Page 4 of Ever After End
CHAPTER 3
D arcy and Richard departed from the inn at dawn to complete their journey, and planned to surprise Georgie for breakfast. They arrived slightly later than they anticipated, but Darcy descended from the carriage and bounded up the steps of the house he had engaged for his sister, followed by his cousin. His knock went unanswered. Perturbed, he exchanged a glance with Richard, before he tried the knob, and they let themselves inside.
The house was quiet, and they encountered no one and nothing but trunks stacked in the hall as if a journey was being prepared. They made their way to the drawing room, where they found Georgiana alone, pacing and anxiously twisting a handkerchief. She started as they entered, and then her eyes flew wide, and Darcy could see relief upon her features.
"Brother! I cannot express how relieved I am to see you! You have saved me!" Darcy's sister burst into tears as she threw herself into his arms.
"Georgiana! What is the matter! Where are Mrs Younge and the servants? Has illness fallen upon the house?" Richard asked in alarm as Georgiana attempted to compose herself .
"Mrs Younge dismissed the servants for the day. I believe she is upstairs resting before the journey she planned. Brother, Richard, I have something quite distressing that I must confess to you. I am afraid that I find myself in a most improper situation, and I need your help desperately. But I must speak to you in absolute privacy without interruptions, and I believe you will wish to speak with Mrs Younge when our conversation is finished," began Georgiana.
Richard was leaving the room to summon a footman from Darcy's carriage, when Mrs Younge entered the drawing room, her shock at seeing the two gentlemen evident.
"Georgiana! You did not tell me your guardians were expected! I thought we were going to stroll to the beach to finish your drawing. Remember your promises, dear."
Darcy thought that was a strange remark to have made about a walk and a drawing. Particularly from a servant who was there for Georgiana’s convenience, not the other way round. A moment later, Richard returned to the room followed by a footman.
"Thompson, please see Mrs Younge to her room, and ensure she remains there until we send for her," he ordered darkly. Something sinister was afoot here; he could sense from Georgiana's demeanour that something was terribly wrong. Whatever it is, this woman is going to answer for it, Richard thought.
When the woman began to object, Richard silenced her. "Go with the footman."
After Thompson escorted the companion from the room, Darcy poured Georgiana a glass of wine and persuaded her to sit and compose herself. Composure was clearly beyond the girl's capabilities, and her hands shook as she attempted to drink the refreshment.
"Be not afraid, Georgie; tell us what has happened," encouraged Darcy.
"I am not afraid. I know I can trust you both completely with any confession, little though I deserve it. I just grieve because I know you will both be disappointed in me, and I cannot bear it. I have been taken in. I did not know he was a rogue, but I certainly know it now," said Georgiana, eyes downcast .
"Who, Georgie, who is a rogue?" demanded Richard urgently, exchanging alarmed glances with Darcy.
"George. George Wickham," Darcy's sister whispered miserably.
Fear struck Darcy's heart as he laid a hand on Richard's shoulder, hoping to calm the rage he could sense already vibrating inside his cousin. "What has happened, Sister? Tell us everything. Leave nothing out."
Georgiana attempted to speak coherently as she forced the words out. "I will leave nothing out, not even the bits that I'm sure you would both rather die than hear, and I would rather die than tell you. A few days after we arrived, we met Mr Wickham on the promenade. He flattered me, told me how grown up I had become, how I resemble my mother, reminding me how he had devoted hours to my entertainment when I was a child. Truly, my memories of him are dim. It has been some years since he has spent much time at Pemberley, although I do remember him playing some games with me when I was very small. Mrs Younge said that it was very appropriate for me to entertain a family friend, the godson of my father, and encouraged the gentleman to call on us here."
Darcy could see a vein pulsing at Richard's temple.
"I did not see how very convenient it all was at the time, but suddenly he was bumping into us everywhere. Mrs Younge encouraged me to invite him for dinner on a number of occasions, and then would find excuses to leave us alone together. A week ago he declared a passionate love for me, and asked me to marry him, and I accepted. He persuaded me that if we asked you for permission, you would receive pressure from our uncle and aunts and society to say no, due to his status as our steward's son. Then, he claimed if we eloped then it would be a fait accompli , and you would be grateful to us because then you could call George your brother without having to endure lectures from our family.
"Even though I had no true friends there, I have been very lonely since leaving school. I feel so isolated, and though you have been the best of brothers, Fitz, I allowed myself to be carried away by the attention and the idea of having such a devoted companion. I thought I should never be lonely again, and convinced myself that you would be happy for me. I consented to the elopement, and we made our plans. We planned to leave today after luncheon, but I noticed that once I had agreed, and we had set a day for our journey, that George began to change just a bit. I could not put my finger on it, but suddenly he was not always so nice. I did not see it for what it was until last night. It was his mask slipping, showing me bits of his true nature here and there."
She took in a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut, "I allowed him liberties."
