Chapter 40 Confrontation
On Sir William's instructions, the driver went slow and used the smoothest portion of the roads.
Bennet had taken about half the contents of the vial just before climbing into the carriage, but Darcy doubted the medicine would take immediate effect.
He was glad Bennet had been able to take some amusement, even if it was at Darcy's own expense, just before the trip if some of that mood carried over.
It was clear within minutes of starting that the older man was finding the ride painful.
Despite the slow speed, it did not take too very long to go the few miles to the far side of the village where the militia encampment was laid out.
Sir William's driver brought them to the door of the building Colonel Forster was using as both residence and command center.
Darcy helped Bennet descend from the carriage, being as gentle as he could.
He saw that Bennet was not doing well, although from the slightly glassy look in his eyes the medication was having some slight effect.
When they arrived, the colonel's aide who greeted them refused at first to announce them to his commander.
He told them Colonel Forster had just gone into a meeting with someone.
From behind the closed door of the inner office they heard the rumble of voices that confirmed his statement, although they could not make out the words.
Darcy inquired if the Colonel's current visitor was Colonel Fitzwilliam of the regular Army. Clearly surprised, the aide confirmed that Colonel Fitzwilliam was in discussion with Colonel Forster on a sensitive matter.
"Colonel Fitzwilliam is my cousin," Darcy told the man, "Sir William, Mr. Bennet and I have come with additional information on the same issue as he. It is important we are part of their discussion."
The man was still reluctant to interrupt, but Darcy pressed his point with great firmness. Finally, the aide relented and went to knock somewhat timidly at the office door.
"What is it?" shouted a voice from within.
The colonel's aide opened the door slightly and spoke through the crack. "Sir William Lucas, Mr. Bennet and Mr. Darcy are here insisting they have important additional information on the subject you and Colonel Fitzwilliam have under discussion.
"Well, send them in!" Colonel Forster said angrily.
The aide opened the door fully, then stepped aside so the visitors could enter.
As Darcy followed Bennet and Sir William into the room, he saw the two colonels standing on either side of the desk, facing each other belligerently.
Richard's stance softened as Bennet entered.
Taking the unused chair just behind him, Richard placed it so Bennet could sit down and be more at ease for the coming interview.
"Gentlemen," snapped Colonel Forster in a gruff approximation of a greeting.
The three newcomers nodded politely. After looking dismissively at the two older men, the colonel's eyes landed on Darcy.
"You must be Mr. Darcy," he said in the kind of tone one uses when he discovers he has just placed his freshly polished shoes down in the middle of a cow pat.
"Colonel Forster, I presume," Darcy replied stiffly. He could already see this was not going to be a pleasant interview.
"I have heard of you from Lt. Brickham, sir, and little of it complimentary," Colonel Forster said. "I understand you aided Colonel Fitzwilliam in his unconscionable attack on my officer."
"The unconscionable attack was all Wickham's, for that is his name. Unless, of course, you approve of one of your officers strangling and beating young women," Darcy said in tones of ice. He was furious but doing his best to remain calm and in control of himself.
Richard broke in and explained, "Colonel Forster has just come from an interview with Wickham, who claims we attacked him without provocation based on a longstanding rivalry between us."
Darcy was stunned by the idea. Bennet began to say something, but his words were lost under Sir William's outraged response.
"My daughter, sir, is badly bruised, dizzy and ill from being hit in the head with a pistol while trying to free Miss Lizzy as that cur nearly strangled her while attempting to drag her away by force.
Miss Lizzy is bruised and barely able to speak from the pressure that was placed on her throat during the attack.
That attack happened on Bennet land where it borders mine at a spot far from any public roads.
Your officer had no business even being there, let alone making a cowardly attack on defenseless women! Yet you have the gall to defend him?"
"So far, I have only had the testimony of Colonel Fitzwilliam to contradict the report of my officer, and he is an unreliable source.
He cannot even get the man's name right, even though they have supposedly known each other for years.
