Page 54 of The Countess and Her Sister

“Lady Catherine’s judgement has brought us here,” Jane sighed, a little of her fear creeping back in.

“In truth, it is a comfort to me that I am not to be alone for so many hours, unsure of my fate and of my son’s safety.

You have given me enough information to make a plan, and you may yet be my salvation. ”

As the carriage moved beyond a densely forested area and into an open meadow, the moonlight increased a little and Jane again looked at the handprint streaking down the small rear window.

“I wish my servants to be respectable, mind you. No more secret assignations in carriages. I am sure Hannah’s mother would not object to having a man about the house, if you take my meaning. ”

After a moment, Johnny laughed. “That’s you proposing for me, then?”

“It’s a great honor,” Hannah laughed. “And I accept, if you’ll make an honest woman of me, Johnny.”

“If her ladyship insists,” Johnny said merrily, taking the maid’s hand in his. “And I’ll bring you ma’s biscuits everyday.”

“I’ll be in the house, get ‘em myself.”

Jane observed them with pleasure, finding comfort in the strange normalcy of such free and easy affection, amidst such a dire dilemma. Her thoughts drifted back to her family, and she wondered where they were and what they were doing, if they even knew yet where she was headed.

A short while later, she was headed for sleep, and she made use of the blanket, though the pillow was a shoddy thing that smelled foul and promised little comfort.

Hannah and Johnny whispered between themselves; she bid them not to remain silent on her account, for their voices as she made herself comfortable on the bench and drifted off to sleep were the closest thing to safety she could cling to.

***

Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy careened down the turnpike, seated side by side in his well-appointed carriage.

She remained silent for what felt like an age, numb from her panic and the whirlwind that had brought her here.

Everything had happened so quickly at Matlock, and in her mind she was still there, lost to what was presently passing.

Mr. Darcy held her hand, his tension washing over her in the darkness.

There had been a moment, at Matlock, when Elizabeth had been swept up by the absurd notion that a journey alone with him would be romantic, but fear had hold of her as it had just once before, when she stole Sir William Lucas’s horse to ride to Jane’s sickbed.

She silently prayed that Jane would once again be granted a measure of salvation.

At length Mr. Darcy began to reassure her, and by the time they changed horses for the second time, she was calm enough that she was able to fall asleep in his arms, tucked beneath a blanket he had provided for her.

He woke her a few hours later, when they reached Manchester just before dawn. “We have stopped to change horses roughly every hour. I heard nothing of them in the first village or the third, but I heard of a carriage I believe is theirs in the second village, and here again.”

“So, they are changing horses less frequently,” Elizabeth said. “What have you heard of them? Any word of Jane? If she could but get away from him….”

“The reports are both of a fine carriage with windows blackened, driven by a man who matches Captain Tilney’s description, urging them to make haste in attending to him.”

“He is driving – perhaps no harm has yet come to her,” Elizabeth murmured.

“Just now, the lad at the coaching inn told me that he noticed the small rear window was not blacked out. It was smudged, but he thought he saw a blonde woman lying across the bench of the carriage, asleep inside.”

“Jane! Could Mrs. Bennet have drugged her, too?”

“Surely Lady Jane would have cried out for help, otherwise. Because they have stopped less, they are likely another hour ahead of us; we may need to stop less frequently to keep apace with them. Before we resume our journey, the lad said his mother, the innkeeper’s wife, is awake, tending her infant – she will attend you, as a chaperone, if you require any sort of refreshment. ”

“Thank you, yes,” Elizabeth said with a small smile of gratitude. She attended to her personal needs, and the kindly woman sent her off with some bread, cheese, and apples for the journey; Elizabeth apologized for having no money to pay her, but Mr. Darcy saw to that.

They traveled through the night, sleeping intermittently until the daylight made it impossible, and then they occupied themselves with idle chatter about their future at Pemberley, half delirious with exhaustion as they made grandiose plans as a means of distracting themselves.

It was not much longer before Richard, Lady Susan, and the Gardiners caught them up, in Preston.

