Chapter Twenty-Nine #3
“Collect your belongings, Lydia,” Elizabeth urged.
She was grieved to see Lydia emerge from the other room a few moments later with only a small satchel.
Lydia had left Longbourn with four trunks of gowns and bonnets from both her own and her sisters’ wardrobes.
Lydia was now wearing her blue muslin, and it was in a terrible state.
It was obvious that she had ruined it when attempting to launder it.
“Before we go to the hotel, might we visit a dressmaker who might have some items almost ready to wear? I do not think calling the dressmaker to visit Pemberley ought to be the first thing we should do when we arrive home, but she needs something to wear.” Elizabeth asked her husband. “I can pay the expense from my–”
“Mrs Darcy, you will not say such a silly thing again,” Darcy admonished her. “I will assume every expense and have the servant inquire along the way for a dressmaker, and to ensure that our route does not cross paths with the armoury.”
It was obvious that Lydia was embarrassed by her appearance at the dressmaker, and Elizabeth was appalled when she got a better look at her sister in the street.
Lydia had bruises up both of her arms, her eyes were sunken into her head, and she was painfully thin.
Elizabeth saw no evidence that Lydia was expecting in her form.
Elizabeth was quick to give Lydia’s name as Mrs Bennet in the dress shop, and they left with one gown, undergarments and nightclothes, and a promise for three more gowns to be delivered to the inn late that night.
They placed a similar order at a second dressmaker nearby in the company of the servant, while Darcy went to speak to the colonel of the regiment about Wickham.
When the ladies procured what Elizabeth insisted Lydia required, they accompanied the servant to the inn.
Elizabeth felt better that once they returned to Pemberley, Lydia would be able to recover without feeling mortified by a visit from the local dressmaker or that she must wear clothes borrowed from Georgiana.
Elizabeth ordered baths for both ladies, and hot meals. They dined first, at a table in Elizabeth and Darcy’s room. Just as they finished eating, Darcy entered with two women, one a genteel looking person, the other an older, working class woman like hundreds of others all over Newcastle.
“Mrs Wickham, this is Mrs Paget, the wife of Colonel Paget, and Mrs Wilson, a midwife. We have no desire to mortify you, but you must be examined to determine the health of your child, and for signs of abuse, for it is not tolerated in the regiment for officers to harm their wives. Would you allow them to accompany you to your room, and permit the midwife to examine you? Mrs Paget will remain as a witness in a position of trust in the regiment.”
Lydia blanched, then calmed as Elizabeth whispered into her ear.
“Lydia, in the morning, we will leave for Pemberley, and you never need think of this ever again.”
Lydia took a breath and nodded, then accompanied the ladies, as Elizabeth turned to her husband.
“When Wickham married your sister, I already owned three thousand pounds of his debts,” Darcy told her.
“Then he foolishly allowed me to take a list of his debtors and pay them myself, giving me another forty-five hundred in his notes, which I do not feel guilty using against him, considering the circumstances. Between that and the list of his crimes, the signed statements from witnesses and victims from years of his abuses, and the letter to you from his wife, it was easy enough to persuade his Colonel to send him to the front. He has already been arrested, and they are only waiting for the statements from Mrs Paget and Mrs Wilson to proceed. He will be gone from these shores by next week, and will not be given leave to return home until the war is completely over. If he ever returns, I still have his debts, and if we need to, we can use them to keep him in Newgate for the rest of his life. He will not be allowed to send mail that is not to his wife or to myself while he is abroad. His new colonel will be warned.”
“That is a great deal better than Richard being hanged for having killed him.” Elizabeth was relieved.
“It is,” Darcy agreed. “While he is on the front, he will be paid his wages by the commanding officer there, but I will arrange for Mr Gardiner to withhold Mrs Wickham’s quarterly interest, or to pay it to her directly.
We may decide that after we have discussed it with her.
Wickham was such a fool when he married, he allowed me to make every arrangement and did not even read his own marriage settlement.
I could have put anything there, but there was certainly wording that allows Mrs Wickham’s family to take over management of all of her funds if it becomes necessary. ”
“You think of everything,” Elizabeth marveled. “I am grateful for it.”
“I am certainly very deliberate in all that I do,” Darcy replied. “I have been quietly weaving the web around Wickham for years, and I have at least a half dozen quiet methods of dealing with him in place for when an opportunity presents itself.”
A quarter hour later, Mrs Paget and Mrs Wilson returned and confirmed what they suspected, that Lydia bore more signs of abuse.
“Perhaps the magistrate would say that it is only evidence of a husband’s rightful discipline, but Lieutenant Wickham is under the authority of the regiment, and the regiment does not allow such objectionable treatment of wives.
It is conduct unbecoming of an officer,” Mrs Paget informed them.
“I will write my statement for Wickham's records when I return to my husband.”
“Thank you, Mrs Paget,” Elizabeth thanked her.
Lydia sent a message to Elizabeth and Darcy that she would like to bathe and retire. When Elizabeth checked on her sister two hours later, she was indeed sleeping heavily. The next morning, Mrs Wickham boarded a carriage with her sister and new brother, and departed from Newcastle.