Chapter Sixty-Four
The man went still and then slumped down on top of Georgiana. Crying, she attempted to push him off, but he was too heavy.
“Come on, Kitty,” Lydia called, impatiently. “Help me!”
Gulping, Kitty ran to Lydia, and the two of them rolled the man off Georgiana.
“Why, it is George Wickham!” Lydia exclaimed.
Kitty crouched down on the ground and helped Georgiana sit up. She seemed to be in a daze of some sort. “Georgiana,” Kitty said, urgently. “Are you all right? Did he hurt you?”
Georgiana could only shake her head, again and again, and then burst into tears anew.
Lydia said, “We must get Georgiana away from here before she is seen.”
“She has to walk,” Kitty said. “We cannot carry her.”
“Georgiana,” Lydia said, sharply. “Listen to me!”
But Georgiana could only shake her head and cry.
Lydia bent down and slapped Georgiana hard across the face.
Kitty gasped, “Lydia, what –?”
But Georgiana stopped crying and raised a hand to her cheek, staring up at Lydia in astonishment. Then she said, in a strangled voice, “He would not let me go!“
“I know,” Lydia said, grimly. “Georgiana, you must stand up.”
Together, Kitty and Lydia managed to pull Georgiana to her feet. “Do not look back,” Lydia said, warningly.
“Is he dead?” Georgiana whispered.
“I do not know; I will look,” Lydia said.
She turned back to the fallen man and pushed him, hard, with her foot.
His eyes did not open. The gash on his head was big; he was bleeding profusely.
Lydia could not help but notice that his trousers were open, and she could not resist a quick look.
‘Huh,’ she thought. ‘Not nearly so big as Jane said.’
Georgiana’s pelisse was there, but it was filthy and torn, so she left it on the ground. Turning back to her sister, she said, “I think he is dead, yes. He is far too heavy for us to move, so we have to take Georgiana away.”
“But where will we go? She cannot be seen like this,” Kitty hissed. “Look at her!”
Georgiana’s bodice was ripped down to the waist, her face was smudged with dirt and tears, and her hair was tangled with leaves.
“One thing at a time,” Lydia returned. “First, we get away from Wickham!”