Page 52 of The Countess and Her Sister

Several hours earlier…

Jane sighed as she looked about her bedroom; there was no sign of Thomas, and he did not answer to her gently calling his name.

Suddenly, a small door opened at the back of the room, and then Mrs. Bennet came toward Jane and caught her by the hand.

“I spoke to one of the servants – they saw Thomas wandering near the stables! Come, let us go at once!”

Jane was too frenzied to question how he could have wandered so far, or why Mrs. Bennet had chosen to take the servants’ passages; she followed after Mrs. Bennet in an instant, desperate to hold her son in her arms and know that he was safe.

The passage led to a downstairs corridor not far from the back door, and the stables and carriage house were not much further.

Her shoes were not the best for sprinting across the gravel, but Jane was scarcely aware of the discomfort as she shambled after her mother in the moonlight.

As they reached her mother’s carriage, a man in a hooded cloak was preparing the horses.

He turned and gave a quick bow, giving a brief flash of red beneath the cloak.

“He’s sleeping nice and snug in there, though I never saw him come out here.

Don’t know how he got by me. Here, let me get that for you. ”

The stable hand reached out as if he meant to open the door of the carriage, and shoved Jane roughly against the carriage.

She began to cry out when Mrs. Bennet stuffed a handkerchief into Jane’s mouth.

It tasted bitter and Jane recoiled, struggling against the man who was surely not a stable hand as he tied her wrists with coarse rope.

He bound them in front of her rather than behind her back, but then tied the rope about her waist to secure it.

Jane thrashed and kicked, and tried to butt at him with her head and shoulders, but Mrs. Bennet held her down, and leaned in to hurriedly whisper, “Mr. Darcy will be along in a few hours.”

And then she was tossed unceremoniously into the carriage, and the door hastily closed.

She fumbled in the darkness and managed to scramble up onto a seat, straining to lift her hands enough to find the latch, but the door would not open.

She strained herself, trying again and again, but the door was locked.

And then, the carriage lurched into motion, and Jane toppled back down onto the cushioned bench.

That was when Jane realized she was not alone in the carriage.

As the carriage began to gain speed, her eyes acclimated to the darkness, and she could make out two dark figures huddled on the opposite bench, and a pale, thin leg exposed in the moonlight that poured in through the small window at the back of the carriage.

It was the only window that had not been blacked out from the outside.

Fear gripped at Jane until one of the figures shifted, and a young girl moved out of the shadows, her brown hair loose about her bare shoulders; she was in her undergarments.

She looked just as frightened as Jane was, and held out one hand in a gesture of pleading as a shirtless youth fastened up his britches and plucked the handkerchief from Jane’s mouth.

She let out several sharp breaths once that vile discomfort was removed, though the bitter taste lingered on her tongue; the cloth had been dampened with some sort of tincture, perhaps meant to put her to sleep.

The lad sniffed at it and threw it down to the floorboard before reaching in his pocket and offering her a flask.

She struggled against her bindings, and the lad cried out in alarm before fumbling to untie the knots.

“Good Lord – what the devil has happened to you, ma’am? ”

When the rope finally slackened and her hands slid free, Jane took the flask from him and cringed as the liquid burned her throat, anything to ease the horrid taste left on her tongue.

Her mind reeled from confusion, and she slumped back against her seat, so many questions in her head that she scarcely knew where to begin.

She handed him back his flask. “You are the cook’s boy. ”

“Aye, she’s me ma, but I’m nearly a man grown,” the youth protested. “Johnny Barnes, ma’am.”

“And this young lady – is this Hannah, from Montrose?”

The girl nodded. “We weren’t doin’ nothin’ much, I swear it, your ladyship.”

Jane raised her brows, the moonlight illuminating a smeared handprint on the back window of the carriage. “Johnny, please tell me what is going on.”

“We snuck in here – Hannah always waits in the carriage for her mistress – I just wanted to spend a little more time with my girl.”

Jane gave the lad a wincing smile; the girl shifted nervously. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know she’d use her own carriage for – I mean….”

Jane reached out and caught the girl’s wrist in her grasp. “What was that? Use her own carriage for what?”

“Oh, Lord help me,” the girl groaned.

Jane jerked the girl roughly. “Where is my son?”

