Our tale is rapidly reaching its end, which given the length of the story is overdue.

Lily, this chapter is dedicated to you as last night I was thinking about your review: "Woah! What turn did the story just take! Who is the girl? Where is the boy? How does this blend into the Pride and Prejudice story we know? Questions abound and no sign of upcoming answers..." You helped inspire me to think about how else I could connect my story to the events of canon. I hope you have some answers now (though undoubtedly you now have new questions).

Mr. Gardiner's POV

Chapter 50: I Would Never Treat My Daughter That Way.

Although we had discussed the possibility that there was another woman with Mrs. Roberts, I was not prepared for the reality of it when I found myself and Mr. Bennet seated across from Mrs. Roberts and an unknown young miss. Her eyes were reddened from crying and she had a well worn pelisse (which I doubted was hers as it was much too humble to match the skirt of her fine dress, likely it belonged to Mrs. Roberts) wrapped tightly around her, but she had fine features, dark eyes and dark hair piled up in a most becoming style. She carried a bonnet with her. There was something in her manner, which reminded me of my niece Elizabeth, though they shared no obvious features. Perhaps it was simply a look of refinement, of fineness that many daughters of merchants seem to lack (though of course my Madeline has this same quality of refinement). Mr. Coats and Charlie rode on the box, with Mr. Coats driving the carriage.

Earlier, while the woman had packed, Mr. Bennet had explained to me, "It is as Mr. Coats suspected, Mrs. Roberts has been caring for a young woman who was ensconced there for Mr. Bragg's convenience. She is not voluntarily in that situation and has been in his power for some time. We must get them away from here before Mr. Bragg can visit. They have long wished to leave, but had not the ready funds and feared falling into a worse situation. Tommy is staying with Mrs. Roberts's uncle and his wife. He does exist but has limited means now that he is too elderly to work his trade, which for Tommy's care she supplements with her wages. Mr. Bragg does not know where Tommy is (and had no reason to care before this), so he should be safe enough. We must take them out of London in the direction of Hertfordshire, to an inn where they would not easily be found, and then make long-term plans."

"Are you certain they speak the truth?"

He nodded his head a "yes" motion and then hung it a little. "If you had seen that young woman, well you will see her soon, but I have no doubt that she speaks the truth. It is not something anyone would say were it not true. As much as I still hope to see Tommy, getting the women to safety first must be our priority."

I suggested a destination and then said, "How will we explain who they are?"

"Oh, that is easy enough. Mrs. Roberts will be my wife and the other, our daughter. You will be the daughter's fiance. You of course will not be staying."

"What of your real wife and daughter?"

"I would be much obliged if you would convey them back to Longbourn. Our time in London is clearly at an end, save for hopefully retrieving Tommy."

We had no chance for further exchanges as we saw the women exiting. I recognized Mrs. Roberts, though she had aged quite a bit since I had last spied her, but the young woman, well she was strikingly lovely despite a reddened nose and other signs that she had been crying, and I was certain I had never seen her before. She walked in a manner that bespoke of training at a finishing school, with good posture and delicate steps. Mr. Coats was sent to fetch their possessions and then Mrs. Roberts locked the door.

Long schooled in polite behavior, I attempted introductions in the carriage, asking, "Mrs. Roberts, would you do us the honor of introducing us?"

Mrs. Roberts exchanged a glance with the young woman, who gave a slight shake of negation, and quickly stifled that, saying, "My charge prefers it if you do not know her name."

They exchanged a second glance and then her "charge" said in a refined voice, "You may call me Miss Sea." I was not sure if she meant the letter or the body of water, but I supposed it did not matter.

In an attempt to counteract the black mood in the carriage, I tipped my hat and said, "Very well, then. I am Mr. Gee and this is my brother by marriage, Mr. Bee."

As we traveled, the sad connection between the two women and Mr. Bragg slowly unfolded, told half by Mrs. Roberts and half by the young miss herself. Having been assured that I knew everything of substance about the past relationship between Mr. Bennet and herself, Mrs. Roberts proceeded to tell us what neither me nor Mr. Bennet knew.

