The Resolute Suitor: A Pride and Prejudice Variation Read online

  “He did, and here it is.” Mr. Phillips handed her a small ledger. “The rest of the will deals with what is to be done with many personal items, all of which were destroyed in the fire, so it is no longer applicable.”

  “Uncle Edward,” said Elizabeth, “when we are in town, would you please show me the ledgers of the account into which all of father’s money went? I would like to know all about it in case something should happen to you.”

  “I was going to suggest that myself Lizzie. In fact, I can bring duplicates of them to Pemberley with me when we come for the wedding.”

  “Wonderful. Are there any other surprises Uncle Harold?”

  “Yes, there is one for Jane, which is not in the will, but in a personal letter to me.” He drew what was obviously a jewelry box out of his valise. “Jane, do you remember your grandmother Bennet?”

  “Only vaguely. I was only two when she died.”

  “She did not like your mother and did not approve of your father’s marriage to her. Therefore, when she died, she willed her jewels to you, specifying that your mother would never see them or know about them. Your father gave them to me to keep many years ago with a letter of instruction related to passing them on to you. This box contains some beautiful jewelry your grandmother hoped you would pass on to your oldest daughter, calling them the Bennet jewels.”

  When Jane opened the box, she drew a big breath. “These are gorgeous. They must be worth hundreds of pounds.”

  “I suspect they are, but as far as I know, they have never been appraised. In any case, your father hoped you would never need to know their worth because you would always save them for your daughter, unless of course you want to insure them. Now, with these, we are finally done. There are no more surprises, but I think you can see your father was not quite as indolent or lacking in financial sense as you might have thought. He never wanted anything but the quiet life and would do anything to ensure that he got it.”

  Chapter 24: Was it Arson

  When the four sisters arrived back at Netherfield, Darcy and Bingley saw the coach coming up the drive and went out to greet them. “How did it go? Were there any surprises?” asked Darcy.

  “There were nothing but surprises,” said Lizzie. “Let us go inside and we will tell you about it.”

  When they were all in the sitting room, and tea had been served, Jane started by telling Bingley, Darcy, Georgiana and Bingley’s Aunt Ida about the entail and what the monthly income of Longbourn actually was, mentioning that Elizabeth had known the true income for years because she had helped Mr. Bennet keep books.”

  “You do not know how many times I wanted to tell you about it, but father made me swear on a Bible I would not tell anyone about the true income. At the time I started helping him, no one other than him, Uncle Gardiner, and Mr. Avery knew the actual income of the estate. It made me appreciate what a good and faithful steward Mr. Avery has been.”

  “Darcy, I remember you telling me when you first came here that you could not understand why an estate like Longbourn was not making at least £4000 per year,” said Bingley. “It seems your estimate was true.”

  Elizabeth then gave them the astonishing news about all of the money Mr. Bennet had accumulated through savings and investments, admitting she had been aware of it, but because she had never seen the ledgers of those accounts, had not realized quite how much he had managed to accumulate. “Jane would have received more than £10,000 as a dowry. Charles, since you do not seem to know that, I assume you had not yet shown father your settlement, because I am sure he would have told you.”

  “No, I had not. To be truthful, I wanted some advice from Darcy before I did it.”

  After Elizabeth told them about the cottage she had inherited, Jane pulled the jewelry box out of the satchel she had been carrying. “As big as all those surprises were, to me, this was probably the biggest surprise,” and walked over to Bingley and opened the box of jewels, explaining from where they came. Bingley’s eyes grew wide and very carefully lifting one of the necklaces out of the box, he said, “My God, this is some of the most magnificent jewelry I have ever seen.” Jane then showed them to Darcy, Georgiana, and Aunt Ida who were also impressed, Darcy being of the opinion that they were the equal of some of the best in the Darcy collection of jewelry.

  “All in all,” said Elizabeth, “it was a very surprising and enlightening day. I realize how much we had misjudged Papa and how conscientious he was about ensuring our future well-being, should something happen to him. It makes me feel his loss even more.”

  After more discussion of the inheritances and telling them where it had been decided that Kitty and Mary were going to live, Darcy then said, “After all of that good news, I am afraid that I have some………I will not say bad, let me say news of concern.”

  “About what?” asked Elizabeth. “Where have you been today?”

  “Bingley took me over to Longbourn so I could see the ruins. As we were poking around, I decided to rummage through the debris under the window to Lydia’s room to see if I could find anything that might give a hint as to what happened to her. I found this.” From behind the couch he pulled out a length of rope about eight feet long burned at one end and having knots tied in it every two feet. Does this look familiar?”

  Kitty immediately said, “That looks like part of the rope Jane and Mary and I used to escape out the guest room window. I think we had one in our dressing room. Do you think this means Lydia used it and escaped? If she did, where is she?”

  “That is precisely my question.”

  “If she escaped the fire, it does not make sense she would run away. She would not have anything. She would have been only in her night gown. Could she have been injured or wandered off and been kidnapped or some such thing?”

  “Unlikely and if she had fallen and hurt herself or killed herself, someone would have found her body. It is also unlikely she would have tied the rope to something and then not been able to make it to the rope. I believe it is a strong indication she is alive and that is why no bones were found.”

