When Jane and Elizabeth left the scene in New Bond Street, they were not present to see that the officer had stood looking into the abductor's eyes with a satisfied look. He whispered to the dying man, who was so thoroughly impaled by the sword, "Wickham, I have wanted to do this for a long time. I should have done this in Ramsgate. I hope your soul rots in hell for eternity. You will never harm anyone ever again." He watched as the life ebbed from Wickham's eyes, leaving just a glassy stare. Death did not bother the soldier as he was a seasoned veteran of the peninsular wars and had sent many others to their final reward. However, all of the others were just the normal actions of war; this was personal and much more satisfying.
Just then the coachman looked back from his perch and saw Wickham, the officer, and the sword. He knew that his own role in this attempted abduction would soon be questioned if he stayed, so he whipped his horses to get them going. When the carriage began to move, the weight of Wickham's body dislodged the sword from the side of the carriage and the body fell into the gutter on its back with the sword sticking straight up out of it. The officer went to the body, smiled and thought 'right where you belong, in the gutter' as he put his foot on Wickham's chest to pull his sword out. He casually but carefully wiped the blade on Wickham's clothes before putting the sword back in its scabbard. He then went to the young lady who was being consoled by her companion.
"Georgie, are you all right? Did he hurt you?"
"No, although my wrist is sore where he was holding it and pulling me. That lady saved me or he would have been able to force me into his carriage. Where is she?" She looked around but did not see her.
"Tell me what happened."
"Mrs. Annesley and I were just standing here waiting for you to come out of the shop when suddenly I was grabbed by the wrist. I turned and saw that it was Mr. Wickham. I asked him what he was doing, but he did not answer. I was going to scream when he clamped his hand over my mouth. He was dragging me to his carriage when that lady started to hit him over the head with her parasol. Wickham was ignoring her until she used it to stab him in the face. That is when he took his hand off my mouth to grab her parasol and I screamed. He knocked the parasol away and the lady took my other arm to pull me away from him. Then I saw you come running out of the store, drawing your sword. I did not see you strike him, but he suddenly let go of me and the lady put her arms around me to comfort me. Then Mrs. Annesley was beside me and the lady's friend came and they disappeared into the crowd. I barely had a chance to thank her.
"Richard, I owe her everything. If she had not struck at Mr. Wickham, he would have been able to drag me into his carriage and I would have been gone before you came out of the store. Where is she? We have to find her so I can thank her properly."
Mrs. Annesley said, "That other lady came when I went to you and she took her into the crowd. I did not see where they went. There were too many people here to see."
The officer looked around and saw that they had certainly attracted quite a crowd. He knew that he had to take control of the situation. He released Georgiana into the care of her companion and said, "Mrs. Annesley. Please take Miss Darcy to my home and tell my mother, the Countess, everything that happened here. Tell her I will get there as soon as I can after I look after this mess. Find the footman who was supposed to be with us and get her to our carriage." Mrs. Annesley did as he instructed and they left.
He stood up and said, in his officer's voice, "We need the magistrate. Who knows where he can be found?"
A young fellow said, "I know where his office is. Just the next street over."
"Be a good lad and go fetch him. That will earn you a coin if you hurry." The boy ran off, eager to earn something for such a simple task. Richard than said, "Who saw what happened here? We need you to tell the magistrate just what you saw when he comes." When several men came up to him to volunteer their services, he began to talk to them. The crowd slowly dispersed, with only the body lying in the gutter left to see.
The magistrate soon arrived and the boy received his promised reward. The magistrate saw that the officer was a Colonel and so he paid careful attention to him, especially when he introduced himself as the son of the Earl of Matlock. The magistrate heard the testimony from the witnesses and realized this would be an easy case to dispense with quickly as the facts seemed clear: the abductor had received only his just rewards for the attempted abduction of a young lady who was the niece of an Earl. As soon as he could, he thanked the officer for his service and released him. He stayed to arrange for the disposal of the body.
