A Mutual Accord

Chapter 54

CHAPTER 54

T he fighting raged all over Eastbourne for hours; things did not get quiet until the sky was turning grey with the dawn. Elizabeth had seen so many dead men on the beach and leading to the village just on her short journey to this cottage, and she was profoundly affected. Tears ran down her cheeks as she spent hours on her knees with Mrs Hobley and her children, praying for the safe deliverance of John Hobley and the other villagers. Elizabeth could not help but weep at the thought of all of the spinsters and widows who lived in the heart of the village, who had no husbands or even manservants to defend them.

Darcy and Richard returned for the prisoner as the sun was rising. Elizabeth threw herself into Darcy’s arms as Mrs Hobley went to her front door and cried out, rushing to her husband, who was limping home to the small line of cottages with some other men. Darcy thanked the Hobleys for their assistance, and insisted on giving them a monetary reward for offering Elizabeth shelter and housing a prisoner. The Hobleys would not hear of any such thing, John Hobley referring to his gratitude for William’s protection of his family. Darcy ignored all refusals, leaving a generous sum on their table as Richard and William dragged Huggins, who had still not regained consciousness, out of the front door.

They had not travelled more than a dozen steps before a man came charging out of the shadows, screaming at the top of his lungs. As the officer whom Richard had earlier called Spaulding lunged at Richard from behind with a dagger in his hand, William Bennet turned, raised the mace he had found by the local man who had been killed, and protected his friend. With a powerful swing, the mace made contact with the side of Brigadier Spaulding’s head. The result was too grotesque to be described, and Elizabeth cried out in horror at the scene.

William and Richard both stood in shock, Richard at the realisation that he had just nearly been stabbed in the back, and William, in shock that he had just taken a life. William rushed to the edge of the lane and was ill in the bushes, and Elizabeth rushed to bring him what comfort she was able. Darcy only looked at his cousin, as shocked as the others by what had nearly just happened.

Elizabeth and Darcy followed Richard, William, and some of the other men to the beach, dragging Spaulding and Huggins behind them, where they met the mayor, Mr MacArthur. The cannonfire from the water had stopped some time ago, great cries of HUZZAH could be heard from the warships on the water, and there were two rowboats heading to shore. When they landed, Elizabeth learned that these boats conveyed Captain Wentworth and Admiral Croft, who had hidden in the waters for some days along with a few other captains at the request of Richard. Croucher joined them with Tom Tyler, whom he had retrieved from the tower when it became safe enough to do so.

Introductions were being made when two men approached on horseback. One they all knew, the Comte St Germain . The other was known to Richard as the quartermaster general of the British Army. Richard and the other officers present saluted, and more introductions were made. The quartermaster general addressed Elizabeth.

“I have been told that you have been privy to some conversations that were not meant for your ears, but the details of which will assist us in identifying those of our own who are responsible for tonight’s events, Miss Bennet,” he said. “I hope you will not mind if I call upon you for an interview.”

“Of course, sir,” Elizabeth assured the general. She then addressed St Germain. “ Monsieur le comte , why did you leave us? Where have you been all night?”

“Ah, mademoiselle , I apologise,” answered the comte . “I was obligated to warn an old friend of the danger, and then I met my old acquaintance here as he and his men entered the town. I gave the good general a tour of the hideouts of these bad men who would plot against your country. Much information was found, and several men were arrested.”

“When we met you, and you first visited Bourne House, you said you were here due to our country’s stupidity,” Elizabeth said. “If you knew something was to happen, why would you not have warned anyone?”

“Would anyone have believed me?” scoffed St Germain. “This is the third time I have visited this country to warn those here about the future, and I have been disbelieved every time. Even your good colonel here sent for help which never came, and he is one of you. I came to ensure the safety of an old friend, and to give what little help I am able.”

“But how did you know something was to happen?” asked Darcy.

The comte smiled. “The future is merely a reflection of the past.”

“How do you and the general know each other?” Elizabeth demanded curiously.

“I was one of the officers who watched and interrogated the comte the last time he was imprisoned in London, how many years ago now, comte , more than thirty?” The general shook his head and laughed, “You have not aged any more now than they said you did since you were here in the year 1760. You will understand, my old friend, that we know who the French were visiting, and we have a suspicion of what she is hiding. We will want to question you as to her whereabouts, before you disappear again.”

