Page 18 of Pride, Prejudice and Prudence

Chapter 29

When William returned, he was sans Mr Darcy, for which Elizabeth was glad, as her father repeated that Lydia had eloped with Lieutenant Wickham. But it was many hours later that she thought she would not like for Mr Darcy to know that they were all ruined.

She would have been astonished if she had overheard her cousin’s conversation with Mr Darcy.

“It was not until I returned from Hertfordshire that I recalled where I had heard the name Wickham,” he said. “When I first arrived, Lady Catherine was quite vocal about his behaviour towards your family, and when we were introduced in Hertfordshire, I could not immediately remember why the names Wickham and Darcy were joined in my head. It was only after your aunt recalled to me that you were her nephew that I remembered the whole of it, including the events of last summer.”

Mr Darcy’s face had gone red, and his fists were clenched at his side. “Are you now seeking some reward for your silence?” he asked, the words coming out between tight lips.

Mr Collins looked shocked and shook his head. “No, but the dreadful news Elizabeth is even now being told is that my youngest cousin, Lydia, has eloped with Mr Wickham.”

Mr Darcy went pale at this news, but a part of him was still angry at this man and Elizabeth, or Miss Elizabeth, as he should think of her, as, unlike the parson, she had not given him permission to address her as such.

He replied, “And what is that to me?” even as he was thinking about what he could do.

Mr Collins shook his head, “I think I know enough about your interest in Elizabeth to be sure that it is something to you.”

Mr Darcy sighed and replied in a quiet voice, “You wish to bargain on my feelings even as you use her given name to me,” he said. “Tell me, do you have an understanding?”

Mr Collins’ eyes went wide at this, and he replied, “Indeed, we understand that we are to be as close as siblings, for the Bennet family has taken me as their own brother.” And when the word brother filled the air, the tension with which Mr Darcy had held himself relaxed, and he beseeched the parson to tell him the whole of it, that he might do what he could.

Once Jane had been revived and they had all drunk some hot tea, their father questioned them. He asked if they had seen any interaction between Lydia and Lieutenant Wickham that had concerned them. They both shook their head, saying that neither she nor he had demonstrated any particular interest in each other to their knowledge. Their father had sighed and said that matched Kitty’s account, which had been passed to him by Mary. To her knowledge, Lydia had no special affection for him, and she was as shocked at these events as the rest of them. Their father told them that from Mary’s letter Miss Farnsworth was the equal of Mrs Bennet in her distress. Mary reported that Miss Farnsworth was inconsolable, blaming herself. Mary had reported one final thing, which was at least a small blessing; no word had passed beyond the family, save for Colonel Forster and Hill. The story circulating in Meryton was that Lydia had gone to join with her father and sisters in visiting their uncle in town. Elizabeth remained lost in her own thoughts, wondering if she had missed something that would have alerted them to this possibility.

Chapter 30

“Has she been found?” Mr Bennet asked, as soon as he exited the carriage at Gracechurch Street, to which her uncle only shook his head sadly. He had gone to Longbourn the very evening after the word of Lydia’s elopement had reached him. He knew that Mrs Bennet needed to be reassured that he would find a way to make this right, and no simple letter would be sufficient.

“Colonel Forster arrived yesterday,” Mr Gardiner told him. “He confirmed that none of the company are aware of the elopement, and that from the discreet inquiries he has made, no one was aware of a romance between them.”

“That is well at least, if we can but find them; maybe it need never come out,” their father said. “I am sorry I missed him,” he said. “He left a letter for me at Longbourn, but then we passed on the roads him to London and me to Meryton.”

“Colonel Forster’s letter confirmed that he was sending two men he trusts to be silent, to ride the roads from Meryton towards Scotland. I take it there has been no sign of them?” he asked, and Mr Gardiner merely shook his head.

“What is to be done?” Elizabeth asked. “How are they even to be found?”

“I have sent my men to enquire at inns between Meryton and London,” Mr Gardiner replied. “If they are not gone to Scotland, then London would be the next most-likely destination, for where else are they to remain so well hidden? I judged that you would not want the men from your estate to be alerted,” he said, and Mr Bennet confirmed this was so.

“But what could their purpose be to come to London?” Jane asked. It was the first time she had spoken since Elizabeth had returned from her walk. She was pale, and Elizabeth had held her hand most of the way to London, and it had been shaking, but so too had Elizabeth’s.

“He means to extort funds from me, I have no doubt,” their father replied. “It is possible that some rumour of our good fortune reached him,” he said, addressing his brother. Mr Collins heard this, and Elizabeth was surprised he evinced no curiosity about this good fortune. She did not know that her father had already discussed it with him, and indeed, future plans for Longbourn.

“It will not be long until we will hear from him,” he said. “He means to get funds on the back of this elopement, you mark my words,” he said ostensibly to Jane, but really to them all.

The letter came two days later, but it was not the one they expected. Rather than being a request for a generous dowry, being extortion dressed as romance, it was instead, a clear and unequivocal offer to return Lydia on the payment of fifty thousand pounds. This was not an elopement; it was an abduction.

Having perused the letter and on re-reading it twice, he handed it to Jane and Lizzy.

“How is such a sum to even be raised?” Elizabeth asked. “He must be insane.”

But her father did not seem so poleaxed by the massive amount requested. “How long will it take, Edward?” he enquired of his brother, Gardiner.

“At least a week, Thomas, mayhap even two,” he replied, and Elizabeth’s mouth dropped open. Could her father truly have so much money? “It will need to be done discreetly to ensure that no rumours are borne from it. You are to bring the older girls to London for the season – if any talk starts, it will fall on them.”

“But why is he seeking such an amount?” Jane asked, not having fully comprehended the meaning of the letter. “Surely if he loves her, he would not be wishing for so very large a dowry.”

“It is not a dowry, my dear,” Mr Bennet said, patting Jane on the back while catching Elizabeth’s eye and seeing she had understood. “This is not an elopement; it is a kidnapping,” and Mr Collins was just in time to catch Jane as she fainted away again, but being so slight a man, he nearly fell to the ground himself with the weight of her and would have, if not for Mr Bennet aiding him in time.

Chapter 31