Page 19 of Pride, Prejudice and Prudence

“Her reputation is ruined if word should get out, even if we do manage to recover her,” Mr Bennet said, adding to the distress of his eldest daughters, but they loved their little sister and needed to know the whole of it.

“What is to be done to recover her?” Elizabeth asked. “How are we to pay the ransom if we do not know where they are?”

“I will pen a reply explaining it will take time to get the funds together, but I do not like having to leave her in so precarious a position until the monies are to hand.”

“I have men who are familiar with the less salubrious parts of London, ready to follow the messenger,” their uncle said.

“Let us hope she can be found, for we have no guarantee of her safety.”

“He cannot be so bad,” Jane said, and her father replied.

“Think that if it gives you comfort, Jane.” But Elizabeth knew that Jane was really just trying to comfort herself, as she was as worried for Lydia’s safety as they all were.

The note was penned and handed to the messenger, and their uncle Gardiner’s men followed at a distance, thankful that the messenger was on foot and seemed neither to notice nor care if he was followed.

The men were gone above three hours, and finally they returned. No one had to ask if they had been successful; it was plain from their expressions and the hunch of their shoulders that they had not.

“It were like hide and seek and chasing, together with blind man’s bluff,” said Jack, his thick London accent making him difficult to understand. “The first fella were easy enough to follow; he had no mind of us, and when he handed it off to the second, we thought for sure we had him,” he said, shaking his head. “But then it were handed to a third and fourth, and they were into this inn and out the back door and around and about and, to be honest, I cannot say for sure that the last two had the message at all,” he said, his head hanging down in defeat.

“It was a long shot, Jack,” Mr Gardiner said, “you tried your best. Go now and get Mildred to get you both some supper; you both look dead on your feet.”

It was two days before any reply was received, and Jane and Elizabeth both grabbed each other’s hands, and those of their aunt Gardiner, when it was accompanied by a bunch of Lydia’s light brown hair. Their father did not show them this note, but his face went pale before he gave it to their uncle to read.

“I have nearly that in the cash hold in the warehouse,” he said, and I’m sure with what we have at hand in the house between us, we should be able to comply.”

“What is it, Papa?” Elizabeth asked.

“He has requested one thousand pounds,” he said.

Elizabeth gave a sigh of relief. “She will be returned,” she said, needing the confirmation, but her father shook his head.

“No, Elizabeth, this is an interim payment, in goodwill, ensuring that Lydia will be kept safe while the monies are gathered. Elizabeth kept her face from showing what she thought, as her father said the words “kept safe,” for she knew that implied that their sister might be in grave danger, but she did not wish to distress Jane any further. She need not have tried so hard because Jane had understood the implications of the words and the delivery of Lydia's tresses.

“Do I send my men to follow again?” their uncle Gardiner enquired, and their father shook his head.

“It is not worth the risk; he might not like that. And especially as there is so little chance of success.”

Chapter 32

It had been six days since the first letter had arrived from Lieutenant, or rather now Mr Wickham, because he had been marked as a deserter and had therefore lost the right to that title. Mr Wickham’s last letter had instructed that a candle was to be left in the window of the top floor’s most westerly room, on the evening once the funds were available, and instructions would arrive to deliver them on the morrow. Jane had agreed to be delivered back to Longbourn to help manage the situation there, and ensure that no word of Lydia’s situation escaped Longbourn.

The evening was but four hours away, and Elizabeth was eager to see the candle lit and Lydia one step closer to home, but the candle was never to be set alight, for the clatter of hoofs marked the arrival of a hired hackney cab.

Elizabeth ran to the window, joined by her aunt and Jane, while their father and uncle went to the door to see who was arriving. Elizabeth saw a young man step down. He had sandy brown hair, was of slight figure and stature, and was dressed in clothing that marked him as a man of class, if not wealth. He turned to the cab and helped a young woman down, who looked to be a maid, and then reached a hand up a second time. Elizabeth's breath came out in a gasp, which was shared by her aunt. She turned and ran immediately to the entrance of the house. She arrived just as she saw Lydia being grabbed in an embrace by their father!

Elizabeth reached out as if to take her, but her father shook his head, “Not on the street,” he said. “Let us all get inside.”

Once inside, Mr Bennet released his youngest daughter into the arms of her elder sisters, and the safekeeping of her aunt, leading the young man to Mr Gardiner’s study and the maid to the care of his housekeeper.

Lydia was pale and shaking but seemed physically unharmed. Mrs Gardiner called for a hot bath to be made up for her and a hot chocolate too, which brought a faint smile to Lydia’s lips.

The hot bath and chocolate having arrived, Mrs Gardiner sent her maid away, and instead she, Jane and Elizabeth helped Lydia undress. Elizabeth had thought it merely a kindness, but later she realised that her aunt had been inspecting Lydia to ensure she was uninjured. Elizabeth had seen some bruising on her arm and on one of her sides. When her aunt had questioned her, the entire story began to come out, broken only by the occasional sob.

“I was in the garden, and Miss Farnsworth had asked to be excused as the bright light had given her an ache of the head. She was not gone for more than ten minutes when Lieutenant Wickham arrived with another man,” she said. “I did not know who the other man was at the time, but Lieutenant Wickham called him Young,” she said. “Lieutenant Wickham doffed his hat at me and sought entrance into the garden, expressing that he had something he wished to discuss with Papa. But he did not,” she said, her eyes seeking those of her sisters’.

“I am not full sure what happened next, but I believe that Mr Young must have hit me over the head.” Jane gasped at this, but did not interrupt, and Lydia continued without pause. “I cannot recall anything but waking up in a dirty carriage with a head so sore I was sure I should die,” she said, and a sensation of fondness went through Elizabeth, for it reminded her so much of Lydia’s dramatic pronouncements whenever she had hurt herself as a little girl. But a frown overtook her face not a moment later, because her little sister had been in real danger, and that hit on the head might have ended in tragedy.

“I tried to speak to demand that he release me, but he had a cloth tied around my mouth. If he had not, I would have screamed for help, but I could not. We travelled for many hours, I knew not where, and I fell asleep for a time. The next time I awoke, I was at an inn, not like the inn at Meryton, Lizzy,” she said. “It was dank and dark, and it smelled so bad, I know not of what, I am glad to say. They brought me inside by the back door, and a woman was awaiting me. Some tension left her aunt’s body, which Elizabeth had not known she had been holding.