Chapter 12 #2
“It is remotely possible that Miss Bingley could have utilised the secret passage that runs from the study at Pemberley to the library. I showed it off to Bingley years ago, the first time he visited; he had heard that some manors have secret chambers, priest holes, and hidden passages, and he asked if Pemberley had any such features. I told him it did, and he looked so like a puppy dog, all eagerness and longing eyes, that I showed the secret passage to him. Honestly, I am shocked at the notion that he might show it to anyone else, but it is a possible way in which Miss Bingley could have overheard a discussion I had about Ramsgate with Richard. We were alone in what has been long established as a soundproof room, with the window closed and the door locked. However, if she entered the secret passageway from the library side, she possibly could have listened at the secret door, which from the study looks like a wall panel.”
Elizabeth nodded, “Then I think we should proceed as if she does know everything spoken during that particular discussion, and that she means to use her knowledge as leverage.”
Darcy felt his lips quirk in a smile, and he tamped down the inclination. But he loved the fact that Elizabeth had used the word “we,” as if the three of them had formed an anti-Miss-Bingley team. He still had no idea how to, as she put it, “proceed” to fight against his blackmailer.
“First,” Elizabeth said, “is there not some way that you can ask for Mr. Bingley’s help in working to control his sister’s less-than-savory intentions?”
Darcy pinched the bridge of his nose, fighting the beginnings of a headache.
“I am more likely to give Bingley up as a friend, I fear, than I am to successfully win his help against Miss Bingley’s machinations.
He has good intentions, but he is weak in taking action.
I dare not even take him into confidence about Ramsgate; I am almost certain that his sister could wheedle out of him every detail I might relate, even if I demanded utmost secrecy. ”
Elizabeth felt another hope for Mr. Bingley’s unparalleled goodness fall away, but she went back to the subject at hand.
“Second, how did you manage to keep all word of Mr. Wickham’s attentions to Georgiana in Ramsgate quiet?
I would have thought that merchants, residents, and visitors who saw them together would have spoken about the possibility of there being an attachment.
And the servants in the house you had rented—what about them? ”
Georgiana answered, “Mrs. Younge and Mr. Wickham made sure to be very secretive about what I thought of as courting. I now suppose that they were afraid that someone would recognise me and put some gossip about me in a newspaper, or some friend would write to William about me spending time with the son of a servant. I do not think that anyone at Ramsgate could have seen much in the way of Mr. Wickham and I being in the same vicinity.”
“As for the three servants,” Darcy explained, “I had them sign a confidentiality agreement and paid them well to keep to the agreement.”
“My brother does not threaten people,” Georgiana assured Elizabeth, “in order to make sure that they are discreet, but you have seen his stern visage often enough to know that most people do as he asks even in the absence of threats.”
Darcy laughed a little and said, “Stern visage? Me?” Then he deliberately scowled and felt uncomfortable with the realisation of how familiar the expression felt.
He smoothed his brow again and said, “Honestly, treating people well, respecting them, establishing mutual trust, giving fair compensation—those have stood me in good stead my whole life, with the exception of Wickham. I am certain that there are other scurrilous blackguards I should not trust, but threats are generally not necessary when more positive measures are in place.”
Elizabeth smiled at him, and Darcy felt almost faint in the face of her approval.
She said, “Now, for my third question, do you think Miss Bingley could have met up with, or exchanged messages with, Mr. Wickham or Mrs. Younge to get more information about the incident?”
“Not likely,” Darcy answered. “Because Richard and I would not give Mrs. Younge a recommendation for another post, she seemed quite desperate; I considered her not a bit trustworthy, but I also considered her a victim of Wickham’s, so I paid for her passage to Ireland.
She chose to take on another name, and I have a man there who checks on her every few weeks. ”
Passing his hand over his face, Darcy said, “As for the dreadful George Wickham, Richard keeps tabs on him, and he has been in Cornwall ever since the incident, going by the name John Withers. I would consider it extremely unlikely that Miss Bingley would have the resources to find him.”
Elizabeth nodded. “Good. Now, try to remember what points you mentioned about the incident in the discussion that was overheard. Were any names used other than Wickham? Was his first name spoken? Was any place name used, other than Ramsgate? For example, did the house you rented have a name, and did you mention it?”
Georgiana offered, “The house was named Rose Cottage, remember, William?”
Darcy nodded. “I remember. I am positive I have not said the name since we left that house. There has been no need. As to the rest of your questions, Miss Elizabeth, I am almost positive that Richard and I only mentioned my sister’s name and Wickham’s; we never call him George, because my father’s name was George, and of course there is Georgiana.
Even as a young teen, when Wickham seemed a lot more pleasant, we all called him Wickham.
“Also, Richard and I had followed up with Mrs. Younge’s removal to Ireland during another discussion; there was no need to mention her again. Of course, we mentioned the name Ramsgate, but not so much as Ramsgate-the-town. More like shorthand for the events leading up to the almost-elopement.”
Elizabeth nodded, “That is clear enough. In the particular discussion that might have been overheard, did you mention the month during which ‘the events’—your words—occurred?”
He really had to think about that one. He finally shook his head.
“I truly do not think that either Richard or I mentioned the timing of the events, not even generally. This was our third discussion, we already knew the dates of all we discussed, and I am pretty sure I did not even say something like ‘earlier this summer.’”
“Good,” Elizabeth said. “And the words she might have picked up on that indicated the nature of those ‘events’ — did you and/or Richard say attempted elopement? Or…?”
Darcy related all that he could remember of the discussion; it was largely a conference about whether there had been any rumours of scandal.
He said, “Actually, it was mostly the two of us assuring one another that there seemed to be no whispers at all of the events. However, I am not sure exactly which words we used; likely, either Richard or I said attempted elopement.”
Elizabeth smiled at Darcy, and he felt her smile shake something deep inside. He tried to ignore the sensation in order to attend to her words. She said, “I have the beginnings of a twofold plan.”