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While Karen Younge started out, Jones led his friends and the four crewmembers not on duty to the local pub, the Four-Leaf Clover.

The publican was pleased to have a group of seven patronise his establishment in the middle of the day when it was normally bereft of customers.

Other than one or two old timers sitting at the bar, the sloop’s crewmembers had the place to themselves.

Jones ordered a round of the best ale, which was delivered by a pretty barmaid with flaming red-hair.

The men soon drained their tankards, so Jones ordered a second and then a third round.

This endeared him to his crewmen and the owner of the establishment at the same time, not that he cared about their approbation as it was but a means to an end.

The men were saying how eager they were for the massive payday this easy job promised, and Jones took the opening unwittingly provided by the youngest member of the crew. “You’s knows there be danger in this mission. It coulds go bad.”

“I thinked t’ cap’n tol’ us it be easy money.” a man sporting an eye patch countered the statement.

“Aye, may be, but I ‘eard that woman be a duchess, daughter of a duke, and some’ow family of the royals,” Jones pretended like he was trying to accurately remember the facts.

“If we be caught,” the youngest one looked around nervously, “it will be t’ tow’r an’ our ‘eads!”

“The yung’un be right,” a rotund member of the crew frowned, “what ‘appens t’ us if it ain’t so easy as cap’n says?” Rather than answering, Jones drew his thumb across his throat to looks of horror from the crew men, including feigned disquiet from his two mates on this mission with him.

“Dunno f’rget,” Forester spoke up, “the one thousand if all be good.” Two of the men nodded in agreement, but two, the youngest one who was suddenly contemplating his mortality and the rotund one, looked spooked.

Jones changed the subject deftly so that the men would not think that he had any purpose other than mentioning the information as an aside to the topic introduced.

He joined in all conversations except those mentioning the coming mission over the next two hours while he ordered three more rounds for the men.

As the final tankard of ale was downed and nothing but dregs remained, the men went their separate ways to walk around the town which none had previously visited.

Meanwhile, a despondent Karen Young ascended the hill that took her to the crest of the cliff face. She stood some feet back from the white chalk edge as she contemplated her life.

‘George Wickham played me for a fool, and I permitted him to do it!

All of the signs were there, but I refused to see them.

If I had trusted him, would I have had to hide my money from him?

After Ramsgate failed, I saw neither hide nor hair of him until he needed a place to sleep and recuperate for free.

When he condescended to lay with me, I could see that he was not with me in spirit, but I had to believe that he wanted me, for my own sanity.

‘The way Johanna looked at me; it was with such pity, and I hate being pitied above all. George may have failed in his plot, so I was not killed by his direction, but he had accomplished in death what he was not able to in life. The belief in his love sustained me, and now that is gone . ’

Karen walked close to the edge of the cliff, clutching George’s note in her hand.

She dropped her reticule and bonnet, then took one more step over the line to where the chalk base was weak which took her to the edge.

The chalk cracked below her foot when her weight settled, causing the chalk to give way which saved her the effort of jumping.

The last thing she heard was a man running along the cliff tops somewhere behind her, yelling for her to be careful, and then she was falling toward the jiggered rocks at the base of the cliffs where the sea frothed as the waves crashed against the rocks and cliff face.

In a matter of seconds, Karen Younge was no more.

The man out walking with his dogs stood as close to the edge as he could but knew there was nothing now which could be done.

He picked up the reticule and bonnet then made all haste to town and the office of the local magistrate.

It did not take long for the magistrate to ascertain that no local women were missing, and from O’Hanoran’s description the lady did not sound like one that he knew.

The magistrate and his witness made their way to the quay where the sloop was tied up.

The men asked to see the captain and were shown into his cabin.

As soon as Younge saw that the magistrate was holding his sister’s reticule and bonnet, he knew that something was amiss.

The magistrate introduced O’Hanoran who told Younge what he had seen and described the lady as best he could.

Even before the description, Younge knew that his sister was dead.

He did not want to contemplate it, but as he thought back to the peck on his cheek, it was as if she knew that she was saying goodbye to him.

Younge thanked O’Hanoran for attempting to warn and save his sister, then sat in his chair for some time after the two men’s departure.

He was not so attached to his sister, but she was blood, so he was sad about her death regardless of how annoying she had become in her rantings about her ‘dear George’ and her desire for revenge.

He incorrectly assumed that her grief over missing him had finally become too much to bear so had decided to end her suffering.

Luckily for Johanna álvarez, he did not suspect that she had broken their agreement to keep his sister ignorant of Wickham’s planned betrayal, so he never asked her if she had done so.

When Johanna heard what the result of her disclosure was, she did not repine her decision.

There was nothing that Karen Younge could add to the plan nor the completion of it.

Her only contribution, outside of her ravings, was that she had once had a brief view of the lady, but she had told them what she had seen many times, so she was no longer needed.

Their target had dark hair and was of medium height.

Besides, she was sure that they would be able to identify the mistress of the estate even without the description.

That night when the crew returned to their vessel to take their watch, the youngest and most rotund members were not among their number.

Jones, Forester, and Tibbson were well pleased with the results of their first efforts on this stage of their plan.

Due to scuttlebutt, they were sure more would desert when they went ashore at Oakenholt where, as luck would have it, there would be ‘dishonest’ men available to fill the numbers needed.

