Netherfield Park Quarantined (12 page)

“I will go to your townhouse tonight to collect Georgiana and take her to
Rosings with me. Anne and I will be perfect role models for such a young
lady.” Lady Catherine took a step towards the door of the drawing room.

“Take one more step, Lady Catherine, and I will be forced to make public
the journals of your late husband. I believe you will be the laughing stock of
all England when they learn of your finding mistresses and maids to keep your
husband from your bed after you found you were with child. You knew there
were no restrictions on a female child being able to inherit, so you made sure
you only endured Sir Lewis until you had your required heir. And I found it
interesting that Sir Lewis had in his will that Anne inherited Rosings at the age
of five and twenty. You inherited nothing but your widow’s portion. If Anne
married me, since I had my own estate, she would move to Pemberley and
leave Rosings for you to enjoy. That is the reason you are set on my marrying
Anne.”

“Lies, all of it is lies. From where did this alleged journal come?” Lady
Catherine was turning red with fury.

“When Sir Lewis knew he was dying, he called for my father to come to
him. He gave the journals to my father. My father gave them to me, as he knew
you would try to force me into a marriage with Anne. Father wished for me to
have the truth rather than your version.” Darcy smiled as he watched his aunt
stomp her foot in anger.

The butler came to the door of the drawing room, waiting for the
conversation to halt before he drew attention to himself. Lord Matlock
noticed him and inquired. “What is it, Jackson?”

“A footman has come from Darcy House with an important message for
Mr Darcy.”

 

Darcy quickly crossed the room, and seeing Alfie behind Jackson, the
Master of Darcy House moved to his servant. “What has happened, Alfie?”

“Sir, a boy came to Darcy House a few moments after you and the
Colonel left. The boy claimed you had been in a terrible carriage accident and
were injured. Mrs Darcy ran out of the house, following the boy. By the time
Mr Crossman gathered some of us footmen to go after her, Mrs Darcy had
vanished. We have been searching for some time, with no sign of her. And, as
you and the Colonel are not harmed, the boy lied to Mrs Darcy to get her out of
the house.”

