Dear Sunday friends, thank you for reading and commenting. Not feeling too well here. So I will post and go now. Happy reading and commenting!
Chapter Nine
After hiding Maria in the secret passage, Elizabeth had crept out of the library and gone upstairs to her room. She had not wanted to locate Charlotte in case she accidentally brought her unwanted attention. Charlotte had been successful in obtaining apples and biscuits for Maria, so Elizabeth assumed she had been able to get food for Mr. Collins as well.
With a sigh, Elizabeth had fallen into the chair by her window and sat deep in thought, wondering what their next move could be. They needed aid. Maria could not stay in the secret passage forever.
After a time, she had heard a knock on her bedroom door. Hoping it was Charlotte, she had hurried to open it.
Outside had been the small and timid servant girl she had seen in Anne's room. The girl had looked agitated and spoke in a hushed voice.
"If you please, Miss," she'd said, "I've been sent to tell you that Miss de Bourgh is in a very bad way. She hasn't woken up all day. I've been told to tell you that Dr. Wickham needs to find Miss Lucas. They say she can help Miss de Bourgh somehow."
By giving up her blood for an unwholesome tonic! Elizabeth's brain had begun spinning as fast as a carriage wheel. "Have you been with Miss de Bourgh all this time?"
"No, Miss, I'm back to housework today. But they sent me to tell you. Dr. Wickham told me so himself. They've asked you to come down to the drawing room right away."
Elizabeth had thanked the girl and slowly made her way to the drawing room, thankful that Maria was safely hidden, but still uneasy. She had stepped into the drawing room to find Dr. Wickham and Lady Catherine waiting for her.
Lady Catherine had greeted her coldly without introduction, immediately demanding Maria's whereabouts. "Where is Miss Lucas?"
Lady Catherine glared at Elizabeth, who did not speak.
"You must tell us at once." Lady Catherine's voice was hard and her eyes were cold. Her posture was tense but alert: she looked as if she were sitting on a throne, about to bang her sceptre on the ground.
Elizabeth paused, attempting to think of words that were still essentially the truth. "I did not know exactly where she is." Maria could have moved further into the secret passage, Elizabeth told herself.
"But you have some idea of it?" barked Lady Catherine.
Elizabeth did not reply immediately. She just murmured, "Hmm…"
Now Elizabeth was looking above Lady Catherine's head, biting back her fury and wondering what on earth she could do.
"You must promise me," demanded Lady Catherine, "that when you do see Miss Lucas, you will come to Dr. Wickham and I immediately and inform us of her whereabouts."
"I will not," said Elizabeth. Her mouth was set in a firm line.
There was a pause, and Lady Catherine said, "What?" in the iciest tone Elizabeth had ever heard.
"I will not promise."
Lady Catherine glowered at Elizabeth as if she wished the earth would open and swallow her.
Elizabeth felt desperate. She thought she must say something, she must try to open Lady Catherine's mind -
"Lady Catherine," Elizabeth said. "Please hear me. Dr. Wickham is a fraud. He never finished medical school, I suspect. What you consider to be ingenious methods are merely show - he had not been curing anyone. He -"
"Silence!" roared Lady Catherine. "You are not well, Miss Bennet. The Greenwich Malady has affected your mind. We must cure you as soon as possible."
Dr. Wickham's eyes flickered over to Elizabeth coldly, but he turned to Lady Catherine and nodded gravely. "Yes, the Greenwich Malady can affect the minds of its victims. Miss Bennet must be specially treated soon, as soon as we have found Miss Lucas."
Just then, Charlotte entered. "You wished to see me, Lady Catherine?" she asked.
"Where is your sister?" barked Lady Catherine.
Charlotte looked genuinely taken aback. "I don't know," she said. "Is she missing?"
"She is not in her room, and Miss Bennet is not aware of her location," said Dr. Wickham. "We hoped perhaps you might know. Did she mention going for a stroll in the garden?"
"No, she did not," said Charlotte. "Well, this is most alarming! Perhaps we should all look for her?"
Elizabeth almost smiled. Charlotte's tactic was far better than her own.
"I will send out servants to search the house and ground for her," said Lady Catherine.
"Denny and I will look for her as well," said Dr. Wickham. "It will cause our invaluable time in looking after Miss de Bourgh."
