Chapter 33
The manager received him with all due deference and explained that with the bank’s commission plus the cost for the man to travel to and from London, it had cost him one hundred pounds.
Although he thought to complain about the fee, Collins bit his tongue.
He wanted to be away, and he would have more than two thousand one hundred pounds remaining.
It was more than enough to pay for that officer ridding him of the devil-marked woman, and it would leave him enough to live comfortably until he could claim his birthright.
Mr Simonds had counted everything before him.
Although there were banknotes for as much as one thousand pounds, Collins had demanded no note be higher than one hundred pounds.
He had put some banknotes into his inside jacket pocket and some coins into his purse to add to the money he had.
He signed the receipts and was handed a smallish strongbox containing the rest of his funds.
After that, Collins was handed the key. He locked the box and lifted it.
Without a word of thanks, Collins lumbered out of the bank to the waiting carriage.
He pushed the box onto the floor and climbed into the cabin.
Once inside, he lifted the rear-facing bench and slid the box into the void below it.
With the bench back in place, Collins sat on the forward-facing bench and used his fist to knock on the ceiling of the carriage.
Almost immediately, he felt the jerking motion generated when the pair of horses pulling the conveyance began to move.
He guessed that by now Wickham would have received the express he had sent to him. It had been posted on Saturday once he had been notified his money would be at the bank come Monday morning.
As he sat rocking with the motion of the carriage, he began to formulate another plan.
‘I will have more than one thousand pounds remaining so I will put it to good use to make sure that disrespectful, disobedient cousin of mine is dispatched sooner rather than later. I will wait a few weeks and have someone else, or perhaps the same lieutenant, dispatch Cousin Bennet to hell. Then, I will claim my birthright and subjugate his precious daughters as should be.’ The more Collins thought about this plan, the better it became in his mind.
About two hours into the journey, Collins saw columns of marching soldiers, waggons, carriages, and officers on horses as his carriage passed them. He guessed correctly that it was Lieutenant Wickham’s regiment on their way to Meryton.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
George Wickham was handed an express on Monday morning just after he had broken his fast at the Red Lion Inn.
He recognised the script as belonging to the idiot parson who had written the instructions he would use as leverage. He found a quiet spot and broke the seal on the missive and began to read.
2 November 1811
Crown and Garter Inn
Reading
Berkshire
The funds have arrived.
I will have them on Monday morning the 4th of this month and depart for the inn in the town I named in my written instructions. I will be there by Monday evening.
As I have what I need, I expect you to execute your side of the deal without delay.
I demand your swift compliance.
Reverend William Collins
Wickham smirked when he saw how the jackanapes signed his letter. He had heard how Collins tried to stop the wedding of this Bennet man and had been defrocked for his trouble. He was no more a clergyman than Wickham was.
He tucked the epistle into his coat pocket and made his way to the encampment.
Thankfully, there was little or nothing to do today. Captain Carter wanted to inspect everything that morning to make sure there was nothing deficient. As long as there was not, the officers and men would be free to do as they wished, except for a few who would be left to watch the encampment.
By a little after ten, the encampment was declared ready, and the officers and most of the soldiers were dismissed.
This was perfect for Wickham; he would begin to gather information so he would be ready to earn his blunt.
He knew he could not ask about Mrs Bennet directly because that would point the finger of suspicion at him.
The last thing he needed was to be arrested, because it would somehow get back to Darcy and his family, and they would add the old charge of theft to that of murder.
He had to be subtle about his investigation.
From the encampment, he ambled back into the centre of town. He was still not sanguine with the fact that they would not give him credit, but it was a worry for another time.
He saw two enormous men, bigger than he had ever seen before, standing near the solicitor’s office. He wondered if there was a swell inside. He kept moving.
The question now was, where to begin?
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The coach conveying Jane, Elizabeth, and Mary arrived at Charlotte and Uncle Frank’s house a few minutes before ten.