Richard had moved to stand behind his cousin, and had heard what the
footman told him. “We will deal with Father and Lady Catherine later,
William. Let us return to Darcy House and begin the investigation.”

~~~~~~~ ** ~~~~~~~

 

Chapter 10

With her hands tied behind her, her feet bound and a gag in her mouth,
Elizabeth knew she could make no escape or call out for help. She knew she
was lying on the bed of a wagon, covered with blankets and the heavy fabric
her uncle used in his warehouse. The wagon was still moving, and had been
since the man and woman came up behind her on the road. The woman held a
pistol, pointed directly at Elizabeth’s heart. With Elizabeth’s cooperation, the
man bound her with rope and then gagged her before lifting her up and
tossing her onto the wagon bed. It was all done so quickly, all the while
Elizabeth was still concerned for Darcy’s welfare. She had not thought twice
about following after the young boy, the only thing that went through her
mind was finding her husband alive.

A hole in the road caused the wagon to bounce hard, flinging Elizabeth
up before she crashed back on the bed of the wagon, striking her body on an
object that was also on the wagon bed. A searing pain coursed through
Elizabeth, and she felt something warm flowing down her side.

Another hour passed by before the wagon came to a halt. The man
jumped down from the driver’s seat to make his way to the bed, pulling the
bedding off the top of his captive. Flinging her over his shoulder, the man
carried Elizabeth inside a ransacked house on the outskirts of Town.
Suddenly, Elizabeth found herself being tossed onto a bed in the back room.
Crying out from pain, Elizabeth could feel tears welling up in her eyes.

“George, why is there blood on your coat?” the woman asked. “Were
you injured?”

“No.” Wickham said as he checked himself for any wounds. “She must
be bleeding from some injury. Blast, we were to see she was taken and kept
safely in the house in Ireland until we heard otherwise.”

The woman walked over to the bed and began to look Elizabeth over.
“Here, on her side, there is a cut. From the looks of it, she must have cut
herself on one of the farm tools on the wagon.”

“How bad is it?” Wickham asked, anger at the situation was apparent.
“Can you take care of the wound?”

Mrs Younge nodded her head. “It is not too bad, but I cannot be sure
how deep the cut is. I will clean it up and wrap it. How soon before we leave
for Ireland?”

“Tomorrow morning. We will make it north to Liverpool. From there,
we will take a ship across to Dublin. I have the directions to the estate we are
to go to from Dublin. Then we wait and keep the two ladies secure there until
the gentleman who has purchased Mrs Darcy arrives. Then we will take Miss
Darcy back to England, and collect the ransom for her.”

“For all of this, we will receive twenty thousand pounds?” Mrs Younge
smiled. “I cannot wait until this is all over and we travel on to the Americas.
We will be able to start a new life together with such funds available to us.”

“Of course, my love, and we will be a wealthy married couple when we
begin our new life. We could have a fancy townhouse in New York, or travel to
the southern section, and have what they call a plantation. There are fancy
estates like we have here in England, with large, beautiful houses. What sort
of life do you wish?”

“As long as I am with you, George, it does not matter. I should check on
our other guest.”

Wickham accompanied Mrs Younge from the room, going to his
bedchamber while she went to check on the young girl they had secured down
the hall.

~~ ** ~~

Darcy and Richard returned to Darcy House, speaking to everyone who
was involved in the search for Elizabeth. Knowing Wickham would be
ruthless with Elizabeth, even more so than with Georgiana, Darcy’s heart was
racing with fear. Wickham knew that Elizabeth was Darcy’s wife, that she was
his lover and the woman the Master of Pemberley had given his heart to. To
someone of Wickham’s lack of morals, this was a great treasure. He knew
Darcy would do anything to get Elizabeth back, and anything the villain did to
her while she was in his grasp would be a knife in Darcy’s heart.

Darcy continued to pace, waiting for the letter from Wickham to arrive,
waiting for the demands that would be issued. Each tick of the clock was an
eternity, dragging slowly and straining Darcy’s sanity.

But no word arrived. Wickham did not make demands of Darcy, not
even a letter taunting his nemesis with the fact of his wife being in Wickham’s
grasp. This caused torment for Darcy, and for Richard, who wished to put an
end to the scoundrel.

~~ ** ~~

Wickham had two trunks made special for traveling with his…
guests…
to
eliminate the possibility of their escape. So far, the two had been kept apart,
though each knew they were not the only hostage. Learning that her captors
were George Wickham and Mrs Younge, Elizabeth was certain the other
hostage was her new sister, Georgiana Darcy. Georgiana had no notion as to
whom the other hostage was, though she feared for all of her loved ones.

The first day of travel, Wickham came into Elizabeth’s room and
explained to her the options before her. “You may remain here, alone, bound
and gagged, to die slowly, or you can go with us. If you go with us, you will be
kept tied up and gagged, and will be inside one of the trunks. Do not fear, the
trunks have holes drilled in them for air, so you can breathe. We will be
traveling by private carriage and staying at private houses along the trip, so
do not think you will be able to escape from us. If you cooperate, you will be
fed, given a comfortable bed, and treated fairly. If you misbehave, we will first
punish the other hostage, then you will be punished.”