"I am forever grateful and will compensate you handsomely, Dr. Wickham, in addition to the cost of leeches," Lady Catherine added. She then turned to Elizabeth, "Such an ignorant country miss, Caroline told me you destroyed Dr. Wickham's leeches, thinking that they needed feeding. That uninformed silliness is what a governess will prevent, and if I had known your mother, I should have advised her most strenuously to engage one. I always say that nothing is to be done in education without steady and regular instruction, and nobody but a governess can give it. Fortunately, the good doctor had other leeches stored securely in another location. Otherwise, what will happen to my Anne? Your uneducated upbringing costs me over a hundred pounds for Dr. Wickham's trouble. I am seriously thinking of stopping to extend my generosity to someone so wholly unrelated to the de Bourgh household. To someone who is either a simpleton or whose mind has been affected by a dangerous malady! I am considering to demand full payment from your father after Dr. Wickham wipes the infectious disease off Rosings and restore health here. I heard everything about your family from Mr. Collins. Your mother entertaining endlessly without care of household expenses, buying your sisters clothes all the time and your father not checking her extravagant way. Now tell me, can your indolent father afford to spare the money for your silliness and your treatment? "
Elizabeth's chest filled with indignation, for the most birdbrained woman in the county to belittle her parents. She started to protest by Dr. Wickham jumped in.
"Never fear, Lady Catherine, I am sure we will locate Miss Lucas very soon. Pray do not upset too much regarding Miss Bennet. I shall deal with her malady afterwards," Wickham said with a smirk that made Elizabeth want to throw the metal vase by the table to him.
"See that you do," said Lady Catherine. "Now, all of you leave me alone. I need time to rethink the extent of my kindness."
Dr. Wickham, Charlotte, and Elizabeth excused themselves. Dr. Wickham, with a cold, calculating glance back at Elizabeth, went upstairs to find Denny, and Charlotte and Elizabeth started down the downstairs hallway.
"I am sorry, Elizabeth, about Mr. Collins's discussion of your family to Lady Catherine."
"Never mind, Charlotte. He formed that opinion before he married you. We must concentrate on Maria. Let us go into the library," said Elizabeth, "and pretend to be looking there if anyone else comes in. That way we can keep a sort of guard over Maria."
"I agree," said Charlotte.
They went into the library. Neither wanted to sit: they were too agitated, and did not want to appear to be resting in case someone entered the room. Their precautions were fortunate, for Denny soon entered the library.
"I regret to say Maria is not here," said Charlotte pleasantly, heading towards the door as if she and Elizabeth were just leaving.
"No?" said Denny, smiling with a glint in his eye that Elizabeth did not like.
"Did you check behind curtains, and under tables?"
"No, we did not," said Elizabeth coldly. "Do you have reason to believe Miss Lucas would be actively hiding?"
Denny merely shrugged, continuing to grin. He sidled up to the window curtains and brusquely pulled them aside. Charlotte and Elizabeth exchanged a glance.
Denny continued to slowly circle the room, as if he were taunting them. He glanced under a desk, and lifted a pillow on the window seat. Elizabeth almost snorted.
"Really your perception of size is rather poor, Mr. Denny," she said.
Denny just grinned. He made his way to pull out several gigantic books, most probably atlases, from the lower shelves in the darkest part of the library and looked behind them. Elizabeth was relieved that he was searching in an area farthest away from the opening of the secret passage.
Suddenly, he exclaimed, "How interesting!"
"Do you think Miss Lucas is hiding inside of that?" asked Elizabeth, moving near him to see what drew his attention. It was a book of architectural plans of the house. Elizabeth's heart stopped for a second.
Denny did not respond, but dragged the giant book towards the windows, and looking at the drawings through the sunlight. "This shows me every room in the house," he said. Suddenly his energy shifted and he flipped the pages carefully, leaned forward urgently, staring at the plans.
"What is it, Mr. Denny?" asked Charlotte, looking uneasy.
"There seems to three hidden passageways," he said. "They lead from the attic, the ballroom and the Master's chamber, I think, to different parts of the grounds of Rosings Park."
"What?" cried Elizabeth. Her surprise was genuine: she had not considered that the secret passage could take them all the way out of the house. She strode over to the architectural plan and stared at it alongside Denny. The lines were old and faded, but the secret passageways were indeed visible. She concentrated on the one Denny did not seem to see, from the library. The ink on that one was faintest.
