Page 18 of Brighton Rescue (Pride and Prejudice Variation #23)
George Wickham, godson of George Darcy of Pemberley, gazed around his cell with disgust before lowering himself gingerly onto the cot, which was pushed up against the stone that formed the outer wall of the military prison in Brighton.
The mattress promptly released a cloud of dust, causing him to cough a few times before the particles settled back onto the dingy gray blanket.
He pulled his legs up cautiously before leaning against the rough wall with a moan. How had a day with such promise resulted in his confinement in a dismal, smelly, damp jail? It seemed quite impossible!
It was Lydia’s fault, of course. The fool of a girl had brought Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam down on his hapless head, and then the idiot had refused to run off with him like she promised!
How many times had the girl said she loved him and wished to marry him?
At least a dozen! And then, when he had faithfully paved the way for, if not a marriage, at least intimacy, she had decided she wanted to stay in Brighton to meet the Prince Regent. Imbecile!
Colonel Forster did not understand, of course, since Lydia had never expressed her passion for him.
Naturally Forster was indignant over the matter, but that was not Wickham’s fault, after all.
When he was taken to trial, he would make it clear that it was entirely the Bennet girl’s behavior which had led him to attempt to run off with her.
Again, he glanced around morosely. He had been in some dismal quarters in his life, but this was by far the worst. He hoped that it would not be long before this situation was resolved and he could leave Brighton.
The militia had not proven a good situation for a man of his personality and talents.
In the distance, a door opened and steps approached, causing Wickham to sit up in anticipation.
Seconds later, he was rewarded when Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam, dressed in his full military uniform, appeared on the other side of the iron bars.
Wickham glared at the man, and Fitzwilliam stared back.
Finally, the prisoner broke the silence and asked truculently, “What do you want, Fitzwilliam?”
“I suppose I am curious, that is all. Why did you do it, Wickham?”
George Wickham frowned. “Why did I do what?”
“Why did you attempt to abduct Miss Lydia Bennet? She is not an heiress; there seems little point, and substantial danger, in dragging away a girl of sixteen. I had thought you cared more about your own skin to do such a thing. ”
“I did not abduct her,” Wickham snarled. “She wished to go with me.”
“You tricked her into entering the carriage, and when she cried out to the driver to stop, you struck her on the face.”
Wickham rolled to his feet and stalked over to regard the colonel through the bars.
“I would not think I would need to explain to a man of the world that young women are volatile creatures. I assure you that Miss Lydia was all too eager to depart with me; she merely had her head turned by you and your ridiculous suggestion that she would meet the Prince Regent. I merely compelled her to follow through with her promise to me; surely you cannot fault me for that.”
Colonel Fitzwilliam grimaced and said coldly, “It is utterly despicable that you would carelessly ruin the life of a young girl and by extension her sisters, or are you pretending that you were actually planning to marry Miss Lydia, in spite of her lack of fortune?”
“I would have married her, for a price.”
This provoked a look of genuine astonishment from Fitzwilliam. “A price?” he echoed. “I understand that Mr. Bennet is not a particularly wealthy man.”
Wickham lifted his eyes heavenward. “Not Bennet, Darcy . I know you and your cousin are very close, Fitzwilliam; I have no doubt Darcy would pay well to pave your way to marriage.”
Colonel Fitzwilliam shook his head in confusion. “Marriage? To whom?”
“You need not prevaricate,” Wickham snapped.
“You and Darcy arrived in Brighton along with Miss Elizabeth Bennet and her relations, and proceeded to act with the clear intention of drawing Lydia Bennet away from me. Darcy does not even admire Miss Elizabeth, so it must be you who are enthralled with the lady’s beauty and vivacity – I do not blame you, Colonel. I find her quite appealing myself!”
The colonel stared at him for another moment and then laughed mockingly. “You believe I plan to make an offer to Miss Elizabeth Bennet?”
Wickham scowled at his tormentor. “There is no other explanation.”
The earl’s son shook his head in amusement.
“There is, but you are hardly worthy an explanation. I will confess that your plan had some merit, and can only be thankful that we took steps to have you followed by the gifted Mr. Smythe, who informed us that you had hired a carriage to take Miss Lydia away.”
