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George Wickham, still in pain but much improved compared to the days immediately following his flogging, sat in the dark and musty smelling living room of Mrs. Younge’s boarding house on Edward Street.

Karen Younge had first wanted to deny him entry as she was still peeved after his last scheme had gone so very wrong and she had ended up worse off than before.

She had relented when he showed her the welts on his back from his flogging.

At least they were closed now, so the threat of serious infection had passed.

She had given him two cushions to place at his lower back so he would not lean back and add to the pain from his ‘unjustified’ punishment.

“Karen, I swear to you, we will be rich this time. The thirty thousand that we missed when the prig arrived is nothing compared to what we can get this time,” Wickham cajoled as he gave his paramour his most charming smile.

“What is it this time, George? If you remember, the last time you had a ‘cannot fail scheme,’ it failed,” she responded with not a little scepticism.

“We will get one hundred thousand this time!” he said with confidence, and as he usually did, he began to suck Mrs. Younge into his scheme. “Have you heard of the Duke of Hertfordshire?”

“Yes, I have. He is brother to the Duke of Bedford. Filthy rich family, but how will you get money from them? Do you have something on one of the dukes?” she asked, her interest piqued at the exorbitant amount that Wickham had mentioned.

Wickham proceeded to tell her about the daughter Lady Elizabeth Bennet who needed to be humiliated and at the same time make their fortunes.

Neither knew about the royal connection and that any attempt to harm a relative of the royals was treason, for which there was but one punishment.

He needed time to recuperate and when he spoke about the season his accomplice confirmed that the Bennets were always in Town for the season.

Karen Younge was not lacking intelligence; she just could not resist the good-looking rake in her sitting room. “George, you said she is always escorted, how can you do this on your own?” She asked a very pertinent question.

“Once I am better healed, I will have to approach the Spaniard .”

“He will kill you! Do you not owe him close to ten thousand?” asked a very worried Mrs. Younge.

“Yes Karen, I owe him money. Killing me will get him nothing. If he assists me, at little cost to himself, then he will receive double the amount that I owe him; trust me when I tell you that he will not give up the chance to receive such a sum.”

“You know him better that I, but I agree that very few would turn down the chance to earn such a sum.”

“I will ask him to allow his hunting dog, Victor Withers, help me. He came to the inn that I was staying at before I joined the militia.” Wickham shuddered as he remembered how close Withers had come to catching him.

He almost had not recognised it was him leaving the inn until he saw the scar in the moonlight.

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

It was a week before Christmas and there was a fresh layer of snow in Derbyshire.

It had snowed for two days, but this day, although cold, was clear with little wind.

Darcy looked out across the park from his study.

He loved winter at Pemberley. Until the letter from Aunt Elaine had arrived a sennight previously, he was resigned to spending Christmas alone.

He had been filled with happiness when he read the invitation and had responded affirmatively without delay.

He would join the family, minus Andrew, and Richard, at Snowhaven in but two days’ time.

He would not be alone; he would be with his family.

He would miss the brother of his heart, Richard, but he understood why he was staying.

If he, too, had a Bennet daughter but days from the altar, he would not be willing to leave her side for so many days together.

His family had been invited to join the party at Longbourn, but they had demurred, and Darcy saw his mother’s hand in the decision.

In her letters she had told him how proud she was of him and had hinted that he would not be alone over Christmastide.

He now understood her reasons for saying such and loved her even more for it.

Darcy had made significant changes here at Pemberley.

His servants from his housekeeper, butler, and steward on down could not but help to notice the difference in the master.

He had always been good to them, but not to those not dependent on him who he viewed as his social inferiors.

Something had changed; and while they were not sure what it was, it was most welcome.

Mr. Darcy had started accepting invitations to dinners and other gatherings in the neighbourhood with those who he had always refused to associate with before.

In early December he had done something that he had not done since before his honoured father had passed; he attended an assembly in Lambton and from all reports, other than the first set, he danced almost every single one!

Cheryl Killion, wife to Darcy House’s butler and the housekeeper of Darcy House, had written that something significant had happened that had caused the master to start behaving in a much more acceptable manner to all, not just his employees and tenants.

Mrs. Killion had mentioned that she heard that it was somehow connected to one of the Bennet family, but she knew no more than that.

Mrs. Hannah Reynolds would have loved to know what the catalyst for the change in the master, but she would not pry.

She would not allow anyone under her to gossip about the family, and she held herself to that same standard.

The master had rung for tea and the housekeeper delivered the tray to the study herself and prepared her master’s tea, just the way he liked it.

She was about to leave when the master asked her to stay for a minute. “I was a very proud and arrogant man, was I not Mrs. Reynolds?”

This was the last question that Mrs. Reynolds had ever expected. She had been through so much with the family, the near death of Lady Anne, her master’s accident, and much more. The three Darcys treated her almost like a member of the family when in private.

“Do I have your leave to speak freely, Master William?” she asked carefully.

He nodded his consent, hoping that her opinion would not be too harsh.

“Outside of Pemberley and Darcy House, I am afraid you were such, Master William. But why dwell in the past? I am one of many who has seen the changes in you, and all of them are positive. I see the man that we all hoped that you would become in the boy that used to be.”

“Would it be an impertinence to ask what caused the introspection, Master William?” she asked quietly.

Darcy asked Mrs. Reynolds to sit and then shared the tale of his abhorrent behaviour in Hertfordshire, the set-down delivered by Lady Elizabeth Bennet, and the societal consequences that he was paying in the wake of his actions.

Mrs. Reynolds did not respond as she absorbed all the additional information that she had just been told.

“That lady sounds like a spitfire, sir. She may have been too harsh in the consequences that she had wrought, but on the other hand, would you have changed like you have if there was little or no consequence?” She knew that she may have overstepped with the last question, so she held her breath as Darcy had an inscrutable look on his countenance while ruminating on her question.

“That was a fair question, Mrs. Reynolds, and I think we both know that answer. It is possible had there been no or hardly any consequence that I would have dismissed her charges and rationalised it in some way. She is magnificent, you know,” he said with a wistful look.

It struck the housekeeper that her master had tender feelings for the lady. If he was able to redeem himself in her eyes, and if she were ever of a mind to reciprocate his feelings, was a whole other question.

The next day Darcy visited his friend Patrick Elliot, and his wife Emily, at the parsonage on Pemberley’s grounds. Patrick invited his patron and friend into his study after Darcy had greeted his wife and their almost two-year-old daughter Grace.

Darcy unfolded the whole for his friend who after listing and thinking for a while, gave his friend the unvarnished truth as he saw it.

“The lady’s reaction may have been too harsh William, but” Elliot stayed his friend with his hand, “it is about time that someone had to gumption to call you out for your behaviour Darcy.

You had become someone that I was not starting to recognise, and I cannot be anything but pleased that you have started to make corrections and emends for your former behaviour.

“God works in mysterious ways, and I believe that He has sent you a message that you have been wise enough to heed. I am confident that once this Lady Elizabeth sees that you have made real change that she will forgive you fully.

“How is it that you have feelings for her now Darcy?”

“It is hard to explain Elliot, but besides the fact that she is a beauty, the passion and fire that I saw in her attracted me like no other. She did not care about what I had, just who I was as a man, what my character was. I am sure that she will never consider me as such, but if I could win her…” Darcy’s speech faded as he thought about the lady as he seemed to be doing more and more.

Not long after the men parted, and Darcy returned to the great house.

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