A.N. Thank you Happy Lizzy, Levenez, Colleen, Crispill, Jansfamily, Ipinney, liysyl, Dizzy Lizzy 60, Joan, MsTheKlucha, , RHALiz, Joan, CatnipNapper, for reviewing. I'm feeling better and love to read your comments. I'm happy to give you some laughter with my writing. Wickham and Denny do have the brain, as you said. It's a pity they use them on schemes, instead of in the right way, for employment. Let's see if our fugitives manage to get away and if Team Darcy arrives in time.

How about let us have some fun in the meantime? I invite all of you to help name the title of each chapter of the story. Let's work on the first ten chapters at the moment. You can send me PM with your suggestions or put them in the review. I will review your suggestions and announce the winners and the chapter titles after the new year.

Remember to give me some encouragement by leaving a comment. I wish all of you a safe and wonderful holiday seasons.

Chapter Ten

Elizabeth and Maria followed the stable boy out of the stable through a back door. Standing outside was the housekeeper, a plump, put-together woman with a kind face.

"You've made it through the secret passage then," said Mrs. Ferguson. "I hope it wasn't too unpleasant. I had no idea it was there as I have not worked in Rosings for merely a few years, it must not have been entered for who knows how many years."

"We have emerged unscathed," said Elizabeth. "Thank you for agreeing to help us."

Mrs. Ferguson nodded. "Don't mention it!" she said. "I don't trust that Dr. Wickham. There's a great deal of talk in the servant's hall about him. We all think he's a fraud."

"At least some people in this house have sense!" cried Maria, and then covered her mouth.

Mrs. Ferguson laughed. "Almost everyone except Mr. Travers," she said. "He'll agree with Lady Catherine on whatever she says. But the rest of us think Dr. Wickham is using her shamefully for her money. And we're so terribly worried about Miss de Bourgh."

Elizabeth nodded. "We are as well. I suspect Dr. Wickham is just giving her something to make her sleep, and she was never truly ill to begin with."

"She was always sickly," said Mrs. Ferguson. "Given to aches and chills. I think it's due to her sensitive nerves. I talked to her nanny before. Miss Anne was the most delicate child she has ever known. But so dear." Mrs. Ferguson paused, looking out at the grounds. "When I heard from Mrs. Collins what Dr. Wickham wanted to do with Miss Lucas. I was determined to help you. I don't know much about medical matters, but I've never heard of someone drinking someone else's blood, and I can't imagine it's what God intended."

"I don't think it would help Miss de Bourgh," said Elizabeth. "I think it may even harm her."

Mrs. Ferguson nodded. "I'll do all I can for you. The hunter's cabin is somewhere in that side of the forest, and you should be able to reach it by one of the paths, hopefully, the main one. -" she gestured to the left - "Our old groundskeeper should know where to locate it, but I wasn't able to send word to him in time. Before tonight, I'll learn from him where in the forest it is, and

I will send Johnny or a servant with food for you."

"Bless you!" cried Maria. "How can we ever repay you?"

"Get rid of that Dr. Wickham," said Mrs. Ferguson grimly. "That's what I want. Now you best hurry before Dr. Wickham or Denny starts to search the grounds for you. I've told the rest of the servants that if they see you, they're to come to me first."

Elizabeth and Maria thanked Mrs. Ferguson again and she left them, going into the stable through the door they had left by. The girls turned to the grounds behind them. Beyond the stable was a stretch of lawn which offered a few trees, but there was really nothing to shield them from being seen from the house.

"I suggest we run," said Elizabeth, as they paused at the edge of the stables.

"Yes," said Maria, pulling her skirts up to just above her ankle. "Let us run."

Holding their bags in one hand and their skirts in the other, they raced across the lawn. Elizabeth's heart was pounding, and she was soon out of breath, but she couldn't help smiling. She had not run like this since she was a child, and it was thrilling.

Although their running slowed before they reached the woods, they made good time. Panting and laughing, they hurried behind the cover of some larger trees and looked back at the house.

"I do hope whatever rooms Dr. Wickham and Mr. Denny were in did not face in this direction," said Elizabeth. "But I think we have reason to hope that they did not see us. Let us rest for a moment."

The girls sat down against a tree.

"What if Dr. Wickham hears about the hunter's cabin and comes there to find us?" asked Maria.

"That is a danger," said Elizabeth. "But perhaps he will not be able to find it even if he learns of it. The only worry is Mrs. Bingley. She might have been there before. But I think we can trust the servants to attempt to warn us somehow before he arrives."

Maria nodded, and then stood up. "We should move along," she said. "I think they'd check the road to the village for us first, but they may check the woods as well, especially if we've been spotted on our way here."

"Running scandalously," laughed Elizabeth. She stood up as well.