"What liberties, precisely?" Richard growled. When Georgiana hesitated, he pressed her "Georgie, we have no wish to hear any more than you wish to tell us, but you must be entirely truthful or we cannot help you."
Georgiana's voice shook again as she continued, "At first it was nothing terribly bad, I allowed him to hold my hand, and another time he stroked my leg with his hand under the table. But a few days ago, I allowed him to kiss me several times. He did something rather shocking with his tongue." Darcy closed his eyes as if in pain. "And… I allowed him to place his hands on my bosom... Later that evening after I had reflected on my behaviour I determined not to allow anything more. I did not wish to be a wanton or to dishonour my family… Last night, Mrs Younge left us quite alone, and he attempted to put his hand up my skirts!" Georgiana covered her face and burst into tears.
"Attempted?" ground out Richard through his teeth.
Georgiana sobbed, "I would not allow him to do so, and he was quite angry! I never expected such disapproval from him! He called me a tease, and told me that if he did not return for me today, that it would be quite my own fault! He left the house outraged, and Mrs Younge chastised me severely, saying that gentlemen have needs, and that it is wrong for a lady to stir them and then leave him unfulfilled, and that it was an unkind thing to do to the man I claimed to love so dearly. That is when the shades finally dropped from my eyes. What sort of companion encourages her charge to anticipate her wedding vows? Suddenly I could see all the times she directed me to be flattered by George, encouraged me to invite his advances, and I realised that we had been deceived by her, Brother. Even if you might be relieved by not having to bless my marriage to our late father's godson, you would never wish the woman you trusted with my safety to encourage me to do something so terribly wrong.
"Mrs Younge told me she would go and speak to George for me and try to persuade him to return for me today, as we planned. She said she did not wish to cause rumours with the servants so for me to stay at home and she would go out late at night and attempt to reason with him. I followed her. She took the path behind the house to our private cove, and he was waiting for her there on the beach. They laughed at me, at what an innocent idiot I am. How they would abandon me or sell me to a brothel as soon as they had my dowry, and how they would escape to America to start a new life together. Honestly, I heard the same falseness in George's voice when he flattered her that I recall now when I think back on all of his compliments to myself. I doubt he is any more sincere to her as he was to me and am sure he plans to abandon her as well.
“I did not stay for the end of their conversation. It was very amorous and loud, and I had no wish to expose myself to any further inappropriate knowledge than I had already obtained." She bowed her head and a sob caught in her throat. "I was frantically trying to think of a way to escape without damaging my reputation when you arrived. I thought perhaps I might throw myself upon the local magistrate, who is a baronet, and his wife. They have four daughters, and I was working up courage to leave the house alone to make my way there. I was going to tell them that my companion had conspired against me, and that I feared I might be the target of heiress snatching. I had heard the magistrate complaining last week about men who do that, and how he feared for his daughters among fortune hunters, and I thought I might trust him. I thank you for coming, and I can only offer my apologies, Brother, for failing you so terribly. "
Darcy caught her up in his arms in a fierce embrace. "Never, Georgiana! Never say that you failed us! Yes, you were foolish, but you realised your mistake, and confessed to us bravely, and asked for our help. How could we ask more of you? You are braver than I ever gave you credit for, darling girl. Yes, you have behaved wrongly, but you are young and were led astray! We will discuss that later, for we both are at fault, you and I. We will talk about it together, and make sure we understand our lessons completely!"
"Your brother is right, Georgie," added Richard grimly. "You made a mistake, but you came to us and confessed, and we can ask no more from you than that. And you even thought of a reasonably intelligent solution. I am prouder of your courage than I can say. But for now, what are we to do about Mrs Younge and Wickham?"
As it turned out, there was nothing to do about Mr Wickham. Fitzwilliam interrogated Mrs Younge, who told them where the man was lodging. When Fitzwilliam visited the place, the landlady informed him that Mr Wickham had left some time ago, and had not been gone long before he returned in a terrible hurry, stowing his few belongings in a sack, paying her because he could not avoid it, and then left in great haste, claiming to have been notified of a family emergency. All Fitzwilliam could think was that Wickham had come to the house, found Darcy’s carriage in the crescent, and fled.
They did not feel that they could prosecute Mrs Younge without harming Georgiana’s reputation, and some instinct whispered to Darcy that he may need Mrs Younge someday to locate Wickham, and so his bloodthirsty cousin was persuaded to let the woman go without a reference.
They remained in Ramsgate for one week, to avoid the impression that anyone had run off or left in haste. Word was spread amongst their few acquaintances in Ramsgate that Georgiana’s guardians were present because her companion’s mother had taken ill. They dined at the house of the magistrate, Darcy and Richard taking note that Georgiana had chosen well those she would have trusted, and left Ramsgate without any of the residents having noticed that anything might have been amiss. Richard finally heard from his general and left them for Portsmouth, while Darcy and Georgiana made their way to London for a fortnight, then to The Gables, Bingley’s rented estate in Surrey.