Chapter 44
"This is ridiculous, Matlock," blustered de Bough "Anne cannot be unwell. She is engaged to be married. It is imperative that she marry Sir Mortimer."
"We have some concerns regarding Anne. I suggest you call her down and allow these two gentlemen to examine her," Matlock said firmly.
"I've promised her to Sir Mortimer," de Bough argued again, futily.
"Be that as it may, I am demanding that as the head of the Fitzwilliam family, one of the families your Anne clings to claiming a connection with, that she be examined. "
"But she isn't, you aren't, you have no rights!"
"Are you willing to explain to Sir Mortimer why you have denied me, when I ask him to have his betrothed examined by these gentlemen? "
De Bough swallowed nervously and said, " You do not unerstand. That would place Anne in a very delicate position."
"Oh, my father understands, " Littleton said. "But I do not think you do. Anne will be examined by these men. The question remains how many people you wish to know about it."
"Anne is unwell," De Bough said nervously.
"Which is why it is imperative these men examine her. Unless you would rather see her face murder charges," Matlock said grimly.
"M-m-murder charges?" stuttered De Bough. "Dear lord, what has she done now?"
"Perhaps the better question is what has she done previously?" Littleton asked.
"If she does not marry Sir Mortimer, Mr. Lawton will expose Lady Catherine and Sir Lewis's marriage as a sham," De Bough said desperately. "I have investors for a very lucrative deal. If they pull out I lose everything."
"And I imagine finding out the actions of one de Bough will not inspire their confidence in you," Littleton said sarcastically.
"Yes. And if they pull out I have to give them their funds. I could lose my land, have to sell my estate. Give up my position as a gentleman. Damn Sir Lewis. Matthew is in some serious debt. I thought to have Matthew marry Anne, but it became apparent to me that to do so would not be wise. I desire my son's children to be healthy. So we decided to find Anne a suitor, preferably one who already had an older heir. Had I have had a better understanding of what Anne was, I would have left her at Rosings for your family to deal with. Losing her home and finding out her father lied about sucessfully betrothing Mr. Darcy and her appears to have sent her over the edge. I can understand why my cousin allowed her to believe she was betrothed to Mr. Darcy. Hattie, Mrs. Jenkinson, has expressed concern that Anne's medication is proving less effective then it was in Kent. Sir Mortimer met our requirements it seemed. I do not know why Mr. Lawton wants to see the marriage happen, but he does. The alliance my son is close to gaining will be in jeapordy if Lawton exposes Sir Lewis and Lady Catherine's marriage. His potential bride brings with her a fortune of 20,000 pounds. She is a tradesman's daughter so naturally she desires the gentlity of the de Bough name and connections," de Bough said, refusing to meet Darcy's eyes who had been listening and watching the proceedings without comment.
"The gentlity of the de Bough name and connections, or the Darcy name?" Darcy asked mildly.
De Bough stiffly admitted, "Miss Bingley has boasted to the society found in Scarbough how she anticipates wedding you soon. Knowing you would be marrying your ward, my son has assured me, Miss Bingley and her money,would likely accept an offer from him since the de Boughs are related through Anne to the Fitzwilliam and Darcy names. And Miss Bingley, it is no secret, craves a connection to the Darcy name."
"And Miss Bingley is related to my fiancee's adpotive sister's fiancee. Allowing you to stake a distant claim on the Darcy and Fitzwilliam connections. Why is your family so determined to be connected to mine?" Darcy demanded frowning.
"Because as you are apparently aware, Anne is unwell. Perhaps even dangerous. The more connections we have to you, if anything unsavory comes to light we can fall back on being connected to the Darcy name, which has been untainted for hundreds of years," Mr. de Bough said. "Mr. Bingley will welcome his sister back into his society, which thanks to his upcoming marriage and friendship with you will be of the first circles. My son's marriage to her will allow him in as well. Miss Bingley regardless of her conmection to Mr. Bingley is a welathy heorrss amd my son is determined to secure her. he connection to you is just a bonus. And just like my cousin's marriage to Lady Catherine presented him with opportunities, Matthew's marriage will ensure his creditors are paid off and that he is afforded opportunities we would otherwise not have."
Darcy shook his head in disgust. Mr. de Bough clearly knew Anne was unwell but hoped to hide that fact long enough to save him and his own sons skins. He decided against informing him that Bingley had been quite serious and determined about cutting Miss Bingley from himself. he would not be changing his mind, he and Jane when they knew for a fact they were in the right could be very firm. De Bough would end up married to a harpy that was cut off from her brother and his new connections. What Darcy wondered, was why Lawton Sr. wanted Anne to marry his brother-in-law, unless he hated the man and saw it as a fitting punishment. With a jolt he hid, Darcy wandered if Sir Mortimer was the Uncle, Allastir Lawton mentioned as being Harold's father.
With resignation in his every tone and look, Mr. de Bough, Sr. said he would allow the two doctors to examine Anne. He summoned her to them. When Anne saw the assembled men her eyes narrowed, and then spotting Darcy in a high childish voice she greeted him. When he gave a jerk of his head in a facsimile of a nod, she cried out "Is that anyway to greet your very own betrothed?"
"Anne," de Bough said but she cut him off.
