Chapter 14
From the royal family on down, the Ton was stunned and outraged when they learned that the Earl of Matlock had been murdered.
Many prepared to head to Snowhaven for Reginald Fitzwilliam’s funeral.
The story was published in all of the papers about the criminals that had come to Snowhaven with malicious intent and how one, Sam Hodges, had shot the Earl and had been dispatched by his son Captain Richard Fitzwilliam of the Royal Dragoons.
There was an outpouring of outrage that a peer of the realm could be attacked thus in his own home but there was satisfaction that the reporting informed the readers that all of the perpetrators had paid the ultimate price for their dastardly actions.
There had been no mention of the intent to kidnap Lady Elizabeth nor that some of the criminals had been apprehended near East Riding.
As Mrs Fitzpatrick read the broadsheets, her fury grew to a crescendo as she cursed the day that she had hired Hodges.
Her fury was not that he had murdered her brother, but that it was not by her hand that he had perished.
Now thanks to the worthless man’s actions, the family would be on heightened alert again so her plans would be delayed again!
It was not to be borne! She disliked even less the fact that she knew not what had prompted the footman to take the actions that he did.
She summoned George Wickham to interrogate him to see what he knew. “Well boy, what do you know of this debacle; why was I not informed that one in my employ was taking action against my brother? That was my right!” she spat out.
“He never discussed his plans with me, Mrs Fitzpatrick,” George said truthfully. He omitted his suspicions that caused him to follow Hodges to the Wild Bull and the threat that had been made if he did not keep his nose out of the man’s business.
“I was to be informed of everything in my household. Go search his belongings and report back to me if you find anything that will elucidate the actions that were taken.” She waved dismissively.
Wickham went to the male servants’ quarters above the stables.
The other footman was present so he would not be able to secrete anything of value away if he found it.
He found one letter which he turned over to his employer.
She read it but it did not shed much light on the affair except that Hodges was trying to get money from her brother and some other unnamed gentleman.
8 July 1804
Hodges,
My brother bade me write to you to confirm that we will assist you for half, fifteen thousand pounds. He wants to know if we cannot ask more from the Earl and the other gentleman.
I will arrive at the inn you named with one more man within a day or two of your receiving this letter.
KY
She threw the offending missive into the fire as no matter how many commands she issued, there was no more information.
The next day Wickham disguised himself and went to the Will Bull Inn.
As he was sitting at the bar, two men walked in and identified themselves as runners asking for the landlord.
When the man came over one of them asked if there was a private place to talk about the murder of the Earl of Matlock.
The landlord led them to his office so there was no way for Wickham to glean more information, but he did decide that it was time for him to return to his employer’s house.
He also chose not to tell her about the runners at the inn as it would have led to questions that he did not want to answer.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The pillars under the arch that proclaimed ‘Snowhaven’ were wrapped in black material and the doors of the house had black wreaths hanging.
A pall of sorrow had descended over the entire estate, inasmuch as the late master was loved by his family and admired and respected by his servants and tenants.
There had been a constant stream of visitors that included representatives of each tenant family and friends and acquaintances from all of the estates in the area, not just from Derbyshire, but the surrounding shires as well.
Elaine, now the dowager Countess, had cried for her Reggie until she had no more tears to cry.
She then went about the business of taking care of her family as she knew her beloved husband would have wanted her to.
Andrew hated the way he had ascended to the title, but he was determined to follow his father’s shining example and not to let him or any in the long line of Earls of Matlock that preceded him down.
Richard had received a note from General Atherton expressing his and the unit’s deepest sympathies and granting him as much leave as he required to be with his family in their time of grief.
When he was notified that Younge had his date with the hangman, Richard was gratified but oh how he missed his father.
Anne Darcy had taken over the running of the house right after her dearest brother passed, but within a few days she slowly deferred to Marie, the new Countess of Matlock, as the latter felt able to function after the shock of her father-in-law’s murder.
Both she and Andrew had been most pleased when Perry and her mother arrived the day after the Earl passed. It was a time for family.
George and William Darcy worked with Andrew to organise the tasks needed for the upcoming harvest and anything else that could not wait.
Luckily, the late Earl had employed an extremely competent steward who had two good under-stewards that worked with him.
Due to Reggie’s organisational skills and prowess as a manager of Snowhaven and the satellite estates, it was easy to pick up where he had left off.
Elizabeth was devastated. This was the second father that she had lost. This one loved her and the other let her go like she was something to be discarded.
She had kept to the oath that she made to her Papa on his deathbed, but it did not relieve the burden of self-imposed guilt.
She would sit with her papa as he lay in repose in a cool room in the house.
Her family would urge her to eat but food tasted like ash in her mouth.
It had gotten so bad that the Andrew ordered her to join them in the family sitting room.
She sat with her head down and tears in her eyes.
“Lizzy, my darling daughter, you are going to make yourself sick. I can see that you look thinner as you refuse to eat more than one or two bites,” her mother said as she lifted her daughters head with gentle pressure under her chin to look into her tear-filled eyes.
“Is this because of your belief that you are in some way responsible for what happened to your father?” Lizzy’s silence said it all.
“Did you not make father a solemn oath, Lizzy?” Andrew asked gently.
“I-I have not said that again,” Elizabeth replied softly.
“You are far too intelligent to believe your own words Lizzy,” William stated.
“You may not be saying your words, but all of your actions, the self-flagellation is doing exactly that, breaking the promise that you made to your father.” For the first time since the day that her father was shot, there was a flash of anger in Elizabeth’s eyes.
“Do you remember the words that your papa spoke to you the day that you verbalised your feelings of guilt to him, my Lizzy?” Elaine asked as she dried her daughter’s eyes.
Elizabeth nodded her head. “Have you ever known your father to lie to you or anyone else for that matter?” There was a shake of her daughter’s head.
“So, if you know that, then why do you not believe and honour his words now?”
After thinking for a little while and seeing that she could not fault her mother’s logic, Elizabeth gathered herself and asked the question that had been haunting her nightmares. “Why did that man want to hurt me?”
The family took turns to tell her all. When they were done, Elizabeth sat silently for a while.
“The man that shot Papa, Hodges, was the one who discarded me the day that my brothers found me?” There were nods from all.
“My birth father loved me, looked for me. That is why the criminals wanted to ransom me to Papa and him as well?” Again, there were nods.
“So, my birth father loved me, he never wanted to discard me! He loved me and mayhap still does?” Elizabeth started to brighten a little, for the first time since her father’s murder.
“I think I will join you all for luncheon,” she added with determination.
There was a universal sigh of relief from her mother, brothers, sister-in-law, and the three Darcys present.
Elizabeth was still sad at the loss of her father, but they knew that she would recover as they all would, eventually.
Before they proceeded to the meal, it was decided that the Fitzwilliams and Darcys would honour Reggie with a full year of mourning.
His widow opted for two years. There would be no travels to Town until the year of mourning was complete; that way Elaine would start her half-mourning prior to being seen in London again.
When she protested that the family could go to Town after their six months of deep mourning was up, she was told in no uncertain terms that until her year of deep mourning was over, the family would be in Derbyshire with her.
After lunch, Elizabeth was sitting with her mother, Aunt Anne, Marie, and the Dowager Duchess of Bedford when a missive from Hertfordshire was brought to her by the butler who explained that it had arrived the day after the shooting and had fallen and been discovered that morning.
She was about to refuse it when her mother stopped her.
“That is from the gentleman that you are playing chess with via the post, is it not?”
“Yes Mama,” Elizabeth replied. “I will send a message that I will not be partaking until the mourning period is complete.”