Chapter Seventy
Georgiana awoke the next morning and found Lydia stretched out on the bed beside her. She was briefly puzzled and then recalled that she was at Longbourn. She poked Lydia, who opened one eye and then rolled over on her side to face her.
“You are awake; good.”
“Yes,” Georgiana whispered. “But I cannot believe how stupid I was, to allow him to convince me that he loved me!” Tears gathered in her eyes. “And then to actually be alone with him!”
“He was an evil man and he fooled all of us!” Lydia was suddenly angry. “I thought he was good because he was so handsome! You and I actually fought over him, do you recall?”
“I have known him all my life,” Georgiana said, slowly. “And I was completely taken in.” She was silent for a minute and then added, “He wanted me for my dowry, you know.”
“Did he say that?”
“Yes; he said that once I was ruined, my brother would beg him to marry me, and then my thirty thousand pounds would be his.” She began to tremble, and the tears spilled over.
“It is over, Georgiana,” Lydia said, firmly. “Do not think on it any longer.”
“How can I not? How will I ever explain this to my brother?” Georgiana buried her head in her pillow.
“He was terrified for you. His relief that you are well and unharmed will likely override any anger he may feel.”
Georgiana raised her head from the pillow. “He is well and truly dead?”
“Well and truly, yes. Kitty took your brother back to the place where it…where it happened, and he was dead. They left him there.”
“Tell me, Lydia…”
“Yes?”
“I could not see what happened. Will you tell me?”
Lydia winced. “I took a big rock and I smashed his head with it.”
Georgiana sat up, the quilt pulled up to her shoulders, and stared at Lydia. “That is the bravest thing I have ever heard. I do not know how to thank you.”
Lydia only shrugged. She had been stoic about her actions; in truth, it was only now that she fully understood that she had actually killed a man. Should she regret it? She knew that she should; yet how could she, if killing him had been the only way to save Georgiana? It was all very complicated.
Georgiana went on. “My brother once said that courage and confidence are important traits, but to be careful as to where they lead you. Mine led me to make a dreadful mistake, one that I will always regret; but yours saved me.” Tears started again in her eyes.
Lydia, who very much disliked any sort of sentimentality, said hastily, “In any case, you are to dress and come down for breakfast.”
Georgiana got up, slowly, still clutching the blanket to her chest. “I hurt all over,” she whispered.
“You are pretty bruised up but thankfully, nothing else.”
“I am not certain of exactly what he was trying to do,” Georgiana admitted.
Lydia opened her mouth to tell Georgiana exactly what Wickham had been trying to do, but then decided it was not her place to do so. “Your brother – or someone – will explain it,” she said, evasively. “I will help you dress.”
Between the two of them, they got Georgiana into the clothes that had been sent over from Netherfield. The maid had even sent a pair of shoes, which was fortunate, as Georgiana’s had been completely spoilt.
A soft knock sounded on the door and Mrs. Bennet came in. “You are dressed, good!” she said. “How do you feel, my dear?”
“Quite sore all over,” Georgiana admitted.
“Well, you were knocked about a good deal,” Mrs. Bennet said. “The thing now is to put a brave face on, as if nothing had ever happened. Do you think you can do that?”
“I suppose I shall have to,” Georgiana said.
They went downstairs to the breakfast room, and Georgiana was greeted warmly by everyone. Mr. Bennet rose and fixed a plate for her; Georgiana thanked him, gravely.
She had just finished her meal when Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley were announced and led into the parlour.
Upon hearing that her brother was there, Georgiana froze in her seat, and a tear crept down her cheek.
Elizabeth knelt beside her chair and whispered, “Do not fear, Georgiana. He loves you more than anything; that is what you must remember.”
When the Bennets and Georgiana entered the parlour, Mr. Darcy rushed to his sister and clasped her in his arms. “Dear, dear Georgiana,” he whispered. “I cannot begin to tell you how terrified I was!”
“I am so, so sorry, Brother,” she whispered back, trying not to wince from the pain of her bruises as he hugged her.
He released her, then, and led her to a chair. “Mrs. Bennet, I have no words with which to thank you for the care you have taken of my sister.”
Mrs. Bennet blushed and smiled at him, assuring him that it was an honour to do so.
“Now that we are all here,” Mr. Darcy said. “Perhaps I can get a recounting of just what occurred yesterday?”
Mrs. Bennet rose and closed the doors.
After a moment, Georgiana began. In a low voice, she told them of her plan to meet George Wickham at the Netherfield fence where it met the road. “I thought he was going to propose to me,” she admitted, a tear sliding down her cheek. “I am a complete fool.”
