Chapter 28
It was humiliating for Wickham to have to ask Karen Younge to rent a carriage, but thanks to his lack of funds, there had been no choice.
She had refused to give him the money to do so on his own.
The carriage would be waiting on a path behind the trees, out of sight when the young duchess walked with the simpleton, Clay Younge.
Wanting to be sure that all of those departing would actually do so, Wickham had hidden where he could watch the entrance to Longbourn on the Monday morning after the wedding.
He watched as coach after coach departed in the direction of the road to London.
Even better was the fact that two hulking men were on the back bench of one carriage.
With the number of outriders and men with each conveyance, he could see that very few footmen had been left to guard his soon-to-be wife.
He had to admit that the Younge twins had done very well. It was almost a pity that they would be arrested and executed, but he would not share his newfound wealth with them. In the end, he did not regret the fate he would consign them to.
On Tuesday morning, Wickham was up before there was any trace of light in the eastern sky.
Dressed warmly against the morning chill, he made his way to Oakham Mount in order to make sure the area where he intended to wait was good and devoid of any others.
He had been here before to look about the wooded area, and, as before, there was no movement within other than the early morning breeze causing a susurration among the leaves of the trees.
By this time, the sky was beginning to lighten, meaning that the duchess and Younge would be on their way soon.
Knowing this was the time, Wickham walked to the other end of the wooded area and there he saw the promised carriage, pulled by a single horse.
He suspected one of the Younges had told the man not to depart without one of them inside.
Because of that, he had given up on sticking to his original plan to have the Younges arrested while he escaped.
As such, he did not send any information to the knight he had learnt was the magistrate.
After verifying the rented conveyance was already present and convinced that he was alone, Wickham sat in the spot he had chosen the previous time he had come to look at the area.
That spot was to the side of a tree, which gave him a good view of the path leading to the base of the hill.
At the same time, one on the path would have a hard time seeing him.
Noting the sky lightening significantly, Wickham knew that his wait would be a short one now.
Soon he would get his due. If only his mother was still alive to see how well he would do for himself.
Wickham cared not that his father had never supported his mother’s teachings and had attempted to tell him everything she taught him was wrong.
He desperately wanted those things Mother had told him were his due, which had led to him ignoring his father’s words.
Besides, what did he care for his father when each time he had applied to his sire for funds, the same reply had been received: ‘Come work for it, and I will happily pay you.’ Now his father would see.
When he had all of the Osbourne wealth at his fingertips, and possibly became a duke, he would not know his father or give him anything.
He pushed his musings aside as soon as he saw a female he identified as Lady Bethany walking along the path.
Wickham could see Younge following her at a distance, just like Karen had said he would.
Feeling confident, as soon as she was close to where he had been hiding, he stepped out of the treeline, pistol in hand.
“Who are you, and why are you here on my father’s land?” Bethany demanded.
“I am your abductor. Unless you want me to shoot you, you will accompany me to the carriage waiting on the other side of the trees,” Wickham drawled.
“I suppose, if you do not come willingly, Younge and I will have to force you, and if you are too much trouble, I will have to ransom your corpse to your mother.”
“You do understand that there were some who attempted what you are trying now, and it did not go too well for them, do you not?” Bethany stated, arms akimbo.
Why was this slip of a girl not afraid? “Enough, Younge secure her, bind and gag her if need be,” Wickham commanded. He watched as Younge did not move. “Now, you great lummox, you!” Still, Younge did nothing.
“Clay, does this criminal think you are here to assist him?” Bethany asked.
“Yes, Yir Grace, ‘e does. ‘E thinks we don’ know what ‘e’s about,” Younge replied. He had slowly been closing the distance between himself and the duchess knowing Wickham would think it was to assist him.
“In that case, I will shoot the idiot and take you anyway!” Wickham exclaimed exasperatedly. Saying that, Wickham pulled the hammer back and swivelled to point the weapon at Younge.
