Page 16 of Brighton Rescue (Pride and Prejudice Variation #23)
“What is happening?” Lydia exclaimed, shifting to sit up more comfortably. “Where are we going?”
“As I said, my dear Lydia, it is a surprise,” Wickham replied with a return of his charming smile.
“But, my love, I cannot go anywhere! Mrs. Forster will be up soon; indeed, I was only intending to stay for a few minutes at the Grove before returning to the house! No, Wickham, it is very sweet of you to surprise me, but now is not the time. Tell the coachman to stop!”
She waited expectantly, but the lieutenant merely leaned back against the squabs of his seat, his eyes narrowed, his lips set in a determined line.
“Wickham! Stop the carriage!” she repeated, an undefinable alarm rising in her breast at both her companion’s expression and refusal to act.
“I am afraid that is not possible, my dear. My situation is such that I must leave Brighton immediately, and you are coming with me. You do wish to marry me, do you not, dear Lydia?”
“Of course,” she began impetuously, and then stopped in bewilderment. “Leave, now? Are you mad? I do not have my valise and clothes and ... and I want to meet the Regent! ”
“The Regent,” Wickham replied with a snarl. “Do you not see, you little fool? Colonel Fitzwilliam was merely flattering you. Do you really believe the Regent would care about a girl of no importance at all from the rural wilds of Hertfordshire?”
Lydia’s eyes flared wide with anger and incredulity. “What are you speaking of? You said ... how dare you? Stop the carriage!”
“No,” Wickham responded, smiling unpleasantly at his captive.
“No, my dear Lydia, you are coming with me and given that we will be alone in a carriage for several hours, you might as well calm yourself and enjoy the ride. Furthermore, I intend to take you as my own when we reach the boarding house where we will be staying in London. Your reputation will be entirely ruined unless you marry me. So you see, you have no choice in the matter.”
She gazed at him, her pupils dilating in horror. This was her love, her dear Wickham. How could he be so cruel? Ruined? Taken?
A moment later, she was on her feet and began pounding on the roof of the carriage. “Stop!” she shrieked. “Stop!”
With a curse, Wickham lurched forward and struck her hard on the face, causing her to fall backward with a scream of pain and terror .
“Be quiet, you fool!” he snarled, his teeth bared in fury. “You wanted a romance, well, now you will pay the price for…”
There was an inarticulate cry from outside the carriage and a moment later, the vehicle pulled to a sudden stop. Lydia, now genuinely terrified, dove for the door. Wickham swore again and shoved her roughly back on the seat as he yelled, “Drive on, drive on!”
The carriage door jerked open and Wickham, who had been partially leaning on it, half fell onto the pavement.
A moment later, he was pulled harshly to his feet in time for one strong fist to connect firmly with his upper jaw.
He yelled in anguish as he fell to the hard ground on his backside.
A moment later, powerful hands pulled him back to his feet.
Wickham, cringing in confusion and fright, stared incredulously at his assailant.
“Colonel Fitzwilliam!” he gasped, glancing around wildly.
The carriage had driven only a few hundred yards from it starting place, and was now on a side street with a few pleasant houses built along it.
He paled even more at the sight of Darcy standing nearby; his godfather’s son was clenching his fists, his eyes molten with outrage.
“Yes, Wickham,” the colonel responded in disgust. “I did not think you were either brave enough, or fool enough, to abduct a lady. ”
“It takes little courage to take advantage of a young woman,” Darcy declared, his voice dripping with contempt, as he reached a hand into the carriage where Lydia still cowered in distress. “Please come out, Miss Lydia. You are safe.”
Lydia gulped convulsively and took the proffered hand, allowing Darcy to help her alight. Her left hand was covering her aching eye, and she stared in wonder at her rescuers. “How did you come to be here, Mr. Darcy? Colonel Fitzwilliam?”
“We thought Wickham was planning to run off with you, Miss Lydia, and took steps to make sure that he would not succeed,” Darcy explained. “Did he hurt you?”