“You wrote to Anne about it,” Mr. Darcy said.
“I did; how do you know that?”
“Because Aunt Catherine happened to see that letter, and she sent an express to me to warn me of it.”
“Hold on, you are skipping ahead,” Lydia complained.
“You are right; go on, then, Lydia. How did you know where to find Georgiana?” Mr. Darcy asked.
“Well, I heard a noise –“
Kitty interrupted. “It was me who heard the noise.”
“Oh, Lord,” Elizabeth groaned. “Either way, then what?”
“We went to see what the noise was,” Lydia went on.
“Lydia thought it was an animal and we would soon be running for our lives!” Kitty announced.
“But it was not an animal; it was a man and a young woman fighting. Kitty recognised Georgiana, and we knew we had to stop him.” Lydia paused.
“Go on, Lydia, tell him. This is the most courageous thing I ever heard,” Georgiana told Mr. Darcy.
“Well, there was this big rock; I picked it up, and I walked over to them – he was too busy to hear me, of course – and I brought it down on his head.”
“You – heavens! Then what?” Elizabeth whispered, utterly shocked at Lydia’s actions.
“Well, he collapsed on top of poor Georgiana, and she could not get out from under him, so Kitty and I rolled him off of her. We recognised him then, of course.” Lydia shrugged as if it had been nothing at all.
“Georgiana was upset, and it took a little while to calm her down enough to get her up and moving.”
“Wait,” Georgiana said. Her eyes widened. “I remember now! You – you slapped me!”
“Well, I had to,” Lydia said, defensively. “You were crying and shaking like anything, and we could not get you to stop!”
“I understand,” Georgiana said, weakly, her hand going back to her cheek. “Go on.”
“Well, Kitty wanted to know if he was dead, so I went back and looked, and he seemed dead enough to me. By the way, Jane, his trousers were open, so I looked. Nothing at all like the stallion!”
Jane and Elizabeth both made strangled noises in their throats and turned bright red.
“In any case,” Lydia went on. “We got Georgiana up and were trying to have her walk back to Netherfield, as it was the closest house. What we would say when we got there was another question entirely, but I decided to deal with that when the time came.”
“Lydia said, ‘One thing at a time,’” Kitty recalled.
“But then Georgiana fainted; we could not carry her, so there was nothing to do but find help.”
Kitty said, “So I ran to the road, and I saw Lizzy! I did not think about it at the time, but later I thought it quite a strange coincidence.”
Mr. Darcy took over the tale. “Aunt Catherine sent me a note telling me when and where you were meeting him. She told the messenger that the message was urgent, so Braddock quite rightly brought it here. We got into the carriage and drove as fast as the horses could gallop. We got to the fence where you were to meet him and, of course, no one was there. But then Eliza – Miss Elizabeth saw Kitty down the road, and Kitty took us to you.”
Everyone sat quietly and considered all that they had heard. “It is truly a miracle, all the way around, that nothing worse happened,” Mrs. Bennet said.
“Quite right, Mrs. Bennet,” her husband agreed. “But, Miss Darcy, will you truly be able to return to Netherfield and act as if all is well? Or would you prefer to stay with us for a few more days? You are very welcome here, you know.”
Georgiana smiled at him, gratefully. “I think I had best go to Netherfield.”
Mrs. Bennet immediately disagreed. “No, indeed; you are badly bruised, Miss Darcy, and someone will have to help you dress until you are entirely healed. Here at Longbourn, my girls will help you, but how would you explain those bruises to the Netherfield maids?”
Georgiana sighed. “I suppose you are right; and I am in no hurry to face my brother’s understandable wrath in private.”
Mr. Darcy shook his head. “I am too relieved to be angry, Georgiana, though we will have to talk about – well, certain things.”
Lydia put in. “You really should, you know. She has no idea of what he was trying to do to her.”
Mr. Darcy glanced at Lydia; looking quickly away in embarrassment, he said, “I understand you.”
“But do not tell her that it is as big as a horse’s, for that is an outright lie.” She stared hard at Jane, who hid her face in her hands.
“Lydia, Kitty, I am enormously proud of both of you,” Mr. Bennet announced. “You were incredibly courageous, you saved your friend, and you rid the community of a terrible menace.”
“Lydia did commit murder, Papa,” Mary murmured.
“Yes, she did; and no jury in the world would convict her. But it will not come to that, for the body is to be left in the woods until some poor soul finds it. The important thing – the most important thing in the world just now – is for none of us to breathe a word about this to anyone. To anyone, do you understand me? To do so endangers both Lydia and Georgiana.”
Everyone murmured assent, and Mr. Bennet was satisfied.