Page 33 of Lord Lonbourn’s Daughter
“I am well enough,” her husband protested at the hint of infirmity. “I am simply questioning the propriety of the waltz, which has raised some questions in polite society.”
“Yet, they overlook the fact that Lord Nelson fathered Lady Hamilton’s daughter…
You should be parading your own bride around in superior society, Darcy.
Your wedding was a swift affair, and it is best to give the appearance of a happy couple to prevent the gossips from conjecturing it must have come to fruition by ruination.
I declare we shall all go!” Lady Matlock announced, and the matter was settled.
#
Elizabeth had been at the ball for less than an hour when she spotted a familiar figure. She approached with her heart pounding in her throat.
“Lydia, is that you?” she whispered.
“La, Lizzy, how did you guess? I was hoping to pass myself off as the Duchess of somewhere or other. How inconvenient to meet someone of my acquaintance who may reveal who I really am.”
“Why would you not like to be recognised as your true self? You are the daughter of an earl in your own right. Why so lofty an aspiration as a duchess?”
“I am hiding from Mr Wickham’s beneficiary. We were not supposed to leave our lodgings, but I have been cooped up in one room for weeks. If I did not have some entertainment, I would have lost my mind. Would you mind if we found somewhere private?”
“Not at all,” Elizabeth proclaimed, searching frantically about the room for her husband and his relations.
Finding none she hauled her sister out onto the terrace and down the steps to the garden.
She was terrified of being discovered by the wrong people before she could take Lydia to safety, so she held her peace until they were far enough away from attentive ears.
“Where have you been? Can you not see that we were worried sick about you, not to forget the extortionist’s demands and—”
“I have no idea what you are talking about. It was all a lark. See!” Lydia waved a jewelled hand in front of Elizabeth’s nose. “I am a married lady now, Lizzy. I am Lydia Wickham and shall take precedence over my sisters even though I am the youngest.”
“Oh no, are you telling me we are too late?” Elizabeth cried.
“Yes, by weeks. My Mr Wickham and I went straight from Ramsgate to the Coldstream Tollbooth [7] and were married by a sham vicar.”
“I am so sorry, Lydia!” Elizabeth exclaimed with feeling.
“Why would you feel sorry for me? My Mr Wickham is ever so handsome. You will not believe it until you see him. He does not even need to wear his red coat to attract the eyes of the ladies,” Lydia preened.
“He is an officer?” Elizabeth enquired.
“He was, but he no longer needs an occupation now that we are married. He pronounced he could not have me following the drum, being the daughter of an earl. I have an estate and enough wealth for us both to live on.”
“How convenient. Have you informed him where your estate is situated?” Elizabeth drawled.
“Yes, but neither of us are sure where Ronaldsay is…” Lydia admitted ruefully.
“I can make excuses on your behalf, Lydia. You should have paid more attention to Papa’s geography lessons, but I offer no such leniency to Mr Wickham, who has been educated in the best schools England can offer.
Ronaldsay, my dear Lydia, is situated on the most remote of the Orkney Islands. It is Shetland next after that.”
“Must I travel over the sea?” Lydia whined. She became terribly seasick.
“Yes, it is quite essential when you live on an island.”
“Oh, but I hate the sea. The smell is awful!”
“I suggest you get used to it, Lydia, because the island is not large. I suspect there is nowhere to escape the sea breeze nor the smell from the salty waters.”
Lydia wrinkled her nose like a child.
“I can understand his reasons well enough, but why would you marry a lowly steward’s son, Lydia? Did Mr Wickham force you?”
“He did not! I love him so very dearly, and he is so very handsome. I am the envy of everyone and the first of the Longbourn sisters to marry.”
“But why not write to us? We have been worried about you.”
“La, a gentleman with too much money in his pockets paid us to keep away, but his small contributions are a pittance compared with my fortune, so I decided we might have his in addition to my allowance. It was ever so much fun to send a clandestine letter to Kitty. I was so tired of being cooped up inside Mrs Younge’s tedious boarding house.
I simply must have society now that I am a married lady.
There is no fun in getting married if no one knows about it. ”
“You are worse than the extortionist.” Elizabeth was fighting a losing battle against her flaring temper.
“La, you are just jealous, being married to that dour Mr Darcy. And Jane’s betrothed is not at all handsome despite his red coat.”
“Why do you think I married Mr Darcy?”
“La! Everyone is talking about it. I suppose he is handsome…”
Elizabeth wanted to tell her everything.
How she had been forced into marrying against her own inclination.
But she knew now that it was not true. She wanted to tell her how Kitty had been drugged with laudanum and hardly remembered a day from her captivity, or how Georgiana had been worked upon, but she could not trust Lydia to keep the secret.
Especially from that husband she asserted to have acquired.
“Lydia, please. I shall do anything to get you away from that man. He is a criminal, an extortionist, and quite possibly a murderer. A footman was killed at the house in Ramsgate when you were taken. The rest of the servants were found tied up in a storage room.”
“It cannot have been my Wickham. He was not in Ramsgate. He left before me and met me at the inn. All the footmen were alive and well when we left.”
“Mr Wickham was in Ramsgate, Lydia. One of the grooms saw him. I could have him brought here to point him out to prove it to you.”
“I do not believe you, Lizzy. You are just jealous and mean, trying to ruin my evening out.”
Lydia tore off towards the house.
“Lydia!” Elizabeth called after her as loudly as she dared.
It quickly became obvious that her youngest sister had no intention of returning to their little tête-á-tête.
Elizabeth was hastening after her when she ran into Mr Darcy.
She almost did not recognise him as he had donned a full mask to conceal his discoloured face.
“Elizabeth! Good God! What is the matter?” he enquired with more feeling than civility.
“I have found Lydia. She is here at the ball dressed like Marie Antoinette with an indecently low neck. She is married… To Mr Wickham.”
Elizabeth broke down in tears. Her husband hurried to escort her farther into the darkness of the garden before he offered her his kerchief.
“They have been married these many weeks since Ramsgate. He took her directly to the tollbooth in Coldstream. He never had any intention of returning her to her family. Everything has been a ruse. Kitty was imposed upon most grievously but not harmed, Georgiana suffered not at all, while Lydia is happy as a bee because she was the first Longbourn sister to marry!”
Mr Darcy enfolded his wife in his arms, offering the comfort only an embrace could give.
“Hush, Elizabeth! Please relate everything your sister told you, and we shall see what I can make of it.”
“We have no time to lose. We must find Lydia and Mr Wickham. Preferably not together. I hope we can manage to speak to Lydia alone. I believe Mr Wickham will not allow her to tell us whom this benefactor is.”
“Dry your tears, Elizabeth. We must find Richard and Montgomery. They must help us search.”
He grabbed her hand, tucked it around his arm, and hastened back to the house as quickly as his lingering limp would allow.
Richard was easy to find. He was waltzing in the middle of the ballroom with his betrothed in his arms. To gain his attention without notifying the whole room proved difficult. He was occupied with staring into Jane’s eyes, to the detriment of the goings on around him.
“We must join the set to get close to them,” Mr Darcy suggested.
“Wonderful idea, dear husband, but I cannot waltz.”
“There is nothing to it. I shall lead you.”
“Are you telling me that you know how to waltz, Mr Darcy?”
Her husband clutched her waist with one hand and laced their fingers together with the other. Gracefully, he led her to the floor and twirled her around in a dizzying fashion, subtly moving in the direction of his cousin. He did not even limp, Elizabeth noticed.