"A long time ago I was under Mr. Bragg's power. I was an upstairs servant in his father's household, had been working in that house since about the age of eight. When I was perhaps fourteen, he began to take an interest in me one summer when he was home from Eton. I did not know much of the ways of men, but knew that a man should never attempt to touch that which lay beneath my dress and he did much more than that and prevailed on me to give him various pleasures he had heard about, though I did not wish to give them, though perhaps due to his youth, not the ultimate act, a fact for which I am most grateful. Eventually I told my mother, who was also in the Braggs' employ. She prevailed upon my uncle (who had better means than us, he was a cobbler) to arrange a match for me and that is how I came to marry Mr. Roberts."

I glanced at Bennet, to see how he was taking such revelations. He seemed a bit white; naturally it must be quite a blow to know how Mr. Bragg had a long history of doing wrongful acts towards women.

Once Mrs. Roberts started talking, the words just continued to pour from her (we were mostly silent and let her continue unimpeded). "After I fled with Tommy, I did my best to find employment, to stretch the money I had acquired as far as it might go. I arranged lodging with another widow and her rummy-eyed mother watched Tommy while she and I worked as laundresses. We did well enough for that sort of work, but still my savings were gradually depleted and there was no one to watch Tommy after her mother died."

I looked again at my brother, saw him bite his lip to quiet whatever thoughts he had on the matter.

"By happenstance I came to hear from a young woman down on her luck, who had become a mother out of wedlock to a little girl, of a possible way to get money. She was seeking employment with us and though we really did not have enough customers to take on help, we got to talking and I learned that she had been a kitchen assistant in Mr. Bragg's current household. I learned that Mr. Bragg had continued on in a like manner to when he was a youth, but with more experience spared no time in lesser acts and was the cause of her distress. I gave a hint that I had suffered similarly and she shared with me her sad tale whose import is of no moment now."

I saw that Miss Sea looked a little sad, no doubt in thinking that she, too, might become a mother from Mr. Bragg's actions. I hoped for her sake that no seed of his would take.

"She told me that his wife could sometimes be prevailed on to assist those that he got with child. She told me she approached Mrs. Bragg after her child was born and had gotten a little money, but bemoaned the fact that she might have gotten more money but for not having a male child. I decided, just perhaps, that I might present Tommy to Mrs. Bragg as her husband's natural born child; you see Tommy ended up with blonde hair and of a similar coloring. I was confident that I could make my story believable as I knew several personal details about his person, including a birth mark upon his thigh, and some more recent details of his proclivities had been supplied by this young woman. I saw nothing wrong with this subterfuge given what he had did to me when I was an innocent."

Mr. Bennet interrupted then, "Why did you not seek me out then? Do you not know that I would have done anything to assist you and Tommy?" He seemed quite upset.

"I was scared. I thought you might still try to take him from me."

He gave a slight nod and grasped his hands tightly together. She continued her tale.

"At first all was well. I presented myself at the servant entrance of his town home with Tommy and requested to speak with Mrs. Bragg. She met me outside (there is a small garden in the rear of the house) and spent a few minutes talking to me about the matter and looking Tommy over. Then Mrs. Bragg gave me a few pounds and told me to return the next week and she would see what else she could do for me. However, the second time I came to her for aid (without Tommy this time), she told me in no uncertain terms that she had asked my husband about me and he denied he could be Tommy's father.

"She called me a liar, an opportunist and several other choice words. She told me that if she ever saw me again that she would not hesitate to call me out as an unfortunate woman (though she used a worse term for it). I wished to tell her what Mr. Bragg had done to me before, but I could tell she was in no mood to listen to any justification. As I had been keeping myself respectable under my departed husband's name, I was worried that if she publicly called me out and the right people learned of it, it could harm me in maintaining my employment."

"And then you chose to write to me and get aid that way?" Mr. Bennet asked.

