Alias Thomas Bennet (38 page)

As usual, he promised a share of the proceeds. She hoped rather than believed that he would obtain the riches he claimed were there for the taking. He returned in the dead of night two days ago, demanding a report on her progress.

“There are two enormous footmen consistently attending the Lydon sisters and the other ladies when they make their excursions,” Mrs. Younge reported. “They arrive in Gracechurch Street before breakfast and do not return to Darcy House until all the inmates of the Gardiner home have retired.”

“Then it appears I need more than your feminine charms,” he said. “I need muscle. Anyone for hire in Seven Dials will do.” It was clear he was impatient by the way he issued orders to her.

She shook her head. “I cannot convince brutish fellows to help you in your enterprises, at least not without some form of payment beforehand. I promised them a reward once you become successful, but I was laughed at. It seems you have made a few enemies.” She knew he was desperately without funds at the present time, and he was not known for keeping his promises of future payment.

Wickham huffed and looked at the ground. She intentionally left a silence between them for a few moments.

“However, I did see a break in the times the guards were near Elizabeth.” That caught his attention, and he looked at her expectantly.

“Twice, she has walked out alone very early in the morning,” said she, “and returned before Darcy’s brutes arrived. Thus far, she has not yet been caught by any of her family or their servants. She chooses to walk in a park near her relatives’ home in Cheapside.”

She smiled inwardly as he brazenly outlined his strategy. He fancied himself a brilliant tactician, above all others in intelligence, but had no ability to take his own culpability for mistakes seriously and constantly looked for someone to blame.

This time, she would not be held responsible. This time, she would have the upper hand. There might even be a bit of revenge in it for his past history of using her ill.

It was easy to decide her next step. She already made sure that Darcy would have very little trouble finding the boarding house she was running in a less respectable part of London. She was not even out of a great deal of pocket change, since it was easy to take advantage of those who were exceedingly grateful for the small token she proffered.

***

Fanny Bennet was frantic with worry. She had awakened to a knock on the door and the voice of the Gardiners’ butler with an urgent message. Before she was out of the bed, she realized that her husband had already risen for the day without her. She donned her robe and went to the door to retrieve the note he had left for her.

My dearest Fan,

I am sorry to have left you alone, but it could not be avoided. I had not slept well last night, and I arose while you were still sleeping. I dressed and was on my way to the breakfast room when one of Mr. Darcy’s footmen came to inform me that, when they arrived this morning, Elizabeth was not in the house and she had been seen walking out alone shortly before sunrise. They were about to be off to find her when they realized that I had arisen and courteously apprised me of the situation. I summoned Mr. Darcy, who arrived just as my note to him was dispatched. He had received word that Wickham was planning to kidnap Elizabeth today and came immediately to let me know, and to advise the footmen guarding her to take extra care should she leave the house. They have already gone to the park where she usually walks, and we are to meet Darcy’s cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam who will also assist in protecting her from Mr. Wickham. Time is my adversary; I will be off as soon as I am finished penning this note. Do not worry for me. I will bring her back to you today.

With all my love,
Thomas

Mrs. Bennet rushed out in her dressing gown, and she was told that Mr. Bennet had already left the house. Since it was still early, she dressed herself and tried in vain to attend to her needlework. After waiting nearly an hour, she finally rose to watch from the front window, desperately looking for anything that would show her husband and daughter were safe.

There was no suppressing her memories; they slammed into her mind with brutal force. Elizabeth could very well be in the hands of a man who was known as a licentious rake. She dreaded that history would repeat itself.

***

Wickham congratulated himself on his good luck in having found Elizabeth alone with his accomplice. His plans to kidnap her would be accomplished exactly in the way he had hoped with no trouble from any protectors. Mrs. Younge delivered her as he had demanded, and he would soon have Elizabeth to himself and humiliate her for escaping him in Kent. The power he felt was exhilarating. There would be nothing to stop him from collecting on his demands for a sum generous enough to set him up for years to come.

