Chapter 2 #2
“It has been so many years that I hardly remember her as my mother,” Anne stated.
“She admitted to murdering my father?” she asked.
The three men that had been present when she made her admission nodded.
“Then she deserves whatever price she has to pay. I am happy all of her property and funds will go to the family of that poor maid she murdered; I want nothing from that woman!”
“What about the captives in the cellar?” Elizabeth asked.
“I would think transportation without the possibility of return for them,” Andrew suggested. “Any of them who tried to fight back are no more, and I believe they did not fully know what was being asked of them.”
“Except for the leader. McLamb, I believe is the name,” Perry added.
“As she had shared all with him, and he was more than willing to carry out her murderous plan, he should be tried, and if found guilty, strung up.” There was no doubt in the room that the men would have carried out the orders, at least most of them would have if it had come to that.
However, as Richard pointed out, from his military experience, you cannot always blame a soldier for his commander’s orders.
Thus, it was decided that other than the leader of the group of men, they would suggest transportation.
Those to be transported would be taken by cart to the nearest port with ships departing for the chosen shores.
Perry and Andrew would use their combined influence to have an order of their permanent removal from England issued.
McLamb would be transferred to the Lambton gaol. There he would await trial to be held when the circuit judge made his rounds of the area in a fortnight.
After the recitation and all the questions were asked and answered, the family was able to truly relax for the first time since Jones’s spying had become known. It seemed that all the guilty parties were dead or quite secure in their captivity.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The next morning, the door to the cellar opened, and the huge footman was joined by a second man no smaller than himself and four others. They roughly picked up a bewildered McLamb and exited the dank room, locking the door securely behind them.
McLamb hoped that he was to be interrogated again; however, that was not the case. He was taken into custody by Lambton’s constable, who was accompanied by his two men. For extra security, four of Pemberley’s outriders escorted the cart McLamb was thrown into.
After the five-mile journey to the town, McLamb finally realised that his fate was not to be transportation when he was dragged into the gaol cell, the same one in which Wickham had expired the night before.
He tried to plead and beg, but no one was interested in his ravings—especially as all knew that he would have ordered the murder of the family that was the reason that the town thrived as it did.
A fortnight later, and after a trial of fewer than three hours, the circuit judge accepted the jury’s unanimous verdict of guilty on all counts of attempted mass murder, and McLamb was sentenced to death to be carried out at dawn the following day.
He spent his last day of life cursing the fact that he had ever met that insane woman from Packwood.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Less than a sennight after Andrew and Perry wrote to his Lordship, the chief judge at the Old Bailey, the transportation order was received.
The men being held had been treated humanely once McLamb was extracted from their midst. Groups of eight would be taken outside for an hour or two each day, guarded by many well-armed men.
They received two good meals each day, even some bread in-between, and they had been allowed to wash some of the stenches off by way of a dip in a pond.
The day of their departure from Pemberley, they were all brought out to the waiting carts, still in irons, and each group chained together.
The Duke of Bedford read the order for them to be transported and explained that if any of them ever tried to return to England’s shores that the sentence of death would be instituted.
Along with the other men, Jones knew that it could have been far worse, for they had heard the guards discussing McLamb’s fate. At least they still had their lives—if they survived the three-month voyage to Australia.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
After two of the most miserable days of her life, Catherine de Bourgh found herself ensconced in the woman’s section of Newgate Prison.
No matter how she cajoled, ordered, or commanded, she was ignored.
On the day of her trial, she was taken to the Old Bailey.
When she tried to claim that she should be addressed with the honorific ‘Lady,’ the judge pointed out that the title had long been stripped from her by order of the King.
She continually yelled out in court, though his Lordship instructed her to be quiet.
She ignored him, so after the fifth time, she was gagged and bound in the dock.
The former great lady had no barrister defending her due to her penniless state. Unfortunately, she had said nothing to help her case, especially when she admitted she was only sorry she had not succeeded in killing all of her former family.