“He’s asleep in his bed,” Johnny cried. “We only brought him downstairs for a piece of cake in the kitchens, while the other servants were havin’ their late supper, and gave him some tea to help him go back to sleep like a good lad, we’d never hurt him. He’s a dear thing.”

“You put him back in his bed? When? I went in half an hour ago and he was gone!” Jane began to weep with confusion and rage, ready to pound at the carriage doors until her fists were bloodied. “I do not understand….”

“Right before we snuck in here,” Johnny said, looking to Hannah for confirmation.

“I never thought to check the nursery again,” Jane murmured.

She peered at the young maid from Montrose, who had reached down and offered Johnny his shirt back.

“What possessed you to take him from the nursery? I know you are kind to him, and he is fond of playing with you, but the whole house was in uproar. And now… I am being abducted.” These last four words were mere breaths, but the truth of them chilled her.

“Hannah,” she said sternly.

“Arright, I’ll tell you,” the girl wailed. “I didn’t have no choice! And I didn’t think she would do this part, not after the scene with Lady Catherine!”

“Hannah,” Jane said again, trying to calm her voice. “Is Thomas truly safe? What is happening?”

“Mrs. Bennet wanted to look like a hero by finding him, that’s all I thought it was.

She caught me listening at the door when she was talking to Lady Catherine, and said she would let me go without reference if I didn’t help her.

She said it would be harmless, that me and Johnny would take good care of him for a little while, and then put him back for her to find, and it would make you love her again. ”

“I see. And… you did not think she would do this part – abducting me? Was it Lady Catherine’s idea?”

“And the mistress seemed monstrous angry at her for it, even threw her out of the house!”

Jane slowly nodded, grasping at pieces to the puzzle.

“It was a distraction, to lure me out here, with everyone else in the house scattered and preoccupied, searching for Thomas. I suppose they have not yet noticed my absence. But she said that Mr. Darcy would come for me. Hannah, tell me everything you heard when you were listening at the door.”

Hannah wrung her hands, her face a picture of panic.

“It was horrible, your ladyship! The other… ladyship, she is proper terrifying! She said that she wants her new husband to think that she supports him matching his son Captain Tilney with you, but really she doesn’t, she thinks you ought to marry Mr. Darcy.

There was a lot of fancy talk about family pride and making your son the most powerful earl in the kingdom, maybe even a duke, having a bunch of grand houses and piles of money. ”

“I have heard all that – what else?”

“Oh, there was loads more, let me remember it all….”

Johnny bristled at his lover. “Was this all a trick, then? You never even fancied me?”

“No, Johnny, I love you! But if Mrs. Bennet lets me go without a reference, I won’t never find any work, and my sister’s wages at the inn ain’t enough for Ma and all my sisters.

She has a lame knee and can’t work. Matlock won’t take servants from Montrose, and I heard the lady at Cameron Court is vicious to work for, and Harriet says it’s dangerous sometimes at the inn, if the men get out of hand.

What else could I do? I didn’t know she’d really let him steal her daughter away! ”

“Captain Tilney,” Jane said, leaning over to regain the girl’s attention. “That is who is driving this carriage – who bound and gagged me and shoved me in here.”

“Aye, but I cannot figure why a handsome man like that would have to do such a thing, when plenty of girls would go willingly,” Hannah scoffed. “Really, ma’am, I thought Mrs. Bennet said no to that part, and just wanted to look as if she’s done you a good turn.”

“You said so before,” Jane said. “Do you know what he means to do with me?”

“If he’s doing what Lady Catherine said, he means to take you to Gretna and force you to marry him – but he doesn’t know Mr. Darcy is coming for you.

I mean, I suppose he figures someone will try to come, but she’s supposed to drug all the men, Mrs. Bennet is.

That way they can’t run after you straight away, your ladyship.

Give him a little time to get ahead on the road, you see? ”

“I do see,” Jane said, sudden rage boiling inside of her at the thought of that harridan drugging her brother, her uncle, Mr. Bingley, and the other men. “But not Mr. Darcy,” she mused.

“He’s meant to be the only one that does catch you up, after a few hours when they find you gone and he comes after you. Lady Catherine said he’ll do the right thing and marry you himself so you don’t make a scandal and ruin your son and all your sisters.”

Hannah began to sob into her hands. “I didn’t know she would really do it! She turned her out of the house, I swear it. I was there!”