Chapter 21

T he Darcys departed London on the final Monday of November and began the long journey to Pemberley. With the longer days of summer, the travellers would arrive before midday of the third day, at this time of year, it was often during the fourth day before they reached the estate’s gates. If Darcy was on his own, he would have pushed harder and arrived by the evening of the third day. However, with Giana and Mrs Annesley in the coach, he had the coachman stop more often and for longer rest periods.

When he travelled in the winter, unlike many of his fellow landowners, there was an extra carriage with them in addition to the one in which the personal servants travelled. Instead of having footmen ride on the bench, they were in the two following conveyances. Also, his coachman and outriders had good, serviceable, and relatively new coats and the other items they needed to remain as warm as they could while riding in the elements. Darcy cared not about some men of wealth who told him he was soft in the head to spoil his servants in that way. He knew he was doing the right thing; besides, his uncle Reggie did the same.

Thoughts of his uncle led Darcy to think of the harrowing scene when he had seen Andrew two days before his departure. Richard had arrived from Hertfordshire and was visiting when Darcy had been shown in. Even before he saw his eldest cousin, he could tell how bad things were by the looks of sorrow on his aunt’s, uncle’s, and Richard’s faces. He had looked to the bed and his first reaction had been a desire to cast up his accounts.

The Andrew he remembered had been a vibrant, jovial, fun-loving, and generous young man. It had all changed after his grand tour when he had fallen in with a fast crowd. Not even his parents cutting him off had slowed Andrew down, and he had fritted away all his savings and the income from Hilldale on his dissipated pursuits.

Darcy knew not when Andrew had become an opium fiend, but that and the pox had taken a grave toll on his once fit and dashing cousin. He had lost most of his hair which had been replaced with the sores and lesions of the pox; his once muscular frame was almost skeletal. As much as he prayed it would not be so, there was no denying his cousin was not long for this world. All Darcy could hope for was that Andrew had made his peace with God so he would be granted entry into the Kingdom of Heaven.

As if seeing him teetering on the edge of life and death was not shocking enough, the conversation he had had with Richard the day before they left London left him in a stupor

Richard had called on Darcy House the evening before their departure. Under normal circumstances, when he had time in Town, his cousin would use the suite reserved for his exclusive use at Darcy House. Given his ailing brother, he was residing at Matlock House with his parents to offer whatever moral support he could.

Killion had shown Richard into the study where Darcy had been going over some last minute correspondence he needed to take care of before departing his London Home. When he had looked up, he had not missed the intense look his cousin was giving him. Darcy had put his quill down, and gave Richard his full attention. “It seems you have something you wish to convey to me,” Darcy had commented.

“A few things actually,” Richard had responded.

“First I have a question. Is there any change in Andy?” Darcy had enquired. “I know it would take His Hand to save your brother now.”

“As much as I would like to report Andy is improving, it would be wishful thinking and not accurate,” Richard had replied. “I am not sure what will ultimately take his life, the opium or the pox. The amount of opium which needs to be administered to calm him is enormous, and each time more is required. I suppose it is a blessing he is insensible and not feeling the pain in his body.”

“Was he able to pray for forgiveness?” Darcy had wondered.

“Mother told me he did so when he was lucid about a sennight before I arrived. As much as I never wanted to be the viscount, it is inevitable now,” Richard had shaken his head. “It is my future I want to discuss with you.” Darcy had indicated the chairs before his desk and waited for his cousin to sit. “I am no longer in the army. I had been putting off resigning and selling out for as long as I could, but with Andy on his deathbed, I could not delay it any longer. You remember Father had already made sure I could not be sent to a combat zone, do you not?”

“I do, even though I do not like the reason why, I am well pleased that you will not go into battle again,” Darcy had commented.

“Do you remember I told you a young lady in the Meryton neighbourhood had caught my eye?”

Darcy had nodded.

“As I told you, it is not Miss Elizabeth Bennet, but it is a Bennet. Miss Mary.”

Darcy had stopped himself before he began to rattle off objections similar to those he had considered using on Bingley. Before he opened his mouth, he had thought about the fact Richard was never one to be swayed from his course unless it was something he saw for himself. If his closest friend in the world had chosen Miss Mary Bennet to be his future wife, then it was certainly not his place to say anything negative.

“Why Miss Mary?” Darcy had queried.

Richard had related his meeting and growing attraction to Miss Mary, who in his opinion was as beautiful as her sisters. The more he spoke, the more Darcy had realised his cousin was as in love with Miss Mary as he was with Miss Elizabeth. He had to admit Richard spoke of parts of the lady’s character he had never seen, but as he admitted to himself regarding Bingley and Miss Bennet, he did not see nearly as much as he had liked to think he did. “I spoke to her before I departed. I had thought to see if she would like an informal courtship, but she was more than willing to enter a formal one.”

“What about when Andy passes away? It will delay your courtship by six months,” Darcy observed.