The gag had been pulled down from Elizabeth’s mouth to allow her to
take a drink from the cup Wickham held to her lips. “Where are we going?
Why would you take us anywhere? William will pay you what you wish, then
you can disappear.”

“Do not worry yourself over the hows and whys. Just know, you will not
be seeing your beloved Darcy again. Our other hostage may be returned to
Darcy in time, but you will spend the rest of your life without him.” Wickham
said with a gleam of pleasure. “And if I know your husband, it will be the
worst torture imaginable.”

Elizabeth began to fear for her safety. From the sounds of it, there was
no reason to keep Elizabeth alive, and only if she complied would she be
allowed to continue breathing. And her cooperation would also keep
Georgiana from harm. She would do anything to protect the young girl, her
husband’s beloved little sister. If there was a way to ensure Georgiana would
be returned to William, she would do whatever was asked of her.

~~ ** ~~

Entering the study of Darcy House, Richard found his cousin seated at
his desk, with his head down on the desk, and an empty bottle of port near the
overturned glass near Darcy’s head. It had been a week since Darcy had seen
his wife, a week with no word from Wickham and no leads as to where the
scoundrel had taken not only Elizabeth, but Georgiana as well. Each hour
which passed with no word, Darcy had slipped further into melancholy, and
finally shut himself in his study to begin drinking. The last time Richard had
seen his cousin in such a state, Gerald Darcy had just died.

No one could understand Wickham’s silence. It was not like the man to
disappear without his goal, and in this case, the goal was extorted funds from
Darcy. They knew Elizabeth had no money upon her, she did not even have
her reticule or spencer. And Georgiana rarely kept more than two pounds in
her reticule. Darcy was concerned Wickham might take the ladies to the bank
and have them withdraw the money without him, but no one had shown up at
the bank to retrieve funds from any Darcy account.

Richard knew he needed to snap his cousin from the hole into which he
was falling. If it was allowed to continue much longer, Richard feared for
Darcy’s safety.

“Darce, wake up.” Richard said in a normal tone. He stepped closer to
the desk and raised his voice slightly. “William, wake up.” Still no response
from his cousin. Finally, Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam used his commanding
officer voice. “Fitzwilliam Gerald Darcy, you will wake this very moment or
you will be cleaning all of the necessary rooms in the house.”

Darcy’s head came up off the desk, though pain beat loudly in his ears.
“Richard, go away. I am in no mood to listen to you.”

“I do not care if you are in a mood to listen or not. You will get yourself
up from your desk, march yourself upstairs to clean yourself up, and be ready
to leave here in an hour.”

Looking at his cousin, Darcy could not help but be confused. “Why do
we need to leave here in an hour? Has something happened?”

“If you had remained sober, you would already know the answer to that
question.” Richard stated in a matter of fact manner. “But, yes, I received
word from one of my men. It appears Wickham had some trunks made
special. My guess is they were made to transport people inside. And he had
two of the trunks made, so I am sure he has both Elizabeth and Georgiana.
That is good news, they must be alive if he was transporting them wherever
he was going.”

“But where was he taking them? Do we know that?” Darcy spat out in
disgust.

“As a matter of fact, Wickham finally slipped up. The man who made the
trunks overheard Wickham speaking with a woman. From the description, I
believe it was Mrs Younge. They were speaking of Liverpool. I have already
called to have a carriage prepared, hence the need to be ready to leave in an
hour.”

Darcy jumped up from his seat, before grasping his head between both
of his hands. The obvious effects of too much indulgence of port could be seen
on the young man.

“Your valet has strong coffee in your room, as well as a hot bath and a
razor ready to shave you. Hurry along and be back down here in an hour, or I
will leave without you.”

~~ ** ~~

Charles Bingley was visiting Longbourn daily, spending as much time
with his angel as possible. The more he knew of Jane Bennet, the more he
wished to be with her. This morning, Bingley had made the decision to speak
with Jane about his dreams for the future.

The day was pleasant, and shortly after Bingley arrived, he asked Jane if
she would care to take a turn in the gardens. Jane gratefully accepted, wishing
to be away from her mother, who had decided she was well enough to come
from her rooms that morning.

Once outside, Bingley became frantic to find the words he wished to
convey his feelings to the lady beside him. Nervous, he began the
conversation poorly.

“I received a letter from the physician who is tending to Caroline. She is
making no signs of improvement, though the physician wishes to try several
other treatments to see if one of them would be affective.”

“It is sad that your sister was so struck by the fever. Is your other sister
devastated by Miss Bingley’s lack of improvement?” Jane asked cautiously.

“No, in a way, it has been a blessing for Louisa and Hurst, as their
marriage suffered whenever Caroline was with them. Miss Bennet, I wish to
inform you of a family secret. I feel you must know this information, so you
will be better able to decide the future. Caroline is my cousin, not my sister.
And her mother was disturbed, as Caroline is now. Fortunately, Caroline’s
mother was only a half-sister to my father, they shared a father. The illness of
the mind came from her mother’s side of the family.”