Page 112 of A Matter of Murder
“Come on, let’s go,” she whispered to Charlotte, who stood next to her in the gallery.
“Don’t you want to stay and hear the sentencing?” Charlotte asked.
Lizzie shook her head. She didn’t want to give Lady Catherine the satisfaction of seeing her in the courtroom. Let her think Lizzie hadn’t bothered to come. With a bit of luck, this wouldbe the very last time they’d ever share a room, and she was eager for the moment to be behind her. “Darcy thinks there’s a chance she’ll get transportation to Australia. But if it’s hanging, well... I don’t want to stay to hear it.”
“All right,” Charlotte said, pushing through the many eager audience members pressing closer to get a glimpse of the famed criminal. Lizzie had gotten more than her fair share of Lady Catherine—not only in the past year and a half since they’d first met, but also in the last two days, as she’d finally stood trial.
They managed to reach the door and continued outside, into the autumn sun. The day was chilly but bright, and while the air held the promise of winter, London felt oddly cheerful. Lizzie liked to believe it was because justice had been done, but she knew it was just another day, and the weather had nothing to do with what had been decided in the courthouse.
“Are you relieved?” Charlotte asked, and Lizzie nodded.
“Relieved and sad. She hurt so many people. It’s because of her that Mr. Hurst and Abigail and Wickham and Leticia Cavendish and Simon Mullins and Honoria Bingley are all dead.”
“And it’s because of you that she’s no longer free,” Charlotte reminded her.
“Paper?” a boy asked them, approaching with a large stack of cheap broadsides, chronicling the sordid details of the various trials. “Lady Catherine de Bourgh on trial, read all about it!”
“No, thank you,” Lizzie said firmly, but tossed the boy a ha’penny anyway. She already knew what most of the papers saidabout Lady Catherine de Bourgh, about her, and about the trial. It had had enough shocking twists and surprise reveals to keep the public riveted, and Lizzie had turned down more than a few journalists and newspaper men who’d wanted her exclusive story. Everyone was rabid for details. But to Lizzie, perhaps the most shocking detail was the fact that Darcy’s father had been the one to formally bring evidence against Lady Catherine in London, with supporting testimony from a myriad of others. The city’s preeminent barrister, spearheading such a shocking case, had caused a stir. But when they had finished explaining their entire case history with Lady Catherine to Darcy’s father and he’d spoken to Graves, the elder Mr. Darcy had insisted on filing a case against Lady Catherine himself. “If we leave this to the Crown, they’ll try her for treason and nothing else,” he explained to Lizzie and Darcy. In that moment, Lizzie could see where Darcy had gotten his serious, brooding expression. “And while that would certainly be serious enough, no one crosses a Darcy without consequence.”
But Lizzie was not as naive as she had once been. There was only one punishment for treason, and Lady Catherine had signed her own death warrant years earlier.
“Are you all right?” Charlotte asked. “I know a guilty verdict was what we wanted, but...”
But it hardly fixed anything.
“I’m happy she’s caught, and that she stood trial,” Lizzie said. “I just wish we could go back to a time when I didn’t think about her constantly.”
“I know,” Charlotte said, squeezing her arm. Just the month before, Agnes had been found guilty of murder and theft, and had been sentenced to hang.
Needless to say, Lizzie hadn’t attended the execution.
“What you need is a new case,” Charlotte told her. “Have you picked one out yet?”
Lizzie smiled, thinking of the stacks of letters and inquiries that had flooded the offices of Longbourn & Sons since they’d returned to London and news of Lady Catherine’s arrest had broken. Charlotte had carefully screened and sorted them, pulling the most interesting cases out for Lizzie.
“Not yet,” Lizzie said. “Papa is rather irritated that so many of them are criminal when he’d much rather deal with business law.”
“Your father might grumble, but he is proud of you.”
Lizzie smiled at that. Her father was still not thrilled with her interest in criminal law, nor was he happy to hear all that had happened at Pemberley, but he no longer tried to dictate which cases she took, which she appreciated. She valued his opinion, even if she sometimes disagreed with him.
“Perhaps something easy,” Lizzie mused. “I promised to visit Jane and Bingley once the trial concluded. Have you decided whether you’ll come with me?”
Her sister and brother-in-law had elected to extend their stay at Netherfield Park, in part because of Caroline’s condition. She’d awoken after three days of sleep to a splitting headache, but Jane wrote that Caroline was not nearly as irritable as she’dexpected. Lizzie had a feeling that wouldn’t last, but she was relieved that Caroline was all right. She was indebted to her, and she’d have to tell the other young lady as much when she visited.
She tried not to think how Caroline might call in such a debt.
“I’ll accompany you,” Charlotte said. “As long as you don’t insist on going into the east wing again.”
“Jane says the repairs are underway!”
“That’s hardly reassuring!”
Lizzie nudged her best friend. “I’m sure a certain vicar would be happy to see you.”
Charlotte blushed. “I had a letter from him yesterday—he’s coming to London on business next week and asked if he may call on me.”
Lizzie gasped. “Charlotte!”