“Mary and I discussed this before I departed Longbourn and she will wait as long as is needed. And no, it is not because I will be a viscount. She would have followed the drum if that was what was needed to be with me,” Richard had reported. “My parents had said if I desire to, they are sanguine with my proposing six weeks after Andy’s death. When we marry, there will be no ball beforehand or lavish wedding breakfast, but as long as I am married to Mary, I care not about all of that. Knowing her, I would wager she will say the same thing.”

“If she makes you as happy as she seems to, then I will welcome her as a cousin,” Darcy had stated as he stood and offered Richard his hand.

As he sat against the squabs thinking of Richard’s revelations, he was certain that had he allowed his mouth to lead before he could think clearly, he would have damaged the relationship between them, perhaps, irreparably. He said a prayer of thanks, not for the first time, that he had engaged his brain before he had allowed himself to say anything.

Besides, with Bingley marrying Miss Bennet in January and Richard marrying Miss Mary at some later point, he would be in Miss Elizabeth’s company often. He would do what he needed to do in order to improve her opinion of him.

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

Abraham Bennet loved being outdoors, always seeking adventure and, even when a rather large storm hit, unbeknownst to his father and others in his party, Abe had slipped out of the cabin and made his way to the deck so he could observe the crew while they battled the howling wind and big waves while clap of thunder after clap of thunder peeled overhead, each one following a bolt of lightning almost without delay.

Instead of scaring him, Abe felt exhilarated as the storm battered the ship. Rather than retreat, he crept closer to where the men were fighting to protect the ship and the passengers she was carrying. He was so intent on watching the goings on, he did not notice when a spar attached to one of the yardarms broke off and fell towards the deck. At the last moment, before the hurtling piece of wood landed on his head, Abe heard the screams of warning and dove to his side. It fell on his legs hitting below his knees, causing excruciating pain before the sixteen year old young man passed out.

The horrified crew members who had seen what had occurred moved the piece of timber as soon as they were able, while two men carried young Abe to the ship’s surgeon and another went to call Mr Bennet.

James had not been sleeping given the way the ship was being tossed around like a flimsy piece of paper on the wind. Hence, when there was an urgent knock on his cabin’s door, he was up with alacrity. He saw the bosun outside wringing his cap.

“Young Abe came to the deck to watch, an’ a piece of one of the lower yardarms broke and fell on ‘is legs,” the man reported.

“Where is my son?” James demanded as he dressed in his coat and laced his boots. He was off quickly towards where the bosun told him the surgeon was seeing to his youngest child. He had never felt such fear since it had become obvious his Mattie would not survive. He burst into the crew’s mess which was being used by the surgeon and almost cast up his accounts when he saw his unconscious son lying on the table, the lower parts of his legs at angles they should not be.

James was about to dive towards the table as the surgeon worked, seemingly ignoring the pitching of the ship, when a pair of strong arms caught him and held him back.

“Bennet, you will do your son no favours if you try interfering with Mr Dunmeyer. Allow him to do his work,” Captain Hillard commanded. When he saw a curt nod from Bennet, he released his strong grip holding the man back. “Allow me to speak to Dunmeyer, once we know what he thinks, we will be able to make informed decisions.

“I will hear what the surgeon has to say,” James insisted.

“Steven Dunmeyer, Mr James Bennet. That is his youngest son,” Hillard looked towards the injured young man on the table. “Can you fix him?”

“If it had been one leg, I could have, but we need to get this boy to dry land. Did you not tell me at dinner yesterevening that we are not far from the west coast of Iceland?” the Surgeon asked without looking up from his work.

“Aye, we are less than a day from the coast, and according to the charts, the closest harbour is in the town of Stykkishólmur,” Hillard stated.

“How will my boy be taken care of in some small village in the middle of nowhere?” James demanded worriedly. For an instant he had a flash of a thought that he should have never left the van Buren farm. He realised it was his worry speaking. Abe had done what he had too many times before, sought adventure, and this time he had been hurt for his foolishness.

“Stykkishólmur is a fishing village from what I have read,” Hillard replied. “Unfortunately, fishing can be a dangerous business, so these towns always have surgeons and doctors experienced with injuries garnered at sea. The storm is subsiding. As soon as I am able to fix our position when I can see the stars, we will make for the coast and Stykkishólmur.”

What Captain Hillard told him made James feel a little more confident, but he would not feel easy until his son was on the mend. As hard as it would be, he needed to tell Henry and Maria, and then the rest of those travelling with them.

With the calmer seas, Henry had just fallen asleep when his father shook him awake. He watched as Pa knocked on the door leading to Maria’s cabin. She joined him in her dressing gown, looking as tired as he felt. He did not see Abe.

“You know how danger pulls your brother to it. Well tonight was no different…” James told his two eldest what he had been told of the accident and what the Captain had said in the crew’s mess where Abe was being tended. “For an instant I blamed my brother, but I knew that was not true. Your brother has always taken chances he should not. Until tonight, he has escaped any serious injury. I had no right to try and apportion blame to Thomas. When I started thinking along those lines, I heard your mother’s voice in my head admonishing me.”

