Chapter 33 The Rose Cottage Trap #2
“Oh, but there is plenty of time,” Elizabeth exclaimed, pointing to the mantel clock she’d adjusted. “An hour is proper for a bride to be prepared. Surely you wouldn’t rush such an important occasion?”
Martha narrowed her eyes, suspicion warring with pride. “What preparations do you mean?”
“Madame Evro, surely you can confirm the spiritual requirements for such an important occasion?”
The fortune teller glanced nervously between Elizabeth and Martha, the feathers on her turban quivering. “Well… the lunar influences are indeed significant…”
“Precisely!” Elizabeth seized this opening with enthusiasm. “And before any ceremony can proceed, we must have proper divination to ensure the stars are favorably aligned. Madame Evro, begin the palm readings immediately. Perhaps there is a palm here that is particularly red-handed?”
“Miss Bennet,” Martha said with dangerous calm, “you seem to be laboring under the misapprehension that you have choices in this matter.”
“Oh, but I do have choices,” Elizabeth replied with serene confidence. “I can choose to cooperate with a proper, legally valid ceremony conducted with all appropriate spiritual blessings—or I can choose to resist an invalid farce that would accomplish nothing but your own embarrassment.”
She turned to Collins with renewed appeal. “Dear cousin, surely you cannot in good conscience perform a marriage ceremony outside the sanctified bounds of a proper chapel? The very stones of this cottage cry out against such sacrilege.”
Collins nodded with growing conviction. “Indeed, Miss Bennet speaks truly. A marriage should be conducted within holy ground, with proper banns read and appropriate preparation made. This… this irregular proceeding violates numerous canonical requirements.”
“There!” Elizabeth exclaimed triumphantly. “You see? Even kidnapping a clergyman cannot force him to violate his sacred obligations. Mr. Collins refuses to perform the ceremony under these circumstances.”
“I do indeed refuse,” Collins declared with surprising firmness. “I will not participate in this… this mockery of holy matrimony. Lady Catherine would be most displeased to learn of such impropriety.”
Martha’s face contorted with rage. “You will perform the ceremony or face the consequences of your refusal.”
“I fear no earthly consequence when my immortal soul is at stake,” Collins replied with dignity Elizabeth had never suspected he possessed. “I place myself and Miss Bennet under the protection of Divine Providence.”
“How gallant!” Elizabeth clasped her hands together as though moved to tears. “Truly, you are a man of principle, dear cousin. I declare myself fortunate to have such protection in this dark hour.”
George had grown increasingly pale throughout this exchange. “Mother, perhaps we should reconsider this plan. The girl clearly will not cooperate, and forcing an unwilling bride seems… unseemly.”
“Unseemly?” Martha whirled on her son. “Twenty years I have planned for this moment. Twenty years of careful preparation, and you develop scruples now?”
“But if she won’t consent, what good does it do us?” George protested. “A marriage performed against her will would be legally meaningless.”
“Not if she’s been properly… compromised,” Martha replied with sinister implication.
Elizabeth felt ice form in her veins, but maintained her bright expression. “Oh, but I haven’t been compromised at all! Quite the contrary—I’ve been most carefully chaperoned by dear Mr. Collins, who has maintained the highest standards of propriety throughout this adventure.”
“Adventure?” Rumsey snarled. “This is no adventure, girl. This is the business of survival and the elimination of threats.”
“How dramatic. And I suppose my parents represented such threats? Who could they possibly harm? I’m sure they had no intentions of meddling with established business practices.”
“Benjamin Bingley would disagree,” Martha snapped. “Along with his wife.”
Elizabeth gasped. “Are you saying they were the murderers? If so, why didn’t you inform the authorities?”
“I said no such thing,” Martha’s eyes glittered dangerously. “Only that your father’s principles would have destroyed enterprises that had enriched half the county.”
“Enterprises such as smuggling?” Elizabeth asked with continued innocence.
“Among other things.”
“And my mother? What threat could she possibly have posed to business?”
“Your mother was… collateral damage,” Martha admitted with chilling indifference. “She always put too much sugar in her tea, so unfortunate as she would have tasted the bitter foxglove… particularly on that final evening.”
Elizabeth’s blood ran cold at this casual confession of poisoning, but she maintained her performance. “How interesting. You seem to have quite extensive knowledge of that evening’s events. Almost as though you were present during their final moments.”
“I happened upon them in time to rescue you.” Martha clasped her hands. “It was too late for them, but not for you. As gratitude for saving your life and bringing you back to Pemberley, you must marry George. Only then will I give my testimony as to what I saw and know.”
Madame Evro shot Martha a warning glance. “Perhaps the night is inauspicious. The spirits have been disturbed, particularly the young lady’s parents. We should depart before retribution comes…”
Rumsey suddenly moved to the window, his skeletal costume making him appear like a harbinger of doom.
“Torches,” he announced grimly. “A large party approaching from the direction of Pemberley. Armed men on horseback.”
“Impossible,” Martha snarled. “No one knows we’re here.”
“Someone does,” Rumsey replied, drawing a pistol from beneath his robes. “And they’re coming fast.”
Elizabeth’s heart leaped with hope even as she maintained her expression of confusion. “How mysterious! Who could wish to disturb our lovely ceremony?”
“The same interfering fools who have plagued this family for generations,” Martha spat. “But they’re too late. The ceremony proceeds now, with or without cooperation!”
“But you cannot force—” Collins began.
“I can force whatever I choose,” Martha interrupted, producing her weapon. “Sign the register now, girl, or watch your precious cousin suffer the consequences.”
Elizabeth glanced at the pistol pointed at Collins, then at the approaching lights visible through the window. Darcy was coming—she could feel it with certainty that transcended logic. But he would arrive to find her either married to George Wickham or dead from resisting.
Unless she could cause a distracting diversion.
“Very well,” she said with apparent resignation. “I shall sign your register. But first, I must have one final blessing from the spirits of this place. Surely you cannot deny a bride her last request?”
“Make it quick,” Martha growled.
Elizabeth gathered the registry, the pen, and ink, walking around the room as if communing with supernatural forces. In reality, she was positioning herself near the cottage’s rear exit, calculating distances and timing.
“Oh spirits of Rose Cottage,” she intoned dramatically, “grant your blessing upon this union and protect all who dwell within these walls!”
As if summoned by her words, the sound of hoofbeats thundered outside, growing rapidly closer. Rumsey cursed and moved toward the front door, his pistol raised.
“They’re surrounding the cottage,” he shouted. “Armed party, at least a dozen men!”
Martha’s face contorted with rage and desperation. “Then we finish this now. Sign the register or I’ll shoot Collins where he sits.”
“Very well…” Elizabeth dipped the quill into the inkwell and flung the ink at Mrs. Wickham, splattering her face. “Oh my, in my excitement, my hand slipped.”
Rumsey’s pistol exploded in a flash as he fired at the approaching riders. Collins screamed and toppled the chair he was tied to. George dove for cover, and Martha wiped her ink-stained eyes, stumbling blindly into the fire.
Elizabeth bolted for the rear door, slipping into the darkness as shouts erupted both inside and outside the cottage. She raced down the path toward the lake, her white silhouette gliding like a ghost beneath the giant harvest moon. And the Pemberley clock tower tolled the midnight hour.