"I must tell Lady Catherine at once," said Denny. "Perhaps Miss Lucas is hiding inside of this passage." He walked past to the bookshelf that hid Maria, and kicked at it. Elizabeth's heart hammered even though she knew it would not open that way. Denny huffed and left without saying another word to the women.
"We must get Maria out now," said Elizabeth. She flipped through towards the end of the book, based on an annotation she found on the page Denny read. There was more detail about the layout of the secret passage from the library. It was hidden inside the pattern of the drawing of a tapestry that was hung in the ballroom. After staring at the layout for a few seconds, Elizabeth flipped the book back to the page Denny read. "I will go into the secret passage with her, and we will escape to the woods. You keep your father safe."
Charlotte suddenly brightened. "That is a good idea, as Dr. Wickham is looking at you weirdly. We don't want him to perform tests on you like what he did with William. Regarding the woods, I talked to the housekeeper earlier today," she said. "Mrs. Ferguson. She saw to the food that I'd asked for. She does not seem to have taken a liking to Dr. Wickham at all. I know her when she visited the apothecary shop three times, for some remedies for her son, Johnny.
"The stable boy!" Elizabeth said. "very helpful lad."
"Yes, Mrs. Ferguson's family came from Mr. Darcy's estate in Scotland. It seems they had suffered a misfortune there and Mr. Darcy helped her establish here in Rosings. Johnny has some issues in his right leg, from birth. He is sometimes in pain, when the weather gets too wet. I remember she told me that there is a hunter's cabin somewhere out in the woods. The old groundskeeper was sent to clean up the damp there. Perhaps you and Maria could take shelter there."
"Does she know exactly where it's located?" asked Elizabeth eagerly.
"I don't know," said Charlotte. "She said no one from the family has used it for many years but Mrs. Bingley asked that it be cleaned after she returned to Rosings."
Elizabeth turned back to the plans of the house, which also included a bit of the grounds. No hunter's cabin was visible on it, but she saw that the passage let out just behind the stables.
"Charlotte," she said. "Could you ask Mrs. Ferguson to meet us at the end of the secret passage? We'll try to get there as quickly as we can. If you feel sure she can be trusted," she added.
"I do," said Charlotte. "No one was paying her to say the things she said to me about Dr. Wickham earlier and she helped me prepare the meal for William."
Elizabeth hugged Charlotte. "Please try to find her as quickly as you can. I hope to reach the exit of the secret passage within this half an hour."
Charlotte nodded, and Elizabeth went over to the bookshelf and turned the bird's wing. The bookshelf swung open, revealing Maria looking rather grimy and standing at attention.
"I heard everything," she said, rather anxiously. "Really, I felt quite left out of the conversation. Did Mr. Denny find this secret passageway on the architectural plan?"
"Luckily, no," Elizabeth replied.
The sisters embraced, and then Elizabeth stepped into the passage and Charlotte turned the bird's wing back. The bookshelf swung closed with a faint click, and Maria and Elizabeth were left in the musty darkness of the passage, which was lit only by the torch.
Elizabeth was impressed by Maria's fortitude: the passage was very ominous. Cobwebs still dangled from the ceiling, despite Maria's earlier clean up effort, and the darkness was oppressive. Elizabeth was glad she was not there alone.
Maria gathered everything she'd brought into two bags, and Elizabeth took one. They relit the candles and each took one. Elizabeth wished she had a hand free to hold Maria's.
"Shall we?" she whispered.
"We shall," said Maria. She looked nervous but her eyes were twinkling.
They began to walk down the passage. Sounds from the house echoed, distorted, around them: thumps and voices. It was dark, and filled with more spider's webs - and quite a few spiders. Elizabeth watched them scuttle away with a shudder, feeling the back of her neck prickle. After walking for several minutes, they came to an opening to the left of the passage.
"This must lead outside," said Elizabeth, trying to visualise the plan she memorised. Maria nodded, and they started down it. After a few feet, there was a set of old, crumbling steps leading downwards. After the steps, the air in the passage was cooler and damper. The walls were no longer made of wood, but of stone. The girls continued along this passage for what seemed like a very long time, then, at last, they reached another set of stairs that led to a wooden trapdoor.