  “I take it you think she climbed down the rope before the fire?” said Mary.

  “Oh dear,” said Jane. “I remember the terrible row she had with father when someone told him she had been seen walking with Wickham on one of the wooded footpaths three days before the fire. Father had confined her to the house for two weeks and said she could not go to any balls or parties for a month. She yelled at him, saying he was unfair and treating her like a child. He told her she was a child and she would be treated as one until she gave some evidence of growing up. He then sent her to her room, where she stayed the entire next day. Do you suppose that since Kitty was not in the room with her, she was using the rope at night to visit with Wickham? Even worse, that the night of the fire, she left with him and one of them set the fire?”

  “We were making that same speculation,” said Bingley.

  “I will grant Lydia is a silly and thoughtless girl,” said Elizabeth, “but I cannot believe she is evil: that she would purposely set fire to the house just to get even. She would have to know it might kill people and I do not think she would do it.”

  Mary also could not believe her sister would purposely do something that bad. “Perhaps she did not set it intentionally. Perhaps she just wanted to burn some things in the fireplace when she left and some sparks from the fireplace started the fire.”

  “It is clear the fire started somewhere in the family wing,” responded Darcy, “but there is no way I know to determine where. Did your father ever smoke in bed?”

  “No, he was deathly afraid of a fire starting,” said Elizabeth. “He never smoked anywhere but in his library or outside.”

  “Did you have any oil lamps in the house?”

  “We had some down stairs, but they were always turned off before everyone went to bed. The Hills went around the house every night to ensure all lamps and candles were out. I cannot imagine they would miss one. He even checked Papa’s room an
d she checked Mama’s room unless they locked the door, which they have not done for years. We were not allowed to keep our doors locked at night, so Mrs. Hill could check in on us. Of course I would often wait until she checked and then light a candle to read, but I do not think Lydia ever did that.”

  “I think we should assume she did not know there was a fire,” said Jane. “I think she would not start a fire on purpose and if she had started one accidentally, she would have warned everybody. She may be silly and somewhat intractable, but I do not think she would purposely endanger anybody’s life.”

  “Kitty, do you know if Wickham is in camp now?”

  “Yes, I do know. We were at a tea party at the Lucas’ two nights before the fire and I was talking with Mr. Denny. He told me Wickham had not been invited to the party and that he was intending to go on leave for two weeks the next day.”

  “So he went on leave the day before the fire. Did Denny say where he was going?”

  “He thought it was to Ramsgate. He thought Wickham had a woman friend there.”

  “Do you think there is any chance Lydia might have gone off with Wickham?”

  “I know she had affection for him and was exceptionally mad at Papa when he told her she could not see him again. I did not know if she was still seeing him, because we have not spoken to each other much the last month. I do know the day she was seen walking with him, she had supposedly gone to see her friend Claudia Bishop, who had been at Longbourn to see her just a few days before. Claudia is just about as silly as Lydia.”

  “I have this bad feeling she went off with Wickham,” said Darcy, “and somehow he is responsible for the fire, as revenge on me and on your father, who warned the merchants and some of his friends about his failure to pay debts and his preference for young girls. I think the good opinion everyone had of him has disappeared and he probably wanted revenge. He is that type. And now I am engaged to Elizabeth, by injuring her family, he gets revenge on both her father and me. I fear I am responsible for what has happened here. If I had put him in debtor’s prison, none of this could have happened.”

  “Will,” exclaimed Elizabeth, “that is utter nonsense. You did what you thought was right for a boyhood friend and someone your father wanted to help. Who could have known how bad he would become, if indeed he is responsible for this fire. Furthermore we do not know yet he is. You are just speculating. I suggest we talk to Claudia Bishop and Wickham’s fellow officers to see if they can tell us anything more about him.”

  That afternoon Elizabeth and Kitty went to talk to Claudia. As Kitty had said, Claudia was a girl much like Lydia—one year older, but just as silly and self-centered. When they asked her about Lydia, she refused to say much, but Elizabeth could tell she was hiding something. Finally an exasperated Elizabeth said, “Claudia, we know Lydia used visits to you as an excuse to see Mr. Wickham. How many times did they meet?”

  Claudia did not want to answer. “I do not have to answer. I am going in the house.”

  “If she or Mr. Wickham started that fire and we can prove it, you can be taken to jail for not revealing you knew about it. Did you know they were going to do something like that?”

  “You cannot send me to jail. I did not know anything about that. All I knew was they were planning to go away. That is all I knew.”

  “But when you heard about the fire, I will wager you thought they might have done it.”

  Tears came to Claudia’s eyes. “I could not believe they would do it. He was so kind and gentlemanly and I like Lydia so much. I could not believe it and I still do not think she would do it. But I did not want to say anything because I started thinking that if he would do something like that, what would he do to me if he knew I had told on them. I was afraid what would happen to me or my family. Maybe he would set our house on fire.”

