Chapter 23
George Wickham had been suffering under the unjust rules imposed on him for far too long. He had to find a way out of the Gordian knot with which the prig and his family had bound him.
As if God Himself had answered his prayer, he spied an advert in the paper.
He read it a few times to ensure that he had not misread it.
Wickham was afraid that his desire to be free of his restrictions was making him see things which were not there.
Just to be sure, he went to Karen in her office and asked her to read the words he had read and tell him what it said.
“George, are you well?” Mrs Wickham enquired. “It says exactly what you think it does. What is it to you, anyhow? You need to go to work, do you not?”
“I do, but I need to think. If you are willing to help, this will be the way to stop Darcy and his family from persecuting me. You will help me, will you not?” Wickham implored.
“You know I can deny you nothing. Just as long as we do not get hanged like my brother, Clay, was,” Mrs Wickham returned.
“No hanging, but there will be the possibility of gaining enough money for us to leave the squalor of London and make for the New World, where we will be able to begin a new life without the prig like a millstone about my neck,” Wickham offered as enticement.
“Go now, I will wait to hear what you have planned when you come home from work,” Mrs Wickham said. She kissed her husband and watched him go.
Soon Wickham was on the nag that he had been riding since he had lived with Karen.
He had had to marry her to keep living with her rent-free.
Had he refused, she would have thrown him from her house.
Unfortunately, she had known a solicitor who had drawn up a settlement which had left the house as Karen’s property even after the wedding.
He was sure that by the time he got home this evening, he would have thought about and arrived at an infallible plan.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
By the time Wickham, who was so distracted at work that the solicitor finally sacked him, arrived home, he had come up with a plan which would get the prig off his back and make him rich at the same time.
Knowing that Karen would not be pleased he had been sacked without a character, Wickham did not share that particular news with her.
At least, his pocket was heavy with coin as the solicitor had paid him what he owed and added an additional week’s wages out of the goodness of his heart.
What a pity the tale of woe he told did not gain him more than one extra week’s pay.
When he entered the house, he kissed his wife deeply, knowing that would make her forget all about his work for a time.
“I have a failproof plan,” Wickham announced while the deaf manservant cleared the table of their dishes.
“You will be employed as little Georgiana Darcy’s companion.
But for it to work, you must become Mrs Younge.
It is not a name Darcy knows. An application from a Mrs Wickham will never be looked at.
We will have some impressive characters from some of the leading toffs of the Ton written.
Once you are employed, you will work for a few months and be the perfect companion for her.
As we get into the summer, you will suggest a holiday to the coast to her.
From what I remember, she is easily swayed.
That way, you only have to have her ask her brother for permission.
He will deny her nothing. He thinks he is too busy so he will not remain with you.
“As soon as he leaves, I will bump into you and we will work on her until she agrees to elope with me. She has no idea I am married, and neither does the prig. I will go back to Pemberly, after consummating the wedding, and demand her dowry. I seem to remember it is more than twenty thousand pounds. I will sell her back to Darcy for double her dowry plus all my debt receipts he forged. Then, you and I will leave this godforsaken country and make for the Americas.”
“I do not like that your plan will have you consummate the fake wedding. Also, no matter how good the forgeries are, what will happen when Mr Darcy verifies them?” Mrs Wickham queried.
“The only way I will be able to force him to pay us is if I bed the chit. I will not enjoy it. When I do the distasteful deed, I will imagine it is you to make it more palatable, but it must be done. As to the characters, Darcy’s pride will not allow him to question those above him in society.
He will accept them and you will be employed,” Wickham said.
Karen Wickham saw them living in luxury in the Americas. “I will help you in any way that I am able,” she agreed.
Wickham felt the excitement of the impending bedding of someone in his preferred age range. Necessity had forced him into Karen’s bed and then, she had closed the parson’s mousetrap. As soon as he had the money in hand, he would be gone, and she would never see him again.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“Why would you advertise for a companion for Gigi?” Fitzwilliam demanded.