Whirling to face de Bough, Anne spat at him, "Do not call me that!" Then turning back to Darcy she declared in the same high pitched voice. "Now that Fitzwilliam is here you can call me Lissy. I realized that was all I needed to do to see the marriage happen. Become Lissy. I thought I only needed daddy to help me get rid of her, but you still refused to marry me, William. You kept waiting around. Waiting for her. For fourteen years, but now I am her and we can be married."
The room was silent as everyone stared shocked at her. It did not take a doctor to see she was unwell.
…
Darcy gratefully sank into his bath water. Anne de Bough was being escorted by armed gaurds, led by Col. Fitzwilliam to bedlam. The examination and interview had been trying. He wanted nothing more then to scrub the taint he felt from being in Anne's presence from his skin and then to bask in Elizabeth's presence. When Anne suggested the best way to deal with her unwanted betrothal to Sir Mortimer was to dispose of de Bough, de Bough had paled and had decided to support having her committed, caring more for preserving his own life the the de Bough reputation. He tried suggesting committing her after her marriage to Sir Mortimer, so she would at least not bear the de Bough name. He also hoped this would make her Sir Mortimer's cross to bear rather then his. Matlock and Darcy both refused this suggestion. De bough then had the audacity to request that Anne's dowry be released to him since she would have no need of it in Bedlam. Matlock had cooly informed de Bough that Anne's dowry would go towards paying for her care.
Lady Catherine, due to the fact that she had spent Anne's life avoiding spending any time with her, claiming she was uncomfortable with her presence, something she had attributed to her own shame, had been unaware of Anne's mental state. Lady Catherine had previously disclosed she often went without seeing Anne for over a week at a time at Rosings and when she did see her, it was for as short a time as possible. Mrs. Jekinson had worked to hide it from the household after Sir Lewis's death through use of medication, which led to the beliefs that Anne was frail amd sickly. None had suspected her sickness was of the mind, rather then body.
A few men had been left to watch De Bough's house. Lawton was apparently back in England unbeknownst to his sons and had been communicating with De Bough by express, presenting himself as a friend of the deceased Sir Lewis that was concerned about Anne and how she would effect his dead friend's good name of de Bough. When Matlock had informed de Bough he was colluding with a murder and that they would not hesitate to destroy him, De Bough had decided to reveal everything he knew to them in an attempt to save himself, even providing the letters Lawton had sent him.
In one Lawton, claimed he knew of Anne's condition for several years, sighting that Anne had written him years ago requesting he present the body of Lysette Fitzwilliam to the Darcy and Fitzwilliam families. The letter had been clearly the ramblings of a madwoman. Sir Lewis had beem forced to confess to Lawton that his daughter had brief episodes where she was unwell. Therefore Lawton in the letter, made the suggestion that de Bough consider Sir Mortimer Wilder as a suitor for Anne's hand.
After an episode where Anne refused to marry any but Darcy, de Bough had written to Lawton seeking his help in extracting Anne from the potential betrothal with Sir Mortimer, because during that episode it had become clear that Anne could no longer keep the secret of her father's actions, and might reveal them to Sir Mortimer's household. De Bough wished to dissipate the verbal agreement with Sir Mortimer without having to reveal to him the reason for doing so or pay any sort of forfeit for breaking his verbal agreement. He also need something to do with Anne since it appeared marriage was out of the question. That was when Lawton had responded, informing de Bough that if the marriage to Sir Mortimer did not go through, he would expose Sir Lewis's double marriages and that de Bough had known about it, causing him to lose all his investors. He had demanded a show of good faith that the betrothal would go through, hence the announcement in the papers.
Questioning of De Bough revealed he was unaware that Lawton had possibly played a role in Sir Lewis's death or that Sir Mortimer was Lawton's brother-in-law. Darcy reflected grimly that perhaps had he been aware of more surrounding the relationship between Sir Lewis amd Lawton Sr. he would not have been so foolish as to trust him. As it was Lawton Sr. apparently had managed to get de Bough on his hook and was reeling him in. What he had not counted on was that the current Earl was nothing like his father and while the previous Earl had been pleased to marry off a daughter that was on the shelf without looking into matters, the current Earl had learned from his father's mistake. Or perhaps Lawton Sr. did not think that it mattered that there was a connection between him and Sir Mortimer, believing that his own role in the events with the Fitzwilliams remained concealed. After all it was only by chance that Bingley knew the younger Lawton son and Elizabeth had recognized him. If not for that chance meeting, they would not know of him, other then the fact that Allastir Lawton claimed he intended to meet with the Fitzwilliam family when he came to town even before Elizabeth saw Harold Lawton. A fact Allastir certainly would have concealed from his father.
Darcy hoped that the investigator working with Gardiner would soon have proof of not just unsavory buisness practices, but illegal ones. The letters of an insane woman and the words of Allastir Lawton were enough to charge Lawton with conspiracy to commit murder but they did not guarantee a conviction, despite the fact that it was an Earl that would be bringing the charges against Lawton Sr. They had no concrete evidence, but if they could prove Lawton Sr acted illegally in other matters it would help implicate his actions in this, strengthening Allistar Lawton's words and undermining Lawton Sr's words. No judge would believe the words of a man already proven to lie.