A/N: This chapter could have been shortened by a lot, but I did not. Please let me know if you agree.

Chapter 34: Wickham's Fate

When Mr. Bennet and two footmen with rifles first arrived at the scene of the shooting, he saw Wickham being held by two men who were getting ready to leave with him. He had a handkerchief wrapped around his face, and the bleeding seemed to have stopped. Mr. Bennet was relieved to see that Wickham was not more hurt, and so there would be no danger of Elizabeth being accused of murder.

He spoke with a commanding voice to the group of men around Wickham, "What is the meaning of this? I am Thomas Bennet, master of Longbourn Estate. Lieutenant Wickham, is it? Lieutenant Chamberlayne, you know very well that your presence at Longbourn is not welcome without an invitation from me, and at such an hour! And who are you two gentlemen? You appear to be altogether strangers to these parts? You are all trespassing on Longbourn's grounds. I demand an explanation of this unseemly behaviour! Lieutenant Chamberlayne, let us start with you as Lieutenant Wickham appears to be indisposed."

Wickham stood there with his head bowed and his hands held behind his back by one of the two strangers. Lieutenant Chamberlayne looked confused as he had been told by the man Smyth that Mr. Bennet was Smyth's employer. He looked between Mr. Bennet and Smyth and was going to start telling his side of the story. Mr. Smyth spoke up then, and said, "Mr. Bennet, please allow me to tell you what happened here on your grounds earlier this morning. My name is Smyth and my partner here is Stuart. We are the Bow Street runners your man has employed to watch over Lieutenant Wickham here to keep him out of mischief. Would you mind stepping over to the hedge for a private consultation?"

Mr. Bennet remembered then what Mr. Darcy had told him about having Wickham watched, and he nodded to Smyth and they both walked about twenty paces from the remaining group and began their conversation.

Mr. Smyth began, "Mr. Bennet, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy of Derbyshire charged me and a few fellows to watch Lieutenant Wickham when he discovered Lieutenant Wickham's residing here with the Derbyshire militia. He had some unpleasant past dealings with this gentleman who was at one point a dependent of his household. He employed us to make sure that the local populace would not be in any way disadvantaged because of Wickham's presence."

All this time Wickham was straining to hear what was being discussed by the two gentlemen but was unsuccessful. Mr. Smyth continued his explanation with Mr. Bennet, "We followed Wickham around in the last few days. He appeared to be looking for someone around town to no avail. Other than frequent trips to the haberdashery and some dallying with tavern maids, we did not observe anything too noteworthy. This morning, I followed him here and then followed him back to town where he gathered Lieutenant Chamberlayne after he had sighted a young lady. It was obvious that Wickham was finally acting on some scheme. I gathered Stuart and left words for more backup help before following the two of them back here while we all waited." At this point, Chamberlayne appeared to want to chime in from where he was but was stopped by Stuart.

Smyth proceeded to recount the whole episode and ended with this praise for the young lady, "If our army had more sharpshooters like the young lady, Bonaparte would have been dispatched long ago to the nether world where he belongs."

Hearing this, Mr. Bennet could not suppress a proud smile for Elizabeth's saving herself before several men who stood ready to rescue her could act. He glanced over at where Lieutenant Wickham was standing leaning against a tree. "Lieutenant Wickham is otherwise unscathed?" asked Mr. Bennet.

Smyth affirmed that none other than Lieutenant Wickham's face and perhaps vanity were severely injured. He even begged the group of men to hunt for the sheared off tip of the nose to see whether it could be reattached to its proper location. Unfortunately, all they found was a bit of charred flesh left on the bullet that they did find.

"Mr. Bennet," addressed Smyth, "it appeared that Lieutenant Wickham was attempting a compromise of the young lady and had asked Lieutenant Chamberlayne to come as a witness of the incident. It did not work out so well for his scheme as his most valuable possession to charm young ladies has become quite grotesque. I have warned both Lieutenant Wickham and Lieutenant Chamberlayne not to spread any gossip about what occurred here this morning. As it is, they will be severely punished as disturbing the local populace is a serious offense for an encamped militia. How would you suggest that we should proceed? Stuart and the two fellows over there, Hopkins and Jenks, just arrived as reinforcement. They were getting ready to escort the two officers back to the barracks and I was going to go to have a brief interview with you when you came upon us."

Mr. Bennet thought for a moment, and asked, "You will inform Mr. Darcy of what happened here this morning?"

Smyth answered, "As soon as we have deposited those two at the barracks and have met with Colonel Foster, I will send an express to Mr. Darcy. He may, however, be already on his way to the north as that has been his plan to leave at first light this morning."

"I see," Mr. Bennet spoke to himself. He turned to Smyth again and said, "Well, then, let us be off to see Colonel Foster." He turned to a footman and told him to bring the carriage to the group. He did not want the occupants of the manor to know about this incident.

Colonel Foster was working at his desk in his office when he was startled by the sight of his two officers in such disheveled conditions. Mr. Bennet, being the leading gentry of the area, was given due respect and was solicited for his accounts of what occurred. Mr. Bennet deferred to Mr. Smyth, the eyewitness, to give the first testimony. After listening to Smyth's account, Colonel Foster turned to the other eyewitness, Lieutenant Chamberlayne. "Lieutenant Chamberlayne, explain yourself to these gentlemen your involvement in this incident which led to the disfiguring of Lieutenant Wickham's face."

