Page 58 of Undone

The sergeant stepped forward, but Wickham did not immediately rise. He looked towards Mrs. Younge, and the easy charm he had worn upon entering was entirely gone. “You would be a fool to trust them,” he said. “Darcy’s promises are worth no more now than they were when his father died.”

Darcy’s hands tightened at his sides, though he made no movement towards him. “My father provided you with every advantage he could bestow. Do not profane his memory by pretending yourself injured.”

Wickham pushed himself to his feet. “He promised me Kympton.”

“He wished you to have the living if you took orders. You renounced it in writing and accepted three thousand pounds in its place.”

“You cheated me with that offer.” Wickham snapped.

“You negotiated it.”

Forster rose, his patience plainly exhausted. “Remove him.”

Wickham allowed himself to be led towards the door, but before passing through it, he looked back once more at Mrs. Younge. There was warning in the glance and something resembling fear beneath it. Mrs. Younge watched him go without speaking, though Darcy saw her fingers loosen from her gown as soon as the door closed behind him.

Twenty-Three

Hertfordshire

4th December, 1811

Darcy

The room became quieter in his absence. Mrs. Younge remained seated, her face turned towards the dying fire while Colonel Forster resumed his place beside the table. Fitzwilliam made no immediate attempt to question her, and the silence slowly pressed upon her until the soft ticking of the clock upon the mantel seemed unnaturally loud.

“You intend to leave me here until I speak,” she said at last.

“No,” Fitzwilliam replied. “If you choose silence, you shall be taken before a magistrate. I merely wished to give you an opportunity to consider whose interests Wickham has protected during the last quarter of an hour.”

Mrs. Younge pressed her lips together. “He is frightened.”

“He is a coward,” Darcy said. “There is a difference.”

She looked at him then. The defiance with which she had once faced him at Ramsgate was gone, leaving only weariness and apprehension. “And what of Mrs. Vane? Do you call her a coward also?”

“I do not yet know enough of her character to call her one,” Darcy replied. “You can remedy that.”

Mrs. Younge lowered her gaze once more. “You cannot protect me from her.”

“She left you to be apprehended at St. Albans,” Fitzwilliam said. “Do you suppose she will risk herself to save you? Whatever protection you believed she could offer ended the moment you ceased to be of use to her.”

“You do not understand.”

“Then explain it.”

She shook her head, though the movement lacked conviction. “Mrs. Vane possesses considerable fortune. She knows men of influence and has servants who would do anything she required. Even now, you cannot be certain she does not know I am here.”

Darcy thought of Pemberley, of every accident and misfortune that had befallen those connected with him, and of the unseen hands that had carried knowledge of his movements and affairs beyond the estate. “That is precisely why we must understand the full extent of her scheme.”

Mrs. Younge gave a short, humourless laugh. “And when I have told you, what becomes of me? You spoke generously before Wickham, Mr. Darcy, but I remember Ramsgate. You dismissed me from your house and threatened to ruin me if I spoke of what had occurred.”

“I paid the wages owing to you and allowed you to depart rather than place the matter before a magistrate. I did so to protect my sister, not you,” Darcy said. “I spared you, and I shall do so again, within the limits of my power, if you assist us fully.”

She studied him as though searching his face for the deception she had so often encountered in others. Darcy permitted the scrutiny without impatience. He had no intention of pleading with her, but neither would he withdraw the offer. If leniency purchased the truth and brought Mrs. Vane's machinations to an end, he would consider the price cheaply paid.

Fitzwilliam drew the account of her journey towards him. “Begin with Buxton. Start from the man you met there.”

“They call him Hale. He is Mrs. Vane's confidential servant.”