Chapter Thirty-Three #2
“Shortly thereafter, he came to me again. He proposed this time to buy me a commission in the —-shire militia, where I might have legitimate reason to observe your comings and goings, and report back to him on what you did. As it became clear that you were forming an attachment with the charming Miss Elizabeth, he made one more shocking proposal, one which was too drastic even for me.” He smiled a snake-like grin and finished his wine.
“He made mention of kidnapping one of Elizabeth’s sisters in order to secure your loyalty to him.
I believe he would have gone so far as to commit murder, and this I could not condone.
I admit I am a rake, but I have never taken a woman by force, nor have I ever committed violence against a woman, and I never shall.
“When I refused, he smiled his so-civilised smile, and I knew that he would find another to complete this task. And so I remained in the militia, still pretending to be his man and reporting back to him, but also watching out for whomever else he would find to do this deed. I informed Colonel Forster at once, of course, and at his order, I also told Colonel Hastings here.”
“And you did not think to inform me?” Papa burst out. “These are my daughters at risk; I ought to have been told!”
“Accept my apologies,” Colonel Hastings urged. “Secrecy was of the utmost importance. Better to know who the enemy is than to keep guessing. Had you taken any steps, Stanton would have known at once and changed his plan yet again. Please, Mr. Wickham, continue.”
The ex-officer cleared his throat and spoke on. “When we learned who Stanton’s new man was, we followed him. He found your sister and began a flirtation with her, and would meet her in the woods, gaining her trust until such time as Stanton bade him act.”
“What’s this?” Darcy’s voice dripped with disbelief. “You claim you were protecting her the whole time?”
“That time... I heard Lydia giggling with some man in the hedges, and then I saw you creep away...” Lizzy accused him. From the corner of her eye she saw her father’s face grow red in fury, but her attention was on Wickham.
“When I dally with the ladies, Miss Elizabeth, I find more comfortable places than the gorse.
No, ‘twas not I. I was there watching. Had he tried more than a few kisses, I would have made myself known.” He turned to Darcy, “And yes, believe it or not Will, I was protecting her the whole time. Protecting her from Nobbs, who would have kidnapped her and killed her as easily as he would have ruined her.”
Now Lydia gasped, “I thought he really liked me! How insulting!” She settled into a rather childish pout whilst Wickham finished his account.
“Once I had confessed to Forster, he gave me the ultimatum of changing my allegiance or facing charges, and this I did at once. I am no friend of the aristocracy, but neither am I an enemy to England, and at the news that Stanton was working for foreign powers, it was no hard decision to turn, whilst pretending to remain loyal. I knew of his plans to abscond with the machine, and I had every reason to believe that Lydia would be taken that very day to ensure your cooperation.” He looked directly at Mr. Darcy.
“I could not allow that to happen, so I convinced her to run away with me. It was really quite simple. I am no fine gentleman, but I knew she would be safe, and I acted on that poor instinct.”
“But it has been three weeks!” Papa cried from his chair. “Three weeks, without a word! What were we to think? You cannot imagine the worry!”
To his credit, Mr. Wickham looked ashamed.
“I do apologise, sir, but I had no choice. If her whereabouts had been known, she would be in danger still. We could not emerge from hiding until Stanton and his men were safely imprisoned. After it was safe, we met once more with the colonel here and then returned as soon as we were able.”
“But Lydia... your reputation!” Lizzy could control herself no longer. “The whole village is full of tales of the worst sort. Your name is blackened forever.”
“La! You are such a fusspot, Lizzy! Everybody will stop their silly talk and will look at me with new respect when they learn that I am now Mrs. Wickham!” At that, she withdrew a hand from under the handkerchief she had been fussing with and proudly displayed a ring on her fourth finger.
Her face was one of glowing delight, Mr. Wickham’s of pained resignation.
“Hastings insisted,” he sighed.
The rest of the tale was simple. Hastings had found out too late of Wickham’s plans to run off with Lydia, thinking that he would only alert her to remain at home where it was safe.
The panicked search was very real, for no one had known exactly where the two had gone, and when Hastings had finally discovered them in a small rooming house in Southwark, he had insisted that they wed.
Wickham had countered, claiming he could never marry with all of his debts, only to be shocked to learn that they had been purchased by some unknown person, now revealed as Mr. Darcy. Hastings, of course, had known of Darcy’s plans and used the debts as leverage to force the marriage.
“Your mother will be most delighted,” Papa breathed at last. “But I believe I require another glass of wine.”
After this, there was little more information to be had.
Quite unconcerned about the worry her disappearance might have occasioned upon her family, Lydia seemed to regard the whole affair as a game.
If she felt any remorse at all about entering into a flirtation with one soldier and then eloping with another, her whole demeanour showed nothing of it.
“La! Won’t Jane be surprised when I precede her into dinner!
And Kitty will be so jealous, for she told me I would never manage it!
If you wish, Lizzy, I’m sure my Wickham will introduce you to some of his friends, and then you might marry as well.
La! What a laugh it is!” It was evident that Lydia knew very little of the events that had led up to her hasty elopement.
