Although she had no idea how Mr. Darcy, the avenging angel, had so suddenly arrived to save her, Lizzy was not going to argue with his methods. She only wished he could land another satisfying punch in Mr. Wickham's face.

Tony's nasty friend was not so brave when faced with a formidable opponent. Instead of continuing the fight, he rolled out of reach and then ran off around the bend. Mr. Darcy seemed poised to run after him, but then suddenly turned back to her. It was only then that she realized she had called out his name.

Within moments he was gently helping her back up onto her feet. Although her head was still not clear, she did notice how he stepped back to give her plenty of space as soon as she was steady.

"Miss Elizabeth! Are you harmed?" he asked. She could hear the worry in his voice.

"I...I think not. I will probably have a few bruises but he did not manage the harm he intended," she said as she absently rubbed at her throat. It felt bruised and a little swollen where Mr. Wickham had pressed so heavily against it. Her wrists ached as well, along with a spot on her back where a branch stub had dug into her while she was held against the tree. She felt dirty, disheveled and tired, but she was also curious. "How did you get here?"

He was still viewing her with concern as he answered, "I have been tracking Wickham and Jamison for a few hours now, ever since I got word Jamison had tried to disrupt the carter and steal some of the books. I hear you put him in his place."

As she tried to decide how or if to answer his last comment, she heard the pound of hooves on the path. Mr. Wickham rode swiftly around the corner and off beyond the spruce trees. She knew there was a shortcut to the road from the other side of the wood and wondered if Mr. Wickham knew it as well. She could see Mr. Darcy was trying to decide whether to follow or to stay with her.

"You need to stop him from hurting anyone else, Mr. Darcy. I will be fine. Go."

"I need to ensure you get back to Longbourn without further harm," he insisted.

She could tell he was worried, but with Mr. Wickham gone, she would be safe enough, Lizzy thought. "It is not far and lies in the opposite direction from the way he just went. Please, I can make it."

"Lieutenant Denny of the militia is also working with Jamison and Wickham," Darcy explained, much to her surprise. "He met with them at the Green Sow in Larchton, and left with them as well. He had not returned to the encampment when I checked a short while ago, and he might have come around here looking for trouble just like Wickham. Allow me to at least escort you to a point where we have a clear view of the path to the house. Then if anyone causes you trouble you will be close enough to get help by shouting for it."

His plan made sense. After Wickham's attack, she did not want to chance another one from Lieutenant Denny. However, she also needed some solitary time to think. While she tried to work out what to do, he picked up her box from the ground and held it out to her.

"You will not want to forget this after having taken the trouble to come out here for it," he said.

She accepted it automatically, tucking the box back under her arm, which she had long ago found was the easiest way to carry it. Now she had something more to puzzle over, since he obviously knew it was hers and might even know what was in it.

He turned to go get his horse. Lizzy decided to simply set off. She did not want to talk and, much as she liked and appreciated him, his proximity had been making her nervous despite his obvious efforts to avoid just that.

Lizzy walked quickly along the curving path. As she passed the point where she could still look over and see him, she realized it made her just as nervous to have him out of her sight as it did to have him standing right next to her. She stepped back and waited while he caught hold of his horse's reins and began to lead the animal her way.

Keeping track of him out of the corner of her eye, she began to walk again, staying just within viewing distance of him. He sped up, trying to close the gap between them, but she walked just a little faster. When she realized he had noticed her need for relative privacy and stabilized his pace to match hers, she relaxed a little.

Lizzy had wanted to think about him, the box, Tony, Wickham, Lieutenant Denny and all the rest, but she could not order her thoughts. Forget Jane's vision of an ice-covered pond yet again. The thought frogs jumping in her own imaginary ornamental pond had turned into stomping elephants, or what she imagined elephants must look like, having never seen one before. The waters of the pond splashed under their great feet and she wondered if any liquid would be left to become calm once their rampage was done. She would find no serenity that way.

