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“I am well now, my love, so you may send a response that I am able to make the visit at the Regent’s pleasure and convenience.” He chuckled.

It was not long after that the Dowager Duchess and Lady Georgiana returned.

“Lizzy, I am so very happy that I will be gaining you and four new sisters when you wed William,” the young lady offered joyously.

“God did not grant Mama any more children after I was born, so I have never felt sisterly love until I met all of the Bennet sisters in November last year. Gaining four more brothers is a wonderful thing as well.”

“Especially one particular brother,” Elizabeth teased, and a blush started to spread across Georgie’s face and got progressively redder.

“Do not tease your younger sister, Lizzy,” Lady Anne corrected her elder daughter with mock severity. “Did I not already request that you call me Mother Anne?”

“That will be a pleasure Mother Anne. If you will excuse me, I need to write a note to my cousins.” Lizzy was directed to the mistress’s study to pen her missive.

Seeing the questioning looks from his mother and sister, Darcy informed them of which cousins she referred to and about the subject of the note.

Before the Darcys walked across the square to Bennet House, a royal courier had delivered the summons from Buckingham House for the first Monday in May at eleven o’clock in the morning.

All three Darcys were to be present. At the same time, a similar summons was delivered to both the Matlock and Hilldale Houses.

That evening it was a very large and merry family party that enjoyed dinner and convivial company, and many toasts were raised to the two betrothed couples.

During the separation of the sexes, the matriarchs of the family were seated together discussing their favourite subjects; the Darcy’s elevation, the betrothals, and upcoming double wedding.

“This is all Lizzy’s fault, you know,” Lady Catherine drawled.

“What is that, sister?” Lady Anne asked.

“That you are above me in rank now, a dowager duchess! I hope you do not expect me to use the ‘your grace’ appellation, Anne,” Lady Catherine teased.

“How am I to feel then,” asked Madeline Gardiner, “as I am the only untitled one here, and my husband is in trade?”

“You know, Maddie,” Lady Rose Bennet, stated, “Sed had told me that the prevailing opinion among many in the peerage is that times are changing rapidly. It will not be too many years in the future when tradespeople will be the sought-after connections, and those of the peerage who only rely on income from the estates and no other sources will be the ones seeking you out.”

“Only time will tell,” Mrs. Gardiner responded then tactfully changed the subject. “Lady Catherine, I understand that the Duke of Derbyshire’s proposal earned you ten pounds.”

“Firstly, as we are family, Madeline, my name is Catherine, and yes, my nephew’s timing earned me said sum,” she said with a smile of amusement.

“Anne, you were the first to opine that Lizzy and William would become a couple once they both moved past their stubborn natures and admitted what you and then the rest of us could see as plainly as the noses on our faces,” Lady Sarah Bennet stated as she looked at the group of younger ladies sitting together and talking.

“I was only the first to see where they were headed because I was able to observe them together more than the rest of you, Sarah. It was not long until we all saw the tender feelings developing between them.” Anne explained.

“I pray that both Loretta and Wes make love matches like Tom and Lizzy have,” Lady Pricilla, Countess of Jersey said wistfully.

“I am sure that they will, sister,” Lady Rose Bennet assured her sister-in-law as she squeezed her hand. “How could they not with so many examples in the family?”

“Both of my boys made love matches and brought me daughters that I still have trouble telling one from the other when they are not with my boys,” Lady Elaine looked toward her daughters who had made her sons so very happy.

“Add my Graham to that list,” Hattie Phillips added, “and soon Franny will be saying her vows for her own love match.”

“When do you depart for Meryton, Hattie?” Lady Sarah asked.

“We leave on Monday morning. Most of the plans are in place and Franny has ordered her trousseau, so there really is no reason to delay our departure.” She looked at Sarah, long loved as a sister, and was gratified the feeling was mutual as she had not had such a connection with her own.

“Sarah, I do want to thank you for hosting the dinner before the wedding.”

“No thanks necessary. You know how much we love Franny.” Sarah smiled warmly as she again scanned those assembled and soaked in the evident happiness of so many.

“Is the date set for a betrothal ball for the two couples, Sarah?” Lady Rose enquired.

Sarah Bennet looked to Lady Anne for confirmation and seeing her nod, she answered her sister-in-law’s question. “Now that William is well, we are about to start sending invitations out for Friday the fifth of June, ten days before the wedding.”

As the ladies were busy with their discussions, the men were having a much more serious one. “I have heard from the men that I sent to Fowey in Cornwall to keep an eye on Mrs. Younge. She uses the name ‘Mrs. Georgiana Wick’ now.”

“What hubris to assume to take Georgie’s name combined with his,” the new duke spat out. “How dare she?”

“Her name is not our problem, cousin,” Richard Fitzwilliam reported.

