of investigators have been searching every corner of the country and even the continent."

"What about that Willoughby? Surely, he must know something. What about the brothels? The outgoing ships? The asylums? Surely there must be some clue!" exclaimed Bingley.

"An investigator was sent to the continent to question him, and we are reasonably certain he knows nothing. The duke would have wanted her hidden from him, and he covered his tracks well. St Claire, now Leeds, eventually returned to England briefly recently, before he ran away to the continent again with Marianne and their child, who had been born in wedlock as another man's son. That is entirely another matter, not pertinent to this discussion. Her Majesty even sent her physician and secretary to the duke's London home to ensure he was actually ill, which he was, and unable to speak or write after an apoplexy. The Royal Secretary searched his office, and a Royal servant was sent to search his office and documents at Stoneacre. Nothing was found. The only suspicious business transaction that he had done was with Bennet. The other possibilities," Darcy's eyes flicked to Jane and back to Bingley, "Are nothing I would discuss in front of Mrs Bingley, considering her condition, but be assured, all avenues have been considered and investigated exhaustively."

Jane closed her eyes and shook her head. "I cannot take it in. Are you still looking, Lizzy?"

"Jane, I swear I will keep looking as long as I am alive. The only reason I even consented to leave the vicinity of London was because after two years, it has been some time since we had any promising leads, and I could no longer justify neglecting Pemberley and our other estates. By this point my man of business understands most clearly that if any clue, no matter how unlikely turns up, he is to follow it, no matter the cost, and I assure you he does so most aggressively." Elizabeth replied sadly.

The party sat quietly as Louisa offered to send the cakes and sandwiches around, but no one wished to eat. "What about Caroline?" Jane asked. "Has any progress been made in negotiating with that dreadful husband?"

"Indeed, at first, I was quite alarmed by his letters, and what is the story with this Compton fellow? What is he to do with it? But after some thought, I realised this is likely just a bid for a higher dowry than had been planned. Caroline may even have concocted the scheme herself," commiserated Bingley.

"She's upstairs," Louisa answered gravely.

"Do you mean she's here? She's safe? Why did she not come downstairs to greet us? I suppose Caroline will never change. After all that worry…" said Charles bitterly.

"Please do not say such things," Elizabeth interrupted quickly. "Caroline has changed. She is entirely altered, and she has been through a harrowing experience, but she is here and safe now. She stayed in her room because she is still unsure of herself, and she is rather reclusive now. Knowing how much unpleasantness must be related to you upon your arrival, she remains in her rooms until you are ready to see her. She did not wish to overwhelm you all at once."

"How did she get here?" inquired Charles. "Did her husband finally pay us to take her back?"

Elizabeth glared at him as Hurst cleared his throat and began, "You make light of a frightening and dangerous situation, brother. When Darcy received word from you about the demand for forty thousand pounds, Lady Darcy sent for us, and for Whitman and Compton, intending to pay the men immediately from her own funds to secure Caroline's safety. Then when her man of business arrived, he informed us that Whitman had taken a life insurance policy on Caroline and himself. It was fortunate Elizabeth had the men watched and their affairs, or we would never have known.

"We searched for the two men all night, in every gaming hell and brothel in London, and the following morning learned that the two men were dead," Hurst continued. "We all travelled together to Hempstead post haste, and were obliged to appeal to the magistrate to secure Caroline's freedom from Compton's estate. She was locked up, wearing and possessing naught but a shimmy unfit for a maid when we found her weeks after the wedding, in unimaginable conditions that I have still to this day forbidden to be discussed in front of my wife and positively refuse to discuss in front of yours," he continued, holding up a finger forbiddingly when Jane and Bingley both made to object to not knowing. "They sold all of her clothes and possessions, and locked her up alone in worse conditions than an animal for two months."

As understanding of the seriousness of the situation finally sank in, Bingley inquired of Elizabeth, "Lady Darcy, why would you pay such a sum for Caroline? Especially after-"

"Heaven and earth, Charles, stop calling me Lady Darcy, and start calling me Elizabeth, or I shall scream," Elizabeth interrupted. "I hope that you do not believe that I would allow anyone in this family to lose another sister after what has happened to Kitty, over something as insignificant as money. I would pay thrice such a sum, more even, and thrice even that, to bring my sister home. I did not even need to do so for Caroline in any case, so it hardly signifies."

Jane and Charles both thought it signified a great deal, and said so, as Charles soberly looked at Darcy and said, "I believe it is time for my wife to retire upstairs, I am sure you need to rest darling, and you have been looking forward to a Pemberley bath since we docked in Liverpool. I must speak with Darcy and Hurst in private, and learn everything that has happened."

Jane agreed, and so Elizabeth and Louisa led Jane upstairs while Charles went to the study with Darcy and Hurst. He emerged white faced and sober an hour later, and asked for a footman to lead him to his sister's room. When she called for him to enter at his knock he went in and did not emerge for nearly another hour. Caroline apologised to Bingley for all of her cruelty and manipulations of the past, and all transgressions were put behind them. Bingley had invited Caroline to live with them at Tatton Hall, and brother and sister parted with more goodwill than they had in many years.

The next morning, Elizabeth led Mr Lloyd and the midwife to Jane's bedchamber. The doctor and the midwife both declared Jane to be in excellent health, and instructed her to take her sister's advice and to exercise her body daily, to keep up her strength for the delivery, which was certain to be any time in the next two or three weeks. Elizabeth invited the doctor to take tea with the family, and a pleasant half hour was spent making introductions between the doctor and Miss Long and engaging in pleasant conversation.