Her throat ached, and she kept rubbing at it while she walked. That probably was not the wisest thing to do, but her free hand kept at it without any instructions from her mind. She caught herself doing it again as she stopped at a point where she could see the rest of her way back to the house clearly.

Mr. Darcy quickly caught up. She spoke as soon as he was likely to hear without her having to raise her voice.

"I will be safe from here, Mr. Darcy. I hope you will be able to catch up with Mr. Wickham quickly."

He came close, but not so close as to make her nervous again. "I will do my best. I know your father has not been the most active or reliable of guardians, but I beg you to let him know what has happened as soon as you have assured your sisters of your safety. He may not be able to confront Jamison himself, but he can give orders for your protection. I think he will if he knows Wickham was involved. Please stay close to your sisters and be safe. Bingley and my cousin may have already arrived here or could soon. They will also help protect you all from Jamison, Wickham and Denny."

At the list of names and his offer of protection, her mind cleared enough to remember that this man had saved her from damage and ruin. She looked up at him, right into the deep blue eyes that were filled obvious concern for her. No words would be enough, but she had to attempt to thank him.

"I am very grateful for your help, Mr. Darcy. I should not have been so foolish as to be caught out there alone and I almost paid the price. I will ask that you also be safe. Just because he did not bring out a weapon then does not mean Mr. Wickham might not have one at your next encounter." Lizzy started to turn away, not really able to keep meeting his gaze. A thought struck her and she added. "Women are not supposed to approve of violence, but I will say it did me a great deal of good to see you punch Mr. Wickham in the face."

Not wanting to see any disapproval or other negative reactions from him, she whipped around and resumed her walk back to the house. He was right that she needed to tell her father. She and Jane would have to leave as soon as possible. Thankfully Mary would be safe at Netherfield after her wedding the following day. Perhaps she could invite Kitty to stay with her. Lydia would probably be safe enough at Longbourn. Tony seemed to like her and lately Mrs. Bennet was keeping a very close eye on her as well.

As she neared the stable, she suddenly remembered Mr. Darcy's comment about assuring her sisters of her safety. He must have talked with Jane. That was how he knew where she would be, although she doubted Jane would have told him about her lace-making even if she was worried. At any rate, he was right that she needed to see Jane first and then go talk to her father. It was time for him to let go and allow Uncle Gardiner to take over guardianship of her and Jane. Even with Mr. Darcy, Mr. Bingley and the Colonel to oppose Tony, she and Jane would not be safe at Longbourn any longer. As Mr. Wickham had proved, Tony would use his friends to revenge himself on her and Jane for their very existence in addition to all the slights, real and imagined, that he attributed to them.

Lizzy quickly crossed the yard and made it to the kitchen door. As she slipped inside, the cook looked up from her work.

"I sent tea into the music room a little while ago for your sisters. They are worried about you, Miss Lizzy. Do you want Bobby to take you through to them?"

"Yes, please, Mrs. Fowler. I would rather not run into Tony on the way."

The cook's son jumped up from whatever task he had been at in the corner as the cook said, "I do not know if he has returned again, but it is better to be safe. Bobby, keep a good eye out."

The boy assured his mother he would be careful. Slipping ahead of Lizzy, he took her along the quickest route to the music room, peering around corners as they went.

As they neared their goal, Lizzy asked, "Do you know if my father is in his study or his sitting room?"

"Mr. Hill said the master planned to stay upstairs in his sitting room today," Bobby told her.

"I want to speak with my sisters for a moment, but then I will need to go up to my father. Would you wait out here in the hall and escort me there?"

Bobby smiled. "Of course, Miss Lizzy."

She heard music as they neared the room. Stepping inside, Lizzy discovered Jane softly playing something that sounded like a lullaby. Mary sat upright in a chair with her head leaned back and her eyes closed. The finished gown was spread out over the back of a sofa. It looked absolutely perfect to Lizzy.

Kitty looked up from where she was trying to embroider a small flower on the end of a bonnet ribbon. "Lizzy! What happened to you? You look like you fell out of a tree. There is bark in your hair. Some twigs as well."