“It seems that the woman has not learnt from her ‘dear’ Wickham’s demise, she is planning to avenge him with the help of her smuggler of a brother, Clay Younge.

” the former colonel then relayed the contents of the letter he had received.

It stated that for much of the first week she had kept her head down and did her work, but then it detailed what the men had heard when Mrs. Younge made contact with her criminal brother.

“We will not wait around for this woman and her brother to try and hurt my daughter. I want them arrested as soon as may be!” Lord Thomas Bennet announced with no little anger and worry in his voice.

“What are you doing to protect our sister, Richard?” his brother, Lord Andrew Fitzwilliam, asked.

“By the morrow, ten more of my ex-soldiers, accompanied by a contingent of runners, depart for Fowey. When I answered the missive, I instructed the men to keep a good vigil and to report back to me anything else they discover,” he explained matter-of-factly.

“If anyone tries to harm my Lizzy again…” Lord William cursed at the very idea someone might.

“No one will harm her, William!” his Uncle Reggie interjected. “We are aware of her plans, and it seems that she is not cognisant of being observed,” He noted. Unfortunately, his words would prove to be the opposite of the truth.

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

Clay Younge was a criminal, but not a stupid one.

Once his sister had shared the extent of her former lover’s attempt to kidnap the daughter of a duke, he was sure that a rich and powerful family like the Bennets would leave no stone unturned to find all involved in the botched conspiracy.

Not wanting to take a chance, he assigned three of his best men to watch out for his sister.

He was thinking about what he should do when he was approached by a woman in black mourning garb who was accompanied by a young man of perhaps of eighteen or nineteen years.

The woman asked if he was Clay Younge. “U’ wants ta know?” he asked with disdain.

“I am Johanna álvarez, and this is my son Anthony.” She replied firmly.

“So what? I dunno know you, so why should I care u’ you are?” he scoffed.

The lady proceeded to tell him that she was the widow of Juan Antonio álvarez, the Spaniard , and she was seeking to pay back the people that had her husband and the father of her son hung while taking away the empire that they had built.

As she was telling the man her tale, she recalled how she became Mrs. álvarez.

Johanna Cross had been employed as a maid at one of the Spaniard’s brothels in St. Giles.

She had not been there long when she observed that the Madam was skimming money to keep for herself.

As a way to better her lot, she reported the facts to Scarface .

Later that day she was presented to Juan Antonio álvarez.

After the Madam received a permanent smile and a ‘swim’ in the Thames, álvarez made the smart and intelligent woman his temporary Madam. She excelled at the work and soon she was in charge of running all four of his ‘houses’, and as a consequence spent more and more time with the man.

They had started lying together and she had become with child. He married her, and four months later, her Tony was born. He had been happy to have a son who he could train to take over the running of his empire one day.

In her own way Johanna had loved her husband and would not let the people that took him and their livelihood away go unpunished.

“Ow did you find me?” Younge asked.

“Your sister’s former lover was very forthcoming with any and all information that my husband wanted, and he told us about you.

My late husband, may he rest in peace, made note of your name, trade, and location,” the widow informed him.

“I made the assumption that your sister would come to you to help hide her, and so I took a chance that I was correct and brought my son with me.”

Younge thought for a while then welcomed the woman whose aims aligned with his own, and who had a reasonable sum of money to her name that she had been able to spirit away before the runners had dismantled their empire.

As they were talking, one of Caleb’s men that had been told to keep an eye on Karen reported that there were four men watching the Blind Bill’s housekeeper, and that one or two of them followed her wherever she went.

They also seemed to be interested in their boss’s movements.

Caleb Younge had no doubt that these men were connected to the powerful people Wickham’s scheme had targeted.

He ordered his man to ready his sloop, which was one of the fastest smuggling vessels in the kingdom; at least in his opinion, and for another to retrieve his sister.

If there was a man or men following Karen, the problem was to be dealt with.

He, his men and his new confederate slipped out of a hidden door into a back alley and headed for the sloop as they lost the men posted to watch him.

Mrs. Wick was in the market buying fresh produce for the inn when her brother’s man whispered that she was being followed and that she had to leave with him immediately.

As the man who was assigned to keep track of her that day made to follow her, he was pulled into an alleyway from which he would never emerge by three of Younge’s men.

Within two hours, Younge’s sloop ‘ The Stealthy Runner ’ had slipped her lines and sailed toward France with Karen Younge, Johanna and Anthony álvarez, and her normal crew of miscreants and headed toward France.

As soon as she was over the horizon out of view of anyone on land, she changed tack and set the course for Ireland.

The criminals decided that they needed to disappear for some time so the trail would go cold.

They would use the time to plan, then, when they were ready, they would return to receive their perceived due.