“She is fifteen now and needs one. Her governess left for a new position just before Christmastide last year,” Darcy replied, a little nonplussed. “Why would you object to Gigi having a companion?”
“William, you can be very obtuse at times. I never asked why Gigi needs a companion; I asked why you placed an advert in the papers for one?” Fitzwilliam explained exasperatedly.
“When you seek one this way, you never know who or what you will get.” He pinched the bridge of his nose.
“You have an application here from a Mrs Karen Younge, do you not?”
Darcy stared at his cousin in shock. “I do, but how would you know that; it only arrived today. I was going to contact her, as she has impeccable characters.”
“You mean impeccably forged characters. Let me guess, they were so impressive, you were not going to have them verified?” Fitzwilliam saw his cousin’s mouth fall open to reveal the truth of the information Harry had given him.
“Do you know that she used to be Miss Younge, but that was only until she became Mrs Wickham!”
“Wickham! Has he lost all good sense that he will move against me? Does he not remember what I hold over him?” Darcy stated with the volume of his voice rising.
“He does and that is why he planned…” Fitzwilliam related the whole of the dastardly plan as it had been reported to him by Harry’s man.
“If he had succeeded, tell me you would have been able to resist his demands to purchase Gigi’s freedom?
You may have wanted to give in to him, but I would have run that bastard through.
I still have my sabre, and I promise you I would not have met the hangman had I done so. ”
“How do you know all of this?”
“Hurst,” Fitzwilliam revealed. “We made the mistake of withdrawing the men watching the miscreant when it seemed he was set in his employment and had not got up to any of his tricks for a few years. Hurst never trusted the parasite, so he had some of his people watch him the whole time. One of them is a manservant who, Wickham and his wife, believe is deaf. Thanks to Hurst’s taking charge of this situation, Gigi will never be harmed. ”
It was such a shock that Darcy sat with his head between his hands, his elbows on his knees.
What did he not owe Hurst? First, there was that time Hurst had taken him to task regarding the then Miss Bennet and his prideful attitudes.
Darcy had thought he had moved past the improper pride he used to have.
It seemed that some remained which, unless for Hurst, would have ruined his sister.
Darcy sat up, a hard look on his face. “The bastard must be arrested and sent to debtor’s prison. No more warnings.”
“On this, we both agree. Hurst’s men will watch him so we will know where he is once we have a writ of arrest to present to the bailiff.
With what you hold, he will be an old man when he is set free.
It is time to go collect the vowels from your solicitor.
” Fitzwilliam paused. “When this is done, we will find a good companion the right way by word of mouth. By the by, we do not have to look far. Anne pensioned Mrs Jenkinson when she married Ashby, and she has told Mother that Jenki, as she calls her, would prefer to work if the right situation could be found.”
“I will never again do anything like this with regard to Gigi without consulting you,” Darcy vowed contritely.
Fitzwilliam clapped his cousin on the back. “I know you will not.”
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The Wickhams were in anticipation of a reply from the prig inviting Mrs Younge to an interview for the position of companion when the front door was kicked down and some very rough men poured into the sitting room.
Before Wickham could move from his armchair, he was roughly wrenched out of it.
At that moment, he caught sight of Darcy and Fitzwilliam glaring at him.
“What is the meaning of this…” Wickham stopped speaking when one of the men sunk his fist into his belly.
“Do not hit my husband! Unhand him!” Mrs Wickham screeched.
“So you are Mrs Wickham?” Fitzwilliam asked nonchalantly.
“That is very interesting, because in my hand,” he lifted some papers, “I hold a forged set of characters and an application from Mrs Younge, which we know is you. You were Miss Younge, and became Mrs Wickham and tried to defraud us by sending these forged characters, all of which have been refuted by the ladies you claimed wrote them.”
Wickham lost all of his colour. He could not grasp what had gone wrong.
“Are you so jealous of my husband that you keep persecuting him? Falsified debt markers, lying to your father, stealing his inheritance. He was only trying to regain that which you stole from him,” Mrs Wickham spat out.