A/N: Please let me know if the rating needs to be changed because of the content describing a little violence.
Chapter 32: Mr. Wickham Reaped his Reward
Lieutenant Wickham volunteered to carry a message for his commander to the War Department on the eve of the Netherfield ball. All the other officers were looking forward to joining in the biggest and most festive event in these parts, and so looked on Lieutenant Wickham with favour and gratitude for his sacrifice. All assumed that Lieutenant Wickham wanted to be away to avoid any potential unpleasant encounter with a certain gentleman from Derbyshire.
Once in London Wickham fell in with his usual group of wastrels and heard that the whole town was either crowing about their invitations to Wentworth-Woodhouse, or bemoaning the fact that they did not receive the invitations. The occasion, though not publicly announced as such, was well-known to everyone as a gathering of eligible young ladies with large fortunes and impeccable connections from whom Fitzwilliam Darcy would choose his future wife. He briefly considered going north to Wentworth-Woodhouse himself and see whether he could console one or two of the unfortunate ones who lost out in the competition. He decided against it because frankly, he was a part in awe and a part afraid of Lord Fitzwilliam. If Lord Fitzwilliam ever found him hanging about his estate, he would set his son the colonel on him.
When he got back to the regiment the day after the Netherfield Ball, the officers were gossiping like a pack of hens squawking among themselves. Within five minutes, he heard about how Chamberlayne was set down by Mr. Bennet, Mr. Darcy danced the first and supper sets with Miss Elizabeth Bennet, and his hot, piercing gaze at the lady during the dances. Since they all knew through Wickham's description of Mr. Darcy that he was an arrogant man who thought everyone in this little hamlet of Meryton to be beneath his contempt, this extraordinary show of partiality was extremely noteworthy. It could mean that the fortunes of the Miss Bennets might be larger than presumed, or Mr. Darcy was not as pompous as he was described.
Later when Chamberlayne confronted him about his claim to be Miss Elizabeth's sweetheart, Wickham had a story made up to acquiesce the naïve young man. Wickham claimed that Miss Elizabeth sent him to town to find out whether it was true that Mr. Darcy was to leave Netherfield directly to go to his uncle the Lord Fitzwilliam's estate to a gathering of rich and well-connected young ladies his powerful uncle invited specifically to allow him to choose a wife. Miss Elizabeth needed this information to counter her parents' demand for her to welcome Darcy's attentions as everybody could see that he was showing uncharacteristic partiality toward her. She was going to tell her parents that Mr. Darcy was trifling with her or worse as all this time he was planning to leave soon to go find a wife from his uncle's hand-picked candidates. Chamberlayne, being quite gullible, agreed to continue to help Wickham to create a compromising situation so that Miss Elizabeth and her lover could marry. However, a seed of doubt had been sown in his mind.
Wickham went into town and found out that not only Darcy, but the entire Netherfield party had left. The Bingleys received an express the morning after the ball and immediately left for Scarborough to attend their dying maiden aunt. He could not help congratulating himself on this unexpected piece of good news for the possibility of Mr. Bingley, as a potential son-in-law of the Bennets, calling him out for the compromise had been eliminated. It was the perfect time for him to act.
He used every opportunity that presented itself to spread his tale of woe at the hand of Darcy in order to have the town's sympathy on his side in case Mr. Bennet resisted his suit for Miss Elizabeth's hand. With his easy manners and pleasant address, he was used to having people lapping up his sob story and then extending him credit, loosening their purse strings – in other words, granting him every wish. This time, however, other than within the regiment and the lower rung of society in this backwater, a large portion of the gentry was skeptical and began to distance themselves from him. He was disappointed by this turn of events but decided that the unexpected alliance of the landed families with Darcy would not matter much as vicious provincial gossip would surely make Mr. Bennet bend to his request. He simply would not give up the rare opportunity of gaining a beautiful wife and her fortune while hurting Darcy in the process.
The rain had come back again and for several days he could not see Miss Elizabeth anywhere near town.
On the day that finally dawned crisp and fine, he wagered that a lady like Miss Elizabeth who loved to be outdoors in nature would not be confined to the house anymore. Since he also heard that the Bennet ladies were not to go off their estate without a footman or two as escort, he ventured onto Longbourn's ground and saw Miss Elizabeth leaving the manor house with only her dog as company. He raced back to the barracks to get Chamberlayne not noticing all the while that he was tailed by another man. He told Chamberlayne that he just got word that Miss Elizabeth would be awaiting him for the assignation in the lane just inside Longbourn, and they should hurry to the designated location. Chamberlayne was a little uncertain as Mr. Bennet's strong reprimand was still quite fresh on his mind. He reluctantly followed Wickham to the drive to the manor house, if for nothing else, to see whether there was any truth in Wickham's claim.
