Page 13 of Aunt Felicity

E lizabeth Bennet struck out towards Oakham Mount as the dawn began to break in the eastern sky. She was on her way to experience the rising sun, one of her favourite things to do after reading and sketching characters.

This particular morning, as she often did, she felt great frustration at her father. It was not because she did most of the work which should have been his to do. She was fully cognisant that if she did not do it, her father would only do the bare minimum, and their income and quality of life would be reduced. Not even the fact that what she did for Papa—the ledgers, negotiating with tenants and merchants were considered actions in the province of men as Mama pointed out ad nauseum —that was not what concerned her. As far as Mama went, all Elizabeth had to do was mention that there would not be nearly as much money for clothing and fripperies if she stopped doing what she was doing, and Mama would be silenced—for a time.

What had her upset as she walked at a high rate of speed towards the hill called a mount was that her father refused to do his duty and check Lydia, and by extension Kitty. Lydia would only be fifteen in November of the current year, but Mama had allowed her out, giving into Lydia’s whinging that it was not fair she was the only sister in. Their mother had pushed each daughter out at fifteen, even though the eldest three had protested when it had been their turn.

Lydia was brash, and unfortunately fearless, so she would not recognise danger if it was staring her in the face—rather, she would rush headlong into it. She was flirtatious in the extreme, and although not unintelligent, she did not have the knowledge one needed to arm oneself in society. She had that unfortunate attitude that nothing bad could happen to her.

Elizabeth had attempted to leverage everything she did for Papa to get him to insist Lydia should not be out, and to have him employ a governess for the two youngest Bennets, but he had not been moved. In fact, he had dismissed every one of her arguments.

So lost in her thoughts was she, that Elizabeth did not notice she was already at the base of the hill until she felt the aspect of the path change. She followed the path as it circled around rising at a reasonable incline so it would not be hard for anyone to walk to the summit. By the time she had made one complete circle, Elizabeth arrived on the flattened top.

There were already birds flitting from branch to branch on the oak trees in the stand on one side of the hill. As she always did when she walked to the large, flattened boulder on the eastern edge of the hill, listening to the birds chirping away happily, Elizabeth considered that they were serenading her. She was aware they would keep singing no matter who was on the hill, but she liked to think it was just for her.

She climbed up onto the large, almost beige coloured, boulder and faced the east. She untied the ribbons below her chin and placed her straw bonnet on the rock next to her, then she extracted the cloth Cook had gifted her from her pocket. Inside were two rolls, still warm from the oven. She pulled the corner off one and began to savour the freshly baked item.

While chewing the next bite of roll, Elizabeth saw the colours reflected on the few clouds beginning to lighten as the sun neared the horizon. Remembering a book of science she had read in her father’s study, she corrected herself. As the sun was not the one moving, in reality the horizon was moving towards the sun.

Regardless of the science and mechanics involved, Elizabeth always felt peace and forgot her concerns for some moments when she watched the sun greet the new day and its life-giving warmth spread across the fields below her.

Once the second roll had been consumed, and with the sun above the horizon, Elizabeth stood and shook any crumbs which had collected from her lap. She was sure the birds would not allow any morsels to remain on the boulder after she left.

She sighed as the thoughts of trying to stop Lydia ruining herself, and all of her sisters by extension returned in full force.

On the almost two mile ramble back to the manor house, Elizabeth considered if there was anyone she could recruit to assist her in trying to carry her point. She was sure Jane saw the potential danger, but Jane would never say a word she considered negative, so there would be no help there. Mama would not do anything to discipline her favourite. That left Mary. She would be willing, but it all came back to Papa. Without him putting his foot down, Lydia, and Kitty with her, would simply ignore Mary and her. In fact, if Mary agreed to assist, and they pushed too hard, Lydia and Kitty, with Lydia leading the charge of course, would go to Mama to complain and then Mama would scold as if it were her and Mary who had done something wrong.

As there would be no parental help, Elizabeth would have to be extremely vigilant at the summer assembly in July.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

On the second day after her father and William departed Ramsgate, Anna was walking along Seaview Road with Mrs Younge. She did not understand why her companion had insisted that a footman was not needed to escort them if she was with her charge, but Anna had acquiesced and told the man to remain at the house.

She saw a rather handsome man approaching them—one she had never seen in the whole of her life—and she had thought he would simply pass them and be on his way. Instead he stopped, gave a courtly bow, and then a devastatingly handsome smile. He stood and looked at her as if he were trying to solve a puzzle, and as shy as she was, Anna stood still as Mrs Younge had stopped walking as well.

“Is that little Georgiana Darcy, I see?” Wickham asked as he allowed a flash of recognition to cross his face while he turned on all of his charm.

“Why Sir, you are correct this is Miss Darcy, how is it that you know her?” Mrs Younge responded before her charge could.

