Page 45 of A Life Diverted
A n announcement was sent to the papers a few days before the ball to be held at Netherfield Park. It was agreed that there was no reason to wait, as the news was well known in the local area and the chances of it reaching London were great.
Two days after the London papers printed the story of the recovery of Miss Elizabeth Elaine Wendell regarding the fact she had been kidnapped more than seventeen years past, a man was sitting in an inn in a market town.
Although he did not often read the broadsheets, he had some time on his hands.
With a fresh tankard of ale on the table and more than an hour before his friends would be available, he picked up the paper and began to glance at the news.
When he turned to a page with a certain headline, his hand holding the tankard froze in midair, and he replaced it on the table. He decided to read all of the article to be sure. It could not be, could it?
Wendell Daughter Believed Dead: Recovered
Mr and Mrs Joseph Wendell, of Willowmere in Derbyshire, have made it known that their daughter, who was kidnapped from their house by a robber on either the 30th or 31st day of January 1794, and thought to be murdered, has been found very much alive and well.
Miss Elizabeth Elaine Wendell, or Ellie, as she is called by her family and friends, was discovered drugged, bound, and gagged below a bench in a carriage transporting Mr and Mrs Thomas Bennet to their estate near the market town of Meryton.
The Bennets kept her as a daughter of the house. When no one came to claim the mite, they refused to send her out to the parish.
Due to a tragedy in the Bennet family, they were not able to retrace their path to check if someone was looking for the girl, but they did make an attempt to have information disseminated. They knew not where the girl was from nor where or when she had been placed in their conveyance.
For more than 17 years, the girl, now a lady of 20 lived as a full member of the Bennet family. That was until the 30th day of September of this year, when in both London and Meryton, Ellie Wendell was discovered.
Thanks to certain unique identifiers, there is no doubt that the lady who thought she was Elizabeth Bennet is in fact Ellie Wendell.
The Wendells’ family members, the Earl and Countess of Matlock, the Viscount and Viscountess of Hilldale, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and others, all celebrate the return of Elizabeth Elaine Wendell.
No information about the thief and kidnapper has been released.
The end of the article inferred that there was information known about him. Why oh why had he been too squeamish about making sure she would never be able to speak again?
‘ This is impossible! ’ the man thought.
‘ She should not have been found before it was too late! Will she remember it was me that night? ’ He remembered that he had not wanted to kill her with his own hands, but he had thought that either the amount of laudanum, the cold, or both would have ended her life before she was discovered. This was most inconvenient.
He sat staring at the page. What was he to do now?
He rubbed the fob watch which he had liberated along with the funds that night.
It was a reminder of the success he had achieved in relieving the Wendells of some of their funds.
He had heard of the town in Hertfordshire; he would need to find a way to make his way there.
After so many years of thinking himself safe, he would not allow her to be the cause of him being hanged.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~ ~
Richard’s friend, the former colonel, Christopher Brandon, sent fourteen men to Longbourn in case it was decided not to choose one or two of them. They were comprised of ten discharged soldiers and four former Royal Marines.
In the end, with agreement from Richard, Matlock, and Wendell, Bennet employed all of them. When the Bennets travelled in their carriage, some of the men would be outriders. At times when they were at the estate, the men would be dressed as footmen, labourers, or farmers.
With the publication of the announcement of Lizzy’s discovery, Fanny and Bennet were well pleased to have the guards at the estate.
It was not like they had been unprotected.
Matlock, Wendell, Fitzwilliam, and Darcy had assigned some of their men to protect Ellie and the Bennets as a ‘just in case’.
Of course, everyone prayed the men would not need to apply their skills, but the universal opinion was they would rather be safe than regret not taking action after the fact.
One of the Darcy footmen who was assigned to keep an eye on his master’s cousin was the rather large Thompson.
Elizabeth had chafed at the additional restrictions on her movement, but she, along with her sisters and younger brother—James had returned to Eton two days previously—had agreed never to walk out or ride without at least two of the new men escorting them.
