Chapter 14
Just when Louisa thought she was running in the wrong direction, she saw the lights of the house up ahead. She banged on the door with all of her remaining energy. The butler who was about to retire, opened the door with the Duke's two huge bodyguards on either side of him, pistols in hand.
Hurst, who had gone to see what the commotion was all about, was astounded to see the out-of-breath lady in the doorway. "Miss Bingley, what on earth is the matter?" It was then he saw blood on her dress where she had tried to wipe Elizabeth's head.
"My mother—and sister—attacked Elizabeth," Louisa managed between breaths.
"Where is she?" Hurst asked.
"Abandoned hunting lodge, near the border with Netherfield Park," Louisa got out as her breathing began to settle. She told them Longbourn's coachman should be watching over her by now.
"I know where it is," Nichols stated. Just then the Duke, Colonel, and Major, having dressed again, arrived at the door too.
"What is this?" the Duke asked. Hurst related what he knew succinctly. Within minutes, with Nichols leading the way, the men were off. Neither Dragoon officer let a little thing like an injury keep them from joining the large group of men that rode out.
The men arrived at the old hunting lodge about the same time as the Duke and his riders. Lord William left the others to interrogate the man while he burst into the lodge. He found his love, he admitted to himself that very night he had fallen in love with Elizabeth Bennet, lying on the floor, thankfully covered with blankets.
He would allow no other man to touch her and picked up the petite prone form on the floor. He allowed Biggs to hold her while he climbed up onto Zeus. Once he was seated, she was handed up to him. He sat her in front of him and with one hand held her close to his chest.
"Is there a doctor here abouts?" the Duke asked.
"Yes, your Grace, Mr. Jones is both a physician and an apothecary. His sister is Miss Elizabeth's companion," Nichols informed his master.
"Have a man summon him with all speed," the Duke ordered. Nichols sent a footman on his way to do the master's bidding. The Duke and his two bodyguards took off for Netherfield with Nichols trailing them.
It did not take long for Richard to get all of the story from the coachman, including Mrs. Bennet's lies, her seduction of him, and her threats. Miss Bingley had told some of the story and what the man told matched what she had said.
Richard instructed him to wait an hour and then return the manor house. He was to tell the disgusting woman the deed was done and, in the morning, come to Netherfield to collect Miss Bingley. The man agreed without question knowing what could happen if he did not cooperate. Soon, the rest of the men were on the way back to Netherfield.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The Duke almost rode Zeus up the front stairs, but he stopped him at the base of the stairs. She had to live, he was not willing to lose her now that he had found the first and only woman he would love. He handed her down to Biggs and then retrieved her as soon as his feet were on the ground.
Miss Bingley, Lady Georgiana, and the housekeeper were waiting for him in the entrance hall. The former two could not hold their tears back when they saw him holding the limp body in his arms. "She lives," he assured them.
"I have a chamber ready next to Lady Georgiana's your Grace," Mrs. Nichols informed her master. There was no thought of handing Elizabeth to a footman, the Duke carried her to the bedchamber himself. He placed her gently onto the bed.
"Your Grace, we must undress her and prepare her for Mr. Jones," Mrs. Nichols informed her master.
"Yes of course," the Duke said, not a little embarrassed as he had not moved since placing her on the bed.
"Oh my goodness!" Lady Georgiana exclaimed once they had Elizabeth undressed. She had large red welts on her legs and torso. There were a few impressions of a lady's dancing slipper, if one could use that particular term for one who perpetrated such evil.
Not long after, there was a knock on the door and Mr. Jones entered. He asked Louisa and the housekeeper to remain as he examined Elizabeth. Georgiana joined her brother and the rest of the men waiting anxiously in the hall.
Less than an hour later, which seemed like an eternity to the Duke, Mr. Jones emerged from the chambers. "What are you able to tell us Mr. Jones?" the Duke asked nervously hoping the news was not what he feared more than anything.
"She is unconscious but beathing normally. Her left forearm is broken as is her left leg between the knee and ankle. It looks like one of those—those females," Mr. Jones could not bring himself to call them ladies, "stomped on her leg, and another on her arm. Thankfully, I do not detect any broken ribs, but that is not to say the Miss Elizabeth's injuries are not serious. They are, but unless she has an uncontrollable fever, I believe she will be well—in time."
"Should I summon my doctor and a surgeon from Town?" the Duke asked.
"It surely will not hurt, and a surgeon will be able to make sure her bones are set as they should be," Mr. Jones replied.
