Chapter Twenty-Nine
The Trap is Set
This plan was executed as discussed. Lizzy could not be comfortable allowing Mr. Darcy to place himself in danger by approaching Lord Stanton again, but she knew that this was the best way to capture the traitors.
Mr. Darcy assured her that as long as Stanton believed him to be unaware of the true nature of the matter, he would be under no threat, to which Colonel Fitzwilliam agreed.
“He is of far more value to Stanton alive than dead at this point, for if Stanton believes him an ally, he might conceivably be of use later on. He will be watched and guarded at all times, Miss Elizabeth. If my cousin plays his part properly, this encounter will be over before it begins, with no damage to man or property.”
The Benoit cousins came to inspect the replica machine, as promised, and pronounced it more than adequate as a substitution for the device they had smuggled into England at such risk.
“It is better, mes amis, because unlike our device, this one works! Let the traitors take the damaged machine, and the false discs, and make of the message what they will.” Etienne’s sentiments were echoed by the others, and Mr. Darcy was then invited to sit down and pen a letter to Lord Stanton, suggesting that the machine had been abandoned in a shack in the woods and that it would not seem amiss were it to disappear.
When Lizzy read through the letter upon its completion, she declared it carried no implication that Mr. Darcy had determined the rogue baron’s true intent.
I have finally discovered the whereabouts of the device we have been seeking; it is not in Longbourn house at all, but in a small hut in the woods nearby, which might have been a workman’s cottage, but which is now quite neglected.
I have seen no sign of anybody entering or departing the hut during the time I have been keeping watch.
Nor is there any sign inside the hut that there have been visitors there in some time.
The fire is stone cold, not having been lit for weeks or months, and the cupboards are quite empty; likewise there are no blankets on the cot and the floor is thick with unbroken dust, save my own footprints.
It seems quite abandoned. The cottage is very dark, however, and were I to bring a lamp bright enough to enable me to create the diagrams you desire, I worry that I would be noticed.
Therefore, with your due consideration, I suggest a better action would be to simply come and take the machine.
If we create a suitable scene, with a broken door and animal spoor in the vicinity, it could be made to look a completely natural event, the hut damaged by a storm and invaded by some wildlife.
I await your advice on how next to proceed,
FD
“Animals?” Lizzy had to laugh. “No deer or badger is going to carry off a device that size and weight.”
“Gipsies, then? There has been that group camped by the river for some time. If they found the machine, they might disassemble it and sell it for the metal parts.”
Colonel Fitzwilliam agreed. “That is far more credible than hedgehogs and sparrows. Suggest that he can leave a Gipsy scarf or amulet on the scene, which would convince anybody concerned that this is where their culprits lie.”
And so the letter was rewritten, to be committed to a messenger—a reliable soldier under Colonel Hasting’s command in mufti—who would depart for London as soon as the roads were deemed clear enough of snow for travel.
Colonel Fitzwilliam departed on his snowshoes for the encampment with the missive, leaving Lizzy, Papa and Mr. Darcy to begin preparations to move the code machine.
The cabin Papa had selected for the purpose was an excellent choice, so Lizzy thought.
It was very old and very small—little more than a hut with a single room just large enough for two or three men to occupy in some comfort—but the walls were stone and solid, and the door stout thick oak with a new lock.
It would be quite credible as a hiding place for the machine, and likewise as a target for a wanderer or some Gipsies to enter and take what might be found.
The cabin was on the far side of the woods that surrounded Longbourn, near the small river by which it might be reached on a shallow skiff or in the winter, on ice skates, and distant from Meryton.
It was surrounded by trees, which were now bare and held no possibility of hiding observers, but also by thickets of gorse, which had not lost their leaves and which did provide ample, if uncomfortable, cover.
There would, of course, be footprints leading through the snow towards the cabin, but Mr. Darcy had already said he had visited it, and one or two sets of his own prints would not be remarked upon.
The watchers in the gorse could arrive from the back, from the direction of the Gloucestershire militia’s camp, by snow shoe, which tracks could be less noticeable from the path Darcy proposed to take with Lord Stanton, and which could be obscured with branches and a judicious scattering of bread crumbs and seeds to attract the local fauna. It seemed an ideal location.