Mary's eyes popped open, and Jane stopped playing. Lizzy quickly reassured them.

"I am fine. Honestly, I am. Mr. Wickham caught me by surprise and tried to attack me, but Mr. Darcy stopped him. However, I fear that none of us are completely safe here. Jane, I am going up to insist that Papa give over guardianship of us to Uncle Gardiner. We can take the post to London tomorrow, right after Mary's wedding."

"Is there still time to take the post today?" Mary asked. "I do not want you to stay in danger just for a few minutes in the church with me. This gown will provide me with a constant reminder of your loving support."

Lizzy smiled at Mary's honest appreciation of their work. It was a shame they would be parting just as all four of them were becoming so close.

"We are a little too late for the coach that goes direct to the station closest to Uncle's house. Since he does not know we are coming, it would be far too dangerous to end up in any of the other stations after dark without his carriage there waiting to pick us up. Bobby is just outside to escort me up to Papa's sitting room. I will come back down to talk with you as soon as I have spoken to our father."

"Go carefully," Jane said. "We have not seen or heard Tony return, but he could do so at any time."

Lizzy nodded and left, placing her box on a table just inside the room on her way out. Jane would look after it. Even if Kitty or Mary opened it, the secret was no longer that important.

She had not realized before that she had bark and branches in her hair or that her hair was even exposed. She must have lost her bonnet at the start of the scuffle by the woods, and neither she nor Mr. Darcy had noticed it. The ribbons had not been tied properly, just crossed over one another once, so it could have been easily knocked from her head. Lizzy certainly had no intention of going back to look for it. She had another. That one could stay in the woods until it fell to pieces or some small creature used it as a home.

As Bobby led the way down the hall and up the servant stairs, Lizzy briefly considered stopping by her room to clean up. She just as quickly decided that her father needed to see the evidence of what had happened to her. That would reduce the chances he would laugh the attack off as nothing more than the product of an overactive imagination or an exaggeration of some completely innocent interaction.

At the door to her father's rooms, she thanked Bobby for his help. It had been a relief to have the company even if Tony was not around, and the boy was too small to feel like a threat to her.

"You just ring the bell if you need me again, Miss Lizzy," Bobby said. "No one below stairs wants to see you hurt and my mam has told me helping you and Miss Jane comes before any other duty."

"Well, you thank your mother for me as well," she said. He nodded happily and headed off as Lizzy knocked on her father's door.

The door was opened partway by Mr. Hill. The housekeeper's husband served as her father's valet among his other duties. Since her father's illness had progressed he had spent more and more of his time tending to the master and less on other things.

He looked at her in surprise and said, "Are you well, Miss Lizzy? You look as though you have fallen out of a tree."

"You are not the first person to mention that to me, Mr. Hill. I did not fall from a tree, but I do need to tell my father what happened. Is he awake?"

"He is nearing the time for his next dose, so he is awake, cranky and reasonably lucid."

"Stop gossiping in the doorway, Hill, and let my daughter enter," came her father's very cranky voice from inside, followed by a few rasping coughs.

Mr. Hill stepped back, opening the door wide so Lizzy could enter. She quickly did, going to stand in front of her father's chair, absently rubbing at the sore spot on her neck.

Mr. Bennet looked her up and down before saying, "Well, if you did not fall out of a tree, what happened to leave you in such a state?"

"I assume you know that Tony returned this morning and tried to stop the carters from taking away all the books?"

Mr. Bennet nodded once. She continued.

"I stopped him with a reminder that theft from someone of power and influence like Mr. Darcy would have far more serious consequences than his thefts from you, which have carried none." Her father looked slightly ashamed, but she did not allow him the chance to interrupt. "When he heard that Mr. Darcy had purchased the books, he rushed out of the house and rode off somewhere. A little while later, I decided that while he was still absent it was a good time to retrieve something I keep hidden in the spruce wood."

Mr. Bennet broke in while she took a breath. "Would this be whatever it is that takes you out on walks during which you are not actually seen walking anywhere around the property?"