There was a rough path leading into the woods, and they followed it. After an hour of walking, the reality of their situation was difficult to ignore. They did not know where in the woods this cabin was, and they had seen no signs leading to it. If they did not run into it by sheer luck, they would have to sleep out under the stars.

"At least this path is leading in the direction of the village," said Maria, echoing Elizabeth's thoughts. "Then by tomorrow at least we should be able to reach shelter of some kind."

"Perhaps even during the night," said Elizabeth. "I would rather walk all night than wait for some terrible wild beast to gobble us up."

"Don't speak of such things!" cried Maria, but she was laughing. It was hard to be too afraid when the woods looked so peaceful and welcoming: the trees were tall and majestic, and sunlight flickered over vibrant green undergrowth.

After another hour, both girls had become very weary. There was a small creek that gurgled its way through the woods, and they paused at its banks to drink and rest for a while. They each ate an apple and a biscuit. Elizabeth's stomach still gnawed when they had finished. Neither spoke of it, but they knew that unless they reached the cabin that night, they would only have a little food left for the next day, and the prospect was daunting.

Elizabeth leaned over and looked at herself in the stream.

"I am so dirty," she laughed.

Maria grinned. "We shall emerge into the village as the two mad witches who dwell in the forest."

"Brewing potions under the full moon."

Maria looked around them. "Plenty of mushrooms for our potions. I don't dare eat them though," she added. "I have heard some mushrooms are poisonous, and I don't know what kind these are."

Elizabeth poked at one with a stick. "Perhaps if they are poisonous we could bring them back to the house and poison Dr. Wickham."

"Lizzy!" cried Maria, horrified.

"I did not mean it!" laughed Elizabeth. "I am only jesting. I don't believe he's wicked enough to deserve that."

Elizabeth did not, of course, wish death upon Dr. Wickham, no matter what he'd done - but she wasn't sure he wasn't more wicked than they thought.

Her eyes scanned the woods around them. About twenty feet to their left, she saw another path.

"Maria," she said.

"Yes, Lizzy?"

"I have a hunch."

"Do tell me of your hunch."

"There is a path over there. I feel it leads somewhere."

"Perhaps a cabin?" asked Maria.

"Perhaps indeed," said Elizabeth. "Would you please stay here, so we do not lose our place on the main path, and I will go and see where that other path leads?"

Maria looked worried. "I will," she said, "but please don't go too far."

"I'll stay within shouting distance," said Elizabeth, standing up. "If I get lost, I'll call out for you."

"All right," said Maria. "Please don't leave me alone too long!"

"I won't," Elizabeth assured her, and began walking through the undergrowth to the path. It was smaller than the path they had been following, but it looked to have been made by man. She hurried along it, and was soon out of sight of Maria.

The woods seemed louder when she was alone. The birds sounded friendly, but there were many odd rustling and creaking which made her glance around more often than she had been doing before.

"You're being foolish," she scolded herself.

Soon, ahead of her, she saw that the ground sloped downward steeply into a valley. She could not see into the valley from where she was, but she could see the ground slanting downwards on the far side of it. As she reached the edge of the valley and looked down, a triumphant cry caught in her throat.

A small stone cottage sat in the bottom of the valley. Its roof looked in need of repair, and its shutters were hanging a little lopsidedly, but Elizabeth thought it the most charming establishment she had ever seen. She hurried back to find Maria, and soon they were descending the path into the valley together.

The door to the cabin was unlocked, although Elizabeth had been prepared to break a window if it had not been. Inside, the cabin smelled dank and musty, despite it being cleaned earlier in the year according to the housekeeper. Still, it was in better repair than Elizabeth had expected. A table and chairs sat in front of a fireplace, and inside a smaller room to the side were a couple of bed frames, although there were no mattresses on them.

"Just as well," said Maria, looking at the bed frames. "I would not be willing to sleep on a hundred years worth of bed insects."

Elizabeth laughed. "We'll sleep on the floor and use our bags for pillows. I'm just grateful we'll be able to lock out the creatures of the night."

"And the creatures of Rosings Park," said Maria.

Elizabeth wrinkled her nose at her friend, and went to look in one of the cupboards. Inside were very dusty old dishes, and a tinderbox.

"Perhaps I could figure out how to light a fire," said Elizabeth.

"I think we had better wait for a servant to arrive to help us," said Maria.

"It will be quite dark by then," said Elizabeth.

Having nothing else to do, the two girls decided to tidy up the cabin as best they could. Maria found an old broom next to the fireplace, and Elizabeth sacrificed her extra handkerchief to wipe down the table, chairs, mantlepiece, and windows. She journeyed back to the creek with one of the old bowls, and they used it as a water supply while they cleaned.

"Honestly, I feel like a scullery maid," laughed Maria, brushing a bedraggled strand of hair out of her face.