As they awaited the colonel’s return, Lizzy and Papa helped Mr. Darcy arrange the machine with the replica discs and wrap it securely.
It was heavy, but not so much so that a man or a strong woman could not carry it for a reasonable distance.
“As soon as the colonel returns, let us set off,” Papa suggested.
“I shall accompany you as far as I dare, in the direction of one of the crofters’ cottages, and we may pull the machine on a sled.
From there, you will have to continue the trip alone, so only one set of prints is found in the snow. Do my directions make sense to you?”
Lizzy watched as Mr. Darcy scoured the sheet of paper with the instructions.
“Past the stile and the second hedge row, then follow the stone wall into the woods and through to the other side where it breaks before the river. Then east along the river to where the wall starts up again. Yes, I believe that is clear.”
“‘Tis only a half mile past where Papa will leave you,” Lizzy felt the need to reassure him, although he seemed confident in the arrangements. “In the summer, it is hard to see because of the foliage, but now with the trees bare it is not so hidden.”
He turned his face to her and bestowed upon her a half smile that barely touched his lips but shone from his eyes. “All will be well.” Nevertheless, Lizzy watched with anxious eyes as her father and friend disappeared down the laneway with their precious cargo trailing behind them on the sled.
It was some hours before the men returned.
Papa and Mr. Darcy were the first back, and Lizzy called to Mrs. Hill to start some water for tea as she watched them tromp towards the house through the knee-high snow.
Colonel Fitzwilliam returned shortly thereafter on his snowshoes.
He entered the house, snow still clinging to his boots and the bottom of his great coat, with a smile on his face that bespoke a mission well completed.
“It is all arranged,” he crowed as he sat by the fire to warm himself with hot tea and scones.
“Hastings has already dispatched one of his trusted young officers. The man looks quite unassuming and nothing at all like a soldier in his borrowed weeds and assures me that the roads will be clear enough by morning to make it to London without incident.” He spread some butter on one of the warm rolls, then reached for the pot of jam.
“Furthermore, and quite fortuitously, Colonel Forster was there was well, discussing some other matters. To keep up the pretence, the two militia units have indeed been engaging in joint exercises and drills. Forster knows why Hastings’ men are here, but he is the only one of his militia, and he is trustworthy.
When I explained the plans, he offered safe refuge for the Bennet ladies until such time as Stanton departs with his ill-gotten booty.
I have no sense that Longbourn house will be in any danger, but no single madman, or even a small band, would dare attack an entire regiment of well-trained soldiers. ”
“How do I explain this to my wife?” Papa wrinkled his nose, pushing his spectacles up on his face. “She will want to know the reasons, and I can hardly tell her without all of Meryton knowing.”
“I have thought of that!” the colonel smirked.
“There shall be a blockage on the main chimney, which will make the house quite unsuitable for refined ladies. Mrs. Forster will offer an invitation, and you, sir, will convince your wife and daughters to accept. I suspect Miss Lydia will be of tremendous assistance in this regard, for you need only whisper the word ‘officers’ and she will be packing her trunks at once!”
Papa glared at this affront, and Lizzy groaned at the accuracy of it. “Very well,” her father acquiesced. “This will be acceptable. Shall I start throwing sod into the chimney?”
The very next morning, a supposed mishap that caused smoke to pour from the fireplace in the dining room lead to the generous invitation from Mrs. Forster.
She and her husband, the colonel, had the run of a large but abandoned manor house, whose fields were the site of the —shire militia’s exercises, and she begged her friend Lydia and her mother and sisters to join her there until Longbourn was habitable once more.
To Papa’s chagrin, Colonel Fitzwilliam had been correct about Lydia’s enthusiasm for this scheme.
“Oh, we must go, Mama! We must, do let’s!
There will be ever so many officers in the fields at their drills and coming to dine, and they look so sharp in their smart red coats.
Mr. Wickham says he is often invited to dine at the house, as is Mr. Denny, and he is the younger son of a baronet from Bedfordshire, and he would do most suitably for Kitty, for I believe he likes her. We must accept, Mama!”