Frowning, Elizabeth set her bag down and ascended the stairs. She listened. She thought she heard breathing, but no voices. She could smell -
"The stables!" she whispered to Maria. "It doesn't let out outside the stables, it lets out inside the stables."
She blew out her candle, asked Maria to step further away from her, back in the passageway and pushed against the trapdoor with all her might. It opened with a loud creak, scattering straw down into the secret passage. Elizabeth poked her head out into what seemed to a storage room in the stables. There was no person in sight. She poked her head out to glance around, several horses looked at her with a somewhat mistrustful expression. Elizabeth climbed out, glad to breathe fresh air again.
Maria followed. She handed Elizabeth both bags and then both extinguished candles, and climbed up out of the trapdoor after her. Just after they had shut the door, a stable boy appeared around the corner. It was the same boy Elizabeth had met earlier.
"Oh, hello, Johnny!" she said, wondering what on earth to say. "I keep appearing, don't I? How's Beatrice?"
The stable boy blinked. "She's fine," he said. "Did you want to go riding again?"
"Oh no," said Elizabeth. "I was just showing my friend Miss Lucas the lovely stables here."
"Oh, you're Miss Bennet and Miss Lucas, then?"
"We -" Elizabeth paused, feeling uneasy that he knew their names. Perhaps he had been told to watch for them.
"My mother's just outside the stables out back," he said. "She thought you were going to meet her there."
"Your mother is Mrs. Ferguson?" asked Maria.
He nodded. "I'll take you around," he said, and added, "The back way."
So he must know they were escaping! Elizabeth hoped they could trust these servants. Even if they disliked Dr. Wickham, might not loyalty to Lady Catherine cause them to give Elizabeth and Maria away? But Charlotte said the housekeeper's family were brought here by Mr. Darcy. Perhaps they were more loyal to Mr. Darcy than Lady Catherine.
~0~
Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam left the Red Rabbit to gather in the home of someone Stevens called "Old Barty." Earlier, they had conversed with Andrews and Stevens, making plans for getting past the thugs at Rosings Park.
Richard had suggested borrowing horses and riding through the woods straight away, but Darcy thought it would be better to stay and make allies of what villagers they could first.
"We will go to Rosings Park later," he had said. "We do not know what other traps Wickham may have laid in the woods. Furthermore, I'd like to hear more stories about what Wickham has done here. That will be valuable evidence when we bring him before a magistrate."
Richard had agreed. "I would also like to hear the stories of these villagers," he said. "And offer them what medical care I can."
Jack had been sent out to spread the word amongst the western villagers who Stevens felt could be trusted. A meeting was arranged. After Richard had heard rumors of some of the villager's medical complaints -when Jack returned and gave a report of who would be there - he asked the enthusiastic messenger to buy some things for him from Collins's apothecary shop. Jack had looked eager to be entrusted with such a mission, and had returned with the supplies within an hour, excitedly declaring that he had been questioned by no one on the street.
Richard and Darcy donned caps lent to them by Stevens so that they would be less easily recognized as themselves, and made their way with Jack over to Old Barty's home. Stevens had expressed his strong desire to go along as well, but he had to stay at his inn.
"Best of luck, to you both, sirs," he said at the doorway. "I look forward to seeing this Wickham get what is coming to him."
The Darcy party thanked him, and walked off, Richard pulling his cap down low over his eyes and grinning. Darcy wished he felt as much excitement as his cousin and Jack, but he was still too worried about the residents and guests at Rosings Park.
Old Barty's place was a ramshackle house on the edge of town, with numerous flowers growing in boxes in the windows, along the edge on the ground, and in a few boxes on the roof. Apparently it was a favourite informal gathering place: Old Barty was now nearly deaf, but had once been an outspoken and charitable member of the village in his former days, and was still beloved.
Jack knocked, and the door was opened by a small, balding man in shirt-sleeves.
"They're here!" he called, and opened the door.
They walked inside. It was musty, and the ceiling was low and strung with numerous herbs and some vegetables. About a dozen men were crowded around the main room, sitting on stools or leaning against the walls. They all had friendly faces, but Darcy felt uncomfortable about being scrutinized by so many people at once. Richard, however, was in his element.
"Thank you for allowing us to speak with you today," he said, taking a position of power in front of the fireplace. "Might I be introduced to each of you, and especially to our host?"
