Chapter 31
“Her reputation is ruined if word should get out, even if we do manage to recover her,” Mr Bennet said, adding to the distress of his eldest daughters, but they loved their little sister and needed to know the whole of it.
“What is to be done to recover her?” Elizabeth asked. “How are we to pay the ransom if we do not know where they are?”
“I will pen a reply explaining it will take time to get the funds together, but I do not like having to leave her in so precarious a position until the monies are to hand.”
“I have men who are familiar with the less salubrious parts of London, ready to follow the messenger,” their uncle said.
“Let us hope she can be found, for we have no guarantee of her safety.”
“He cannot be so bad,” Jane said, and her father replied.
“Think that if it gives you comfort, Jane.” But Elizabeth knew that Jane was really just trying to comfort herself, as she was as worried for Lydia’s safety as they all were.
The note was penned and handed to the messenger, and their uncle Gardiner’s men followed at a distance, thankful that the messenger was on foot and seemed neither to notice nor care if he was followed.
The men were gone above three hours, and finally they returned. No one had to ask if they had been successful; it was plain from their expressions and the hunch of their shoulders that they had not.
“It were like hide and seek and chasing, together with blind man’s bluff,” said Jack, his thick London accent making him difficult to understand.
“The first fella were easy enough to follow; he had no mind of us, and when he handed it off to the second, we thought for sure we had him,” he said, shaking his head.
“But then it were handed to a third and fourth, and they were into this inn and out the back door and around and about and, to be honest, I cannot say for sure that the last two had the message at all,” he said, his head hanging down in defeat.
“It was a long shot, Jack,” Mr Gardiner said, “you tried your best. Go now and get Mildred to get you both some supper; you both look dead on your feet.”
It was two days before any reply was received, and Jane and Elizabeth both grabbed each other’s hands, and those of their aunt Gardiner, when it was accompanied by a bunch of Lydia’s light brown hair.
Their father did not show them this note, but his face went pale before he gave it to their uncle to read.
“I have nearly that in the cash hold in the warehouse,” he said, and I’m sure with what we have at hand in the house between us, we should be able to comply.”
“What is it, Papa?” Elizabeth asked.
“He has requested one thousand pounds,” he said.
Elizabeth gave a sigh of relief. “She will be returned,” she said, needing the confirmation, but her father shook his head.
“No, Elizabeth, this is an interim payment, in goodwill, ensuring that Lydia will be kept safe while the monies are gathered.
Elizabeth kept her face from showing what she thought, as her father said the words “kept safe,” for she knew that implied that their sister might be in grave danger, but she did not wish to distress Jane any further.
She need not have tried so hard because Jane had understood the implications of the words and the delivery of Lydia's tresses.
“Do I send my men to follow again?” their uncle Gardiner enquired, and their father shook his head.
“It is not worth the risk; he might not like that. And especially as there is so little chance of success.”