Elizabeth held up her dirty handkerchief, which was quite ruined. "My belongings are proving me to be a poor girl indeed," she said. Her eyes twinkled. It was not just the escape from Dr. Wickham: she felt more free than she ever had before in her life.

~0~

The graveyard was on the western side of town, but Darcy and his party went to it along the northern edge of the village, and were not accosted on their way.

It was an old graveyard, half-hidden from the village by numerous old trees that seemed to be remnants of some old invasion from the forest. Tilted and sinking headstones surrounded an old stone church, and a few mausoleums loomed over the headstones.

Darcy walked first to an old mausoleum of dark stone at the edge of the graveyard closest to the woods. Richard followed him, as did Jack and a few of the other men.

It was an imposing structure - crumbling, but made of marble and still holding an impression of regality. The word "Darcy" was carved onto the front of it, and the door leading inside was made of copper that had long since become a sickly, other-worldly green.

"I used to try to get inside as a child," said Teddy, a little breathless with excitement. "I even tried to break the door down once," he confessed, blushing, "but I wasn't able to. That's why I brought it up - I think the entrance must be inside. Not everyone knows that the Darcys and the de Bourghs are related, but I heard my dad tell me so once. I think the tunnel might have been made by the Darcy who once owned Rosings Park."

Darcy nodded without speaking, staring at the building. He had read about the history of the Darcy and de Bourgh four or five generations ago but he never heard of this mausoleum. He wondered who was buried inside - and had they made the tunnel themselves? What had its purpose been?

"I thought perhaps you might know a way inside," stammered Teddy.

"I'm afraid I don't," said Darcy.

"There's a keyhole," said Richard. "Of sorts." He leaned in and squinted at the odd lock on the old copper door. It was a raised rectangle of metal, with a small triangular indentation in it.

Darcy stepped up to Richard and looked at the lock. Suddenly he started. He looked down at the ring on his left hand. It had been given to him when he came of age: it was the ring worn by all the male owners of Pemberley. It was a signet ring, and the seal of it was a slightly raised triangle but it was not the symbol of the Darcy family. He often wondered why and what that pattern meant. His father and grandfather did not know it either.

Darcy took off the ring and pressed the triangle into the indentation on the lock. It fit perfectly. Teddy gave what was almost a squeal of excitement as they heard a clicking sound. Darcy paused for a moment, put the ring back on, and pushed on the door. It opened.

"Oi lads, over here!" shouted Teddy joyously.

They went inside, and were soon joined by the rest of the party, most of whom had to stand outside and peer in due to limited space.

The mausoleum was dark, and smelled unpleasant. A few closed coffins lay on thick stone shelves on the walls. An old black lantern hung from the ceiling. Darcy looked around, wondering if there was indeed an opening to the tunnel here, and if they would be able to find it. He, the Colonel, Jack, and Teddy looked around, inspecting the floor, walls, and ceiling. Every surface was smooth, there was no sign of a hidden lever or button anywhere. Richard tried pushing the shelves that held the coffins inward, but none of them would budge.

A quarter of an hour passed. A few eager or somewhat impatient men from the outside tried their luck, but no one was able to discover anything. Richard gave Darcy a look, meaning, "I think we'd best give it up and turn to the woods," and Darcy nodded. He was disappointed, more than he thought he'd be. He was terribly worried about Elizabeth. Would he get there in time to save her from Wickham's clutches?

~o~

Charlotte stood before Lady Catherine, trying not to flinch under her cold stare.

"Your friend Miss Bennet had gone mad," said Lady Catherine. "She has abducted your sister. She has made wild, absurd claims against Dr. Wickham, claiming that he is -" here Lady Catherine paused to shake her head slowly - "not truly an outstanding doctor." Lady Catherine looked at Charlotte as if she was waiting for Charlotte to cry out in surprise over such a terrible insinuation.

Charlotte said nothing. Ordinarily, she would have remained polite to Lady Catherine even in the face of such domineering discourteousness, but she was very weary. She was particularly nauseous today, even though she had managed to pour her tonic into her teacup when no one was looking, and had not drunk any of it that day. Her husband was improving, but deeply distressed to be trapped in a room by his adversary, and Charlotte feared that if she visited him too much, she would be found out, and then he would be without care.

"I need not explain to you," said Lady Catherine, "that this is a disaster of shocking proportions. We must find your sister. Dr. Wickham needs her blood to make a tonic for Anne."

Charlotte opened her mouth to beg Lady Catherine not to believe that drinking Maria's blood would cure Anne - rather, it might cause her great harm - but she realized that she would not be able to convince this obtus woman no matter what she said.

"Is that why you asked to speak to me, Lady Catherine?" she said. "You wished to tell me of Miss Bennet's mental illness?"