"Hurst," the Duke turned to his private secretary, "Have Mr. Bartholomew brought from London with all haste and make sure he brings the absolute best surgeon with him."
"Yes, your Grace," Hurst headed to the study to write the notes. It was a full moon so a courier would be dispatched that very night.
"We need to summon the magistrate," the Duke stated.
"If I may your Grace," Louisa interjected as she stepped out of her friend's suite. "Elizabeth is conscious and requesting your presence, I believe she wants to address the subject you are talking of now."
The last word was barely out of Miss Bingley's mouth before the Duke was at Elizabeth's bedside. "Please do not exert yourself, you need to rest," William took her uninjured right hand and squeezed it.
Elizabeth winced with pain, almost sending the Duke charging toward Longbourn to claim justice on her behalf by his own hand. "I want them left alone until I can confront them, I want to see their faces when they see me and I have them arrested," Elizabeth said.
"I do not know if you know this, but I am a distant cousin of the royals, meaning you are as well now. What they committed was treason; they will go to the tower for this," he explained.
Louisa gasped but then schooled her features. "They must pay the price they are due for what they have done! I have my family, and that is you Lizzy!"
"When they are dealt with you will be a Bennet Lulu; I will not allow them to taint your name." She turned her head slowly to her cousin. "William, I have told Lulu, Miss Bingley, what I want done. I know that I will be sleeping most of the time but please make sure my sister receives all the help she needs," Elizabeth beseeched.
"Anything for you Elizabeth, anything!" the Duke exclaimed with meaning.
"Time for me to administer the laudanum Miss Elizabeth, you need to sleep so your body is able to heal," Mr. Jones told her as he held a dose of the thick brown liquid to her lips which she drank. Once she was sleeping, a maid sat as the rest vacated her bedchamber.
"What does my cousin want?" the Duke asked when all were seated in the family sitting room.
"Mrs. Bennet and her daughter do not know Lizzy's writing. I am to write a letter saying that she has decided to make a long summer visit like she used to for at least three months." No one missed that Miss Bingley refused to call them mother and sister. "I will tell Mrs. Bennet Lizzy passed from her injuries and I and the coachman disposed of her body in the morning. She will see the letter as a way of explaining why Lizzy, or as they call her Cinder-Liza, is way from home."
"Cinder-Liza?" Richard asked angrily. He wished that he and Wickham were allowed to go visit the two women and show them some of the things they had learnt in the army.
Louisa explained how the name came about. It did nothing to curtail the desire of the men to ride to Longbourn and string the two perpetrators up to the nearest tree of sufficient height. "I completely understand from the thunderous looks on your faces you would like nothing more than to punish those two right now." All four nodded. "Elizabeth wants things done her way, and knowing her, I believe we should honour her wishes."
The men reluctantly agreed after the Duke relayed her request, she made of him before she was put into a laudanum induced sleep. "It will be as my cousin wants," the Duke stated.
After wishing the men goodnight. Louisa accepted Mr. Hurst's arm as he escorted her to her bedchamber, across the shared sitting room from her sister.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
"By now Cinder-Liza is ruined!' Caroline Bingley crowed.
"I too am excited Caroline," her mother retorted, "however, we must be circumspect about what we say in this house, or anywhere in public. Let us wait for Louisa to return.
Neither was aware that Louisa was currently meeting with the Hills telling them their mistress's plan and enlisting their help. When she finished meeting with the Hills, she walked until she met the carriage in the lane. Once inside, the coachman drove them to Longbourn's front door.
Knowing Mrs. Bennet and her daughter would be in their bedchambers she plastered a smile on her face and entered her mother's chambers when she heard her sister's grating voice within. She made a show of looking up and down the hall to make sure there were no servants, in the vicinity, as had been arranged with the Hills. Louisa closed the door and with her finger to her lips indicated the other two should be quiet.
"Cinder-Liza died from her injuries last night," Louisa told them with a smile.
"What are we to do? We will be hung!" We should have regulated our righteous anger," Martha worried.
"I am glad she is dead; I hope she is with her uppity sister in hell!" Caroline allowed her vitriol free rein.
"I am not unhappy she is dead, but how will we get away with this?" Martha asked.
"You remember you told me I was not clever for no reason?" Louisa looked at Martha who nodded emphatically.
"I thought you said eating was all she was good at, Mama," Caroline added nastily.
"Silence Caroline!" Martha gave her youngest a rare rebuke. "Tell us Louisa!"