When Richard returned to his parent's house, he found, as he had expected, that his mother was soothing Georgiana's disquiet with her motherly capabilities. His father was horrified that such an event could have happened in broad daylight on one of the city's best areas. At first, he was angry that Richard had left the ladies unattended while he had gone into a shop, but his wrath was turned to the footman who had been accompanying them but had not jumped into action when he saw that a man had taken hold of Miss Darcy.
The Countess asked Georgiana, "Where is Darcy? Why was he not with you?"
Georgiana answered, "He went to Hertfordshire to help his friend, Mr. Bingley, to look at an estate that he is considering renting. They left this morning and will be back either tonight or tomorrow at the latest. He asked Richard to accompany me while I went shopping today."
The Countess said, "Georgiana, you cannot go back to Darcy House until we know that Darcy has returned. You can stay here with us tonight until he returns." She turned to a footman, "Send word to the housekeeper at Darcy House that Miss Darcy will be staying here tonight. Tell her to send her lady's maid over with a change of clothes. Tell her we need to know as soon as Mr. Darcy returns." He went off to do this.
The Countess continued, "Now, who was this lady who fought that villain? From what you said, we owe her a huge debt of gratitude. Who knows what would have happened if she had not intervened and saved you until Richard came out?"
Richard said, "She disappeared into the crowd before we could even get her name. She was magnificent! When I heard Georgiana scream, I ran out of the store and saw her trying to pull Georgiana away from him. Georgiana said that she was hitting him with her parasol to try to stop him, then stabbed him in the face with it. What a warrior! And just a parasol for a weapon! If I had a regiment as brave as she was, I could finish the French in a month. We have to find her to thank her properly."
"Richard, did she tell you who she was?"
"No, I did not even get to see her face as her back was to me the whole time. I only saw that she had dark, curly hair and was just a little thing. Her spirit is much larger than her form."
Georgiana added, "She did not tell me who she was, but I saw her clearly when she was comforting me. She was young, probably about 20, quite attractive, and certainly not tall or fat, but definitely a gently-born lady from her speech and clothes. I will definitely know her if I ever see her again."
They all talked about how they might find her, but no one had any good ideas. They doubted that she had any idea whom she had saved, so there was no way that she could come to them. As the Earl was adamant that their names must not become public in connection with this unseemly event, he did not want any publicity about their involvement. However, Richard asked his father if he knew the owner of any of the daily newspapers. On hearing that he did, Richard suggested that a small article about the attack might be printed with no names, but with the request that the lady in question should contact the editor.
They all thought that this suggestion might work, so they drafted the following article that the Earl would give to the owner: 'A BRAZEN ATTACK! An attempted abduction of a young lady was attempted in broad daylight in front of many witnesses shopping in New Bond Street. The attack was foiled by the timely intervention of a lady who defended the intended victim with only her parasol. The attack was ended when one of His Majesty's loyal officers who happened to be there permanently ended the career of the dastardly criminal. The family would like to express their appreciation to the lady, who the officer described as 'A Warrior with a Parasol,' so she is asked to contact the Editor.'
The Earl went to see the newspaper owner the next morning and the article was printed as they had drafted. Although great interest was generated by such a dramatic event and a number of false claimants tried to take advantage of the request to contact the Editor, none proved to be valid.
Darcy returned home later that day as their inspection of the prospective estate, Netherfield Park, took longer than they had anticipated. After touring the house and grounds, they went to the office of the agent, a Mr. Philips in the village of Meryton, and discussed the terms of the lease with him as Bingley was delighted with everything that he had seen. Darcy did not find anything seriously wrong either, but he wanted to review the lease documents to ensure that they were fair. In fact, he thought that Netherfield was just the right size for Bingley to learn how to manage an estate and the house was large enough to entertain visitors that his friend would surely want to have come to stay with him. It even boasted a ballroom, but he doubted that Bingley would be hosting a ball at any time soon. An additional feature in its favour was that it was not very far from London, and so could be reached easily in just a couple of hours.
They spent the night at the inn in Meryton and returned to town the next day after they had consulted with Mr. Philips. When Darcy arrived at Darcy House, he learned that Georgiana had stayed with their Aunt and Uncle Matlock and that he was asked to go there as soon as he could. This was unusual, so he worried that something might have happened to his sister. He immediately went to the Matlock residence and was shown into the Earl's office where he found the Earl and Richard.