They compared information while their horses were changed, and Sir Edward told Elizabeth, “When we were preparing her to speak with the magistrate, Fanny told us something she had omitted before. She said that Jane was bound and gagged with a laudanum-soaked handkerchief – she made it out that it was some great mercy, for Jane would be silent and make no attempt to free herself, thus sparing her the captain’s wrath. ”

Elizabeth shook her head in contempt at the mention of Mrs. Bennet.

“She allowed her child to be bound and gagged! She has done awful things before, but that is beyond the pale.” Elizabeth felt a surge of rage in her chest as she thought of being locked away on the day of Jane’s wedding – and Jane trapped for two long years with her wicked husband.

Richard looked at her with pain in his eyes. “Fred might have done worse to her, so I suppose it is a small mercy.”

Sir Edward shuddered. “She also said that she had placed a blanket, a pillow, and a chamber pot in the carriage for Jane.”

“He does not mean to stop for the night – else we would surely catch them up. If he does not stop driving, he cannot harm Jane,” Lady Gardiner mused.

“We are still three hours behind them,” Mr. Darcy sighed, running a hand through his hair. “We have not lost any more time, but we must begin to gain some lead on them.”

“How can he drive for so long? I am sure it must be eighteen hours,” Lady Susan tutted.

“Then let us hope he grows weary,” Richard said gravely. “We will catch them up. If I sleep a little more, I might go ahead on horseback when we are within thirty or forty miles. You know I ride like the devil, Darcy.”

“We ought to ride three and three, the carriages equal – the horses will better be able to keep apace if it is balanced thus,” Lady Gardiner said. “I will ride with Lizzy and Mr. Darcy.”

Though they were soon to be wed, and were in no state to need a chaperone, Elizabeth was happy to have the additional comfort of her beloved aunt for the second half of their journey.

They stopped briefly every couple of hours, and around suppertime Mr. Darcy again purchased them some provisions.

They were within three hours of Gretna, and Richard might gain back an hour by setting off on horseback.

He embraced Elizabeth, then gestured with his pistol in a pose both ominous and comical. “I will see you soon, sister mine. Our Jane can hold him off for a couple hours – they must be just now arriving, with plenty of daylight left.”

As Richard shook hands with her uncle, Sir Edward said, “The blacksmith would not proceed if she is under any duress. You will get her back for us.”

“It will all be sorted before you arrive,” he assured them before riding off.

***

By sunrise, Jane was simply impatient to arrive in Scotland and be rescued.

Her fear had abated as she and her companions formed their plan.

They searched the carriage for anything that might be useful, and upon opening up a little storage space beneath one of the benches, Johnny had found a brick.

On a happier journey, she might have warmed her feet beneath a blanket with a heated brick, and she gazed at it with longing after a night of shivering beneath the blanket.

Then she grinned; they had a weapon. Johnny knew just what to do when the captain finally hired a driver and entered the carriage with the intention of resting for his wedding, believing his captive to be bound, helpless, and alone.

After Johnny struck the captain on the back of the head with the brick, they pulled him into the carriage and tapped the roof for the driver to be off. They left their abductor in a heap on the floorboards, the chamber pot they had unfortunately been obliged to use sloshing over him.

When they stopped again, the driver knocked on the carriage door, and the three conscious people all shared a look of alarm.

Johnny opened the door but an inch, and deepened his voice.

“See to the horses, would you? I am not to be disturbed again.” When Hannah leaned in to whisper in his ear, he added, “And you will change horses hourly, don’t leave it so long. Oh, and lock the doors, good man.”

He closed the door, letting out a sharp exhale as he laughed softly. They heard the mechanism click, and all breathed a collective sigh of relief. With Hannah’s quick thinking, he had ensured further delay, and bought her rescuers some time to catch up.

The captain twice regained consciousness during the rest of their journey, and was twice more struck in the head.

They reached Gretna in the early evening; so far north in summer, the sun was still high above the horizon.

The carriage came to a stop at the smithy, and when the driver opened the door, he, too, became acquainted with Johnny’s brick.

Jane bid them wait for her, and approached the smithy alone.

The blacksmith was a portly old man with an impatient demeanor, but he had kind eyes, and Jane had to take her chances.