"I wrote a letter as I am able to ape her handwriting, telling Mrs. Hill she left on one of her long trips, you know like she took each summer?" Martha nodded. "In three or four months, I will receive another letter from her, and she will decide to live there for a long time and appoint me to run the estate in her stead," Louisa spun her yarn.
"You are so clever Louisa! In three months we will get what is due us!" Martha exclaimed.
"Mayhap before then," Louisa replied ambiguously. "In the mean time, we all need to act as if everything is as it has always been. We do not want to raise the solicitor or her uncle's suspicion. You cannot try to sell anything or do anything you would not were Cinder-Liza here with us. Please tell me you understand."
"I do not see why it should be so," Caroline whined. Louisa was happy to note that besides a split lip, Caroline was missing two teeth from the front of her mouth.
"You sister has the right of it Caroline, we need to be patient, if we are not we will be in gaol or worse, swing, before we ever enjoy the fruits of our labour," Martha stated.
"If you put it like that Mama, then I suppose it must be," Caroline pouted like the child she was.
Before I leave, I must pack a trunk full of her clothing and possessions and her book Utopia," Louisa informed Mrs. Bennet.
"For what do you need that?" Caroline asked already planning to rifle through her stepsister's things.
"Because Caroline it must be like every other time she travelled. Her letter asks for her trunk to be forwarded to her. The coachman will take me and the trunk to some remote location and we will bury it."
"You have thought of everything my clever girl," Martha praised. Louisa's skin crawled but she managed not to show her true feelings.
With that, Louisa stood and went up to her sister's chamber making sure that she folded all of her clothing just so. Her prised book was placed right on the top. Two footmen carried the trunk to waiting carriage. Once Miss Bingley was seated, the coachman departed—just not for the location the would-be murderers believed it to be travelling.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
With the winds on their side, the packet ship from Nassau carrying the all-important letters from the Bennets announcing their being alive, as well as one from Lord St. John confirming their identity, met a ship from England at the about halfway mark at a predetermined location. The crews made the exchanges and after taking fresh stores on board, each ship started the return voyage from whence they came.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
"I feel like I need to bathe after being in the company of those two!" Louisa related the cavalier attitude of Mrs. Bennet and her daughter at the news they had murdered Elizabeth.
Mr. Phillips was present and as far as they knew, the Gardiners and their three young children were on the way from London. While Miss Bingley was collecting Elizabeth's clothing and possessions at Longbourn, Mr. Bartholomew and the surgeon, one Jackson Harrison had arrived. The two were assessing her state with Mr. Jones while the group were talking in the sitting room.
Louisa had not mentioned her brother's request to meet her to anyone, however, she felt it was important, so she was determined to keep her appointment with him on the morrow. She could not put her finger on it, and now was not the time for her to contemplate her brother, but there was something different about him.
"Are you sure that Lizzy does not want me to have those worthless women arrested and Longbourn purged of their presence?" Jacob Phillips asked. He knew what his late friend had written, but he also knew that for Elizabeth to want to wait, she had a good reason to do so.
"I am sure Mr. Phillips, she was specific about the fact that she wishes to be there when they see that had nor killed her—only themselves. It may sound callous of me to talk of the woman who bore me into this world in such a way, however, she stopped being my mother years ago and kept feeding my sister's false sense of worth. Nobody forced them to do what they did to Lizzy. Further, what they planned to do was so far beyond the pale that if I had not broken with them before, there would have been no choice for me," Louisa stated with emotion.
"As I was with my cousin when she made her wishes known, I am able to verify Miss Bennet's version of what her sister said completely." The Duke looked at Louisa meaningfully. It was the first time anyone called her by the last name her sister bestowed on her and how well it sounded.
The Duke explained that it had not been a slip of the tongue but what his cousin wanted. Everyone present understood for the present in public Louisa would still go by Miss Bingley until the criminals were arrested.
Mr. Nichols cleared his throat. "Your Grace, your cousin's housekeeper and butler are here to enquire after her, they are with my wife in the kitchens."
"Please show them to this sitting room Nichols," the Duke allowed.
A few minutes later, Mr. and Mrs. Hill entered the room nervously. "We apologise for disturbing your Grace, we just need to know how our girl is doing. She is the only one of the three left; we could not endure losing her too," Mrs. Hill said with much emotion.
"You will not lose her madam," Dr. Bartholomew assured them as he and Mr. Harrison entered the sitting room with Mr. Jones trailing them.
"Do you have an update on my cousin, doctors?" Richard asked hopefully.
Before the doctor could answer Nichols announced a new pair of visitors, "Lord Andrew and Lady Marie Fitzwilliam, Viscount and Viscountess Hilldale."