But Wickham would not stop there. A great deal of pleasure had fallen on his lap; he would tup the chit, and then his revenge on Bennet and Darcy would be complete. But as he waited for Elizabeth to introduce him to Mrs. Younge, he heard the pounding of feet behind him. He snapped his attention toward two imposing men dressed in Darcy’s livery who were briskly moving towards them.

Seeing the size of the footmen, Wickham briefly looked around for a place to run. With the grove behind him and the footmen rapidly advancing, he saw no easy way of escape, so he considered his options and decided to use the contingency plan he had agreed upon with Bertha Younge: she would constrain Elizabeth until Wickham could grab hold of her, and then he would use his position to negotiate with her protectors. He cagily stared at the footmen while waving his hand towards Mrs. Younge to signal her to initiate the plan.

But Wickham was not aware of Mrs. Younge’s duplicity. She had sent a waif to inform Darcy that this was the day Wickham was planning to strike. Because she was certain that Darcy would have matters in hand without her further assistance, she initially thought not to attend as Wickham was expecting her to. But just in case there was a problem and Darcy did not get there in time, she decided to appear in the park. She had not known what she would do in that case, but now the situation was upon her, and she had to react.

With the footmen capturing Wickham’s attention, Mrs. Younge took advantage of the distraction and firmly grasped Elizabeth by the arms. But rather than deliver her to Wickham as he anticipated, she attempted to pull Elizabeth away from him. She nearly succeeded, but Elizabeth was startled and instinctively struggled against the restraint. Elizabeth stumbled, but Mrs. Younge caught her by the elbow and managed to right her. However, amidst the scuffle between the two women, Wickham was able to successfully wrench Elizabeth out of his accomplice’s hands, causing Mrs. Younge to fall. She cried out in pain.

Wickham quickly and roughly pulled Elizabeth into a position in front of him, trapping her arms beneath his. Jenkins and Roberts rapidly closed in on them but, when Wickham pulled out a knife, they stilled their progress. Surprised that he intended to use unreasonable force, Mrs. Younge screamed. Wickham backed away, pulling a frustrated Elizabeth with him while waving the knife with his other hand. He laughed when he saw the burly footmen stop in their tracks.

At that moment, he heard a familiar voice behind him. He turned to confirm his suspicions while still holding Elizabeth fast against his body. He saw Darcy approaching and Colonel Fitzwilliam helping Mrs. Younge off the ground. Now there were four men coming down on him like lions to their prey. He remained smug in spite of the growing disadvantage to his position. He rounded upon them, dragging Elizabeth along, and stabbed the knife at the air in staccato motions.

“You would do best to release her, Wickham,” Darcy said. “Your plan has failed, and you will be taken into custody no matter what you do now. It is best for you to minimize your sentence.” He could not help adding, “You did not think you would be found out, did you, Wickham? Had you not made so many enemies in the past, it may have been harder to catch you, but you are a fool.”

“You are the fool, Darcy. My friend here will tell you that I have already compromised your woman!” Wickham said, cocking his head towards Mrs. Younge and waving the knife in the same direction.

Elizabeth thought this an opportunity to escape and jerked hard to pull out of his grip. She twisted about and ducked under his arm, attempting to go behind him. Darcy leapt forward, but Wickham quickly regained hold of her. She could now feel the blade of the knife firmly placed against the skin of her neck. She felt the tension in Wickham’s body and realized he was not only unprepared for the onslaught of men, but that he was alarmed by the implications of being caught. She was equally alarmed. She looked towards Darcy with pleading eyes, hoping he would not be hasty in intercepting Wickham’s attack. Darcy’s jaw flexed in frustration as he looked daggers at Wickham.

In his efforts to maintain his hold on Elizabeth, Wickham had not seen another man join them. As soon as he caught a glance at the new arrival, Wickham wondered who he was and why he was there until he spoke.

“Let go of my daughter, you cur,” Bennet growled.

