Page 26 of Searching for Elizabeth (A Pride and Prejudice Variation)

—an hour later—

Fitzwilliam Darcy had used his Master of Pemberley voice to delegate and accomplish the tasks he had enumerated to Elizabeth, and he accomplished his own share of work in a surprisingly short time.

He sent the boy who worked in the stables, Sam, to fetch the apothecary to see to Elizabeth’s minor injuries, and he sent the groom who had not joined in the search to Colonel Forster, to let the colonel know about the events of the day and to suggest that he meet with the magistrate at Longbourn. Then, he sent a message to the magistrate, directing him to the waistcoat-marked location of Wickham’s body, and he sent another express to his lawyers in London, requesting the marriage documents he had previously authorized.

Darcy went to the church and watched as the vicar rang the church bells. He directed the vicar to relay that Miss Elizabeth Bennet had been found and reunited with her family before purchasing a marriage license. With all that done, he rode to Netherfield and began making arrangements there. He sent two footmen to find and update any search parties, and he set his valet to the tasks of making arrangements for Elizabeth and Mary to stay at Netherfield while he and Smithson removed to the inn.

When Darcy was halfway back to Longbourn, he spotted Colonel Forster heading there as well. He rode to him, and the colonel thanked him for his message.

“Mr. Darcy, again, I sincerely apologize for Wickham’s escape.”

Darcy asked, “His escape?”

Forster scrubbed his face with one hand, looking thoroughly embarrassed.

“You have not received my message? About Wickham’s arrest and subsequent escape?”

“I have had a…busy morning,”

Darcy informed him.

“If you sent it to Netherfield, with no instructions about the urgency of getting it into my hands, your message is probably sitting unopened on my dressing table.”

Shaking his head, Forster berated himself for handling everything wrong. He assured Darcy that he had moved quickly on his warning about Wickham, and he had immediately discovered a troubling amount of total debt among the merchants of Meryton. Within hours he had arrested Wickham. However, he had not considered the possibility of Wickham charming his guards and escaping his cell. And, once Wickham had escaped, Forster wrongly assumed that the prisoner would try to get to London as soon as he could, to hide among the unwashed multitude. Forster told Darcy that he had sent his soldiers toward London with orders to bring Wickham back in chains.

As they arrived at Longbourn, Darcy saw that the magistrate was just nearing the estate with a cart. Forster waited for the magistrate outside of the house, but Darcy hurried in to Elizabeth.

She was asleep. Mary immediately relayed to Darcy that the apothecary had given a good report of Elizabeth’s health. He accepted a cup of tea but sat on the floor in front of Elizabeth so he could hold one of her hands.

A few minutes later, Elizabeth stirred. “William?”

He put aside his teacup and sat next to her when she asked him to. Soon they embraced and showered little kisses over each other. The others in the room quieted, likely shocked by such a public display of affection, but at that moment Darcy cared more about comforting his betrothed than about propriety.

When the magistrate and colonel finally entered the room, Mr. Bennet cleared his throat to gain the couple’s attention.

“Apologies,”

Darcy said to everyone. He did not feel or sound sorry.

Colonel Forster performed the introduction of the magistrate, Mr. Blythe. Mr. Bennet then introduced Gardiner.

After making some opening statements about keeping the peace and the rule of law, the magistrate requested a private room where he could hold his interview. The back parlor was suggested; a fire was built, and soon Darcy, Elizabeth, and Mr. Blythe were seated there. The magistrate had brought his own travel desk and writing supplies, and he began to ask Elizabeth questions.

The magistrate was surprised, indeed, to hear that the kidnapping had not occurred at Longbourn. When Elizabeth told him she had been taken from her home, Blackthorn Cottage, he looked appalled as she made it clear that she was living there alone. He mumbled something that Darcy could not decipher, but he decided to wrest control over the narrative the magistrate’s questions might create, saying, “We both share your opinion, sir; she should not have been living alone.”

Darcy waited until the magistrate gave him his attention, and then he explained, “Miss Elizabeth, through no fault of her own, has been forced into an irregular living situation, but both she and I are endeavoring to make her situation respectable as soon as may be. She and I became engaged only yesterday, and I came to Longbourn today to seek Mr. Bennet’s permission to wed. A few days ago, Miss Elizabeth had written to her uncle, who has acted as her guardian every time she visited London, and he just arrived this morning. It is through no fault on Miss Elizabeth’s part that she was alone when Wickham attacked and kidnapped her.”

The magistrate seemed a little warmer as he continued to question Elizabeth. Darcy held her hand but did not interrupt as she answered the questions. When she got to that part of the story Darcy was most curious about, she shuddered briefly, and he squeezed her hand. She raised her chin, looking determined, and she continued as calmly as ever.

“I had run out of paper to shred and leave along our trail, and it seemed to me that I had to do something more drastic in order to try to get away. Wickham had gotten a bit careless, at that point, and he was barely holding onto me, so I flung myself off the horse and yelled, “Home, Lindy!”

“Home, Lindy?”

Mr. Blythe asked.

“Yes, I recognized the mare; her name is Lindy, and she lives at Haye-Park. I knew she had been trained to respond to the order to go home.”

“Ahh…”

Darcy whispered to Elizabeth, “You are magnificent!”

She rolled her eyes and chuckled.

“Well, it did turn out better than I thought it might, but not necessarily magnificently. You see, Lindy responded so strongly to my order, Mr. Wickham was thrown off the horse, as well, and Lindy charged away, and…Mr. Wickham was really angry.”

Darcy cringed a little at her tone, but he willed himself to just stay sitting quietly, just there for support. Elizabeth went on, “He dragged me off the trail, and when he got tired, he dropped me down to the ground.”

There was a pause.

The magistrate had been writing as quickly as Elizabeth could talk, before, but now his quill paused, and he looked at her, and he said, “Go on. What happened next?”

“You have to understand, sir,”

Elizabeth said, “I was just trying to be difficult enough that I could get away, but I did not even consider that I could possibly kill Mr. Wickham. I….”

She trailed off.

Darcy squeezed her hand again, murmuring, “Go on.”

“I pulled my legs up and then I kicked him as hard as I could. Mr. Wickham fell back a bit, tried to get his footing, but then he slipped and fell all the way down. And hit his head.”

Mr. Blythe nodded and continued to write.

Elizabeth covered her face for a second, but then she shook her head again.

“I thought he was badly injured, or perhaps dead, because he had been doing all of this cursing me out and muttering threats, and when he hit his head, he screamed one time but then was still, and quiet. But I knew it was going to be really hard for people to find me unless I could get close to the trail, so I did not try to figure out what had happened to him, and I started to wiggle and buck and roll, trying to move the right direction.

“And then William found me.”

She stopped talking, and Mr. Blythe stopped writing. As he lifted the paper and started waving it in the air to dry the ink, he said, “Obviously, this was self defense. And we have enough charges with the breaking out of gaol and the horse theft, not to mention the debts, and especially since Mr. Wickham is now dead, we do not need you to testify, miss.”

Elizabeth and Darcy both sighed; Darcy had been sure that this would be the magistrate’s findings, but he still experienced relief in his shoulders. Elizabeth, too, seemed to relax against him.

“All will be well,”

Darcy said to her.

“I am ready for things to be well, William. I truly am.”