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“What an honor to have you visiting my humble encampment, Colonel,” Colonel Forester drawled off. He was a man who liked to be a big fish in a little pond. It was why he had established himself in the militia. He was decidedly not pleased to be visited by a big fish from a big pond.

Colonel Theodore Fitzwilliam took in his surroundings and the man who sat before him and found he did not like what he saw.

The office, if you could call it that, was disorderly, with papers scattered haphazardly and the remnants of several meals lying randomly around the room.

Though there were two chairs, he did not ask them to sit.

This told him a lot about the man before him.

“I have come with my cousin to warn you of a wolf in your midst, Colonel.”

“If your cousin is the revered Mr. Darcy, I can only assume you are here to complain about my Lieutenant Wickham.” Forester’s words, dripping with disdain, more than conveyed his displeasure with them.

Darcy kept his annoyance in check and didn’t allow the officer behind the desk to offend him.

There was too much at stake to be sidetracked.

“Mr. Darcy, at your service, and yes, we are here to warn you of Wickham’s most recent acts of misconduct.

He has never been a man to act with integrity or prudence, but yesterday, I do believe he left all bounds of civility and goodness behind him.

We must bring him to justice before he causes any more harm. ”

“You will understand if I do not bow to the whims of a man who has made it his goal in life to persecute one of my most charming officers,” Colonel Forester chided his unwelcome guests, propping his feet up on his desk in a sign of contempt.

“Your charming officer tried to kill my cousin. We must bring him in for questioning and detainment. Do you even know where he is?” Theodore focused his thoughts on ways to circumnavigate the ineffectual officer and how to get him removed from his post. Men like him brought a bad name to anyone who served the crown.

Forester would not change how he operated because of two interlopers. “He does not have to report for duty until tomorrow morning. I do not care to curtail my officers’ enjoyment. They go where they please and do what they please as long as they report to duty on time.”

“I can see you have no wish to help look for Wickham and you have already fallen for his smiles and flattery. I would ask that when he does not report for duty, you reevaluate a few things. He has proven himself willing to murder and harm others and once he crossed that line, there is no telling what he may do.”

“Your cousin looks fine. Were there even any witnesses to this murder attempt?” Forester scoffed.

“Two, in fact—a young boy and a young lady who were on a walk and came upon the attempt. Mr. Wickham injured the young lady when she sought to stop his endeavor,” Darcy bit out, aggrieved by the man’s attitude.

“Well, if that is the case and I find Lieutenant Wickham missing, come tomorrow. I will investigate your claims. Good day gentlemen, the Lieutenant will see you out.”

Realizing the meeting was over, Darcy and Theodore left, glad to be done with the dunderhead.

Theodore surveyed the camp as they left—it was in shambles.

He had often been on the front lines, and this was still the worst encampment he had seen.

He would be in contact with Colonel Forester’s supervisors.

“And these are the men that are protecting England? I am instilled with such confidence,” Darcy quipped.

“Rather, we should go through the town and see if we can gather intelligence on the way back to Netherfield,” Theodore proposed while mounting Achilles and leaving the dissolute place behind.

“You were ever so brave to help William as you did, Miss Elizabeth,” Georgiana spoke from the bedside of Miss Elizabeth, who was still under Mr. Jones’s order to rest.

Elizabeth settled more comfortably against the pillows that supported her.

At her head, a cloth with ice chips rested against her bruised cheek while another lay at the back of her head where the bump was.

“I found I could do nothing else and was quite questioning my sanity in the middle of it. I had no plan, only an impulse. It was not a sound action. Though I cannot regret it, even with the obvious consequences.” She gestured to her confined arm with a smile.

Noticing that the cold compress on Elizabeth’s face was both slipping and dripping, Jane removed it and put it to the side. She would get another one for her later.

“You always were one to run headlong into danger, Lizzie. Remember that time you climbed the tree to rescue Lydia’s kitten? The branch snapped, and you both came tumbling down,” Jane commented, laughing under her breath.

Despite the ache in her arm and various other body parts, she was having a relatively good morning.

The room was pleasant enough in its pinks and roses, evidence that Miss Bingley had not tried to redecorate the guest rooms. Someone with actual taste did them.

