Page 26 of Longbourn’s Son (Pride and Prejudice Variation #22)
Darracott turned and cringed at the fury in the older man’s eyes. He had met the master of Longbourn a few times, and the gentleman had always seemed a dilatory, indolent father; at the moment, Bennet looked ready to drive a sword through the militia officer’s torso.
“Am I to understand that you are bothering this lady?” Mr. Darcy demanded, stepping up to the major with flashing eyes.
“Mr. Darcy!” Darracott exclaimed, “Sir, I merely wished to speak to Mr. Luke Bennet regarding what happened today. It seems quite impossible that Mr. Wickham is guilty of what they are…”
“It seems Wickham is not the fine man that we thought he was,” Forster interrupted, glaring reprovingly at his underling.
“Mr. Darcy has shown me debt receipts for literally hundreds of pounds which Wickham racked up in Derbyshire. Now Darracott, I want you to fetch Captain Williamson from his rooms and bring him here.”
“Now, sir?” Darracott asked, casting a quick look at the darkness outside the window.
“Now!”
/
“Are you all right, Miss Elizabeth?” Darcy asked a few minutes later.
Mr. Bennet had entered the small sitting room to keep Luke and Kitty company, and Elizabeth, who was desirous of stretching her legs, moved to the dining room where she could pace up and down in front of the fire.
Mrs. Milton, a comfortable, middle aged woman with a sweet smile and wisps of black hair escaping her cap, bustled in and out bringing tea and cakes for the various men who were milling about in her house.
Elizabeth lifted a puzzled eyebrow. “Yes, of course, Mr. Darcy. I was worried about my brother, but Mr. Jones assures me that he is not gravely injured.”
“I was referring to your clash with Major Darracott. He was offensive and aggressive in his manner.”
Elizabeth smiled gratefully as one of Milton’s daughters brought her a cup of tea, and she took a sip before saying, “I was not at all distressed, sir. My courage always rises with any attempt to intimidate me, and I had no intention of permitting the man to bother my precious brother.”
Darcy looked into the lady’s dark eyes, which reflected the light of the dancing flames, and said, “You are a very good sister, Miss Elizabeth.”
“I try to be,” she responded, her lips curling up beguilingly. “My sisters and brother make it easy to love them. We occasionally have our little quarrels, but we are a very close family. I know you understand; it is obvious that you and Miss Darcy are very attached to one another.”
“We are,” her companion said, his expression softening in the flickering light, “though I confess there are times when I feel rather out of my depth as the much older brother of a young girl.”
“You are a faithful, generous, diligent man,” Elizabeth assured him, “and your sister benefits from both your example and your care.”
“Thank you, Miss Elizabeth,” he responded gratefully, his eyes lingering on her vibrant countenance. It occurred to him that Georgiana would greatly benefit if he were to marry a lively young lady similar to Miss Elizabeth Bennet.
/
“Will, what are you doing here?” Allan Milton demanded, looking up from his position next to Forster’s horse.
Will, who had crept out of his small bedroom in the attic, admitted, “I heard that Colonel Forster had returned and wanted to make sure that his gray was appropriately cared for in the midst of all this fuss.”
His employer’s son rolled his eyes and wagged his finger at him.
“Will, you were attacked tonight, and my father ordered you to bed. I have rubbed down the gray and fed and watered him, and he is entirely well. I will also check on all the other horses before I turn in for the night. Do not worry!”
“Thank you, sir,” Will said gratefully and departed hastily to return to his bed.
His jaw was quite sore from Wickham’s punch, his back ached from being shoved harshly against the wall, and he was exhausted by the events of the day.
Still, he would not have been able to sleep without being certain that the horses had been tended to properly.
Allan Milton chuckled and continued his tasks for another thirty minutes and then, assured that all was well, left the stables in search of a warm fire and a hot meal.
Ten minutes passed in relative silence save for the occasional rustling and nickering of horses, and then one of the windows slid open and a dark figure rolled quietly into the stable and crouched on the floor, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the relative darkness.
Fortunately for the intruder, the moon provided some light through the several windows in the building.
Another long moment passed before Captain Williamson decided it was safe to creep over to Eclipse’s stall.
The horse raised and lowered his large head and whinnied softly, causing Williamson to pat the great nose reassuringly.
Over the next ten minutes, he saddled up his horse in the near darkness, opened the door, guided Eclipse out through a side door and out onto the street, and then mounted and tapped his heels gently to encourage the horse into a slow trot.
Once horse and rider were out in the countryside, Williamson allowed himself to relax.
It was a great pity that his time in the militia had come to such a sudden end, but he was wise enough to realize that it was entirely his own fault.
He should have known that Wickham was a dangerous colleague; on the one hand, the young man was clever, handsome, and charming.
On the other hand, Wickham’s mounting debts with the storekeepers and eager pursuit of local girls showed that the younger man was quite incapable of delaying his own gratification.
That was, Williamson reflected ruefully, the problem with trying to mentor a man who considered himself a gentleman’s son, without any of the monetary and social support such a position required.
However, if there was one thing Williamson had learned thus far in life, it was that it was best to cut one’s losses when disaster threatened.
He knew that Wickham had attacked young Luke Bennet for unknown reasons and that the locals were howling for Wickham’s blood.
Williamson had no intention of being caught up in the backlash of fury at his former colleague’s idiocy.
The welcome weight of his moneybag was encouraging, anyway. He had succeeded in parting many a young officer, and a few of the local youth, from their money. He had plenty of resources to start again elsewhere.