"No, hardly. It seems that Mr. Bragg was spying upon us as we talked outside that second time. He met me as I was leaving their property. He grabbed my arm when I would have left and he told me that he had employment for me. I feared at first that he wished to know me fully having never had that one piece of me, but fortunately or unfortunately my age had made me less appealing to him. I think he likes his women young. In any event, he told me that he needed a servant to tend to his wife in watercolors. He took me to see Miss Sea and while I had no real intent to become in his employ, well when I met Miss Sea I felt that she needed someone to help her. She reminded me of my own daughter. I served as her servant, cooking, cleaning, purchasing her food and other necessities. He paid me a bit more than I had made as a washerwoman. The job simply required that I see to all her needs and keep her out of view. I think Mr. Bragg feared that another man would want Miss Sea for himself."

"As if I wanted any man and his appetites," Miss Sea burst in. I felt she might be on the verge of crying again, but then she took up the thread of the story and seemed to find inner strength as she told us of her family and what had befallen her.

"I was expected to marry, to please my father, but whether or not I would be pleased with a match that he arranged, I expected to be respectable and remain in the sphere of my birth. My grandfather had means and in his will provided the funds (in trust through an attorney) to send me to an expensive seminary and to fund my brother's education so that he could be ordained some day. Grandfather knew that William must have a gentle occupation, a way to make his way in the world. My father was angry that his father did not leave his money to him, but only what was his due, an estate inherited a generation or so back, when a relative took his wife's surname as part of their marriage contract. My grandfather planned wisely as my own father gambled away our money and quickly the estate became encumbered in mounting debt. Father had a possible expectation from a cousin and thought he could soon right matters if that came to pass, but I know it would not have changed anything, just given him a larger piggy bank to lose."

She paused and took a deep breath, preparing I think to tell us of how exactly she came to be in Mr. Bragg's power. Mrs. Roberts put an arm around her, and pulled her a bit toward her, but Miss Sea rejected being comforted and straightening herself up, even sliding slightly away from her.

"Our home was not a pleasant place to be, as father became angry easily when he lost money (and he was losing money all the time). William, well William always wished to please Father, to please anyone with power over him. Father wished I was more like my brother in this way, but I could not respect him for what he was doing to our family, to our mother. I was forever finding ways when my seminary was not in session to receive invitations to stay with my friends. If I had know what was to happen, I would never have stayed with Miss Bragg and her family."

She paused again and I felt she was telling us unnecessary details, to avoid saying that which she was both feeling compelled to say and afraid to say. She knew us not, but the fact that Mrs. Roberts was trusting us must have been enough for her to do likewise.

"I did not know Miss Bragg all that well, and her family hardly at all, but was most pleased when she invited me to stay with her. At first all seemed well. There was such fun to be had with her and all her sisters, her father and brother were kind, but her mother seemed displeased by my presence, though why that could be I hardly knew. Her mother suggested it would be better if I returned home, that this was not a good place for me to be, but I made up an excuse that my parents were traveling and she had to be satisfied with this explanation. At time went on, I noticed that Mr. Bragg seemed to be seeking out my company, trying to catch me in the halls alone (though with so many children and servants we were ever hardly alone for long); when he did, his eyes lingered on my person as he exchanged a few words with me. He was forever telling me how lovely I was, how desirous he was that I be pleased with my visit and stay for a long while. I would say as little as I politely could before departing as he made me most uncomfortable."

She took a final deep breath and then told us, "The room I stayed in was shared by a maid, an older woman, Mrs. Thorn. I thought it a bit odd as maids did not sleep in the rooms of my friend and her sisters, but Mrs. Thorn told me that was what the missus wanted. One night after the maid helped me prepare for bed, she told me, 'I am sorry, but I shall not be here to tend you anymore; I have been assigned other duties.' She did not stay in my room that night."

I could tell where her tale was going, certainly knew what she would say, if not the details. However, even as I knew what I would hear, I desperately hoped that somehow the tale did not end as I knew it would. As she continued to give her account, I was drawn further into the story and began imagining myself in her place. It was odd to do so, as I was not of the gentler sex, but her words drew me in, made me feel as I was with her as all occurred.