" Colonel Forster blustered in response.
"I have Lt. Brickham's word and had previously heard of the persecution he received from the Darcy and Fitzwilliam families. "
"George Wickham is a known liar…" Richard began, but Colonel Forster interrupted him.
"Brickham is my man's name! All his paperwork is in that name and came through the appropriate official channels."
"Forgeries," Richard insisted. "Forgeries commissioned and paid for by Lady Catherine de Bourgh of Rosings Park in Kent, although I am sure she disguised her agency in the matter."
"To what purpose?" growled Forster.
"To place him here in Meryton, where she has designs against the Bennet family who know him by name if not by face," Richard replied.
"My cousin has known your Lt. Brickham far longer than you have, and you have already said you know there is a connection between them, although clearly you have only been told half-truths and misleading stories, Wickham's trademarks. "
"I can unequivocally identify the man you know as Lt.
Brickham," Darcy said. "We grew up together on my father's estate in Derbyshire.
His father was Mr. Abraham Wickham, my father's steward and a man of good character.
My father was George Wickham's godfather and, out of respect for the exceptional and faithful service the elder Wickham provided, my father supported the steward's son at both Eton and Cambridge.
He also left the younger Wickham a large sum in his will. "
"Oh, yes, I have heard about the valuable living which you denied to the man."
"My father did not recommend him to any of our family livings, although he had spoken of doing so when we entered Cambridge, providing George Wickham took orders.
George preferred the law. No, my father left Wickham a sum of four thousand pounds, which I paid promptly during the execution of my father's will.
Wickham was denied nothing that my father meant for him to have.
In addition, my father had helped him into employment with a legal firm in London so he could prepare to be a solicitor as he had said he wished, so he not only had a reasonable competence, but he also had a good position that should have allowed him to live quite well. "
Colonel Forster was beginning to look less angry and more confused as Darcy spoke, especially when he heard the amount of the inheritance. The anger returned, though, as Richard spoke again.
"Whatever his background or our relation to him, Wickham has committed a violent crime against two respectable young women, and he must be punished."
"You have no jurisdiction here, Colonel Fitzwilliam," Colonel Forster snapped. "This is the militia. We do not answer to the regulars. It strikes me that you have already provided your own brand of punishment to the man. Certainly nothing justifies throwing a man into a thorn bush."
This time it was Bennet's voice that overrode the outrage the Colonel's comment provoked.
"Are you more concerned with your petty power struggle than with the actual damage a man under your command has committed, sir?
George Wickham attacked my daughter! He nearly strangled her and he beat Miss Lucas when she attempted to defend my daughter!
Have you heard nothing of what we have said?
" Bennet pulled Lizzy's account of the incident from his coat pocket and thrust it towards Colonel Forster.
"Here, read in my daughter's own words what happened to her this afternoon. "
Colonel Forster looked at the document in distaste.
For a moment, Darcy thought he would refuse, but faced with the hostility of the other men in the room, he gave in and took it.
They waited in silence as he scanned over the neatly written account of the happenings by the stone bridge.
His face, which had been red with anger, slowly turned more ashen, but when he finished he began to bluster again.
"Women are notorious for overreacting…" he began, but Sir William cut him off.
"Not Elizabeth Bennet! And not my Charlotte.
But if you do not believe the seriousness of Miss Lizzy's claims, you should know that the apothecary unequivocally stated that they both could easily have been killed in this attack.
They were fortunate only to be badly bruised.
And Mr. Jones also said he would be happy to come here and tell you that himself if you needed to hear it from him. "
"I sent for the apothecary for Lt. Brickham. They told me he was not available," Colonel Forster insisted.
"That is because he was at Longbourn," Bennet told him testily, as if he should have already grasped that obvious fact.
"He was needed by Lt. Brickham to tend to the injuries caused by these two men," continued stubbornly.
"I doubt Mr. Jones will be willing to treat your lieutenant after seeing what the man did to our daughters," Bennet said, and Sir William muttered a few words of agreement.