“Pa, will he be well? Will he walk again, and will we not be delayed for months in this town, Styk…something?” Henry asked.

“It is Stykkishólmur. And we may be delayed, but we will do what we must to make sure Abe is well before we continue on to England. If I remember the maps I studied when I was at Cambridge, we are about two thirds of the way to the United Kingdom. Once Abe is allowed to travel, it will take about a week to ten days to reach England. Before this ship resumes its journey, I will write a letter to my brother and tell him of our delay,” James informed his older son and daughter.

“What of the Freemans, Biggs, and Johns?” Henry enquired.

“If they want to continue on and wait for us at my estate in Hertfordshire, they are free to do so, if not, we will all remain together,” James responded.

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

The next day the ship reached the harbour at the town of Stykkishólmur. Thankfully Captain Hillard’s prediction there would be medical care available was accurate.

Mr Dunmeyer had done what he could with his limited supplies and the swaying of the ship once the seas had calmed again. He accompanied his patient ashore and gave the local men all the information he was able to relate. The men understood why it was too much to be dealt with on board ship.

The local surgeon and doctor, who thankfully spoke English if broken and heavily accented, said they had seen similar injuries before and knew what to do to repair the lad.

James was somewhat concerned when the surgeon told him he may have to perform surgery to make sure the bones were in the right place. It was something the man had done more than a few times, but would only operate if he was sure there was no other way. James felt a little more confident when Mr Dunmeyer told him the local men had many skills he did not.

On discussing their options with the Freemans and the two huge men, neither the family nor the men would consider sailing on without the four Bennets. Captain Hillard would not sail until he was certain his passengers were comfortably situated.

The town had no inn, but there was a house on a lot of land with two cottages which were all available to rent. James took them so they would all have roofs over their heads until Abe was well enough to travel. He wrote a letter to his brother which he entrusted to Captain Hillard before the Miranda sailed. James also entrusted the bulk of his funds to Hillard to have held in a safe in the offices of the shipping line. He retained a bag with not a few gold sovereigns in it. One of them paid for three months’ rent on the house and cottages.

Even though the accident was not due to negligence by him or his crew, Hillard was determined that after he made his report at the main offices in Liverpool, he would recommend the Dennington Lines should do what they needed to do to deliver the Bennets and their party to England’s shores.

Two days after the Miranda sailed, much to James Bennet’s relief, the Swedish surgeon, Mr Lars Skarsg?rd, after a lengthy consultation with the doctor who was his brother, Stellan, determined he would not need to perform surgery to place Abe’s bones properly. He told James that thankfully the breaks had been fairly clean, and he could feel no splinters from either bone in the right or left leg. When James asked, both Messrs Skarsg?rd agreed it would be a minimum of two months before he could think about safely moving his son. Neither man saw a reason why Abe would not recover full mobility once his leg muscles were strengthened again.

On the fourth day they had all been resident in Stykkishólmur, James and his two older children were visiting Abe, who was still sedated with laudanum. That morning was the first time the Skarsg?rds’ nurse had been told not to give the patient any drops of the drug.

The three Bennets sitting at the bedside watched as Abe’s eyelids fluttered open. “ Godverdomme !” Abe exclaimed in Dutch. “Why am I in so much pain?”

“Abraham Thomas Bennet, you do not take the Lord’s name in vain!” Maria scolded. “We know you are in pain dom dom , but you watch your mouth. It was not His fault you went up on the deck in the storm and a piece of the mast fell on you.”

The memories came flooding back to Abe. “That was really dom of me, I swear I will never do something like that again, Pa,” he vowed through the throbbing pain from both legs. “What happened to me, and why can I not feel the ship’s movement?”

“Firstly, I would prefer none of you use expletives, in either Dutch or English. Your mother was never happy that her father used those words in your hearing,” James admonished his two younger children. “Both of your legs were broken, a few inches above your ankles, by a piece of a yardarm which snapped off in the storm. You do not feel movement because we are in the town of Stykkishólmur in Iceland where we will remain until you are well enough to travel again. As to the future and what you will or will not do, I want you to get well first, and then we will think of those things.”

“Pa, I am so sorry. Because of my selfishness, we will not see your brother, his family, and the estate for much longer than it would have been,” Abraham said contritely as some tears escaped his eyes.

“Recuperate and get healthy first; that is the only important thing now. After waiting for more than five and twenty years to claim my estate, a few more months will not hurt me. I have written to my brother to explain why we are delayed so he will not think something untoward happened, well at least not to all of us,” James stated.

Just then the nurse came into the room. With her limited English vocabulary, she made it known that Abe needed his rest. After kissing his youngest’s forehead, James led his other two children out of the Skarsg?rds’ house.