CHAPTER NINE
The Reckoning
Georgiana came to Netherfield in June without her brother.
Darcy had completed several weeks at Pemberley and returned to his London house to meet his solicitors.
The business was expected to occupy him for another fortnight.
Georgiana was to remain in London with Mrs Annesley, but Mary, who missed her friend and wrote twice weekly, persuaded Sir Thomas to invite them into Hertfordshire instead.
"Mr Darcy may object," Mary said after the letter was sent.
"Then he may write a letter so formidable the postman refuses to deliver it," Elizabeth replied.
Darcy did not object. His answer to Sir Thomas expressed gratitude, provided detailed instructions concerning Georgiana's mare, and included a separate note for his sister. Nothing was addressed to Elizabeth.
She was relieved and disappointed in precisely equal measure.
Georgiana arrived pale from the journey and smiling before she left the carriage. Mary met her upon the steps, stopped at the last instant from running, and then forgot restraint when Georgiana opened her arms.
The household adjusted around their friendship.
Music sounded from the west room each morning.
They walked with Kitty and Lydia under Miss Harwood's eye.
Jane came down from Longbourn to plan wedding music and remained to hear Georgiana's account of Bingley's disastrous attempt to choose curtain fabric.
Elizabeth saw Georgiana happy and understood another piece of Darcy.
His caution had not grown from pride alone.
At twenty-eight he had carried responsibility for a grieving child, a great estate, and a name everyone expected him to protect.
He had become controlling by degrees no less comprehensible than Sir Thomas had once become detached.
Comprehensible was not excusable. It was harder to hate.
On the fourth morning, Mary and Georgiana practiced a duet. A folded sheet slipped from between the pages of Georgiana's music and fell beneath the bench.
Mary retrieved it.
There was no direction outside. She assumed it was a copied exercise and opened it before Georgiana turned from the keyboard.
The first line stopped her.
You have ignored two warnings. Five thousand pounds will purchase my silence; nothing less will prevent the truth of Ramsgate from reaching every drawing room before your brother can hide it.
Mary's hand went cold.
Georgiana saw the paper. All color left her face.
"Give it to me."
Mary folded it at once. "I am sorry. I thought it was music."
"Please."
Georgiana reached for it, but her fingers shook so violently that the page rattled between them.
Mary did not release it. "Is it from Mr Wickham?"
Georgiana looked toward the open door.
"How do you know?"
"The writing. At Aunt Phillips's party he copied a verse into my commonplace book. He makes the capital W like two crossed swords. And the word nothing—the final stroke turns backward."
"You must forget it."
"I cannot."
"If William learns—"
"He will blame himself," Mary said.
Georgiana closed her eyes.
Mary understood that she had guessed correctly.
"How many letters?"
"Three. The first came in London. It said only that old friends might meet. I burned it. The second described what would be printed if I refused. This one was placed in my music case yesterday in Meryton."
"You went to Meryton with us."
"I left the case in the music shop while Mrs Annesley examined strings."
"A gentleman in a dark coat stood across from the shop when we arrived. I thought nothing of him until I found the letter."
Mary's fear sharpened into anger. "He was near you."
Georgiana gripped the edge of the instrument. "He says he has letters proving I intended to elope. Some are mine. Others he can create. If society knows, no one will care which are forged."
"My family will."
"Your family must not know."
"Then we must tell Lizzy and Papa. They are already investigating Mr Wickham. They will believe you."
Georgiana's head lifted.
Mary held the letter more firmly. "They have already acted to protect others from him. They will protect you now, and they will not spread what you tell them."
"William will challenge him."
"Papa will not permit it."
Georgiana made a broken sound. "Sir Thomas cannot command my brother."
Mary thought of the swords in the story every Bennet child knew. "He is very persuasive when someone is in danger."
They took the letter to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth read it standing by the window. The hand was disguised in places, but Mary's commonplace book confirmed enough. Rage rose so quickly that the room narrowed.
"He put this in your music case?"
Georgiana nodded.
"Did he specify where the money is to be delivered?"
"The old toll house beyond Lucas Lodge. Tomorrow at midnight. He says I must come alone."
"You will do no such thing."
Georgiana flinched.
Elizabeth softened her voice. "Forgive me. You have been ordered enough. What do you wish to do?"
The question surprised her.
"I want it to end. I want William not to fight him. I want not to feel fifteen whenever I see his handwriting."
Mary sat beside her. Their hands found each other.
"Then we shall end it," Elizabeth said. "But not alone."