“I am Mr Robert Darcy’s godson, and when she was very young, I used to play with Georgiana. Well, she is no longer a little girl but a very beautiful woman now. I went away to school and have been working on building my fortune ever since. In his letters to me my godfather never mentioned that his daughter looked so much like her mother and was the beauty I see before me. You will have known my late father, who for many years was Pemberley’s most trusted steward and friend to your father. It is why he became my godfather,” Wickham told his well-rehearsed fiction, with a grain of truth sprinkled in.

On the one hand, Georgiana was confused. Papa had never mentioned a godson, and she had no memories of this man. On the other hand, she remembered Mr Wickham well, he had passed away a few years previously, and this man did look like him. Also, when he treated her like a lady, a very pretty one as he called her, it made her feel warm inside. Even if she did not remember him, if he was her father’s godson, then it must be acceptable to greet him.

“As this Mr…?” Mrs Younge began and stopped speaking, feigning not knowing his name.

“George Wickham at your service, ladies.” He took Miss Darcy’s hand, bowed over it, and placed a kiss on the top of it. He was pleased at seeing her blush, and she did not pull her hand away from him.

“I was saying, as Mr Wickham is so close to your family, it is perfectly acceptable for him to spend time with us,” Mrs Younge completed. Not being able to show himself at the house was a problem for George, but not an insurmountable one.

For this first meeting, Wickham excused himself and did not linger. He needed Miss Darcy to get used to his presence. That evening he sent a note to his employer with an update of his progress.

Over the next sennight, every time Mrs Younge and her charge walked out, Mr Wickham joined them as soon as they were away from the house, purely by chance—of course. The first few times, he walked next to Miss Darcy, but after that he gallantly offered her his arm, which she happily took. By the fifth such meeting, between her companion and Mr Wickham, who had been asked to be called George, she had been convinced that he used to make her early childhood a pleasure.

Soon the three were sitting on secluded benches for a long while each day and Mrs Younge, confirming that it was entirely proper, would find a reason to not be close to them.

One day during the second week when Mrs Younge had left them alone again, George Wickham confessed his undying love for her and asked for Miss Darcy’s hand in marriage.

Caught up in the romance of the situation, not realising the impropriety of all which had passed between them, Anna agreed. When George insisted on an elopement as a way to surprise his godfather, she nodded agreement with flushed cheeks, too overcome to even speak the words.

After they had returned home, Mrs Younge slipped out of the house and found her paramour close by. “When will we leave to take her to our employer?” Mrs Younge asked.

“You have been intercepting letters to and from her, have you not?” Wickham verified.

“Of course, I have. Had I not, the Darcy men would have been here hunting for our heads. She mentioned you in each one. Thank goodness I convinced her to allow me to post her letters for her. Of course, the butler never questioned me when I took her letters to deliver to my charge,” Mrs Younge cackled.

“Good. In that case, on the morrow, I will propose we leave in two days. If we seem to be rushing her, she may get skittish and speak to the butler and footmen at the house,” Wickham replied.

Mrs Younge slipped back into the house. Now she needed to prepare a letter to Mr Darcy in which she would threaten to speak of the elopement if he did not pay her ten thousand pounds. With the five thousand their employer promised them on delivery of the girl, they would have more than enough to leave England and start over in the Americas.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Unable to shake the persistent bad feelings regarding Anna’s companion, added to the anxiety that his letters had not been answered; once William had satisfied himself that Richard was truly on the mend, he mounted Zeus and rode for Ramsgate. Without pushing his stallion too much, he covered about two thirds of the distance the first day. The next morning, he was off at first light, his horse well and truly rested.

It was a little after midday that he arrived at the house on Seaview Road. He handed Zeus’s reins to a groom in the stables behind the house and made his way inside to see his sister.

“Miss Darcy is out walking with her companion,” Mr Hartland reported when the younger Mr Darcy asked after his sister.

“In the middle of the day? Is it not time for a meal?” William asked concernedly. “Is this something aberrant or has she been away from the house like this most days?”

“Most days. Sir. You should know that Mrs Younge had ordered the coach be readied for the morrow, she says that she and Miss Darcy will do some exploring,” the butler related. “Also, from the first day they walked out after you and your father departed, it has been without a footman.”

William’s suspicions that something nefarious was afoot were screaming at him. He decided to sit on a bench across the street from the house and watch and wait. Two hours later he spied Anna and Mrs Younge with a man, a man who had one of Anna’s arms wrapped around his. He kept looking towards the ocean as he did not want to act before he knew more.

The three stopped close to his bench, but out of sight of the house. “George, I cannot elope with you. If my papa loves you as you have said, he will be happy with our news. I wrote to him; I do not know why he has not replied. I thought he would be pleased to hear I had met you,” Georgiana said.

“I am sure your father has been busy with his estate. When my father was steward, he had much more time to himself…” Whatever Wickham was about to say was lost when he was wrenched from behind, spun around, and a fist was planted squarely in his face. He fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

“ How dare you …” Mrs Younge began to scream when she identified the owner of the furious visage of the man who had laid out George. What was the Darcy son doing here? She turned and fled. No amount of money was worth ending up in gaol, their employer be damned.

