The Way Home
Lady Catherine fired.
The ball struck Wickham in the chest. His pistol discharged as his body twisted, the shot tearing through the branches above Anthony.
Elizabeth felt his arm fall away from her. Darcy reached her before she struck the ground, drawing her against him as Richard crossed the distance between them. Wickham collapsed upon the path. Richard kicked the pistol into the undergrowth and dropped beside him.
For several seconds, the wood was silent.
“Grandmama?” Anthony said.
Lady Catherine remained where she was, Sir Lewis’s pistol extended before her. Smoke drifted from the barrel. “Stay where you are.”
He obeyed.
Richard placed two fingers beneath Wickham’s jaw. He waited, then looked up. “He is dead.”
Lady Catherine lowered the pistol. “He pointed a weapon at Anthony.”
Georgiana had not moved. She was looking at her husband: at the shape of him amongst the leaves, at his hand open against the wet ground, at the coat he had bought in London in the winter and worn perhaps twice, at the face which was no longer arranging itself into anything at all.
Richard rose from beside the body. “Henderson.”
The man came through the trees at once. He had been at the south gate since morning and had run at the sound of the first shot.
“Colonel.”
“Take two men. Cover him and keep everyone off this path.” Richard’s voice was entirely level. “Then send to the village for Mr Sutton, and after that ride to Sir John Fenwick at Ashcombe. Tell him Lady Catherine de Bourgh requires a magistrate at Rosings and that the matter cannot wait.”
“Yes, Colonel.”
“And Henderson.”
“Sir?”
“Nothing is moved.”
Henderson looked once at the body, once at Lady Catherine, and went.
Mrs Mercer had reached Anthony. She gathered him up without protest from him, which frightened Elizabeth more than his running had.
“Is he dead?” he asked.
“Yes,” Lady Catherine said.
Anthony considered this from Mrs Mercer’s arms. “Good,” he said.
Georgiana made a small sound.
Lady Catherine’s attention moved to Mrs Mercer. “I instructed you to keep him with you.”
Mrs Mercer’s arms tightened around Anthony. “Yes, your ladyship.”
“Then explain to me how my grandson came to be standing in this wood.”
“He ran from me, your ladyship. I could not catch him.”
Anthony lifted his head from Mrs Mercer’s shoulder. “I told her I was going to help.”
Lady Catherine regarded him. “Yes. I imagine you did.”
Her attention remained upon him for another moment. “Take him to the house. Lewis and Nurse are at the low wall. Take them all inside, keep them in the nursery, and do not allow anyone into the gardens.”
“Yes, your ladyship.”
“And, Mrs Mercer, he is to have something sweet, and he is not to be scolded for disobeying me.”
Mrs Mercer’s mouth trembled once. “No, your ladyship.”
Anthony looked over her shoulder at Elizabeth. “Are you coming home?”
“Yes,” Elizabeth said.
That answer satisfied him. He rested his head against Mrs Mercer’s shoulder and allowed himself to be carried away.
Only then did Lady Catherine turn to Georgiana. Georgiana had not taken her eyes from her husband. She stepped towards him. Darcy said her name, but she raised one hand without looking back.
“Please.”
He stopped.
Georgiana crossed the remaining distance and stood beside the body. She did not kneel or touch him. She merely looked down at the man she had married at nineteen and followed for nine years.
“He always disliked mud upon his boots,” she said.
There was mud upon them now. One was trapped beneath him at an awkward angle, while the other rested against the edge of the path as though he might rise at any moment and complain of the inconvenience.
Georgiana drew a slow breath. “He cannot hurt anyone else.”
“No,” Richard said. “He cannot.”
She nodded once and turned away from him.
Darcy was still holding Elizabeth. He had not let go since the shot, and she found she had no wish to be let go of. Her legs had begun to feel unreliable in a way she found undignified and could not correct.
“Elizabeth.”
“I am perfectly well.”
“You are shaking.”
“That is a separate matter from being well.”
His mouth twitched, almost a laugh. He drew her a little closer instead.
“He would have taken you into the wood,” he said. His voice was not steady. “I could not follow. Richard held my arm and I could not follow, and I have never in my life…”
He stopped.
