Chapter 23 #2
While Bennet made his way from shop to shop, the Gardiners called on Phillips and delivered the documents into his hands which would end the entail.
The latter estimated it would be less than a month for the new deed to be issued.
The Gardiners visited with Hattie while waiting for Bennet, all the while thinking about finally being able to call the libertine to account.
Wickham had been stripped of his commission, and he had never before been so afraid.
It was not just the prospect of the rest of his life spent in debtor’s prison which troubled him, but he also feared his former brother officers from whom he had stolen.
They had all stopped at the barred door to his cell with various and sundry threats against his person for stealing from them.
To a man, they had said that the fact their filched coins had been returned to them was beside the point.
The worst had been Denny. He had threatened to end Wickham’s life. He was furious that he bore the shame of having brought Wickham to Colonel Forster and recommended him as a good and honourable man. If that was not enough, he had been another victim of Wickham’s pilfering.
And now, If all of that was not bad enough, he was in irons which were connected by a chain to the wall, making his escape impossible.
One thing he could not fathom was what he had done to these Gardiners who seemed determined to send him to the depths of one of the debtor’s prisons.
No matter how much he searched his memory the name Gardiner never appeared.
That morning, as Wickham waited to hear his fate, it was almost like waiting for the executioner to pull the lever which would open the trapdoor.
At some point, two brawny soldiers came to collect him. An officer waiting for them glowered at Wickham. From the order the Lieutenant issued, he was on his way to the Colonel’s office. They passed a clock in one hall, and Wickham saw it was past eleven.
When the soldiers stood him outside the adjutant’s office, which led to Colonel Forster’s office, Wickham noticed a mirror on the wall opposite him.
At first, he was not sure who the ill looking man staring back at him was.
There was a crooked nose, still bent at an angle to his face, and when the image smiled, there were three prominent teeth missing from the front of his mouth.
His two front teeth and one in the middle of his lower jaw were missing.
Wickham lifted his hand to his own mouth, and to his horror, he realised he was looking at a reflection of himself.
The memories of Richard Fitzwilliam slamming the hilt of his sabre into Wickham’s face came back in a rush.
Damn the man for striking him, when he, in his own mind, justifiably attempted to bolt.
When the soldiers pushed him ahead of them into the adjutant’s office, Captain Carter turned his back on Wickham as he shuffled past him into the Colonel’s office.
This time, in addition to Colonels Fitzwilliam and Forster and the soldiers, there was a couple Wickham had never seen before.
“As I know not who you are, I can only assume you are persecuting me on behalf of Darcy,” Wickham spat out.
He had nothing to lose so he would let these people see his disdain for them and Darcy, whom he was sure was hiding behind them to protect his sister.
Before he brought little Georgiana up again, Wickham swallowed hard as he spied the way Fitzwilliam’s hand rested on the hilt of his sabre.
“We are here for ourselves, the only connection Mr Darcy has to your comeuppance was the fact we purchased the vowels of yours he was holding, and even that, he was not aware of until after he had been paid,” Gardiner drawled.
“Then what have I ever done to you?” Wickham demanded.
“By now, you know our name is Gardiner,” Maddie stated. She watched as the seducer nodded his head. “What you do not know is that my name was Lambert before I married. Adam is my brother, and Veronica was my closest and dearest cousin!”
Wickham felt a cold shiver travel the length of his spine.
He had not thought about that chit since the day he had laughed at her and left her.
“It is not my fault she did not behave as a young lady should and ruined herself with me. I am not responsible for the actions of others,” Wickham claimed.
His head snapped back as the lady before him slapped his face with considerable force.
“You manipulated a young girl who thought herself in love with you because of your lies,” Maddie growled, “then you cruelly abandoned her, refusing to honour the marriage you promised her, and why? Because when asked at Eton about your cheating, my brother refused to prevaricate to the master on your behalf! You left her with child, and she died in childbirth, which led directly to the death of her parents! You bear all of the responsibility for my cousin’s and her parents’ deaths.
And why? Because of your warped sense of yourself in an act of vengeance.
You will say or do anything to get what you want, and the truth means nothing to you. ”
“Then you joined the militia under the guise of being an honourable man and what did you do here? You lied to our niece, Miss Elizabeth, about your interactions with Mr Darcy, and if that were not bad enough, you were stopped from attempting to ruin a child of not yet even fourteen, also one of our nieces,” Gardiner barked.
“So, we have every reason in the world to have you thrown into the worst of the debtor’s prisons where you will live out the rest of your miserable days.
By the by, my brother-in-law Bennet purchased your debts here in Meryton.
How did you accumulate over fifty pounds worth in such a short time?
It matters not, they are added to the rest, so the total exceeds three thousand pounds now. ”
He did not answer the question about his new debts.
There was nothing he could say. It was not only the sting of his cheek which told Wickham that he had walked into a wasp’s nest. He did not try to spin the tale he had told the Bennet chit because Fitzwilliam knew all and would refute his words.
Normally he could talk his way out of anything, however, this time he was beginning to see that would not be the case.
“Colonel Forster, when we first met with this libertine in your office, Wicky here referenced the fact he had spun a yarn about being persecuted by my cousin, Darcy. Would you mind telling us what he told you?” Fitzwilliam requested.
The story Colonel Forster related was very familiar to the Gardiners and Colonel Fitzwilliam.
“Those are the same lies you told my niece,” Maddie accused.
“He did deny me the living. Instead, he gave it to that milksop of a brother of yours,” Wickham insisted sullenly.
“You refused to take orders and signed away all claims to the living for three thousand pounds. Tell me, how could you try to gain a living when not only had you not taken holy orders, but you had never even completed your time at Cambridge? You tell so many lies you cannot keep them all in order,” Maddie contradicted.
“You claim that Mr Darcy was jealous of you. Of what has Mr Darcy to be jealous? You are the lying son of a steward while he is the master of a vast estate and other properties. All the jealousy was on your side, not his.”
“When did this thief and liar receive that sum?” Forster demanded.
“My Uncle Darcy passed away a little more than five years past. By the by, Wicky here received an additional thousand pounds that my uncle saw fit to bequeath to him,” Fitzwilliam responded.
“He proceeded to waste that money and needed to cheat tradesmen and rob my officers?” Forster thundered. “He stole enough that I would be permitted to put him to the firing squad. I will convene a court martial and rid the world of this scourge once and for all!”
Wickham felt like he wanted to cast up his accounts and relieve himself in the office like he had once before.
“Colonel Forster, your anger is righteous, and he deserves no less, except that will be too quick for him,” Gardiner opined after looking at Maddie who nodded.
“Years of languishing in the depths of a gaol will be a far better lesson than death. Do you not have the discretion to administer lashes with the cat?”
With a gleam in his eye, Forster agreed it was so. “He will have the maximum, forty lashes, and when Mr Jones says he is ready to be moved, I will release him to the bailiff,” Forster decided.
That was the last thing Wickham heard. He fainted dead away.
“Wicky was never one to tolerate the consequences of his actions,” Fitzwilliam drawled as he looked at the senseless man on the floor.
He watched as the two soldiers dragged Wicky out of the office, on his way back to the brig.
Fitzwilliam was only sorry his former friend had not felt the consequences of his actions far earlier in life.
Had he, it was possible the trajectory of his life may have been very different.
Fitzwilliam’s late Uncle Robert had done his godson no favours.
“Former Lieutenant Wickham will pay his penance to the regiment at sunup on the morrow. It will take about a fortnight before he can be moved,” Forster announced.
After thanking Colonel Forster, the Gardiners and Colonel Fitzwilliam departed for Longbourn.