“Darcy,” Wickham said abruptly, his eyes suddenly intent. “ Darcy is pursuing Miss Elizabeth. ”
Richard chortled and said, “Now you have it! I confess it pleases me that you will go to your death aware that your last attempt to destroy Darcy’s life was a complete and utter failure.”
Wickham, who had been wondering how he could best turn this information to his advantage, felt as if he had been hit over the head by a rock.
“Death?” he stammered. “What?”
Richard Fitzwilliam’s face was now set in grim lines.
“Come, Wickham, you did not actually imagine you could desert your division and abduct a gentleman’s daughter without reaping dire consequences?
Forster, Darcy, and I discussed having you transported to Australia, but we decided that it would hardly be fair to female prisoners and colonists to introduce a kidnapper and rapist into their society.
You will be tried before a military court, and executed by firing squad. ”
Wickham grabbed the bars of the cell and swayed, his face pale, his pupils dilated with stark terror. “No, no! I did not ... you cannot! I am the godson of George Darcy! I did not ... Lydia said she would ... no! No!!!!”
/
Lydia awoke with a cry of terror and sat up, looking around her fearfully.
The image of George Wickham’s angry countenance, his fist raised in fury, still hovered in her mind’s eye, and it took a moment for her to remember that she was safely tucked away in a bedroom at the home of Lady Amelia Hartford.
“Lydia?” a soft, familiar, but surprising voice asked from the chair near the bedside.
“Jane?” Lydia asked, and then, as she recognized her eldest sister in the dim light of the room, exclaimed, “Jane! Is that truly you?”
“It is,” Jane assured her, rising to her feet. Lydia threw off her sheet and jumped up, leaping into her oldest sister’s arms. “Jane! Jane! How glad I am to see you!”
“Oh, my dear Lyddy,” Jane murmured, repressing her surprise at this unusual welcome. “Are you well?”
Lydia shuddered and began to sob. “Oh Jane, it was terrible! Mr. Wickham tricked me into going in the carriage, and when I protested, he hit me. I am sure I am terribly bruised! Oh Jane!”
Jane patted the younger girl’s back soothingly and then pushed her back onto the bed. “My dear, I am sure you are thirsty and hungry, and I have some water and rolls for you. I am going to open the curtain a little to let in some light. ”
Lydia, still crying softly, waited for her sister to part the blinds, which allowed the afternoon sunlight to spill into the room. When Jane turned around, she was shocked to observe that Lydia’s right eye was swollen nearly shut and surrounded with bruised, darkening flesh.
Lydia put a careful hand up to her face and winced. “He hit me so very hard,” she complained. “Is it badly bruised?”
“It is, but I am certain it will heal in time,” Jane said. “Now, do move into the chair, my dear sister, and drink some water and eat a roll.”
Lydia obeyed with surprising docility and began eating her roll and drinking the water. Jane sank down into another chair nearby and waited.
When the girl’s thirst and hunger had been assuaged, she asked, “Jane, how can you possibly be here? Why are you not at Longbourn?”
“Father and I are both here, Lyddy. We received letters about Elizabeth and our aunt and uncle traveling here and also about Mr. Wickham. We had concerns that the man might attempt to harm you in some way and came rushing here. Fortunately, our uncle Gardiner, along with Mr. Darcy and his friends, were already watching out for you. We only arrived a few hours ago, so we were too late to help protect you from Wickham’s scheme.
My dear sister, I am so very sorry. I knew that Wickham was not a particularly honest man, but I had no idea that he would do such a thing! ”
Lydia stared in bewilderment. “What do you mean that Mr. Wickham is not honest? I thought you liked him!”
“Lizzy would say, and I am beginning to believe she is right, that I am too inclined to like everyone. But Wickham did not tell the truth about the supposedly stolen living, you know; Mr. Darcy gave him three thousand pounds to give up all rights to the living at Kympton and proceeded to slander his godfather’s son nonetheless.