“I know,” Elizabeth said.
“You do not.”
“I do.” She turned enough to look at him properly. “I watched you stand still while a man held a pistol against my ribs. I know exactly what it cost you, because I have spent months learning to read what it costs you to stand still.”
“You were right to stay,” she continued. “Richard was right to hold you. And I was right to send Anthony for Lady Catherine.”
“You sent a four-year-old.”
“I sent him away from a man holding a pistol.” Elizabeth heard her own voice waver and steadied it. “That was the whole of my reasoning. Everything else was fortunate.”
“He knew what to do because we had made a game of dragons,” she said. “I did not know, when I invented it, that it would be useful. I only knew that Anthony would run and would not stop, and that Wickham could not follow him without releasing me.”
“And Lewis?”
“Nurse had him.” Elizabeth’s hands had begun to shake again. “I could not send them both. Lewis cannot run.”
Darcy’s arm tightened.
“You worked all of that out,” he said, “in the time it took to say one sentence about dragons.”
“There was not time for a longer sentence.”
“No,” he said. “There was not.”
“I have spent years trying to anticipate him,” he said. “You had four seconds.”
“And I had all of you.”
Darcy’s eyes moved past her. Richard stood beside Georgiana. Lady Catherine remained upon the path, Sir Lewis’s pistol lowered at her side. Beyond the hedge, Mrs Mercer was carrying Anthony home.
“Yes,” he said. “You did.”
Lady Catherine looked from Elizabeth’s shaking hands to Darcy’s arm around her.
“That is enough. Darcy, take Miss Bennet inside. Georgiana will go with you.”
“I can walk,” Elizabeth said.
“I did not ask whether you could.”
Elizabeth opened her mouth, reconsidered, and allowed Darcy to turn her towards the path.
Georgiana looked back once. Wickham’s body was already being covered with Henderson’s coat.
Richard stepped beside her. “I shall remain until the magistrate arrives.”
“I know.”
“I shall send for my father. You need not say more than is necessary until he and Edward are here.”
Her eyes remained upon the coat amongst the leaves. “He will have to be told.”
“Yes.”
“And Anne and George.”
Georgiana looked at him then. “They will ask whether their father suffered.”
“We shall decide what they need to know before anyone speaks to them.”
“We?”
“All of us.”
She nodded. Darcy held out his free hand to her. Georgiana took it, and the three of them followed Lady Catherine towards the house.
Nurse was waiting beside the low wall with Lewis. The moment he saw Elizabeth, he twisted free and ran towards her.
“Miss Bennet!”
Elizabeth dropped to her knees before Darcy could prevent her. Lewis collided with her hard enough to make her sway, and Darcy caught them both.
Lewis put his arms around her neck. “He took you.”
“Yes.”
“Anthony got Grandmama.”
“He did.”
“Grandmama shot the dragon.”
Elizabeth looked over his shoulder at Lady Catherine.
“Yes,” she said quietly. “She did.”
Lewis considered this, then pressed his face against Elizabeth’s shoulder.
Nurse reached them, breathless and pale. “I am sorry, Miss Bennet. I could not hold him when he saw you.”
“There is nothing to forgive.”
Darcy helped Elizabeth rise, though Lewis refused to release her. She lifted him, and he settled against her shoulder.
Lady Catherine turned to Nurse. “Take the lower path and remain with us. No one is to walk through the gardens until Sir John has completed his examination.”
“Yes, your ladyship.”
They had nearly reached the terrace when Anthony appeared behind the glass doors. Mrs Mercer caught him before he could open them. He pressed both hands against the pane. Elizabeth raised one hand.
Anthony stared at her for a moment, then nodded with grave satisfaction.
Lady Catherine opened the door. “You were instructed to remain with Mrs Mercer.”
“I did,” Anthony said. “She came with me.”
Mrs Mercer closed her eyes.
Lady Catherine looked at her grandson, at Lewis clinging to Elizabeth, and at Georgiana walking beside Darcy.
“Inside,” she said.
Anthony stepped back to allow them through.
“Miss Bennet came home,” he announced.
“Yes,” Lady Catherine said. “She did.”