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It would just be the two of them to cosh the footmen and take the girl with Mrs. Younge’s support, as too many would draw attention.

They could not make noise when they took the footmen down or the girl may bolt, and the spot was quite close to the exit from the park.

Wickham and Withers would have to make a stealthy approach then hit the escorts with enough force to knock them out or kill them; they did not care which.

Wickham would close in on their quarry while Withers secured the two guards.

Karen Younge would wait in a hired carriage with ropes and a gag to secure the woman as they spirited her away.

“This will be our only chance,” Wickham stated the obvious, leaving out that thanks to the Spaniard’s deadline it was the only chance! “I have a plan.”

“What this ere plan, Wickham?” Scarface demanded.

“We know that our window is when she crosses the bridge.” His co-conspirator nodded.

“The bushes on either side of the path are high and thick enough to hide us. We will wait for the oversized footmen to pass us, and as they walk onto the bridge, while they cannot see her or she them, we will sneak up behind them and cosh them.”

“One of us will tie them up and the other will go get the girl. We will have Karen waiting in the hack just outside the park; when we have the girl, we will gag her and take her to álvarez’s brothel to hold her until we receive the ransom.

” The two men repeated their plans so they would be sure of their roles when they made their attempt.

“Sounds like it could work, Wickham. Do not ferget what ‘ill ‘appen to you if you try a double-cross,” Withers finished with a warning.

“You will dispose of Mrs. Younge once we get to the brothel for a thousand from my share as we agreed?” Wickham asked quietly.

“Yeah, alls that needs takin’ care o’ will be done,” Withers agreed, George had not guessed that Scarface could speak words with double meanings, so it raised no alarms.

The last Tuesday of March, the lady took her now familiar walk.

The plotting men decided that they would make sure that she again walked the first Thursday in April and if she did, they would put their plan into action on the following Tuesday, the seventh of April.

As it happened, she did not walk on Thursday so the execution date for the plan was pushed until Thursday the ninth, so long as the lady took her walk the Tuesday prior.

As it so happened, the Thursday that Elizabeth Bennet missed her walk was the day that she joined Lady Anne to call on Caroline Phillips at her Portnoy Square home.

The two had returned from their wedding trip the same day that the de Bourgh-Ashby wedding had been celebrated.

The family had allowed the new Mrs. Phillips some time to settle into her new home after her return from the wedding trip before descending on her to visit.

Caroline exuded happiness as she welcomed both her friend and mentor, now her family in fact, into her home.

She pointed out the additions she had made to the home to give it a woman’s touch, and everything was tastefully done, nothing ostentatious or gaudy.

Her husband was at work at Norman and James, now a fully licensed barrister.

The ladies enjoyed their morning together and Lizzy informed her friend that her brother Tom was betrothed to Lady Amy Ashby.

Caroline requested that Lady Anne again thank her son for the use of Seaview Cottage and, like others before her, stated that it was anything but a cottage.

When she discussed the beach in the secluded inlet, she blushed profusely.

Lady Anne knew what had caused the blush while Caroline’s cousin, being a maiden, did not nor would she be expected to be.

On Tuesday, the seventh day of April, Lady Elizabeth Bennet took her ramble in Hyde Park just as she had on previous occasions.

Once Wickham was apprised of the news, the plan was set for Thursday, two days hence.

George Wickham was happier than he had been in a long time.

He would soon repay the harridan for the pain from his flogging even as it was nought but a sometime dull ache that he hardly noticed.

The scars would be a reminder of her calling out his deeds for the rest of his life, but he would get his revenge on Thursday or die trying, the last of that bravado he would never stand behind as he was a coward.

Everything fit perfectly in his ‘fool proof’ plan.

He ignored the fact that he had considered every ill-advised scheme of his to be a plan without fault.

There was no room in his mind for self-doubt, especially on this day.

He went over his mental checklist, thinking about what he would do to the lady.

He salivated as he thought about the success that he was certain was about to be his on that day.

He had not told the others, but once they received the one hundred thousand pounds for her return, he would ruin her and break her before he made the drop off.

The question was, would she be dead or alive when he returned her.

She would never laugh at him, or for that matter never laugh again when he was through avenging himself on her.

Scarface sent a note to the Spaniard to let him know the day they had chosen to execute the plan, and that everything was in place to remove any impediments to their receiving the full ransom amount.