“Of course,” the comte smiled mysteriously. The general turned the conversation towards the naval men.

“As you know, there are many regiments training in Brighton every summer,” said Admiral Croft with a wide smile. “When we received the express from Colonel Fitzwilliam, I spoke to several colonels who were only too happy to lend us their men for what Wentworth and I described as naval training manoeuvres , and so we set out with our ships filled with fighters. We have had six warships hiding nearby for three days. They were completely unprepared for us. It was only too easy.”

“How are the villagers? Were many lost?” Elizabeth asked anxiously.

“I am very sad to say that many lives have been lost, and half of the village is burning,” answered Mr MacArthur. “Eastbourne has suffered grievously this night.”

“And the threat to the residents of Eastbourne has not passed,” said the general. “There is no way of knowing how many Frenchmen landed. We know only one frigate launched its men. A French frigate can carry three hundred to three hundred and fifty men, perhaps more. Any number of them could still be hiding in the village, or have escaped into the countryside. There shall have to be a curfew for some weeks, MacArthur.”

“Eastbourne will do whatever is required to keep our people safe. I am certain the war office will send whatever is required in the way of militia, to help protect us from any invaders who are left. It is only a shame that help did not arrive earlier.”

“It did, after a fashion,” said the general. “We received yours and Sir Charles Gordon’s letters, and sent Colonel Fitzwilliam here to investigate. Unfortunately, the brigadier in charge of supervising his mission reportedly turned traitor.”

“He was seen by young Tom Tyler delivering this packet to Colonel Fitzwilliam’s safehouse,” piped up Croucher, stepping forward and handing the packet to the general. “Two of your men accompanied us to retrieve it.”

Colonel Fitzwilliam briefed the general regarding how Spaulding’s head had come to be bashed in, as the general thumbed through the material in the packet. “This is enough information to see you hanged, Colonel Fitzwilliam. Spaulding was serious in his mission to frame you.”

“He mentioned an old grudge of some kind against Lord Matlock,” said Darcy. “He was raving, and seemed nearly mad with revenge.”

“We had to hide all of the occupants of Bourne House at another location,” said Elizabeth. “He plotted to kill the foreign secretary’s entire family.”

“I heard the same plans while I was imprisoned by them,” agreed Darcy.

When as much information as possible had been shared, Darcy found a carriage and escorted Elizabeth and William to Gordon Lodge, accompanied by a dozen dragoons on horseback. He firmly drew the shades of the carriage, insisting that Elizabeth had endured enough distress without seeing the devastation visited upon the town and its poor residents.

Jane, Mary, and Lydia flew down the stairs to the carriage the moment that Darcy handed Elizabeth down, and threw their arms around her, even as Darcy’s female relations threw themselves upon him. None in the house, nor indeed any of the houses in Eastbourne had slept that night, even the well protected homes. Even the houses well lit with torches that were not attacked were beset by the horror of the screams of the occupants of other nearby houses, or the rough shouts of the French travelling nearby. Thankfully, with Ashley’s early warning, all of the occupants and staff of Bourne House had been safely moved to Gordon Lodge before the landing.

Elizabeth sat in the drawing room and had tea with Lord and Lady Gordon and the occupants of Bourne House while hot water was heated for baths for all of those who had been out all night. Richard had only accompanied them for a bath and a shave, the quartermaster general advising him to see to his grooming before returning to his duties, lest he be taken for one of the French with his thick beard and unwashed appearance.

The ladies and the gentlemen exclaimed and cried out their distress as Elizabeth and the others described the events of the night. Sir Charles Gordon, now that he knew that there were officers all over Eastbourne, that the French had been mostly rounded up, and that his house was safe, kissed his wife and went into the village to do what he could to help. Before he left, he and Lady Gordon expressed their gratitude to Elizabeth, for her warning had not only allowed them to offer aid to Lord Carlisle’s family in their hour of need, but also had enabled them to rush home and see to the safety of their house and children. They vowed to be her dearest friends and most devoted servants until their dying days.

Finally, after a cup of tea and a small sandwich, Elizabeth was swept upstairs by the ladies, given over to the ministrations of a grateful maid who had heard of what Elizabeth had done that night. She was plunged into a bath, then dressed in a nightgown provided by Lady Gordon, and after a hearty meal from a tray of breakfast sent up by the kitchens, fell into bed and did not wake until late that night.