Lieutenant Chamberlayne cowered, and said diffidently, " Colonel Foster, gentlemen, Lieutenant Wickham came to fetch me early this morning so that I could witness his assignation with Miss…" at this point, Mr. Bennet intervened and said sharply, "Lieutenant Chamberlayne, do not malign an innocent young lady who got unknowingly trapped by your foul scheme."

"I beg your pardon, Mr. Bennet. Lieutenant Wickham had given me to understand that he and a young lady of the Longbourn estate were secretly in love, and he and the lady needed to create a situation to coerce Mr. Bennet to agree to his marriage to this lady. He came to me this morning and said that today was to be the day for this situation to come to pass. I had thought all the while that I would be doing both Lieutenant Wickham and the young lady a service by spreading what I was to witness, but I must stress that I began to have doubts after being told off by the lady and you, Mr. Bennet, at the Netherfield Ball. I stuck to the agreement because I had given my word to Wickham as a gentleman to agree to help, and also in the case that the lady was unwilling, I would be able to help her out of the situation. We waited in the lane just inside the Longbourn estate, and when the young lady appeared, Wickham went toward her. It was quite clear to me that the young lady did not welcome his approach and appeared to be wary."

Lieutenant Chamberlayne finished by defending himself, "Colonel, sir, judging from the demeanour of the young lady while backing away from Lieutenant Wickham, I was convinced that it was not an assignation as Wickham claimed it to be and was ready to come to the lady's aid."

"Lieutenant Wickham, the accounts of both witnesses indicated clearly that you had planned and carried out an assault on the young lady of Mr. Bennet's household and on Mr. Bennet's grounds. Do you plead guilty to these charges?" demanded the Colonel.

"Sir, it is really true that Miss..."

Colonel Foster barked at him, "Desist in maligning an innocent young lady whose reputation is at risk of being ruined by your dastardly act!"

Mr. Bennet injected, "Colonel Foster, it appears that Lieutenant Wickham persisted in spreading falsehood in the face of eyewitnesses countering his claim. The young lady in question did not show any sign of welcoming Lieutenant Wickham, as Lieutenant Chamberlayne here had also asserted. In fact, she was extremely wary and had grabbed the handle of the pistol in her satchel at the approach of Lieutenant Wickham. That was why the shot rang out so fast as she had correctly assessed that the assault was imminent. The Bennet family is the leading family hereabouts and I will not hesitate to tell the other landed families about the poor discipline of the Derbyshire Militia as exemplified by the conduct of Lieutenant Wickham. Lieutenant Chamberlayne seemed young and naïve, and he had shown extremely poor judgment by agreeing to be a party of this despicable plot. However, his intent to help the young lady if needed was credible. Nonetheless, I demand the most severe punishment your command may mete out as deterrence for future instances like this one. Most importantly, I request that you keep all details of this incident secret to protect the reputation of the young lady involved. Do I have your assurance?"

"Mr. Bennet, I regret greatly that the officers in this militia should behave so basely and disturb the peace of this neighbourhood which has been extremely cordial and welcoming to this regiment. The regiment cannot condone such condemnable behaviour and will indeed use this incident as a warning. You have my word that none of what happened this morning will leave this room. I shall simply tell the regiment that Lieutenant Wickham committed a capital crime within the regiment and Lieutenant Chamberlayne was an unwitting accomplice to his scheme. I will order Lieutenant Chamberlayne be flogged, and Wickham be dishonourably discharged and hanged as such a serious crime especially while in his Majesty's service deserves the most severe punishment."

Wickham's face, as shown by the part that was not covered by the handkerchief, turned deathly pale on hearing his fate.

Mr. Bennet thought for a moment, and requested a private consultation with the colonel. Once they both stepped out of the room, Mr. Bennet continued, "After demanding the harshest punishment for Wickham, I must beg you to back off from hanging in consideration of the young lady's feelings. She does not want to have Wickham's hanging on her conscience, even though she knows she is not to be blamed in any way."

"In that case, I will order both officers to be flogged, and Lieutenant Wickham will be demoted to be an infantryman, and be sent to the frontlines on the Continent. If not for the urgent need of able bodies to fight against Bonaparte, he would have been dishonorably discharged and transported."

Mr. Bennet was acquiesced with this outcome and hurried back to Longbourn.

Lieutenant Chamberlayne was very chagrined when he heard about the flogging, but was a little pleased that his debt of honour of ten pounds would likely not be collected. Wickham, on the other hand, had gone back to be too concerned about the loss of his handsome countenance after finding out that his life had been spared. He did not have the presence of mind to digest what he would be facing as corporal punishment.

Colonel Foster ordered the two men to be led away to receive lashes immediately. Lieutenant Chamberlayne was to receive five lashes and Wickham was to receive forty.

Chapter notes:

The penal code - also called the 'Bloody Code' - during Regency was very severe. A little boy caught poaching rabbits could be put to death. Because of that, plaintiffs did sometimes end up dropping the complaints or negotiating for lighter punishments for the accused. Wickham's offence was serious indeed and he actually got off rather lightly even though forty lashes could cause very serious injury and frequently infections as well.