The rest of the men in the family took to carrying pistols with them when they were out and about.
Oftentimes when Ellie walked or rode out, in addition to the guards and groom, her brothers, if they were not busy with their ladies, would join her. More often than not, William accompanied her, something she did not object to in the least.
A little less than a week before the ball, Darcy requested that Ellie take a turn in the park with him.
She agreed, and besides a few guards stationed unobtrusively in the park, the three youngest Bennets and Giana were outdoors as well.
The latter four were taking turns pushing one another on the swing suspended from a bough of an ancient oak tree.
“Ellie, am I too forward if I request the honour of your supper set at the ball next week?” Darcy asked as they walked in the little wilderness off to one side of the park. “If that set is already spoken for, I will happily request another.” To himself he added, ‘ Or more than one other. ’
“No, William, it is not a request which is out of bounds. Between Papa, Father, uncles, and brothers, many of my sets are already reserved.” Elizabeth did not miss how William’s face fell.
It pleased her to see him react in that way.
“However, the supper set is not one of them, so yes, it is yours.” Her breath was taken away when he smiled so widely that it revealed a dimple in either cheek.
‘ He is so handsome when he smiles; he should do so far more, ’ she thought.
“Do I dare to hope that your final dances are not reserved?”
“They are not. Why do you ask, as you have not requested that set from me?,” Elizabeth riposted impertinently.
He wanted to call her a minx, but he stopped himself. “In that case, Ellie, cousin dear, will you allow me the final two dances as well as the supper set?” Darcy pressed.
Elizabeth felt a thrill that William was requesting two significant sets. She schooled her features. “They are yours.”
Both smiling, they strolled towards the group around the swing.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The planning for the engagement and announcement ball was all but completed before the announcement appeared in The Times of London . It was still called that even though the latter was superfluous thanks to everyone locally knowing or reading the article in the papers.
Knowing that Cilla was busy coming to know her daughter as the woman she was and not the little girl she remembered, Ladies Elaine, Catherine, and Emily had taken on all the organisation for the ball, releasing Cilla to spend as much time with Ellie and the Bennets as she could.
The three ladies planning the ball consulted Jane about her likes and dislikes as they wanted to make sure a celebration of her engagement reflected her character.
Cilla was extremely grateful to her sisters and niece for releasing her from her commitment to plan the ball.
It was not only because of spending time with Ellie that mother and daughter grew closer and closer.
It had thrilled Cilla when Ellie had told her she was ready to see Willowmere again.
The timing of the visit had been discussed with Joseph and then the Bennets.
Together they had decided they would depart Longbourn for Derbyshire on the Monday subsequent to the ball.
The Fitzwilliams and Darcys would travel with them, so even if the men Bennet employed had not arrived yet, there would have been more than enough outriders and guards with them.
As it was now, there would be a cadre of men protecting them.
As well as the time she spent with Ellie, Cilla had the pleasure of observing not one, but both of her sons courting women.
Even though Jane and David were engaged, her son was still courting Jane as she deserved to be. He reasoned that just because their courtship had been truncated did not mean that Jane did not deserve a full courtship.
Jane found this a very romantic and thoughtful notion, which led her to admit to herself that she loved David.
The day she shared that revelation with him, David had owned that he had fallen in love with her and had chosen not to tell her because he did not want her to feel pressured to make a declaration before she was prepared to do so .
If her eldest’s path to felicity had not pleased Cilla enough, the previous night, Barney had informed her and Joseph that he intended to request a formal courtship with Miss Charlotte Lucas.
Neither she nor her husband had given anything but their full-throated support.
Cilla, like her beloved, had seen enough to know that Miss Lucas and Barney were completely compatible and would be very happy together if they married one day.
Elizabeth was as pleased, if not more so, than anyone that Barney had the good sense to be attracted to Charlotte.
Even when her friend began to doubt she would find a man who would be interested in her, Elizabeth had told her that she was sure it would happen one day. Now she was about to be proved right.