Lydia’s brown eyes were swimming in tears, and her left cheek was harshly marked in red. “He struck me! I told him to stop the carriage and he hit me!”
“That is why I called for Mr. Hartford to stop the carriage,” the short, blond Mr. Smythe explained, stepping forward. “I know you instructed me to wait until we reached Colonel Forster’s house, but when I heard Wickham strike the lady, I thought it best to stop immediately.”
“I am thankful you did,” Darcy assured his employee, just as another carriage drew up behind the hired coach. The new horses had barely halted before the door flew open and Elizabeth Bennet jumped out and ran over to the group. “What happened? Lydia, are you well?”
“Wickham hit me!” Lydia exclaimed with a mixture of anger and bewilderment. “He tried to abduct me and when I called to the coachman to stop the carriage, he hit me!”
Elizabeth turned on her former favorite and stared at him with outraged disgust. “You are a loathsome toad. I am pleased that I will never have to look upon your foul face again.”
Wickham, whose head was spinning from the repeated shocks of the last few minutes, managed a smug grimace. “Your sister is ruined if I do not marry her, Miss Elizabeth, so I assure you that you will see my handsome countenance again.”
“Marry you?” Lydia spat, taking an angry step forward. “I would rather marry a snake!”
“And nothing happened to Miss Lydia,” Mr. Hartford asserted, climbing down carefully from the seat behind the horses. “I was driving the horses and listening carefully, and Mr. Smythe was on the box seat in the back. Miss Lydia was not compromised in any way, I assure you.”
“Miss Bennet,” Darcy said, turning an adoring gaze on his beloved, “would you and Mr. Hartford be kind enough to escort Miss Lydia back to Lady Amelia’s home?
Colonel Fitzwilliam, Mr. Smythe and I will take Wickham to Colonel Forster, and from there he will be remanded into the custody of either the military or civilian authorities. ”
Elizabeth nodded and placed a comforting arm around her sister. “Come, my dear sister. Let us go to Hartford House, and we will put a cool cloth on your face.”
Lydia nodded meekly, took a step toward the waiting carriage, and then turned to glower at Wickham. “What will happen to him?”
“For attempting to abduct a gentlewoman? He will die,” the colonel said coolly, tightening his grip on his captive’s arm.
Wickham, who had been scowling angrily, jerked in astonishment. “Do not be absurd! She agreed to run away with me. I did not abduct her!”
“I told you I did not want to leave with you. I told you to stop the carriage and you refused. You hit me! I hate you!” Lydia yelled.
“And I despise you,” Wickham snapped angrily. “You are a whining child, and all I ever wanted from you was to take...”
Gabriel Hartford might have only one arm, but he was an active man with fine musculature.
Before Wickham could finish his vile pronouncement, Gabriel swung his only fist hard and impacted Wickham’s head, causing the man to collapse to the ground.
A moment later, he offered his arm to Lydia and said gently, “Shall we go, Miss Lydia?”
/
“Hello, little one,” Lady Amelia Hartford murmured, peering fondly at the butterfly which had come to rest on a nearby aster plant. “You are a beautiful lady, are you not?”
The butterfly in question, known as Venessa cardui in Latin, was a charming example of its kind, with orange and yellow markings on the top of the wings, and a motley but attractive pattern of white, black, tan, and orange on the underside.
Amelia leaned against the back of her simple wooden chair and took a deep breath, attempting to calm her agitated spirits.
The news that Miss Lydia had been briefly abducted by Wickham was most distressing, and while Amelia was thankful the girl had been rescued, it was still very dreadful.
George Wickham was a truly repulsive man !
The door to the conservatory opened and Elizabeth entered the glass enclosed room, her eyes weary and her hair disheveled. Lady Amelia jumped to her feet in a way that quite belied her age and hurried toward her young guest. “How is your sister, Miss Bennet?”