Wickham said that Miss Elizabeth was going around the estate and would be meeting him a little distance from where they were as she would be embarrassed to be too close to the witness. When Miss Elizabeth came around, he would go forward to meet her, and all Chamberlayne had to do was to witness an intimate moment from afar, and leave to go back to town to tell people what he saw. In the meantime, they were both being watched by Darcy's men, who began to have an inkling that some mischief was afoot. After about ten minutes, Miss Elizabeth emerged from the lane that led from the west side of the estate. Wickham gave Chamberlayne a nod and then walked toward Miss Elizabeth.
Elizabeth was startled to see Wickham so early in the day on the grounds of Longbourn – polite country visiting hours were at least three hours away. She put her hand into the satchel she was carrying, grabbed the handle of her pistol, and hissed to her hound, "Buc!" who came to her side immediately.
Wickham piled on his charm and greeted her cheerfully, "Miss Elizabeth, good morning! What a fine morning to be out and about communicating with nature!"
He said the word "Miss" softly to give the impression that he was addressing Elizabeth by her Christian name. Elizabeth was truly alarmed now by his too familiar way to address her, but managed to put on a stern face, and said, "Lieutenant Wickham, is it? May I ask what brought you onto Longbourn's grounds so early in the morning? I do not believe that you have any business to discuss with my father. As you well know, because of the number of young ladies not yet out in our family, Longbourn does not receive militia officers without an invitation from my father."
Wickham smiled more widely and advanced toward Elizabeth, saying, "Come now, my dear Elizabeth, do not be so formal and distant with me. You know that your temporary infatuation with Darcy will go nowhere. As we speak, he is on his way to his uncle's estate, Wentworth-Woodhouse, to choose a wife from the very eligible young ladies hand-picked by his uncle for his pleasures. You are nothing but a distraction to him while in the country."
He paused to gauge the reaction of Elizabeth on hearing that her dream of becoming the Mistress of Pemberley had been dashed. He was more than a little surprised to see that the grave and wary face she wore remained with nary a show of distress. He felt that perhaps the show of Darcy's favour to her had not touched her heart and she would be that much more receptive of his advance, and would be amenable to accepting the consequence of his compromising her. He therefore continued with more boldness than before, "You and I, however, are made for each other, and so are past all those society rules and censures…" he suddenly quickened his pace and was almost within touching distance of Elizabeth, and stretched out his arm to grab hers that was not in the satchel.
Elizabeth had been backing away from him the whole time Wickham was advancing and was able to duck before Wickham touched her. While she ducked, she shouted, "Buc!"
A black cannon ball of fur knocked Wickham onto the ground and held onto his trousers leg, biting into his thigh a little. Wickham was enraged and screamed, "You whore!" and struggled to pull a dagger from his boot, raised it above his head and was ready to plunge it into the dog.
"No!"
A shot rang out. In the next moment, Wickham cried out in agony and covered his face, where blood was running down the centre of it toward his mouth. Everything happened so fast that by the time Chamberlayne and Darcy's men arrived at Wickham's side, Miss Elizabeth and her dog had disappeared behind the hedge. Darcy's men examined the scene of the shooting, and concluded that the dagger, which was dented by the bullet and flew off Wickham's hand acted as a reflector where the bullet ricocheted toward Wickham's face and almost missed it but by half an inch. That half an inch meant a bonny face had turned into a disfigured one as it represented the sheared off tip of Wickham's nose.
Wickham was howling miserably and was cursing Miss Elizabeth vehemently. One of Darcy's men who had got close enough to the shooting was able to relate to his colleague what he had heard from Wickham and Miss Elizabeth. Chamberlayne also confirmed that Wickham was planning to compromise Miss Elizabeth using him as an unwitting witness. Darcy's men told Chamberlayne to keep quiet about the whole thing or else he would have to stand trial for aiding and abetting an attempted assault on a gentlewoman. He would report the whole thing to the commander of the regiment. Being a former army man, he knew that a crime like this from a member of the encamped militia on the local populace was severe and the commanding office might mete out an excessive punishment to appease the locals and to set an example for deterrence. Wickham was still defiant and asked Darcy's men who they were and what business they had to interfere. The men said they were Bow Street runners hired by Mr. Bennet to protect his daughters. Wickham was deflated when he heard that. The fact that he no longer had a handsome face with a Grecian nose to get what he wanted seemed somewhat trivial compared to what he might have to face when he got back to the barracks.
Chapter Notes:
I have no experience with firearms, but someone who does says that it is possible for the bullet to ricochet off a hand-held blade in addition to just knocking it off the hand. That was probably the shot of the century!