"Yes, it would," she replied. It was time for him to understand. "For the last seven years, Jane and I have been doing piecework that we sell in London for funds we have saved to support us when either you pass on or Mrs. Bennet finally managed to throw us from the house. Nearly all of our allowance and everything we have earned has gone into that fund and between us we could live respectably, if we are frugal, until the interest from our dowries comes available for our use. Of course, we could not have done the work if Mrs. Bennet had been aware of it, so whenever we are forced to return to this house, we have had to hide our labors. I have a secret spot in those trees where I make lace for sale."

All the emotions that had been swirling inside her since Wickham's attack came out in her voice as she continued. "While I know you have paid me slightly more attention than my sisters, you have never been someone I could depend on for any kind of protection. I knew you had made no financial provision for any of us, just as you have never bothered to take any definitive action to stop Tony from becoming what he is. Jane and I understood we would have to provide for ourselves and be prepared to provide for our sisters as well, should Mr. Phillips not be willing to support them. We have also known that if we were here when you died, we would have to leave as quickly as we possibly could because of threats Tony has made towards us. His mother would do nothing to assist us or stop him. We had already planned to return to London some time this week whether you and Mrs. Bennet approved or not. I was not about to leave what I had labored to make behind, even if we do now have the funds from your sale of the books to support us. As I left the safety of the woods, I was attacked by Tony's friend, Mr. Wickham." She spat the name out like a curse each time she spoke it. "He intended to have his way with me, encouraged to it by Tony in revenge for my stopping him from taking any of the books...or so Mr. Wickham said in amongst his other vile comments and threats. Apparently, Tony also told Mr. Wickham where he was most likely to find me if I was away from the house. Because we have had to take the post to and from London so frequently, Uncle Gardiner has taught Jane and me several techniques to defend ourselves. Even using those was not enough to stop Mr. Wickham, although I will say I delayed his designs. Fortunately, Mr. Darcy arrived before Mr. Wickham succeeded in choking me into submission. He pulled Mr. Wickham from me, fought with him and drove him off. After escorting me nearly home, Mr. Darcy is now searching for Tony, Mr. Wickham and one of the militia officers who is in league with them."

Lizzy was breathing hard as she finished, as if she had run a long-distance race. Facing her, Mr. Bennet's gaunt face had gone ashen. He seemed to be having trouble breathing himself. For a moment, Lizzy thought she might have killed him with her angry outburst. Then, he seemed to master himself.

"Hill, get those papers from the writing desk," he said sharply to the valet, who had been listening to the whole conversation from near the door, the man's own distress at her recitation showing in his face.

Lizzy waited. She had said her piece for the moment, and needed to recover her calm. She still planned to demand her father sign over guardianship to Uncle Gardiner before she left the room, but she wanted to find out what he intended to do first.

Mr. Hill went to the writing desk and removed a small bundle of folded and sealed documents. He brought them back and handed them to Mr. Bennet before retreating back to his earlier position. Mr. Bennet looked at the papers with an expression Lizzy could not interpret, although she doubted it was positive in any way.

"I had intended to give these to you tomorrow, after you came back from Mary's wedding. Phillips drew them up for me on Friday. In these papers you will find a transfer of guardianship to Gardiner for you and Jane, along with a provision for Kitty should she choose to return to London with you. Phillips said she has been more in your company than Lydia's of late, although he will take guardianship of her should she prefer to remain with her mother and youngest sister. Along with that is a copy of my most recent will, which explicitly puts the trust funds from the sale of the books outside the reach of Mr. Collins. The last document allows Gardiner to take over as administrator for the trust funds of any of you for whom he is legal guardian. There is also a letter from me to Gardiner with some more information. If you are willing to travel all the way in the wagon, I will send you and Jane to London today, as soon as you can be packed, along with a maid and a groom in addition to the driver for protection. I do not know when Mrs. Bennet will return or I would send you in the carriage."

Lizzy breathed out slowly. "Thank you. We will be fine in the wagon. I had planned to ask for the change of guardianship before I left this room. I appreciate not having to beg for it."

