Page 65 of Master of Himself

“I beg your pardon for the intrusion, but we have just spoken to your niece,” Darcy said.

Her eyes grew wide at this news. “You’ve seen Lydia?”

“Just thirty minutes ago.”

She rushed out of the room and called to her husband. “Edward, come this instant,” she said, knocking on a door in another part of the house. Darcy exchanged curious glances with Charles.

Appearing haggard and pale, Mr Bennet entered the parlour, followed by another younger man. “Have you found Lydia?”

“Yes, sir, she is with Mr Wickham at a boarding house on Surrey Street,” Darcy said, attempting to remain calm. Then added, “My friend was able to discover their location from a former employee, who is Wickham’s close companion.”

Mr Bennet released a weary sigh, then introduced the Gardiners to Darcy and Bingley. “My brother and I have been out for hours searching for my daughter. Can you take us to her?” he inquired.

The four men immediately left the house, and Darcy whistled to Lockhart, who was walking the horses down the street. While they waited, Mr Bennet mumbled to himself as he paced over the flagway. When the driver returned, Darcy gave the order to return to Surrey Street, and they were off.

“Perhaps you might explain your prior connection to Wickham,” Darcy said to Charles, hoping he recalled the story he had told last week.

“Yes, of course,” Charles said. “His father was my father’s steward, and we were the best of friends in our schooldays. However, at university, his interests took a wild turn, and he succumbed to every possible vice. Four years ago, he received four thousand pounds from a bequest in my father’s will, but he squandered it all away on disreputable pursuits. This past August, I thwarted his scheme to fly to the border with my sister.”

“Dear Lord,” Mr Bennet said, while Mr Gardiner scowled in disdain. “Had I known, I wouldn’t have allowed my daughters to associate with him.”

Charles flushed to the roots of his hair. “No…of course not…I ought to have confided in you sooner…but since he joined the militia, I thought he would attempt to appear respectable.”

Darcy couldn’t bear to hear his friend making excuses for his own failures. “Knowing of Darcy’s prior acquaintance with Wickham, Miss Elizabeth sent me a note this morning to inquire after his favourite haunts in town. Since time was of the essence, we immediately set out in search of him,” he said. He then recounted the events of the morning, the details of the offer Wickham had refused, and Lydia’s determination to remain with him.

Mr Bennet clenched his jaw. “I assure you, I shall tolerate no refusal from my daughter,” he said in a steely voice. “She pretended to have a headache last night. I should have known that no ailment could have been too great to keep her from dancing with her friends or the officers.”

Darcy had come to a similar delayed conclusion about the couples’ absence.

“Once you arrive, all will be resolved,” Charles said.

Although Darcy appreciated his friend’s optimism, he doubted a swift resolution to this issue.

“I hope you may be right,” Mr Bennet said with a grim façade. “We discovered that Lydia was missing last night when the girls came home from the assembly. We were unable to keep my heir from learning of the matter, and he railed against me and my family. I refused to withstand his insults and threw him out of my house. As you may well imagine, my wife is beside herself with worry, but my daughters will explain Lydia’s absence by claiming that she has come to town with me.”

Darcy recalled the despairing tone of Elizabeth’s note and hoped that she and her sisters wouldn’t suffer for Lydia’s folly.

Upon being admitted to the house on Surrey Street, Darcy followed Mr Bennet and Mr Gardiner inside and tossed a coin to the answering servant. “We know the way.”

Upstairs, he pointed to Wickham’s door, and Mr Bennet opened it without knocking.

Lydia jumped to her feet. “Papa, what are you doing here?” she said as Darcy closed the door behind him. Wickham was nowhere in sight.

“Pack your things. You’re coming home with me.”

Lydia stood firm. “No, Papa. Mr Wickham and I are to be married.”

“Where is he?” her father inquired.

“He went to the dining room to get us some breakfast.”

Mr Bennet removed a gown from a peg on the wall and shoved it into a valise, but Lydia attempted to retrieve her property from her father. “Don’t do that, Papa. You’ll wrinkle everything.”

Ignoring her, he continued to collect Lydia’s things. “Get your bonnet and pelisse.”

“No, Papa. I shan’t go,” she said, attempting to wrest the valise from her father’s grasp.

“Didn’t Miss Elizabeth advise you of Wickham’s reputation, Miss Lydia?” Darcy inquired, recalling his brief meeting with her the morning after George’s arrival in Meryton. Was it possible that she hadn’t warned her sisters of the blackguard?