Chapter 20 #2
“Miss Lydia, your family is worried sick about you,” Charles said. “Won’t you come away with us so we can return you to your family?”
“No, indeed, Mr Darcy. We are to be married,” Lydia said, shaking George’s shoulder. “Wake up, Wickie. Mr Bingley and Mr Darcy have come.”
Wickham awoke with a scowl. “What do you want?”
Darcy doubted George would settle for a girl with no fortune. “Is this true, George? Do you intend to marry Miss Lydia?” he inquired.
Wickham rubbed the back of his head. “I never said I would marry you, Lydia.”
“Of course, you did, Wickie. Don’t you remember? Last night you said you would play cards and win the money.”
“If you wish to marry, Mr Bingley and I can offer our assistance,” Charles said, advancing their plan.
“There, don’t you see, Wickie? We shall marry and be the happiest couple in the world, and I shall be the first of all my sisters to marry.”
Wickham didn’t bother to rise from his bed. “How much?” he said with suspicious eyes.
“We are prepared to add four thousand pounds to Miss Lydia’s existing dowry of one thousand,” Charles said in a determined voice.
“Go away. I won’t marry her for less than thirty.”
“Thirty thousand?” Darcy said, aghast at this exorbitant demand. “You can’t seriously consider keeping a gentleman’s daughter who is barely out of the schoolroom.”
Wickham carelessly flicked his hand. “Take her with you, if it’s so important to you,” he said, then rolled to his side as if intending to go back to sleep.
Nonplussed by this cavalier attitude, Darcy appealed to the girl. “You must now see that you have disgraced yourself by running away, Miss Lydia, but it’s not too late to save your reputation. We can bring you immediately to your uncle’s house.”
Lydia blithely shook her head. “Wickie is only funning with you, Mr Bingley. He will raise the money for our journey, and we shall be married. My sisters and friends will be so jealous that I have married the most handsome officer in the militia. You may go away with a clear conscience and marry Jane, since that’s all you really care about anyway,” she said, pointing to the door.
With Lydia now defiant and George entirely disinterested, Darcy had no choice but to withdraw. He couldn’t force Lydia to come away or Wickham to marry her.
His mind reeling, Darcy waited on the flagway for Lockhart to bring the horses forward. He had neglected to save Elizabeth and her sisters from ruin. After giving the order to drive to Gracechurch Street, he boarded and sat in the forward-facing seat. “What an abysmal failure.”
Charles raked his fingers through his hair. “I couldn’t have imagined that a man with no fortune would turn down five thousand pounds.”
Recalling his past dealings with Wickham, Darcy released a weary groan.
“No, I ought to have known better. In less than three years, he went through four thousand from my father and whatever he inherited from his father, so I doubt five would be near enough to sustain his lifestyle, plus a wife. He wanted the thirty thousand he lost when I prevented him from eloping with Georgiana.”
Charles sadly shook his head. “We vastly overestimated our ability to influence them. As Lydia’s neighbours, we had no power to compel her to leave. Perhaps Mr Gardiner will have better luck.”
Darcy doubted this. “She won’t go of her own accord. He’ll have to drag her out of there.”
“You may be right. Do you know where on Gracechurch Street the Gardiners live?”
“Not precisely, only that the house is near his warehouse. Lockhart can make inquiries when we reach the neighbourhood.
Upon arriving at Gardiner’s Imports on Gracechurch, Darcy discovered that the owner wasn’t on the premises, but quickly learned which house belonged to Mr Gardiner.
Refusing to betray any emotion, he clenched his jaw as he and his doppelganger waited at the front door. When a servant answered the bell, he handed the footman two calling cards. “Mr Bingley and Mr Darcy to see Mr Gardiner on an urgent matter.”
They were shown into the drawing room where they were received by a woman close to his own age wearing a stylish gown and a worried pallor. “Mr Darcy and Mr Bingley,” she said, curtsying.
“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.