“I have been traveling as a captive; I am Jane Fitzwilliam, the Countess of Matlock. I require the assistance of the magistrate and some respectable lodgings. My servants have subdued my captor, and I believe my relations may be along in a few hours to rescue me.”

He looked her up and down. Her clothes were fine, though mussed, her elaborate hairstyle was in ruins, and she probably reeked, but she was wearing a lot of fine jewelry. His expression was one of concern, but there was more in it – appraisal.

When he said nothing, Jane unclasped her sapphire-studded necklace and handed it to him.

“I cannot pay you at present; as a captive I was not prepared with funds for travel. I was taken from a large family party at the home of the Earl of Matlock, and I am certain my friends will come – they can pay. My brother was a colonel in his majesty’s army. ”

He nodded as she began to ramble, and stalked toward the front of his shop.

He peered out the door, which had been propped open on such a fine summer evening.

A dozen yards away, Captain Tilney’s feet poked out of the open carriage door, and the driver slumped against the side of the carriage, though Johnny tried assiduously to prop him upright. Hannah waved at them.

“As I said, my servants….”

The blacksmith smiled, pushed away the necklace in her outstretched hand, and gave a gruff bow.

“A pleasure to meet your ladyship. Ian Ferguson, at your service. What a pity about your driver, I saw him tumble off his perch with my own eyes.” He turned over his shoulder and cried, “Margie, we’ve got another one! ”

As a brawny young lad working nearby began to chuckle, a short, round woman in her late thirties bustled down a staircase at the back of the shop. “Every summer there’s more,” she tutted. Like her husband, she boldly looked Jane up and down. “Ye been through quite a journey, haven’t ye?”

“Kidnapped, she says.”

“The smart ones always do,” the woman said, nodding her head.

She smiled at Jane, red-faced and cheerful.

“Ye have a clever look about ye, not weepin’ like half of them always are.

Inn’s probably full of happy newlyweds , it bein’ summer and everyone runnin’ off from some country estate or other. Sometimes carried off, as ye say.”

Mr. Ferguson smiled as he gestured to the chaotic mode of her arrival, and his wife jiggled with laughter. “Well, arright, she’s out stout one! Dine with us, Miss…?”

“The Countess of Matlock,” her husband supplied, inspiring another look of appraisal in his wife.

“Oh! Well, how very grand,” she chuckled.

“You must have been kidnapped then, young and bonny and a countess – a widow I suppose? Ah, but ye poor lass! Both my daughters are widows now, too, heartache ringing off the rafters in here most days. Well, dine with us while we sort ye out; I suppose those are your servants. The bleedin’ one must be the hopeful groom? ”

“The driver. My captor is my late husband’s cousin, acting at the behest of his aunt.”

Mrs. Ferguson again surveyed the chaos of the carriage. “Oh! There he is, boots poking’ out – oh, but bless me, I love to see a redcoat made a right mess!”

Mr. Ferguson bristled. “We’ve heard worse, believe me, but what a sad business, that. Bein’ a family matter, are ye quite sure ye wish to involve the law? That brother of yours….”

Jane considered for a moment. “Perhaps not yet. My brother can decide – he may also arrive in a red coat, Madam.”

“Oh, well – we best take care of ye, then. And your servants, everybody’s got to eat. Got a stew on that will fortify ye good as new.”

“That is very kind of you,” Jane said. “My relations will pay you for your generous assistance. Ah, forgive me, but – are we to just… leave them there?”

Mr. Ferguson looked down at Jane’s wrists, which were still red and chafed from the short time she had been bound. “If ye have a rope, my lad’s braw, m’lady, he’ll see to ‘em.” He waved his hand, directing the youth to drag the captain and the coachman out of sight.

Mrs. Ferguson linked one arm with Jane’s, and waved Hannah and Johnny over. “I’d offer ye one of my frocks but I daresay it would fit all three of ye together. My Fiona has something that might serve if you’ve a mind to give that a wash while we dine.”

“That would be lovely; if I could wash my face, I should call Scotland paradise,” Jane said with a bright smile at the prospect of being clean. “Do you like sapphires, Mrs. Ferguson?”

The woman stopped and threw back her head in a hoot of laughter. “Now what d’ye think?”