Anna was confused and crying bitterly after watching her brother attack the man she had thought loved her. William pulled her into his arms. “As soon as I secure that miscreant, we will go back to the house, and you have a lot of explaining to do, Anna. I heard the word elopement! You know better than that.” His words caused his sister to sob so William held her tightly while she cried.

Neither of them saw Wickham come to and skulk away. Like his paramour, he knew he needed to put as much distance between himself and Ramsgate, trying as hard as he was able to ignore the pain where he had been struck. He did not miss two of his front teeth on the ground or that his nose was more likely than not broken. There would be time to deal with that, first he had to save his skin. He knew one place he could not go because his employer would not be happy that the well laid plans had come to nought. The only place he could think of was to go to Karen’s boarding house on Edward Street in Seven Dials, London.

When his sister calmed, William looked to see where the bastard was, but he was no longer lying on the ground. Based on the blood trail, like the snake he was, he had slithered away. There would be time to track Wickham down, but now he needed to take care of his sister.

When they saw the state Miss Darcy was in when her brother escorted her back into the house, the butler and housekeeper were greatly concerned, but it was not their place to question young Mr Darcy. They did not ask where Mrs Younge was either. Neither of them was sorry she was not present. “I want a footman stationed at Mrs Younge’s door until I search her room,” William commanded. The butler told him it would be so.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Knowing she could not return to the house to collect her belongings and the pieces she had relieved from Miss Darcy; Karen Younge was eminently thankful she had one ring in her pocket which she had removed from the girl’s jewellery box that morning. She sold it for five pounds, a fraction of the value, but she had enough for the post to London, an inn along the way, and food, so that was all she cared about.

“Buy a ticket for me as well,” Wickham growled next to Karen’s ear before she entered the inn.

She nodded tightly. She should have known George would not have any more money on him. They had planned to take the Darcy coach due to lack of funds to rent a carriage. At the first rest stop, George had planned to cosh the coachman and drive himself. All their plans were gone like smoke on the wind.

Two hours later, all the time keeping their heads down in case they were being pursued, the two boarded the post coach bound for London.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

William listened as his sister related all that had happened, and especially how Mrs Younge had encouraged her to spend time with Mr Wickham. Once she had told all, he took her hands. “The only positive in this mess is that I heard you tell him you had changed your mind about eloping. Now to the facts. That man was Father’s godson, but almost twenty years past…” He related the truth of George Wickham’s association with the Darcys. When he was done, William waited while Anna cogitated.

“So, he never played with me before he went to school and to seek his fortune?” Georgiana verified.

“No Sweetling, he had been banished from the house and park some years before we were blessed with you,” William confirmed. “As a boy I remember him as one who could charm one while stealing one’s purse at the same time. It seems he has honed his prevarication skills. No, he should never have been allowed to approach you, but as Mrs Younge was working against you, it would have been very hard for you to resist their machinations, and you did begin to tell him you would not elope.” He squeezed his sister’s hand as he watched her relax a little. “Wait here, Anna.”

He stood and had footmen stationed at both doors which allowed access to the drawing room and made his way up to Mrs Younge’s room. There, William discovered a stack of letters. There were the two he had written, one from Father and several in Anna’s hand, some to him, some to Father and one each to Aunt Felicity and Bethie. Further he found four or five pieces of Anna’s jewellery secreted under the mattress. Unfortunately, he discovered no more of use. He would summon the magistrate and have the theft documented. If she was caught it was more than enough to have Mrs Younge swing.

The next day, after the magistrate had documented the items stolen and by whom, brother and sister were on their way to London. Zeus was being led behind the coach.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Felicity had just returned from Hilldale House where two days previously, on the second day of July, Marie had safely delivered a son and heir. Bethie had remained to play with Kathy while her parents fussed over her little brother. He was named Anthony Reginald. His familiar name was not in honour of anyone; his parents simply thought he looked like an Anthony. She could not have been happier. Reggie had been with her earlier, but now he was speaking to Richard who had made a remarkable recovery in the last days.

She heard voices, and her nephew and niece looking most dour, entered the sitting room. She could not account for Anna not being in Ramsgate. Her concerns were heightened when Anna burst into tears and ran into her aunt’s welcoming arms. “I suggest we retire to Richard’s suite, your uncle is there, that way you may tell the story once,” Felicity pre-empted her nephew who was about to speak.

Once they were all with Richard and greetings conveyed to him and their uncle, William and Anna, the latter tearfully, told the tale.

“I will run that bas…blackguard through,” Richard thundered when his cousins had finished their telling. Anna was in his mother’s comforting arms. He saw his mother’s arched eyebrow. “When I am healthy,” he added.

“We need to make for Pemberley and speak to Robert. I told him he should have verified that woman’s characters. Darcy pride,” Felicity stated as she looked at her nephew who looked away.

“As soon as we have the physician confirm Richard can travel, we will go,” Reggie decided. He looked at his nephew, “I suggest you call on Hilldale house to speak to Andrew and meet your newest cousin.”

When William nodded, Reggie told his niece and nephew about Anthony.