After greetings were exchanged, Darcy said, "Where is Georgiana? Is everything all right? Why is she here?"
Richard could see how worried he was. "Darcy, take it easy; she is fine but yesterday something happened so we decided that she would be better here with family than alone at Darcy House." He went on to describe exactly what had happened and how Wickham was now permanently out of the picture. As Darcy and Richard had previously decided not to tell the Matlocks about Wickham's attempted elopement with Georgiana at Ramsgate, Darcy quickly understood that this attempted abduction was Wickham's desperate second attempt to extort money from him. He saw that Richard had told his father only that Wickham was the son of the former steward of Pemberley who had gone completely evil and was always desperately short of funds, even after Mr. Darcy, Senior, had paid for his education.
Richard carefully steered the conversation away from Wickham to the lady who had saved Georgiana and their complete lack of information about her. Darcy immediately saw that he owed everything to this lady as, if Wickham had succeeded in abducting Georgiana, Darcy would have given him whatever he wanted for her safe return. He knew that Wickham was so evil that he might have taken advantage of his sister to ruin her, even if he gave give him whatever he asked. They told him about the notice that the Earl had already given to the newspaper owner and he agreed with the need to keep their names from becoming known to the public.
Darcy could find no other areas to discuss at the moment, so he went to find his sister. He held her tightly and said how sorry he was to that this happened to her. He worried that the trauma of this event would have a permanent effect on her composure, but he was pleased to see that it did not seem to; rather, she spoke mainly of the lady who had saved her. "Fitzwilliam, if she had not helped me, he would have taken me in his carriage as he was too strong for me, even though I tried to fight him. The lady slowed him by holding my arm and when she stabbed him in the face, he removed his hand from my mouth so I could scream for Richard."
Darcy could see that Wickham's death almost seemed to relieve her as she had been worried about meeting him again. He could only hope that she would not suffer nightmares about seeing Wickham die such an ignominious death. They both readily agreed that they had to find the lady to express their appreciation to her. Darcy could only promise to do whatever he could to try to discover who she was, but he knew there was not much hope as they had so little to go on if she did not respond to the article in the newspaper.
Georgiana did ask, "Fitzwilliam, I still cannot understand why Mr. Wickham tried to abduct me. What could he have gained from taking me with him?"
"Georgie, surely you realize that he would have demanded money from me for your safe return. He knew that I would have given him whatever he asked." Darcy did not mention that Wickham would likely also have threatened to ruin her by taking her virginity if Darcy did not agree to whatever was demanded of him.
"So, he could have demanded a very large sum of money from you? That means we owe a lot to the lady who saved me. Fitzwilliam, we have to find her so we can thank her properly and even give her a reward. Aunt Matlock was saying this to me as well, but now I understand why she said that. Aunt seemed to be eager to find her so she could thank her in person. However, even from the very short time I had with her before she disappeared, the quality of her clothes and her speech made it obvious that she was a well-born lady. What reward could we offer her?"
"I am not sure, but when we find her, we will give her whatever she wants. Even gently-born ladies must have something they would like to have; perhaps a larger dowry if she is unmarried? First of all, we have to find her."
Before they left to return to Darcy House, Darcy spoke to their Aunt about having Georgiana and her companion come to stay with them again when he went with Bingley to help him settle into Netherfield as he had promised that he would do this for his friend. He did not want to leave her alone again until he was sure that she had definitely overcome any harmful effects of this latest event. He thought about asking Bingley to have her come to stay with them at Netherfield, but he was not sure if this was a good idea as Bingley had asked his sisters to come with him. He knew that Georgiana was not happy to be in Caroline Bingley's presence as this lady wanted to be friendly with her only to try to get closer to him. He had long decided that Caroline was the last woman in the world that he would ever consider to be his wife. He tolerated her only because she was Bingley's sister. Even if his Aunt indicated that Georgiana was not too seriously affected by this incident, he decided that he would not ask her to come to Hertfordshire as he wanted to minimize the time she had to spend in Caroline Bingley's presence.