"We must find your sister," said Lady Catherine. "Did either Miss Bennet or Miss Lucas speak to you earlier today, and tell you of plans to depart from this house?"

"Are you certain they are not still in this house somewhere?" asked Charlotte, trying to misdirect the elderly lady.

"Don't be absurd," said Lady Catherine. "My servants have searched everywhere. Mr. Denny was even able to discover secret passages that have not been in use for years. They are not in those either."

Charlotte raised her eyebrows, pretending to be surprised. "A secret passage! How strange," she said.

Lady Catherine frowned at her. "I believe you know where they are hiding," said Lady Catherine.

Charlotte did not answer.

"Do you?" barked Lady Catherine. Her eyes glittered maliciously, and Charlotte suppressed a shudder. Lady Catherine's foolishness seemed almost like a form of madness, and coupled with her great power, it made her very dangerous.

Charlotte still did not answer, but her silence confirmed Lady Catherine's suspicions.

"I demand that you tell me their whereabouts at once," said Lady Catherine.

Charlotte still said nothing, and Lady Catherine called out, "Travers!"

Travers appeared almost instantly, as if he had been transported there by Lady Catherine's dark magic. "Yes, my lady?" he said in his deep, droning voice.

"Bring Dr. Wickham to me at once," she said.

Charlotte, noting that she herself had not been excused, realized her interview was far from over and sat down in one of the chairs by the fireplace. Perhaps intentionally, it was the chair farthest away from Lady Catherine's own.

Lady Catherine did not speak to her while they waited for Dr. Wickham. Charlotte looked out through the window onto the garden, attempting to convince herself that all would work out in the end.

Dr. Wickham appeared in a few minutes, smiling graciously at both of them as if no one in the house had a care in the world.

"Dr. Wickham," said Lady Catherine. "Mrs. Collins refuses to tell me of where Miss Bennet and Miss Lucas are located."

A shadow flickered over Dr. Wickham's eyes. "Do you know where they are located, Mrs. Collins?" he asked kindly, but his voice had an edge of urgency Charlotte had not heard before. She did not answer him.

"I see," said Dr. Wickham, after a pause. He turned to Lady Catherine. "Lady Catherine, I cannot force Mrs. Collins to tell me where her sister is. Although her silence prevents the recovery of Miss de Bourgh."

"I think, perhaps," said Lady Catherine, "you should bleed Mrs. Collins instead of Miss Lucas. They are of the same bloodline. Perhaps her blood would do just as well."

Charlotte was sure Dr. Wickham would say no to this, since she had heard him say Maria's blood would be of use because she had been the first to show symptoms of the Greenwich Malady - bloodline had nothing to do with it. But Dr. Wickham said, "Ah, of course. An excellent suggestion, Lady Catherine."

Charlotte looked at Dr. Wickham, but said nothing. His eyes flickered away from hers, but he also did not speak. Charlotte wondered if perhaps she should cease trying to fight off this experiment, since Dr. Wickham and Lady Catherine were so determined to have it done. But Miss de Bourgh! Surely drinking someone else's blood would harm her.

"At once, Dr. Wickham," said Lady Catherine.

"Of course," said Dr. Wickham. "Mrs. Collins, if you will wait here while I fetch the -"

Charlotte became suddenly overcome with nausea. She stood and staggered to the fireplace, where she vomited.

Lady Catherine uttered exclamations of horror behind her.

"See how ill she is, Dr. Wickham!"

Charlotte was too weary to be embarrassed by what ordinarily would have been a very uncomfortable situation for her. She pulled out her handkerchief and wiped her mouth, then returned to her chair.

"I beg to be excused for the moment, Dr. Wickham," she said. "As you see, I am not well."

Dr. Wickham was frowning at her. "Mrs. Collins, might I have a word with you in private?"

"Oh for goodness sake, anything said to her can be said in front of me," protested Lady Catherine. "I demand a share of the conversation!"

"Very well," said Dr. Wickham. "Mrs. Collins, are you with child?"
Charlotte's eyes widened. She realized Dr. Wickham had a right to ask the question, as a doctor - if indeed doctor he was - but to ask it in front of Lady Catherine! "I.." she said. "Yes, I am."

She felt as if they had stolen a secret from her. No one besides her husband knew. She was still in her second month, and she had not even told Maria or her father yet.

"I cannot use Mrs. Collins's blood to cure Miss de Bourgh," announced Dr. Wickham. "Her blood is tainted."

Lady Catherine huffed. "How unlucky and inconvenient! Then we are back to our former problem. We must locate Miss Lucas at once."

Charlotte tightened her fist. She seldom got angry with another but she had an urge to throw something at the old woman sitting there, for calling her pregnancy unlucky.

"Not necessarily," said Dr. Wickham, looking as if the wheels in his mind were beginning to run faster. "We could perhaps bleed her father, Sir William, instead."