In addition to John and Brian on the back bench, one guard sat on the box with the coachmen, and two others were on horses, giving the impression that they had nothing to do with the others.
John had told them that due to the soldiers and officers in the town ahead of the main body of the regiment, he had decided to step up the number of guards when the Misses Bennet came into Meryton.
The man sitting on the box remained where he was and the two men on the horses dismounted, one on either side of the street, one before the law office and the other after it.
Rather than go directly to the residence, which was behind and above the offices, the three Bennet sisters entered the offices.
“Is our uncle able to greet us?” Jane asked the clerk.
“Of course, he is,” Phillips boomed as he exited his office. “When have I ever not had time to greet any of you?” He offered his cheek.
The sisters kissed their uncle’s cheek in descending age order.
“We sent notes but allow us to congratulate you on little Sarah’s birth in person,” Elizabeth said with a wide smile. “I know we will be with Charlotte soon, but how is she, and how is Lawrence now that he turned two on Sunday?”
“Are you waiting until Charlotte is churched before he has his party?” Mary added before their uncle could answer any of the asked questions.
“My Charlotte is doing very well. Like me, she is very pleased we have a son and a daughter now. At his age, my lad does not realise his party was not on his birthday. As long as he has a party and his mama and the rest of the family are there, when it is, it matters not,” Phillips replied.
“So yes, Mary, the celebration will be after Charlotte has been churched.” Phillips paused and then grinned.
“If Charlotte thinks I have delayed her friends, she will not be pleased. You had better go.”
Each sister bestowed another kiss on their uncle’s cheek and then made their way into the residence. They climbed the stairs to the first floor, where they found Lady Lucas in the sitting room with Lawrence.
The three greeted Lady Lucas and hugged the little boy. “Mama feedin’ Sawah,” Lawrence informed his cousins.
“Charlotte will join us as soon as she is done with the feeding,” Lady Lucas stated. “She is in the rocker that Sir William gifted her when she was increasing with Lawrence. My granddaughter is so pretty.”
“Me pwetty, Gwanmama?” Lawrence demanded.
“You are the most handsome little boy,” Lady Lucas enthused. She picked the lad up and kissed his cheek. His reaction was to throw his arms around Lady Lucas’s neck and give her a very moisture-filled kiss on her cheek.
“My boy does give the best kisses,” Charlotte stated as she entered the sitting room, her new babe in her arms.
After greeting their friend, the three Bennet sisters crowded around Charlotte to get their first look at her daughter. She was sleeping, her little puckered lips sucking in the air.
“Your mother has the right of it, Charlotte. Sarah is a very pretty babe,” Elizabeth remarked. “She has your colour hair. I know we have to wait to know what her eye colour will ultimately be until she is older than six months.”
Once the other two Bennet sisters had cooed over Sarah, Charlotte rang for Nurse and handed her slumbering babe to the matronly woman.
Charlotte sat, as it was still hard to be on her feet for too long.
It would be another sennight to a fortnight until she was back to how she was before she birthed Sarah.
She did not follow what many in high society did by remaining abed in a darkened and heated chamber for some weeks.
She believed, as did a growing number of women that getting up and moving as soon as possible after the delivery aided in, not impeded, the recovery.
“Now I want all the news. I know from Frank that all three of you are being courted. Oh, before I forget, Mary, has Mandy told you that she has entered a courtship with Franklin? I doubt it, it only happened on Saturday afternoon and yesterday was the Sabbath,” Charlotte revealed.
Mary was aware that her best friend, Mandy Long, who was a year older than her, had long had a tendre for the Lucas heir. She was happy her friend had gained her heart’s desire.
“I will have to call at Long Meadow on the morrow and give Mandy my best wishes for her future with your older brother,” Mary stated.
“Another daughter, especially one as nice as Mandy, will be very welcome,” Lady Lucas added. “Maria and Mandy are good friends too, although she is closer to Cara than Mandy due to their ages.”
“Mama, have you warned Maria about the officers?” Charlotte enquired.