"I know that I should have either put my foot down and insisted Mrs. Bennet treat you decently or put a stop to all the back and forth you have done and have just given guardianship over to Gardiner years ago when he first asked. As with the books, I could not let go until death was staring me in the eyes. I am sorry."

There was no response Lizzy could make to that - not without either exploding or sobbing, anyway. She waited to see if he had anything else to say. After a moment, he did.

"I should have known you would both be preparing for your future and doing what was my duty for me. I am heartily ashamed of myself. I knew you received a dowry as an inheritance that was outside what your mother brought to the marriage, but Gardiner never told me how much and to my shame, I never bothered to ask. I just used it as an excuse to do nothing more and because I was doing nothing for you, I did nothing for the others as well. You, Jane and Mary have done the sensible thing in a most impressive way and it humbles me."

He hesitated again, took a deep breath and then added. "I am glad you and Jane are very little like me and very much like your mother and her younger brother. She would truly have been proud of you both. It is a shame I was not kinder and more proud of her when I had the chance to be. I suppose Gardiner has probably told you I was essentially tricked into marrying Dorothea. Even though it saved me the trouble of finding a wife and gave a moderate boost to my income from her dowry, I always rather resented her. When all she produced were daughters, I resented her and the two of you who survived even more. It was only your thirst for learning that changed my attitude and even that was not enough to change my habits. I should have taught you and provided for you better—all five of you—and, having taken Tony as my stepson, I should have made a man instead of a beast of him. It is too late now, but I can still give you this tiny bit of protection and freedom from fear."

"Thank you, Papa," Lizzy said, having trouble getting words out over the lump in her throat. She took the packet that he now offered to her.

Mr. Bennet softly said, "I have not earned the right to ask, but if you see no harm in satisfying my new-found curiosity, how much is your dowry from your great-grandmother's bequest?"

"You must know that Uncle Gardiner kept it secret to avoid having us be subject to fortune hunters and because he did not trust your new wife, as Mrs. Bennet was then. The will specified that the fund be evenly divided between all of mother's surviving daughters and placed in trust as our dowries. Our uncle could not pull money from it or invest it any other way than a deposit in the four percents. We are not allowed to even access the interest until the age of twenty-six, so that is added to the principle at the end of every year. Uncle Gardiner could probably have made the fund even larger had he been allowed to invest it, but even as it was, the fifteen thousand pounds that came to each of us has doubled in the intervening years."

He shook his head. "And I was feeling proud of having come up with Mary's dowry...so, you are both very wealthy women, but would have had to starve for five more years if you had not earned yourself a living." He sighed. "I meant it when I said it before, and I mean it now. I am sorry. I know this will probably be the last time I ever see you and all I can see is how I have failed you. I am glad Mr. Darcy was there to save you from Wickham. I believe Mr. Darcy is the best of men, Lizzy, and you would not go far wrong trusting him if you encounter him in the future. The Darcys have always been honorable men. For now, though, it is wisest for you and Jane to leave. I wish you well."

All her remaining anger drained out of her at the sight of the weak and broken man admitting to his absolute failure as a husband, father and even a man. Lizzy gently hugged him and said her farewell. She might never fully forgive him for his failings, and his repentance was too little too late, but she loved him despite all that.

She stopped just before reaching the doorway. "Should I send in Jane before we leave?"

He was already taking out the flask for his next dose of opium. "No, I cannot go through this again and I will not be awake if she tries to visit or say goodbye. Hill, see to having the cart and servants readied to take them immediately."

"Yes, sir," Mr. Hill said. Joining Lizzy at the door, he added, "Miss Lizzy, the staff will miss you and Miss Jane. I will miss you. Good luck to you."

"Thank you, Mr. Hill," she replied. From the hallway once Mr. Hill had stepped out of the room, she looked back inside at her father. He had already taken the dose and now sat with his eyes closed. She knew he was deliberately not watching her go. Closing the door softly, she turned and followed Mr. Hill down the hall to the stairs.