"Andy! Marie!" Richard pushed himself out of his chair and hobbled over to his brother and sister and hugged them both. "Where are my nephew and niece?"
"James and Amy are in the nursery with their nursemaids, they are a little tired after our mad dash from Holder Heights," Marie informed her brother. "How is my cousin?" Marie saw Mr. and Mrs. Hill and immediately hugged her cousin's beloved housekeeper.
"The doctors were about to give us a report when you interrupted us," the Duke said with a grin. Given his doctor's opening remark, he was feeling a lot more optimistic about Elizabeth.
Before the report could be given, Edward and Maddie Gardiner were announced. Six year old Lilly was holding her mother's hand. "Eddie and May have joined your two in the nursery Marie," Madeline Gardiner informed her cousin my marriage.
"Now perhaps the doctors will finally give us their report," Jacob Phillips stated.
"As I was saying before the new arrivals, Miss Elizabeth will survive. As bad as the injuries to her arm and leg are, thankfully, they sustained most of the blows. She was extremely lucky that her chest was hardly impacted at all and the few that did were weak blows. The wound to her head was superficial and although she did lose consciousness, she shows no symptoms of concussion. Neither myself nor Mr. Harrison would have done aught differently. Mr. Jones did a stellar job," Mr. Bartholomew reported. There was a collective sigh of relief from the room.
"I examined both the arm and the leg. Luckily, both we clean breaks from everything that my examination revealed and there is no need to make any changes to the splints that our local colleague applied," Mr. Harrison added his assessment.
"I agree with Miss Elizabeth's decision, and we do not want her on laudanum in the long-term. As of tomorrow, she will be placed on sleeping drafts to help her rest, ones with no opiates in them," Mr. Jones concluded.
"Would you and Mr. Harrison remain for a sennight just to make sure that there are no complications?" the Duke asked his personal physician. The two men conferred briefly.
"I am able to remain, but Mr. Harrison needs to be back n London in two days your Grace," Mr. Bartholomew replied.
"Thank you doctors," the Duke thanked and dismissed them at the same time.
Both the arriving Fitzwilliams and Gardiners had the same question: "What happened?"
Between everyone present who knew pieces of the story, all was related. When it was done, both Andrew Fitzwilliam and Edward Gardiner had to be restrained from riding to Longbourn and doing what the other four men desired to do the day after the attack. With some reasoning by those same four men, they were able to calm down the new arrivals.
" Mr. and Mrs. Hill, where do those two think you are?" Madeline Gardiner asked.
"It is our half day Mrs. Gardiner. Those two care naught for us servants, so they would not have thought to ask in any event," Mrs. Hill replied.
"Miss Elizabeth is awake," a maid reported timidly. It was quickly decided that two at a time would visit the sickroom for as long as she was able to bear it. First were her Uncle Edward and Cousin Marie.
On Elizabeth seeing Marie, the tears for their lost families ran freely from both. Gardiner kissed his niece's forehead and withdrew allowing the cousins time alone. "Lizzy it is just us," Marie said between sobs. I am so glad the doctors say you will recover. I could not lose you as well, you are the last Bennet."
"When did you and Andrew arrive, and did you bring my little cousins?" Elizabeth asked.
"In the last two hours and yes, Jamie and Amy are here. We are not going anywhere until you are back on your feet, and you rid Longbourn of the infestation of criminals!" Marie stated firmly.
"As much as I appreciate the sentiment, you and Andrew have your own lives Marie, I cannot ask you to put them on hold…" Elizabeth started to say and stopped when her cousin raised her hand.
"Elizabeth Rose Bennet! We are not leaving. Remember I have as much, if not more of the Bennet stubbornness in me as you so, accept it graciously little cousin of mine," Marie stated with a challenging glint in her eye. Elizabeth raised her good hand in surrender.
"I see you have discovered my wife does not appreciate being gainsaid," Andrew said as he entered the bedchamber.
"She is like she always was all of the years I have known her," Elizabeth stated with arched eyebrow.
"You two know I am in the bedchamber as well, do you not?" Marie interjected with mock effrontery.
After a few minutes, Marie and Andrew both noticed their cousin's eyelids drooping. They wished her a good sleep and returned to the sitting room to inform their friends and family the patient was asleep again.
When they heard the name Bingley mentioned by someone, they both looked at Louisa with suspicion until they were enlightened about her. Not long after, Marie and Andrew had requested their adopted cousin Louisa to call them by their familiar names.