Elizabeth managed a tired smile and said, “I have no doubt that Lydia will be well enough in time, though she is quite shaken at the moment. To be entirely truthful, I found myself so rattled by the situation that my aunt Gardiner suggested I leave Lydia to her ministrations. My aunt is a far more soothing presence than I am.”
Her hostess gestured toward two chairs and suggested, “Please, will you not sit down, Miss Bennet? You look exhausted. I will order some tea, and then, if you do not mind, I would like to know what exactly happened this morning; I know that Wickham attempted to abduct your sister, but not the details. Of course, if you wish to keep it private, I...”
“No,” Elizabeth said hastily, sitting down and leaning back with a sigh of relief. “If you had not opened your home to us, I have no doubt Lydia would be in the clutches of that reprehensible rogue. I trust you completely.”
Amelia Hartford nodded and hurried to the door, calling for a maid to bring tea, and then returned to sit down beside her young friend. “My dear Miss Bennet, you look shaken. Please, let us wait until tea arrives while you compose yourself.”
Elizabeth nodded gratefully and sat in contented silence for a few minutes.
The conservatory was a marvelous and unusual place, filled as it was with flowers and butterflies.
Some of the flowers and plants were, she knew, conventionally considered weeds, but her hostess had explained that butterflies depended on wild plants for sustenance and as a locale for laying their eggs.
It was marvelously relaxing to observe butterflies flit and float about the room and alight on various blooms.
Five minutes later, a smiling maid entered with a tea tray, which she placed on a small, graceful stand near the two ladies. Amelia nodded her dismissal and carefully poured tea for her young friend.
Elizabeth accepted her cup with a smile of thanks and began to speak.
“Last night Mr. Smythe, who is in the employ of Mr. Darcy and my uncle Gardiner, discovered that Mr. Wickham had hired a job carriage for this morning. Smythe assumed, correctly, that Wickham was planning to run off with my foolish young sister, and told the gentlemen of the man’s prospective flight. ”
She took a welcome sip of tea and continued, “The Gardiners and I were informed of the danger, and with the agreement of the gentlemen, Mr. Smythe approached the hired coachman and offered him a substantial sum to let another man take his place. Your son was kind enough to drive the carriage this morning to the rendezvous point, and Mr. Smythe was waiting nearby; he leaped on the box seat as soon as my sister and Mr. Wickham entered the carriage. Mr. Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam were on horseback nearby and intended to follow the carriage to Colonel Forster’s home, where Wickham would be arrested for desertion and attempting to run off with the young guest of the Forsters.
We are hoping, you see, to prevent any kind of scandal by having Wickham arrested for a military crime as opposed to a civil one. ”
“Excellent,” the lady said approvingly. “I assume that my son and Mr. Smythe can testify that nothing improper happened while the couple was alone within the coach?”
“Precisely. The plan was that the Gardiners and I would follow the gentlemen on horseback in another hired carriage and join the original party at the Forsters. However, Lydia, while she crept away to meet Wickham at the Promenade Grove, did not willingly elope with him. The blackguard tricked her into entering the carriage and then ordered the coachman to drive away. She resisted and called for the driver to stop, and Wickham struck her hard across the face.”
Lady Amelia gasped, lifting her hand to her chest in horror. “My dear Miss Bennet! Is she badly hurt?”
“No, she will be well, though her face is already bruising and she will have a black eye. Mr. Smythe overheard the scuffle and ordered the carriage to stop immediately, and Colonel Fitzwilliam took the opportunity to leap off his horse, pull Wickham from the carriage, and clout him in jaw. After my aunt and uncle and I arrived, your son helped us gather up Lydia, and we returned here, away from prying eyes. Mr. Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam escorted their prisoner to Colonel Forster.”
Lady Amelia Hartford blew out a slow breath and shook her head dismally. “I knew Wickham was an odious individual, but I had no idea that he would stoop to abduction.”
“Colonel Fitzwilliam says that he will die for his crimes,” Elizabeth murmured.
“I daresay he will,” Lady Amelia agreed coolly.