Sir Thomas read the letter in his library. Lady Bennet was present because Elizabeth refused to treat her mother as incapable of discretion.
Lady Bennet's face went white. "That man came into my sister's house. He spoke to my girls."
"And he shall not again," Sir Thomas said.
"You must send for Mr Darcy."
"I shall."
Georgiana rose. "Please tell him not to challenge Wickham."
Sir Thomas looked at her with the same steadiness he offered his daughters. "I will tell him. I cannot promise what another man chooses, but I can promise you will have a voice in every step we take."
"Even if I am frightened?"
"Especially then."
Lady Bennet crossed the room and sat beside Georgiana. "My dear, fear has never prevented me from speaking. I recommend the practice."
A startled laugh escaped Georgiana. Lady Bennet took her free hand.
Sir Thomas wrote to Darcy, Colonel Forster, and the magistrate. A trusted groom rode south to Darcy's London house with the first letter and changed horses once. Another carried a coded message to Colonel Fitzwilliam, who was dining that evening in St James's.
The plan was still forming when Lydia entered without knocking.
"Papa, I know I am not to interrupt, but Mr Wickham is riding Denny's grey horse along the north boundary."
Everyone turned.
"How do you know?" Elizabeth asked.
"Because the grey has one white stocking and bites at the bit. Mr Wickham covered his uniform with a dark coat, but the red showed when the wind lifted it. I saw from the attic."
Miss Harwood appeared behind her, breathless from pursuit. "She was not forbidden the attic window."
Sir Thomas crossed to the estate map. "Where exactly?"
Lydia pointed. "Here, near the old keeper's path. He stopped where he could see the west drive."
Georgiana's fingers tightened.
"He is watching the house," Elizabeth said.
Sir Thomas's expression became very calm. "Then we shall allow him to see what we choose."
He turned to Lydia. "You did well to come directly."
Praise transformed her. "May I help?"
"You may obey Miss Harwood without argument for the next two days. It will be the most difficult service required of anyone."
Lydia opened her mouth, saw his face, and nodded.
At dusk a carriage left Netherfield carrying a veiled young woman beside Mrs Annesley. Wickham, watching from the boundary, could not know the veiled woman was Kitty wearing Georgiana's cloak, or that Georgiana remained inside with the curtains drawn.
At Lucas Lodge, Kitty and Mrs Annesley slipped through the stable court and entered Mr Lucas's closed carriage.
Two servants continued toward London in the Netherfield carriage, preserving the silhouettes behind drawn curtains.
Mr Lucas's coach returned Kitty and Mrs Annesley by the eastern service road after dark, well before Darcy arrived.
He followed the carriage toward London far enough for Colonel Forster's men to note his movement.
Then he turned back toward Meryton.
He believed Georgiana had been frightened away from protection.
He did not know Darcy was riding north through the night.
* * *
Darcy reached Netherfield shortly before dawn, mud to his knees and fury held together by exhaustion.
Sir Thomas met him in the hall.
"Georgiana?"
"Safe. Asleep, I hope."
Darcy moved toward the stairs.
"Wait."
He turned with a look that might have stopped another man.
Sir Thomas lowered his voice. "She has spent weeks being commanded by Wickham and years fearing your anger at yourself. When she wakes, you will go to her as a brother, not an avenging guardian."
"He threatened her under your roof."
"And will answer for it. But if you make your rage the largest thing in her room, she will comfort you instead of receiving comfort."
Darcy's hands closed at his sides.
The words were intolerable because they were true.
"What has been arranged?"
"Coffee first. Then you will hear it from Georgiana."
In the breakfast room Darcy found Elizabeth, still dressed from the previous evening, writing out a copy of Wickham's final demand. She looked up.
Everything he had felt at Hunsford moved across his face and was buried beneath the emergency.
"Miss Elizabeth."
"Mr Darcy."
"You were with her?"
"Mary found the letter. Georgiana told us together."
"Thank you."
The words were inadequate. His voice made them otherwise.
Elizabeth set down the pen. "She is afraid you will challenge him."
"I would like to kill him."
"That is not what she asked."
Darcy shut his eyes for one moment. "No."
"Papa has the magistrate's cooperation. Colonel Forster has confined the regiment to quarters on the pretext of inspection. Wickham believes Georgiana left for London, frightened. We shall answer the demand and deliver marked notes at the toll house."
"We?"
"Not Georgiana."
"Nor you."
Elizabeth's brows rose.
Darcy heard his own tone and stopped.