Chapter 15 #2
That was why his wandering eye had turned towards Georgiana.
The girl was a great heiress, but she was too young and timid to be of any real interest to him.
He bore her no ill-will, quite to the contrary, he remembered her fondly from their youth.
No harm would come to her, he had assured Mrs. Younge.
She would be safely with Mrs. Younge herself the entire time, all the way to Scotland.
Once Wickham was married to the girl, thirty thousand glorious pounds would be under his control.
They would then return to Pemberley, to hand back Wickham’s nominal bride to her brother and to claim the money.
Zimmer would get his cut, and then Wickham and Dorothea would travel together, away from the Darcys, to begin their new life together.
Perhaps they would return to Scotland awhile, until Darcy calmed down, and then dwell in London, living in comfortable style.
It had been an alluring picture; doubly so to a woman in service, who wore sober homespuns and muslins while her charge was destined to one day wear silks and velvets and jewels.
It was not fair, Dorothea had reflected bitterly.
Why should she not also wear silks and velvets and live side by side with a man who loved and desired her?
She had been eager to believe Wickham’s promises.
She had assuaged her stirrings of conscience with his assurance that no material harm would befall Miss Darcy, and she had been as clay in his manipulative hands.
Now she wondered, with a bitterness far deeper than had at any time been inspired by the Darcys’ wealth, if Wickham had ever cared for her at all, or if he merely used her as a tool to get what he wanted.
Perhaps he would have fled Pemberley with his thirty thousand pounds, leaving behind his hapless accomplices to face just such a trial as this.
On the other hand … in his own desperate grasp at a lie and a lifeline, Wickham may have thrown her one too.
This cockamamie story he had cooked up about Georgiana agreeing to elope with him might just save their skins.
Dorothea contemplated her options uneasily and rapidly.
She could support Wickham’s assertion of Miss Darcy’s complicity and perhaps escape a hanging.
Possibly. In truth, she had never been a very good liar, nervous qualms overtaking her when she tried, her eyes sliding away and perspiration breaking out across her forehead.
It would be even harder here, in this court of law, with so many people staring at her, judging her, an oath administered to her, when she was already flustered and frightened. She was not sure she could do it.
The bailiff turned her and released his iron grip, and Mrs. Younge all but collapsed onto the hard wooden seat of the witness chair.
“Do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?” the officer of the court asked.
Mrs. Younge licked her lips, straightened a little, and said, “I do.”
Mr. Talbot rose from his chair, took a few steps closer to the witness, and said gently, “Mrs. Younge, I know you have been waiting patiently for some time to give your testimony. I am certain that we can trust you to speak the truth in this difficult situation.”
Mrs. Younge swallowed hard, glanced at Wickham, who was staring warningly at her, and said, “Of course.”
Mr. Talbot nodded and said, “Now Mrs. Younge, I am going to ask you a few questions, but before I do so, I think it would be reasonable to make some general statements about the incident at hand. I am certain you know this, that abduction is a very serious offense, and if you are found guilty, well…”
He trailed off and cast a significant look at the window which led out into the inner courtyard. Dorothea knew, because her fellow prisoners had told her, that executions were carried out there.
Mrs. Younge swallowed hard, and the world lurched in her vision before she steadied herself.
“I assure you,” Mr. Talbot continued mellifluously, “that we all want to understand this situation in detail. Moreover, if it turns out that you were, perhaps, taken advantage of by Mr. Wickham, well, there will be mercy where mercy is deserved, especially considering your cooperation in this proceeding.”
Mrs. Younge gulped again and cast another hurried glance at her co-conspirator, who was now frowning dangerously.
“I understand, sir,” Mrs. Younge murmured.
“Very good,” the barrister said, taking a few more steps forward and smiling kindly. “Mrs. Younge, I only met you today, of course, but I believe that you are a woman who believes in loyalty to her friends. Is that correct?”
Mrs. Younge allowed her gaze to flit to Fitzwilliam Darcy, whose expression was thunderous.
“Yes, sir,” she said meekly, turning back to the kindly face of the barrister.
“And your loyalty is to Mr. Wickham as opposed to Mr. Darcy and his sister?”
Dorothea Younge felt her eyes fill with tears, and she blinked them away.
“Yes, sir, that is … Mr. Wickham told me that Mr. Darcy had denied him the living, and I thought that it would be appropriate, that is, Miss Darcy and Mr. Wickham…”
She trailed off and found herself looking out the window again into the inner courtyard, and shuddered. If she was found guilty, she might be dead at the end of a rope within a day.
“Mrs. Younge,” Mr. Talbot said.
She turned back.
“We have heard the very clear testimony from Miss B. that Mr. Wickham and Mr. Zimmer were planning to abduct Miss D. with your help. I urge you, for your own sake, to speak the truth. Your loyalty to your friend is admirable, but misguided. Based on your expression during Mr. D.’s statements, you did not, I think, know that he had paid Wickham a substantial sum to give up the church living? ”
She forced herself not to look at Wickham, because she knew, suddenly, that she had been a fool. He had played her like a marionette on strings.
“No, I did not know that,” she said, lowering her eyes to her own gloved hands. The gloves were dreadfully soiled after the events of the last days.
“So Wickham lied to you in order to earn your sympathy.”
She bobbed her head once. “Yes.”
“What did you think would happen to Miss D., Mrs. Younge?”
She forced herself to lift her eyes to the barrister’s kindly face.
“I thought, that is, Mr. Wickham told me that he only needed money, and that he deserved money because his godfather was so good to him, and the current Mr. D. so cruel, and that the marriage would only be nominal, and that my charge would be returned safely to her brother, and that Mr. Wickham and I…”
She trailed off, and Mr. Talbot continued, “You and Mr. Wickham would run off together.”
Again, she nodded once.
“You are acknowledging that Miss D. never exchanged letters with Mr. Wickham and did not want to elope with him,” Mr. Talbot said, and now his tone was stern.
She could not help herself. She looked at Wickham, who was now white-faced, his expression stunned.
He obviously had never imagined that she would refuse to fall in with his latest web of lies.
Well, he did not deserve her loyalty. He was a rogue and a rascal and a villain, and he was answerable for her current situation.
She must be responsible for saving her own neck now!
“Miss D. never corresponded with Mr. Wickham and had no idea that we were planning to take her to Scotland,” she confirmed.
“Thank you,” Mr. Talbot said with a nod. “No further questions.”