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

Lady Loretta De Melville was feeling both happy for her cousins and somewhat envious.

From what she could see James was in love with Georgie, Wes was in love with Mary, and now Lord Mark Creighton seemed enamoured with Kitty.

She liked both men who were not her brothers, but not in the way that a woman should like the man she hopes to spend the rest of her life with.

Her envy was not of the men that were showing tender regard for the ladies, but that she was the only one of the four who would be coming out without having tender feelings for a particular man.

She comforted herself with the thought that it would soon become plainly evident to the Ton that three of the four of them were all but spoken for, so she would have an open field to be able to meet the man that would hopefully engender the feelings that she was surrounded with but excluded from.

If she were honest with herself, there was one man who had caught her fancy, however, she had not had much time to spend with him.

He was her cousin and Princess Elizabeth’s oldest son, Frederick Landgrave VII, the Duke of Brighton, who was three and twenty and still single.

The few times that she had spoken to Cousin Frederick at family events, she had enjoyed his company very much, but had no indication whether he enjoyed her own, so she hoped that they would meet during the season and learn whether anything would develop between them, or if they were her own inclination and needed to be forgotten.

She was relieved to have learned that he would be at the coming out ball, as maybe she would have an opportunity to determine his thoughts about her.

As she thought about Fred, he had requested that she call him so in private, she came to the conclusion that she did not have reason to be envious, it was not as if she were an old maid.

Her season was upcoming, so rather than look at what her cousins potentially had, she decided to concentrate on her own wants and desires.

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

One night after all of the residents of Falconwood were abed, the master and mistress settled themselves in intimate comfort on the settee in their private sitting room.

They planned to discuss the events of the day and the upcoming events before retiring.

Elizabeth was sad that the day that William would depart for Pemberley without her was fast approaching.

She was wrapped in his arms, enjoying the feeling of being enveloped by him; while he was lost in the feeling of warmth spreading through his body as she rested her head on his shoulder; he loved the sight of her raven hair tresses surrounding her, and the intoxicating scent that was uniquely hers.

Both felt a sense of fulfilment, wrapped in each other’s arms as they wrapped themselves in the cloak of their love.

Elizabeth teased her husband about the way that they met and how he had ‘stolen’ her from ‘poor’ Frank Lucas.

Elizabeth did not miss that she was able to discomfort him briefly, even as he knew that there was no truth behind her jest. She relented and kissed his cheeks gently, meeting his eyes with a loving gaze she soothed away concern with a gentle kiss on his forehead.

“My Grace, you must learn to improve your tolerance for being teased by me.” Elizabeth’s voice turned huskier. “You do know that you are the only man in the known, or unknown world for me, do you not, William?”

“I do my love,” he responded with a kiss as his fleeting feelings of jealousy passed.

He looked on his Grace with unalloyed affection, the depth of feeling conveyed took her breath away.

Falconwood’s guests, the activities of the day, and the upcoming confrontation at Pemberley were quite forgotten for the remainder of the night.

His answer was accompanied with a warm ardency that was fully and unreservedly returned by his Elizabeth.

She drew his face close to kiss him passionately.

Darcy understood his wife’s intentions and he gently pulled out of her embrace, stood, then gathered her in his arms, smiling when hers wrapped around his neck as she feathered his neck with light kisses.

He carried her into the bedchamber and kick the door shut then took her to his bed where he followed through with all of her intentions.

The Duke and Duchess of Derbyshire took breakfast on trays in their sitting room the next day and did not appear until an hour before the midday meal, ignoring anyone in the dining parlour who made jesting comments about where they had been.

Even Richard did not take the golden opportunity to tease the couple.

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

The morning after they docked in Whitehead, before the lines were cast off, Younge said a few perfunctory words about his departed sister.

In truth he was more vexed that two of his crew were missing, but he was somewhat mollified by Jones’s assurance that the remaining crew would be able to cover their duties so there was no need to delay their start of the final leg of their journey to the shores of England.

After the very brief memorial service, the lines were slackened and tossed off the bollards, the mainsail raised, and slowly the Stealthy Runner departed her last stop in Ireland.

The remaining original crew wisely did not question Younge with the information about the proposed captive and her ties to the royals, however two more were debating if the possibility of the hoped-for payday was worth a sure beheading if they were captured.

Johanna álvarez was only sorry that she had not shattered Karen Young’s delusions long before.

If she had known that the woman would have taken her own life when forced to see the truth, she could have had peace long before.

She did not spare a thought for her son Tony, who she believed she would never see again as she had no intention to return to Ireland.

She did not believe that she could forgive him, and wished much hardship on her headstrong son.

The subject of her thoughts, however, had just completed his first week of studies at Oxford and assimilated the information imparted in his lessons like a sponge absorbed water.

He had never imagined that he would feel so fulfilled as he did now.

His friendship with his chamber-mate, Stockton, had deepened, and they were seldom apart when they had free time.

There was a steady stream of correspondence from the Elliots at Pemberley who gave him a sense of family he had never before been granted.

Hastings had extended an invitation for Tony to accompany him to his family’s estate in Wiltshire for the upcoming four-day term break which Tony had gladly accepted.

Tony álvarez was truly contented and had his mother known of it, she would have been seriously displeased. As it was, she sailed on in her ignorance with the firm belief that she was right to ignore the pleas to change her path that she had received from her son.