"Oh look, Mr. Gardiner! That deer was fantastically close to the carriage!" cried Mrs. Gardiner. All of a sudden, there was a frantic scraping of hooves, incoherent yelling, and they were stopped.
"What can you suppose that was, Mr. Gardiner?" Mrs. Gardiner cried. The door of the carriage opened.
"Hello. I don't believe I have the honor of your acquaintance. I am Mr. Douglas. These are my fellows," said the Scottish stranger, pointing over his shoulder. "We have just arrived in the area. Pray tell which way you are headed?"
"We are headed eastern wards-" began Mr. Gardiner, who was abruptly cut short by the odious Mr. Douglas.
"Very well then, we thank you for your kind services, now would you please remove yourself from our carriage?"
"Your carriage? What gives you the idea we would hand our carriage over to a gaggle of Scottish brutes? 'We just arrived', I'll bet anything in the world that you smuggled yourse-" Mr. Douglas promptly reached over and silenced an irate Elizabeth, who, at the present, looked a little shocked at his interference.
"There will be no more foolishness. We will have the carriage and I will personally prevent you three from ever escaping this labyrinth of forest without harm." Elizabeth and her aunt and uncle were then handed down from the carriage, taken to separate parts of the forest, blindfolded, and tied to a tree to prevent their immediate escape. As a precaution, their blindfolds were tied in an extremely tight and complicated knot, as to prevent it from slipping loose and exposing to them their whereabouts in the wood. Here they staid for quite some time whilst the Scottish rebels headed on in their stead.
Elizabeth had settled it that Mr. Darcy would bring his sister to visit her, the very day after her reaching Pemberley. Upon his arrival he received a sobbing housekeeper, who told him upon the spot that the Gardiners had not returned the last night.
"I can not imagine what could have possibly happened to them! They were traveling on a very safe road…it, it is unimaginable! They ought to have arrived here directly late yesterday, but…they did not show. Have you any idea what has happened to them? I know they were not far from Pemberley…" She continued to wail and sob like anything, it was almost comparable to a fit of the sort which Mrs. Bennet might produce.
"Relax madam, I shall search in the woods nearest Pemberley, they cannot have gone missing long after their departure. You shall hear from me the moment they are located." Mr. Darcy and Georgina hurried back into the carriage and set off for Pemberley directly. Amongst their haste, Georgina could sense that her brother's thoughts were so disturbed at this news that she resolved to be silent. This speculation was incredibly exact, as Mr. Darcy distress was ever increasing. Finally they arrived at the start of the wood. Mr. Darcy leaped from the carriage.
"Georgina, please pay close attention. I will need you to gather the servants, Mrs. Reynolds will help, I'm sure, and you will need to organize a search party, I'm afraid I alone cannot find them. Also, a letter must be sent to Longbourn informing them of the situation, they will of course want their fair share in the job of recovering them." Mr. Darcy signaled for the carriage to go, and at last started his search.
"Aunt Gardiner! Uncle Gardiner! Where are you! Please answer me! Oh, someone please come!" Cried a hoarse Elizabeth two days later. She was quite exhausted and weak of malnutrition; she was alone, more alone than ever and very lost. Elizabeth slumped, her eyes closed. And that is how Mr. Darcy came upon her.
"Elizabeth! Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner! Eliz- oh there you are, thank heavens we found you! Elizabeth?" Mr. Darcy tapped her on the shoulder lightly. "Elizabeth? Wake up, Elizabeth." Elizabeth managed to exert herself so much as to open her eyes. "Oh, good, you're awake. Here, let me just undo your blindfold…"
Elizabeth was hardly aware of what was happening around her. As Mr. Darcy worked the intricate tangle of knots, she seemed to regain her consciousness.
"There. Are you alright Elizabeth? We have all been searching for you for several days now. What has happened to you? We were all quite worried about you; your mother nearly went into convulsions," Mr. Darcy said as he moved onto her bindings.
"We were stopped by a score of Scottish rebels." Elizabeth began hoarsely, "They demanded we give them our carriage, and needless to say, they prevailed. They separated us and dispersed us. I have no idea where my aunt and uncle are, somewhere in the wood, undoubtedly."
"Are you alright?" Mr. Darcy repeated his previous question with unrestrained sentiment.
"Yes, I believe I shall be alright. What of my aunt and uncle? Have they been located?"
"I know not, they should not be far. Another division of the search party may have already found them."
"A search party? I had not known we had been gone long enough to require a search party. Pray, how long has it been?"
"Nearly three days now."
"Three days! Wh-" Elizabeth's exclamation was cut short by the arrival of a very distressed Mrs. Bennet.
"Elizabeth! Mr. Darcy you have found her! Oh, Lizzy!" At which point Mrs. Bennet came over and enveloped her in a rather large hug, prior to which Mr. Darcy had managed to release Elizabeth from her bonds.
"Lizzy, oh, I have been in such frenzy, it is unimaginable!! I feared we would never find you!" Cried a sobbing Mrs. Bennet.
"Contrary to all appearances." Interjected a sarcastic Mr. Bennet. "We are all very happy to have you back, my dear."
"It is good to be back." Mr. Bennet too embraced Elizabeth.
"Mama! We found Ant and Uncle Gardiner! And, oh! You have found Lizzy!"
"You have found them! Thank the heavens! I was beginning to fret."
"Beginning to fret! You have been in a constant state of panic ever since we received the dispatch! Beginning to fret my buttons…" Mr. Bennet corrected.
"Jane! Dearest Jane, it is so good to see you again! It seems like forever since we last saw each other!" The two sisters embraced.
"It is getting quite late, I'm sure you require a residence for the night. Pemberley is not far off, approximately 3 miles from here. I insist you stay the night," Mr. Darcy put forth.
"Mr. Darcy we would be delighted, heaven knows we are in need of a place to stay, it is most generous of you to offer…" Mrs. Bennet was excited at the prospect of staying at a place of such renown.
"It is no problem at all. We have more than enough room for you, all of you. I'm sure Georgina shall be delighted to have company."
Elizabeth was not sure if she dreaded or looked forward to the trip.