  Elizabeth put her hands on Claudia’s shoulder. “Claudia, I doubt very much Mr. Wickham will show his face around here anymore. We think you are right, Lydia did not know about it, but we need to find them and get to the truth. I ask you to keep what you know and believe may have happened to yourself until we get to the bottom of this. We do not want you or Lydia to get in trouble. I would suggest if your parents ask about our visit, just tell them we wanted to know if Lydia had said anything to you about running away, so we might have hope that she is alive. We are desperately hoping, because no bones were found, she might have run away sometime earlier. I hope if you tell them she did not tell you anything, they will not ask you anything else about it.”

  Bingley and Darcy decided they would not go talk to Col. Forster and Wickham’s fellow officers until his leave was over. That would delay their trip to Pemberley for a few days, but they needed to be there if he returned. They thought if he did not return, they might never know what happened to Lydia unless he demanded a ransom for her return. With no ransom demand, they would have to catch Wickham and make him confess to having done something to her. However, they thought it highly unlikely they would either catch him or that he would confess if he were caught. Of course, if they did catch him, they knew he would deny he had even seen her, since he had supposedly left the day before the fire and they did not know of any way to refute his denial.

  On the other hand, if he returned with her, they assumed he would have married her and would expect handouts from them over the coming years. The big question in this case was: what would he and she have to say about the fire? Again, they assumed both would deny knowing anything about it and, as in the other case, they knew of no way they could disprove what they said.

  Chapter 25: Lydia’s Story

  Three days before Wickham’s leave was up, Darcy received an express from Mr. Carson.

  Pemberley

  Mr. Darcy

  We request you return to Pemberley with Miss Elizabeth as soon as possible. We have a young girl here who says she is Miss Elizabeth’s sister, Lydia. Tom Shafter found her in one of our east meadows, where she had yelled to him for help. She says she was held captive by none other than George Wickham and managed to escape. I suspect you and her family are looking for her. Mrs. Reynolds informs me she is unharmed in any way.

  Carson

  “Elizabeth!” yelled Darcy, as he hurried out of the Netherfield study, where the butler had found him to deliver the express. He was not sure where she was, but assumed she was in the library. He opened the door to the library and once again, yelled her name. She soon came hurrying around one of the bookcases with Georgiana beside her.

  “Good heavens, Will, the whole house will hear you. What has got you so excited?”

  “Here. Read this.”

  After taking a few moments to read the note, she threw her arms around Darcy, “Oh Will, I cannot believe it. This is unbelievable. Let us find Jane and Charles and the girls.”

  Finding them was not a problem, as they had been sitting in the parlor with Bingley’s aunt and when they heard Darcy shout Elizabeth’s name, they stepped out into the hallway. “Why all the racket, Darcy? What happened?”

  “An eventuality we never envisioned, Bingley. Lydia was held captive by Wickham, but she managed to escape and make her way to Pemberley. I received an express from Carson, asking Elizabeth and me to return, but of course, we can all go.”

  Jane put her hand over her mouth and tears came to her eyes. “Can that really be true Lizzie? Is she unharmed?”

  “Mrs. Reynolds says that she is unharmed in any way, which I assume to mean he did not violate her.”

  “But why is she at Pemberley?” asked Mary.

  “Remember, that is where Wickham grew up and he knows those hills and ridges like the back of his hand. He knows many places where he could keep her captive and we would probably not be able to find her. I expect he was holding her in one of the many caves or one of three or four old hunting cabins in the forest. I do not know why I did not think of looking for him there. I should have told Wilson to send some searchers into the wilds around Pemberley to look for him.”

  Early
the next morning, the Darcy and Bingley carriages, filled with everyone except Mary, who had decided to stay in with the Phillips in Meryton, left Netherfield for Pemberley, intending to make the trip in three days. Needless to say, much of the conversation along the way was speculation as to what had happened with Wickham and Lydia and how she could have escaped him.

  When the carriages pulled into the drive in front of the Pemberley mansion, they could see Lydia standing on the steps, waving both her arms in the air. After the carriages had stopped, she rushed to the door of the first carriage faster than the footman, and could hardly contain herself until the footman put down the step and opened the door. As soon as Darcy stepped out of the carriage and had helped Elizabeth out, she threw herself into Elizabeth’s arms. “Oh, Lizzie, I am so happy to see you. I was afraid I would never see any of you again.”

  Soon Jane was with them and Lydia let go of Elizabeth and hugged Jane, again exclaiming how happy she was to see them. Then Kitty came from the other carriage and also exchanged tearful greetings with her. After she had hugged Kitty, she looked puzzled. “Where are Papa and Mama? Did they not come with you?”

  Jane immediately stepped forward and said, “No, they could not come. When we are inside, we will tell you all that has happened and you can tell us about your ordeal with Mr. Wickham.”

  When they had all seated themselves in the family sitting room, Jane opened the conversation. “Lydia, we have all been frantic wondering what happened to you. We did not know you had gone with Mr. Wickham and could not imagine where you might go.”

  Lydia frowned. “I do not understand. Did you not find my letter? I left it in the top drawer of my dresser, under a sweater, but easy enough to find if you looked at all.”

  “No, we did not find it. Will you please tell us what happened?”