"Later that night I awakened to someone pressed atop me, pushing my legs apart. I was confused, did not know what to do."

I felt her confusion, her fear, the oppressiveness of someone so much larger than me pressing down on my and hurting me in a way that I could not really contemplate, except to know that it must have been awful.

"Afterwards he told me that I needed to be a good girl and keep our secret."

I felt the shame radiating from me; it was a horrible burden that I could not escape, pressing me down as he had.

"The next day I pretended to be ill. I could not face seeing my friend, his daughters. I was so ashamed to be fallen. Another maid came to tend me and was kind."

I felt faint and miserable, ill even, just from all that had happened. It would be easy to fake an illness when feeling so miserable, as though all hope was gone.

"Later Mrs. Bragg came to see me. She looked at me and I felt that she just knew."

I imagined that knowing eyes were looking at me where I lay on the bed, the counterpane pulled up high to my neck.

"She told me, 'Thorn should have stayed with you. Forgive me, I did not know she would be gone.' She then asked if I was truly ill or if anything bad had befallen me. I denied everything, faked a cough. She laid a hand upon my brow and said, 'Although you are clammy, I feel no fever.'"

I heard the words as if Mrs. Bragg was saying them, understood that Mrs. Bragg had sought to protect me.

"For a while she was silent and I waited for her to go. But then she told me, 'Please, I wish to help you. Shall I write to your parents or another relative? Do you know where they are staying? You should not remain here.'"

I felt that Mrs. Bragg knew that she had failed me (as Miss Sea), but still sought to do what she could.

"Finally I penned a note to my mother, asking to be brought home. She knew something was wrong, pressed and harried me about it until finally I told her all."

I heard my own mother pestering me to tell me a secret that she knew I kept; had my own mother done something similar with Fanny?

"That was a mistake. She is weak in the way my brother is, always seeking to please my father. She told him. He was very angry at me, told me that what I had done could not be forgiven and must be dealt with."

I imagined how frightening it would be to have the man who was supposed to care for me, to protect me, to blame me for the thing that I could not prevent.

"I know he went to see Mr. Bragg. Silly me, I thought my father might get in a duel over me."

"But he did not," Mr. Bennet commented.

"No, he did not. A few days later, my father bid me pack my things. He would not tell me where we were going, but I thought that, maybe, I was going to stay with relatives, that perhaps he had arranged for me to stay with his cousins. I had never met them, but I knew the family had daughters."

I felt her hope, so palpable. Perhaps everything might be well one day.

"On the carriage ride there Father was silent for most of the way. When we were nearly there (though of course I did not know that at the time), he explained to me that I was of no use to him anymore, that he was receiving full value for me and that I must do my best to please Mr. Bragg."

I felt the betrayal as if it were my own. I was horrified, truly horrified. Mr. Bennet and I looked at each other in disbelief. I could not imagine my father treating Fanny that way. I could not imagine any father treating his daughter in such a way.

I thought about how hard my own father had tried to arrange a situation to help Fanny, to remedy to the best of his ability what Mr. Bragg had done to her. I thought of my own Lavinia, so dependent on me, so precious to me. I thought of how much Bennet loved his daughters, even the one that was not his by blood. My heart ached for this poor child who had been betrayed by her own kin.

"When I arrived, Mr. Bragg was there, smiling, happy."

I felt the horror of seeing the man who had hurt me, waiting for me, to do it again.

"He paid my father many bank notes and they even shook hands, apparently both pleased with the resolution."

I felt the mounting despair in knowing I would be left in his power, with no say in the matter. All was lost.

"With just a goodbye (which may not have even been directed at me), my father left."

I saw him leave without even a backwards glance, I saw his carriage pull away and with it the tiny flame of hope I had been holding onto, that he might change his mind, that he might not leave me. I felt clammy, sick to my stomach. My hands began to sweat in feeling what must have awaited her.

"Mr. Bragg spared no time in taking me again and did not seem distressed even though I cried the whole time."