There were witnesses from Rosings to the murder of the maid.
They were followed by the Earl of Matlock, Mr George Darcy, Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam, Fitzwilliam Darcy, and Mr Branch.
They all testified to aspects of her attempted mass murder, as well as her confession to having poisoned her late husband.
The defendant was never informed that on the same day of her trial, a judge had signed an order seizing all of Mrs de Bourgh’s bank accounts and property to be disbursed at the discretion of the Earl of Matlock.
As each of her outrages was enumerated, rotten fruit and vegetables were launched in her direction from the gallery until his Honour threatened the next one to do so with an arrest. By the afternoon, the judge charged the jury to consider their verdict based on the presented facts.
An hour later, they returned a verdict of guilty as charged.
The presiding judge prefaced the delivery of his judgement with a statement that as much as he hated to see a woman hang, in this case, there was no other option.
He then read her sentence, and she was returned to Newgate for it to be carried out at dawn the following morning.
Her former family members declined to witness the hanging.
Right up until the noose was placed around her neck, Catherine de Bourgh née Fitzwilliam was most displeased that things had not gone as she had commanded they should.
It was in that instant before the trapdoor swung open that she considered that she might have been wrong.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
John and Maude Cox had lived their whole lives in the village of Hunsford in a very modest dwelling with only two bedchambers, one for themselves and one for their remaining four children.
Their oldest, Greta, had been murdered by the former mistress of Rosings Park before she fled.
At least, the family had been receiving a monthly stipend from Rosings since the murder.
It could not replace their Greta, who had just turned sixteen when she met her end, but the money did help the family survive.
About five days after the hanging of their daughter’s murderer, they received the most unexpected visit from the master and mistress of Rosings.
At first, they were embarrassed that such people would see how little they had, but they held their heads up high.
Once they were seated, with Anne and Ian accepting Mrs Cox’s proffer of tea so as not to insult her, Anne got to the reason for the call.
“I am sure you know that the woman who murdered both your daughter and my father is no more,” she stated.
Both husband and wife nodded. “When she was captured, it was discovered that she had a house on a few acres of land in Packwood, Warwickshire, and still had a substantial amount of funds left over hidden in various banks.”
“Beggin’ yer pardon misses, but why are yer tellin us this?” Mr Cox ventured.
“My family and I made a decision. None of us want anything from the woman. She took your daughter away from you; she was someone who could never be replaced. As restitution, all of that woman’s remaining money and her property is yours to do with as you wish.
” Anne and Ian sat quietly as the couple opposite them seemed to sit in a stupor.
“A ‘ouse and land?” Mr Cox verified; certain he was dreaming.
“Yes, Mr Cox; some farm animals, horses, and a carriage too. Also, there is a little more than five and twenty thousand pounds left of her money.” Anne informed the two, who went silent again.
To them, a hundred pounds would have been a Godsend, but the amount that was mentioned was inconceivable to them. Mrs Cox promptly fainted.
After she was revived with salts that Anne had in her reticule, the lady of the house just sat and was shaking her head. “If we wan’ ta stay in the area are we allowed, all our family be here,” Mr Cox finally managed.
Anne and Ian took as much time as the couple needed to explain that the house and any of the furnishings or animals in Packwood could be sold if that is what they preferred.
In the end, they decided to do exactly that, except for the horses which would be brought to them in Hunsford.
Anne opined that the sum that the house and land would fetch would be enough for them to buy a small farm locally.
Anne told them to contact her when they were ready to buy a farm.
She told them that she knew of a nice sized one that bordered her land with a house that would allow each child a bedchamber with a few to spare.
She omitted the fact that it was her land, and she would sell it to them for whatever the house brought, which would be about half of the actual value of the one in Kent, but it would have the best of care, and that was a value of its own kind.
So it was that the family of the murdered maid became land-owning farmers. Finally, Catherine de Bourgh was of use to someone—even if it was in death.