Wickham realized this was the man, previously seen only from across a crowded ballroom, who had been the instigator of all his recent hardships. He raised his eyebrows.

“Pleased to meet you, Bennet.” Wickham smirked and took the opportunity to gloat and taunt Bennet. “I know all your secrets, and I have known them for some time. I know you have access to a lot of money, and I will not let her go until I am satisfied.”

“What do you want, Wickham?” Bennet observed his antagonist warily. He was doing his best to remain calm but all he could think about was his desperate worry for Elizabeth’s safety.

Wickham was smug as this time he was in the superior position. “I want a ticket to America with Mrs. Younge and £30,000. That is what Darcy tricked me out of when he broke off my engagement with his sister.”

“There was no engagement, Wickham—just your devilry to manipulate a poor trusting girl,” Darcy hissed.

Wickham laughed. “She is no girl now, Darcy, not after I was done with her, and the same can be said for your betrothed.” Bennet had to restrain Darcy as he lunged towards Wickham. Darcy crushed his hands into frustrated fists.

“Mrs. Younge will not be travelling with you, Wickham,” Bennet said, “and you will no longer be able to take advantage of her. She helped us stop you from abducting Elizabeth.”

“Bertha, you are coming with me, are you not?”

“No, I am not,” said Mrs. Younge from her position behind him.

“Fair enough. Then I will take Lady Elizabeth with me. I am sure she would rather marry me than Darcy.”

At this, Darcy nearly burst with anger but wisely held back in fear of further harm to Elizabeth. The frown creasing her forehead showed that Elizabeth’s offence at the statement matched his.

Wickham cackled. “Darcy, you are such a prig.”

He turned his attention to Mrs. Younge, and the movement caused the knife to break the skin of Elizabeth’s neck. Darcy and Bennet were horrified to see blood. Mrs. Younge screamed again, and Wickham laughed.

“So, Bertha, would you rather stay here in your sorry situation or trade places with this little filly?”

“George, I am through with your filthy cheating and lying,” Mrs. Younge said diffidently, her voice wavering. “This is the last time you will coerce me to help you for the purpose of lining your pockets. You left me to a less than honourable position in society while you gambled away the proceeds of our escapades. Mr. Darcy has made me a better offer, and I can now live my life with a more respectable profession.”

“A better offer?” Wickham said, incredulous. “Do you think he will keep his word—after he stole from me, first by denying me the living at Kympton, and then by interfering with my marriage to his sister? Darcy is not interested in helping you, Bertha. He is disgusted with people like us. He will rid himself of you as soon as he pays the ransom and gets back his sweetheart. I promise you that we will have enough money to move to the Continent or live a life of ease in America.”

“No. When I trusted you, you lied and left me with almost nothing. Mr. Darcy is an honourable man. He was willing to help me regain my self-esteem and provide me with some money despite my ill-treatment of him and Miss Darcy. You never shared the profits from your schemes with me; you took advantage of me and then left for greener pastures.” Mrs. Younge had tears in her eyes and wrapped her arms around herself.

“You are such an ineffectual woman, Bertha. Who do you expect to warm your bed if not me? Surely not Darcy; he is much too cold. You will never be respectable.” Wickham laughed, and Mrs. Younge began to cry.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Colonel Fitzwilliam had moved behind him and was closer than he had realized. Wickham twisted his body sideways to gain a better view of his challenger.

“Fitzwilliam! You are too late to protect her!” He casually gestured to the man with his knife.

With the momentary distraction—and the blade no longer at Elizabeth’s throat—the timing was perfect for Jenkins to divest Wickham of his knife while Darcy tugged Elizabeth free of his grasp and took her in his arms. Simultaneously, Roberts grabbed Wickham and knocked him to the ground, pinning him down with his weight.

“Your own imprudence has cost you again, Wickham,” said Colonel Fitzwilliam. “We will be taking you to Bow Street, and if you give us more trouble, remind yourself that we might think to re-introduce you to your commander in the ——shire.”