With a chair on either side of her bed, it was almost a sitting room.

Or as close as she would get to one for the next two days under Mr. Jones’s direction.

“The kitten was out of the tree. What does it matter how?” Elizabeth kidded back with her beloved sister.

“Mother could have done without you coming home bloody and disheveled,” Jane remarked as she took a sip of tea. Though her tone had been bland, her eyes danced with mirth.

Georgiana giggled at the banter. “If this is the bond between sisters, I have missed out.” She was envious of their close relationship. She was close with her brother, but having a sister seemed different.

“I love having sisters, but we often have disagreements. It is not all laughs and giggles; sometimes it is screaming and stolen bonnets,” Elizabeth warned.

Jane reassured the younger girl who she was growing to like.

She seemed to need the warmth and comfort of a motherly figure, and Jane was eager to give it.

“However, if you have a problem, they are all there for you. In fact, if anyone were to slight any of my sisters, all the others would see it as a call to war.”

A quiet knock at the door signaled the entrance of another sister to the mix.

Kitty had gotten the stable hands to take her to Netherfield by carriage.

It was a bold move for her, but she could not wait any longer to see her beloved sister.

“I just had to see how you were doing, Lizzie. I hope I have not come at a bad time,” Kitty stated in a rush, nervous at her presumption of coming over uninvited.

“You are perfectly welcome here, sister dear. Miss Georgiana, may I introduce you to my younger sister, Miss Catherine Bennet?” Jane felt a swell of pride as she watched her younger sister take her first steps toward independence.

Kitty found it interesting to note how similar to Jane Miss Georgiana looked.

Where Jane and Georgiana were both blonde with blue eyes, they could have been sisters.

In fact, Jane was more like Georgiana in appearance than Elizabeth, with her dark curly hair and deep green eyes.

Kitty executed a polite curtsy to the well-dressed blonde.

“Though I would prefer you to call me Kitty; all my sisters do. It is lovely to meet you, Miss Georgiana.”

“I will, but only if you call me Georgie. All of you call me Georgie. I honestly prefer it. The way some of my family say Georgiana makes me feel like it is such a pompous name. My Aunt Catherine, in particular, is so annoying when she says it. Well, anyway, I prefer Georgie.” Georgiana blushed at her long-winded speech.

“I think we all have family members that we struggle to interact with. I would love to call you Georgie,” Kitty reassured the girl she hoped to befriend.

“Then you can call me Lizzie if you wish,” Elizabeth added.

“Lizzie, I did not know how bad you would look. Does it hurt so very much?” Kitty quavered from her spot, sitting on the bed at Elizabeth’s feet.

“It has been unpleasant, but I have been managing, mostly. It has frustrated me that my face hurts when I smile and that I cannot do things as easily. Jane brought her teas to help me with the pain, but they are encouraging me to still take the laudanum at night to help me sleep.” Elizabeth was not looking forward to more laudanum. It always gave her odd dreams.

Kitty looked at her sister’s injuries with melancholy. Even now, in bed and injured, Elizabeth had a fearlessness that seemed to emanate from her very being. “I could never have acted as you did. Trying to stop Wickham all by yourself. You are so much braver than I am.”

“I do not think it is so much bravery but the desire to act on behalf of someone else. The first time I did anything remotely brave and every time afterward, it was always to help someone that was not me. Your time will come, I am sure of it,” Elizabeth reassured her little sister.

With one hand, she tried to push herself into a better spot, but her muscles were too sore and exhausted to continue.

With each attempt Elizabeth made to move, Georgiana cringed, fearing she would further injure herself. “Lizzie, let us help you get more comfortable,” she offered.

Jane noticed the pinch in Elizabeth’s eyebrows and could tell she was in pain.

“Actually, Lizzie, I think you need to rest, or more accurately, you need a nap. You have a lot of injuries that need to heal,” Jane directed her sister.

She cajoled Lizzie into taking a few sips of the bitter medicinal tea laced with laudanum.

Once Lizzie finished her tea, Jane took away two of the pillows behind her and helped her get settled into a comfortable position for sleeping.