It is reprehensible that Mr. Wickham would do such a thing. ”
“Colonel Fitzwilliam told me about the three thousand pounds,” Lydia murmured. She twined her fingers together in her lap and bowed her head. “I was stupid, was I not? I thought Mr. Wickham the best of men and was so looking forward to marrying him. Oh Jane!”
“Did he actually say he was going to marry you, my darling?”
“Oh yes! Indeed, he asked me to marry him two weeks ago, and I said yes, and we were merely waiting for Wickham to obtain enough money so we could afford to go to Gretna Greene. Then yesterday I told him we had to wait to marry because I am going to meet the Prince Regent, and he seemed to understand, but this morning he tricked me, and he hit me, and oh Jane! Oh Jane, I loved him so much, but now I realize he is a monster!”
Jane dropped to the floor on her knees and reached out to embrace her sister, allowing the girl to keen out her distress.
As for her own horrified dismay, she would need to wait for a more private time to contemplate it.
Lizzy had been right all along. Wickham was a villain, Lydia was a fool, and the Bennet family had come very close to utter ruin.
/
“Mr. Darcy, Colonel Fitzwilliam, Mr. Hartford, Lady Amelia, my dear brother and sister Gardiner,” Mr. Bennet proclaimed, looking around gravely at the occupants of the drawing room in Hartford House, “words are not adequate on such an occasion as this, but all I have is words, so I will say them. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for saving my daughter and, by extension the rest of our family, from a terrible scandal. I suppose it is no great surprise that Lydia is a fool since her father is as well. Lizzy, you were entirely right that I should never have allowed Lydia to come to Brighton. I am most thankful for your courage in speaking to the Gardiners on this matter, as well as being willing to give up your own holiday to the North. ”
Darcy, who felt quite uncomfortable at the sight of Mr. Bennet’s heartache and mortification, said, “Indeed, sir, I am overjoyed that we were able to intervene and save your daughter from a rogue. I feel myself to blame for much of what occurred here; I ought to have warned the people of Meryton about Wickham’s vile proclivities. ”
“I daresay I would not have listened if you had, Mr. Darcy,” Bennet admitted and then added, “but I am certain none of you wish to listen to me lambast myself ad infinitum . I believe we are all thankful that Lydia is safe. I hope Wickham will be punished appropriately for his actions this morning?”
“He will die,” Darcy stated evenly.
Bennet looked startled at these bald words. “Will he? That is a harsh retribution indeed!”
Colonel Fitzwilliam said, “It is not the first time that Wickham has attempted to run away with an innocent young girl, sir, and if he does not reap the harshest discipline, he will doubtless do it again. If the abduction were not enough, Wickham attempted to desert in a time of war. No, it was either deportation or execution by firing squad, and when we consulted with Colonel Forster, we agreed that the man is too despicable to be foisted on the Australian colonists.”
Concerned, Mr. Bennet drew closer to his second daughter and took her hand in his own. “Are you at peace with this decision? I know Wickham was once a favorite of yours.”
Elizabeth swallowed hard and said, “I am at peace, Father, for I discovered months ago that Wickham looks like an angel on the outside and is a devil within. It is a great pity that a man of such looks and gifts has fallen so far, but he is a selfish, dangerous man. I can only pray that he will find peace with God before his end.”
“We will pray for his soul,” Mrs. Gardiner agreed, “but I believe we must now speak of the future. Lydia ought not to be seen in society with her badly bruised face, but I doubt that she will take kindly to remaining confined here at Hartford House for more than a day or two.”
Bennet shrugged and said, “I daresay she will not, but it does not matter as I have every intention of carrying her back to Longbourn on the morrow along with Jane. After her escapades here in Brighton, I will be keeping a much closer eye on both Kitty and Lydia, I assure you!”
Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner exchanged a quick glance and Mr. Gardiner said, “Mrs. Gardiner and I thought you would wish to take Lydia home immediately, and of course we heartily concur. However...”
He trailed off and looked at his hostess. “Lady Amelia, would it be possible for me to meet with my brother and niece privately to discuss family business? ”
“Of course,” the lady responded, rising hastily to her feet. “You can speak here. Come Darcy, Fitzwilliam, Gabriel – do join me in the conservatory. One of my rare caterpillars may have hatched in the last few hours!”