The men went around, stating their names and occupations, until it came to the turn of an old man with a long beard and a green kerchief around his neck, sitting on a chair and leaning on a cane.
"What's your name, Grandfather?" called out one of the men loudly, so that the old man could hear.
"What?" barked the old man. "You've known me since you were two feet high, you idiot!"
"That must be Old Barty," said Richard, leaning in towards Darcy and grinning.
"I'm telling you to introduce yourself to these gentlemen here," shouted back the man, gesturing to Darcy and the Colonel.
Old Barty squinted at them. "My name is Bartholomew Hubbard," he bellowed. "Who are you?"
"Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam and Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy," Richard bellowed back, bowing. "I am a doctor in the regular."
"Ah, Interfering Queen's good nephews. I've seen you running around the village when you were wee lads and I'm aware of your good work throughout the past few years, Mr. Darcy, since Sir Lewis past away. Capital! Finally, someone with some senses come to our aid. I hear the doctor is a quack!"
"There is," shouted Richard, "and we are here to bring him to justice."
Old Barty nodded approvingly, and the introductions continued around the circle. Richard leaned in to Darcy again and whispered, "I nearly said, 'and we are here to smack him,' but I resisted."
Darcy pressed his lips together, which he knew Richard would recognize as a sign of repressed amusement.
Once all the introductions had been made, Richard asked for stories about what Dr. Wickham had done.
"I came to him about my father's rheumatism," said one man, "and he gave me a foul-smelling tonic that cost a great deal of money. My father drank it and became terrible sick. We thought he might pass. He came through it, but his rheumatism was even worse than before for a few days."
"I took my wife to see him," said another man. "She was suffering from nerves. He told her to bind her head in a cloth soaked in salt water every night. It kept her from sleeping and just made her nerves worse than ever."
Richard took notes in a notebook, and Darcy saw him writing down actual treatments for each ailment next to the names of the men. Once everyone with a complaint against Dr. Wickham had spoken, Richard opened the bag filled with supplies from the apothecary's, and began distributing remedies amongst the men.
"How much will this cost me, Colonel?" asked one of the men, dressed in shabby clothes, before taking the jar of herbs Richard was handing to him.
"Not a penny," said Richard.
"This is a donation from Mr. Collins the apothecary, to repair some of the damage done by Dr. Wickham," said Darcy. He knew that if these men were grateful to Mr. Collins, they'd come to him for medical aid more often. The poor man deserved some good fortune.
"Now then," said the Colonel, once he had finished. "Our first step is getting past those thugs that Wickham has set up on the road to Rosings Park."
"I don't want to use violence," said Darcy, "but we may not have another choice."
"I think we may run into violence once we've reached Rosings Park," said one of the men. "I expect Wickham's got easterners out there as well, in case someone gets past the barricade. But why not get through the woods another way?" His eyes sparkled.
"I also think going along a forest path would be wise," said Darcy. "It will take us longer to travel that way, but we are less likely to meet with resistance, I think."
"Begging your pardon, Mr. Darcy, but I was thinking of something else," said the man.
"Don't be an arse, Teddy," said another man, although not unkindly. "The tunnel's just a legend."
"Tunnel?" said Darcy and the Colonel at the same time.
"There's rumors of an old tunnel that used to lead from the graveyard to a hunter's cabin on the grounds of Rosings Park."
"And no one's ever been able to discover it," said another man. "It's stuff kids tell each other. Teddy's just foolish enough to still believe it."
Richard and Darcy looked at each other.
"There is a hunter's cabin in the woods of Rosings Park," said Darcy. "Colonel Fitzwilliam and I used to play there as children. It had not been in use for years. We had never heard of a secret tunnel there, but I suppose -"
"We'd be wasting valuable time looking for it," said another man.
"But if we were able to use it," said Darcy, "we could all of us get into Rosings Park safely, and without being detected."
"It seems too good an opportunity to pass up," agreed Richard. "Gentlemen, let us go to this graveyard. As I recall, it borders Rosings Park's woods, yes?"
"It does."
"Then allow Fitzwilliam and I, and anyone else who wishes to try, half an hour to discover the entrance to this tunnel. If we are unsuccessful, we will continue our journey through the paths of the Rosings Park woods."
The men agreed to the plan. They had gathered a small store of weapons - clubs, chains, and knives - and each member of the group took one before their departure.