“John, Brian, please relieve this man of his pistol,” Bethany ordered.
Before he could move, Wickham felt the blade of a knife at his throat.
A huge man appeared before him and ripped the pistol from his hands.
Only once he was disarmed did the knife move from his throat, but not before nicking the skin, which caused a few drops of blood to escape. An instant later, he was trussed up.
When he looked around, there were many men, including Lord Meryton, his son, the Darcys, and the Fitzwilliams among them. This could not be! He had seen them depart, and the brother was still supposed to be abed.
“How many times has your father begged you to change your ways, to earn your money honestly, but you have always refused?” Holderness stated as he shook his head. “Now, you are beyond all help. You should have taken Lady Bethany’s warning to heart because you, George Wickham, are for the tower.”
“Before you think you ever had a chance, you never did. Did you think I would allow my daughter anywhere close to you unless I was guaranteed you had no ability to harm her? Besides everything else, your pistol could not shoot. ” Meryton extended his hand to Johns, who handed him the pistol he had removed from the miscreant’s hands.
Meryton pulled the hammer back, and after pointing the barrel towards a tree where no one was standing, he squeezed the trigger.
Other than a click, nothing happened. “The pistol is useless, and the gunpowder was switched with something which looks similar but will never burn.” Meryton regarded the miscreant with disdain.
“Your plan failed before you had made it properly. We have known what you were about since shortly after Miss and Mr Younge were employed at Kiveton Park.”
All Wickham could do was stare blankly at the men grinning at him malevolently. He could not comprehend how his perfect plan had been undone.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The day the Younges applied for positions at Kiveton Park
Mr and Mrs Buxton, Hornby Castle’s butler and housekeeper, were at Kiveton Park to speak to some of those who had applied for positions.
With them was an under-butler and assistant housekeeper from the castle who would fill the two senior house staff positions at Kiveton Park.
They would assist with meeting those applying and then learn more about the house from the Buxtons.
With the young duchess returned, and her decision to keep and reopen the manor house at the estate, many positions needed to be filled.
The lady who had been chosen to be the housekeeper at Kiveton Park, Mrs Johnson, was seated in the housekeeper’s office with Mrs Buxton as one woman after another who applied for various roles in the house were interviewed by them.
Mr Buxton and the man who would be the butler, Mr Waterford, were doing the same in the butler’s office with the male applicants.
The second to last woman the two housekeepers spoke to was one Karen Younge.
Mrs Buxton was in the latter half of her fifties, but her memory was as sharp as ever.
She read the young woman’s characters, which were clearly forged.
Then, she searched her memories and recalled a conversation she had with Becky Younge some days before her brother-in-law had murdered her.
Suspecting something was afoot, she excused herself, saying she needed the privy.
She told two footmen to stand at her office door to make sure no one exited.
Then, she went to go see her husband and Mr Waterford, who at that moment had Clay Younge before them.
Seeing that their mother—Clara Buxton remembered how Becky had told her about her twins, Clay and Karen—had been part of the plot to kidnap Lady Bethany, she would take no chances. It could not be a coincidence that the twins were seeking employment right after the return of Lady Bethany.
Mr Buxton excused himself from the office on seeing his wife beckon to him from the door. “What is it, Clara?” he asked when they had moved away from the office.
“Joshua, that man is Becky Younge’s son, and I have the daughter, his twin, in my office looking for work.
Something is not right, especially as her characters are forged.
I would wager so are his,” Mrs Buxton said quietly.
She related that she had two footmen outside the door of her office where Mrs Johnson was still speaking to Miss Younge.
“Bring her to my…well it will be Waterford’s office now. We will have footmen in the room and post several outside and get to the bottom of this,” Buxton said.
Mrs Buxton returned to the housekeeper’s office where the two footmen were waiting as instructed. She entered the room. “Miss Younge, you will come with me to the butler’s office. I know who you are and that your characters are not true,” she stated dispassionately.