Chapter 5 #2
“I think I felt a calling like you did, my friend. I have no doubt I would have done well in the law, but then I would not have been able to help give Boney a bloody nose.” Wickham stated with purpose.
“How was William when you saw him last?” Captain Fitzwilliam asked.
“He was well, Richard, working hard to learn everything from his father. He has deferred his grand tour until he is able to go to the continent again,” Lieutenant Wickham informed the Captain.
“At least we have not been sent to fight the French yet; however, I believe it is but a matter of time,” the Captain opined.
As the two were talking, a private ran up and saluted the two officers. He handed each a black-edged letter. At first Richard feared it was his father, mother, or brother, but it was none of them. Uncle Robert was dead. He looked at his friend and saw true despair.
“Wickham, what is it?” the Captain asked with concern.
“My father is dead!” the Lieutenant stated looking lost.
“Good Lord, your father as well as Uncle Robert! Come Wickham, we must see Colonel Atherton; he will authorise as much leave as we need. Let us be away. My parents, brother and sister are yet at Matlock House; we will travel together.” Richard shook his friend out of his stupor, and they made their way to the Colonel’s office.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
When the lead carriage passed the gate house at Pemberley, the black cloth hanging on the posts and gates was impossible to miss. An hour later, the Matlock carriages pulled into the enclosed courtyard. There were black wreaths hanging on the large oak doors leading into the manor house.
Wickham wanted to go directly to his father’s house, but the Earl advised that they all find William and find out what occurred to leave both men dead on the same day.
The butler, Douglas, showed the Fitzwilliams and Wickham to the study.
Lady Marie asked where Lady Georgiana was, and she and the Countess left the group to go see the grieving girl.
Lord William Darcy, now his Grace the Duke of Derbyshire, Earl of Lambton, was sitting behind the desk looking at nothing in particular. He looked haggard, with dark rings under his eyes; he had obviously had little or no sleep.
“William, WILLIAM!” Richard called twice, before his cousin noted their presence. As soon as he saw Wickham, he walked around the desk and threw his arms around his friend.
“They are both gone, George!” the new Duke stated, with a hitch in his voice.
“How William—your Grace, how did they both die on the same day?” Wickham asked with obvious anguish in his voice.
Lord William sat with his friend on a settee, as the three Fitzwilliam men found seats around them.
“Still William, my friend. It is almost five days ago now; our fathers went to inspect a problem at the Cox’s.
You remember they are in the northwest corner of the estate.
” Wickham nodded. “They took my father’s curricle, just the two of them as was their wont,” Lord William choked up as he relayed the story, pausing for a drink of water to be able to carry on.
“They were approaching the bend, the one with the forest on the left a mile from Cox’s house, and we do not know what, but something spooked the horses.
Later, we found a fox on the side of the drive; he was bloody and there were hoof prints.
We believe that he darted under the horses’ feet, and they panicked.
There is a ten-foot drop to the side, and when the curricle broke loose, it turned over and fell over the edge.
Our fathers were trapped inside under the wreckage.
It is not much of a consolation, but the doctor opined that death was instantaneous. ”
“They died doing what they loved, taking care of the estate,” Wickham stated philosophically.
“George, if you want to withdraw from the Dragoons after this, no one will think anything less of you,” Richard informed his grieving friend.
“I will be back, Richard. I will mourn here, and then I will return. I need an occupation to keep my mind busy, and nothing has changed with my desire to serve the King and the country,” Wickham said with purpose.
“In that case, I will make sure you join my unit when you return, George,” Richard clapped his brother-in-arms on the back.
“You will need to hire a new steward, William; I will pack up the house as soon as may be,” Wickham offered.
“No need. Your father reported the under steward he trained, Mr. Edwin Chalmers, was ready a few months back; he has been searching for employment. I have appointed him on a trial basis, and by all accounts he is happy to remain in his house, so take as much time as you need, George,” the Duke assured his friend.
“Now that we are here, and if George agrees, we will have the interment tomorrow. Our fathers are in the icehouse, given the temperature. Your father will be buried in the family plot, my friend.” It was the first time since receiving the news that George Wickham cried.
As they were preparing to leave the study, a well-known and unwelcome voice was heard.
“Where is my daughter’s betrothed! He will do his duty to her!
” Lady Catherine pushed the study door open without knocking.
When she saw five pairs of eyes looking at her with disdain, she was momentarily silenced.
“Why are you here, Lady Catherine? Did my father not warn you what would happen if you spouted your lies again?” the new Duke demanded.
“But your mother…” she started to say.
“Give it up, Cathy! There is no one in this room who does not know it is a lie. Do you think Robert did not tell us what you attempted when you were here last? Only you would try and take advantage of a house of mourning to further your own desires! Now unless his Grace objects, you will leave and return to Rosings Park, and you will not leave there until I say so!” the Earl thundered.
“But Anne is weak…” This time, Lord William cut her off.
“Have you no decency, madam? Do you think I will fall for the same ploy you attempted last time you were here, where you ended up climbing in bed with a footman, while trying to compromise my father? If Anne needs to rest, there are perfectly good rooms at the Cock and Bull in Lambton, or at other coaching inns on the Great North Road on your way back to Kent. Leave, now! I am in no mind to see you, or to listen to your lies!” Like his father had the last time she was at Pemberley, Lord William towered over and glowered at the now-quaking lady.
Seeing there was no option, Lady Catherine withdrew. She could not understand what went wrong with another of her well-thought-out plans. The boy was supposed to be weak with grief, not surrounded by men, and certainly should not have the same backbone of steel as his father before him!
She would return to Rosings Park and lick her wounds, and then come up with a plan which could not end but with her daughter wed to her nephew. She could not become a duchess now, but her daughter would be! Of that, she was certain!
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Father and daughter were ensconced in the study on the first Sunday in August; and they would have invited Louisa to join them if it would not have caused trouble with her mother and harpy of a sister.
“Do you think they have left Jamaica yet, Papa?” Elizabeth asked enthusiastically.
“We cannot be sure, Lizzy, but I believe so, both by Jane’s estimation and that of my cousin’s, in his letter to me,” Bennet opined.
“I cannot wait to see Jane again, Papa, and to read her journal. She will have so very much to tell!” Elizabeth gushed.
Half a world away, The West Indies Trader had departed Jamaica, starting its two-month plus voyage to England with the Bennets on board.
They were sailing between Cuba and Haiti toward the Bahamian Islands.
The passengers were asleep when a storm of epic proportions hit them, one which Jane had called a hurricane in her letter to her younger sister.