Elizabeth considered her new brother, now answering questions from both Papa and some of the other officers, and hoped that he would one day learn to love her sister; for the moment, it seemed that he had accepted a penalty which he would pay for the rest of his life.
“Elizabeth?” Mr. Darcy’s quiet voice roused her from her musings.
She turned to find warm brown eyes staring into hers.
“May we talk? Perhaps the dining room...?”
She nodded and followed him. In light of Lydia’s elopement and with the door ajar, there could be little impropriety in granting his request. The hum of conversation from the sitting room provided a cushion of sound upon which their words floated.
“Allow me to explain,” Mr. Darcy took her hand and led her to the window. Cold air radiated from the glass, but the room was warm and the tall gentleman’s presence at her side was warmer still.
His hands still held hers and she closed her eyes for a moment to savour the sensation of his ungloved fingers as they caressed her own.
“I thought you had intended never to return,” she raised her eyes to meet his. There was no accusation in her words, merely sorrow.
“When I heard of the elopement, I was shocked... horrified to be honest. This man has been bringing me grief and trouble for all of my life, and now he was doing the same thing to your family. I thought I might know some of his old friends; I thought if I could find him, I could make him act honourably for once. If that entailed picking up his droppings and buying his debts in order to secure his cooperation, then that was a price I was quite willing to pay. I did it for you, Elizabeth, and with no idea of reward. My only thought was to ease one point of sorrow for you.”
He still held her hands, and she shivered both from the touch and from the cool draught that crept through the window’s casement. “But that evening, you left so quickly, almost without a word. What was I to think?”
His eyes closed, and his face fell. “I am sorry. I was not thinking well. During that day—that dreadful, difficult day—when I was threatened and bound by Stanton, a megrim came upon me. When Hastings’ men found me, I took some willow bark tea, which helped alleviate much of the pain, but upon hearing your mother and Forster relay the news, it was as if a dam burst in my head, and the headache came fully upon me.
I could not see properly and my... well, to be indelicate, my gut rebelled, and I needed to be out of the house at once before I embarrassed myself.
I made it outside in time to empty my stomach into a pile of leaves, and then I fell into the carriage almost unconscious.
These are hardly the actions of the sort of man you deserve, and I am not proud of myself. ..”
“You could not help it. I am sorry for the headache,” she whispered. She freed one hand from his and brought it up to his head, barely caressing the edge of his face. “I wish I had known. I might have helped.”
With a shake of his head he replied, “No. You had enough distress thrust upon you. We were almost back in London before I came fully to my senses. I am only glad I did not foul the carriage with my retching as well. I am a poor sort of man.”
He reached for the hand that now touched so lightly upon his cheek.
She could feel the roughness of his faint beard tickle at the very tips of her fingers; he must not have had time to shave today.
Now he pulled that hand down to his heart where he enfolded it against his chest. “Elizabeth... Lizzy... What I so dearly wanted to ask you that day—what I had wanted to ask you for so long, but could not ask until my role in this whole affair was over—was if you would agree at last to marry me. I know I have my faults, but I love you beyond what I believed was possible. I have no fancy speeches, merely my eternal love and devotion.”
Suddenly her eyes filled with tears and she could barely see the man standing only inches away from her.
“I did not blame you when you left so quickly that night. Any association with me and my family would now force an association with Mr. Wickham. Before, when they were unwed, there was the stain upon my family’s name.
Now that they are wed, they are respectable but forever part of our lives.
I cannot ask that of you. You cannot wish to be brother to that man.
You are asking me out of obligation, and I will not force this on you. ”
He stepped back from her, and through her tears she saw his own eyes grow damp.
“No, Lizzy, that is not so at all. I always wished to marry you. I wished it months ago, when first I asked you. I wished it when we were planning this trap. I wished it when I was in that cold cottage. I wished it before Lydia ran away, and I wish it now. Even when she had vanished and her name and reputation were in shreds, did I wish it. See....” he dropped his hands and began to rifle through one of his pockets, eventually pulling out a large sheet of carefully printed and folded paper.
“It is a licence... if you so wish it...”
He handed her the paper, which she opened with trembling hands. There was his name, and hers, and the bishop’s seal in an envelope at the bottom. “What is this?” She hardly heard her voice.
“I hoped so dearly you would accept me... I wanted something in my hands to embody my desires. I bought a licence. We need not use it; we can have the banns called... I will be happy no matter what—if you will agree to marry me.”
She stared once more at the paper in her hands and folded it carefully once more, then returned it to him.
He took it with a stunned expression, and she realised he thought she was refusing him again.
As he returned the licence to his pocket, she raised her hands to caress both of his rough cheeks, then pulled him down to her as she stood on her toes and kissed him.
She pulled back and began to laugh, then kissed him again through laughter and tears and sputterings of surprise from the gentleman who did not seem to object at all to her brazen behaviour.
“Am I correct in assuming your response is ‘yes?’” He returned her laughter.
“Indeed it is, Mr. Darcy! Indeed it is!” And she kissed him again.