I tried my best not to imagine it. It was too horrible to contemplate. At least she gave no details. How much worse to have experienced it all?

"Afterwards, he told me that he would treat me well and I would soon learn to enjoy my new duties."

I felt her horror in knowing she was now expected to endure the same thing over and over.

"And who should be there to tend me but Mrs. Thorn! I understood then, that she had left my room at his home on his orders."

I felt the betrayal in that a woman who had cared for me, whether paid or not, who knew it was her duty to stay in my room and keep me safe, who was trusted to do her duty by Mrs. Bragg, had instead betrayed me, knowing what Mr. Bragg planned.

"Later, when I looked for my possessions, I learned that my father had not brought them inside. He left me with nothing, likely just sold them."

I felt how even the slight comfort of my possessions had been stolen from me, that I had truly lost everything. I felt like I was sinking under water, drowning.

"I took out my anger at all that had transpired on Mrs. Thorn, hitting her, hurting her, as I wished I could do to him."

I felt the same rage I felt when I tried to strangle Mr. Bragg in my home, but I was slight and though I could not battle him, I could battle the other person who was the source of my misery.

"She locked me inside and left. I suppose I could have escaped by breaking a window, but there seemed to be no point. Where would I go? What would I do? Mrs. Roberts was Mrs. Thorn's replacement. I could tell she wanted to help me, but she did her best to seem submissive when Mr. Bragg was around."

I felt a small measure of hope. Now there was someone who might care for me, someone who might help me find a way out of this.

Mrs. Roberts then took up the thread of the narrative. It was a relief as I somehow was not caught up in what she must have been thinking and feeling.

"It was then that I wrote to you, Tom. I had Tommy staying with my uncle and I hoped that just perhaps you might be prevailed on to give me enough money that I could take him and her far aware from London, establish ourselves as a family, give Miss Sea a measure back of who she was meant to be, perhaps even someday find her a respectable position."

"I had many accomplishments," Miss Sea said a bit wistfully, "but now they matter not."

Mrs. Roberts told her, "They will matter again, someday." She then directed her next words at Mr. Bennet. "It was unrealistic to think you would just blithely hand me money, but I thought you might be prevailed on to do something. Still I feared if you saw Tommy that you might take him away."

"Why did you run that day at Hatchards?" He asked her, eyes staring into hers, leaning forward a little in waiting for her reply.

"I saw Mrs. Bragg. I had to get away, so before she could really know it was me, I pushed her into you. I had planned to visit you at the inn, but I thought the better of it. It seemed that fate had told me I was not to ask you for money. I was not ready to trust you."

Mr. Bennet gave a slight nod of acknowledgement. He then turned his attention to Miss Sea. "Miss Sea, you mentioned relatives. Do you think you might find sanctuary with them? Perhaps we can locate them."

"I know very little of them, I am afraid, only that they live in Hertfordshire."

"This is most fortunate," he replied, "that is where we are from. Perhaps I will know of them, or can make suitable inquiries."

"They are related to my father, but do not have his name. It is the name my father would have had, if not for a great or great-great grandfather taking on our current name, the name I wish to bear no more as it is tainted by what my father did. Mr. Bragg had no reason to care about me, but my father certainly did."

"What is their name, do you recall it?"

I saw that she was thinking hard. "It begins with a "b." Ben, Benedict? No . . . Bennet."

"And you must be Miss Collins."

She nodded, an eyebrow slightly quirked in curiosity.

"How did you know my name? Do you know my father?"

The pieces fell into place for me then. I remembered how Stephen had researched the Longbourn entail and found that Mr. Bennet's closest male cousins were a Mr. Archibald Collins and his son William.

"I am your cousin," he told her, "Thomas Bennet. I have no sons, likely never shall, so someday Longbourn will go to your father or your brother. I have only met my cousin Archibald one time that I recall, though occasionally we have exchanged letters; when I received word of his father's passing, I sent a suitable letter of condolence. I did not like him then, but now I know he is among the foulest of the foul, the most depraved, the most cruel. I wish to never have anything to do with him ever again."