September 30 – Dark Horse Inn, London
George Wickham leaned his chair back against the and let his gaze wander out the grimy window of their second floor room. His thoughts were totally fixed on the prospects rendered possible by the letter that lay on the table beside him. If he gave any thought to the young girl dozing on the room's bed, it was only as a small temporary impediment to the fulfillment of those prospects. Truthfully he thought very little of her at all. She kept his bed warm, provided some pleasure although even that was starting to pall given the inanity of her conversation and her whining. He considered the letter once more,
George Wickham,
I am prepared to assist you once more and for the last time. I will engage to the following: arrange and fund your passage to Halifax and hence to Boston in the United States; arrange for £900 to be released to you in Boston; provide you with £50 when you board ship to Halifax and an additional £50 when you board ship for Boston. Such funds are to cover your living expense in Halifax and Boston as necessary. I have every confidence that you will gamble these funds away but be that on your head.
I require from you only a list of your creditors in Meryton and such other locations as you have resided since we met in Meryton. This is to be sent to me directly. I await this list and your acceptance to make the arrangements necessary.
Fitzwilliam Darcy
Wickham seated the chair firmly and, selecting a piece of paper, began to list the tradesmen that he believed he owed funds. Getting up from his chair, he opened his trunk and, sifting through the various papers, found those that were dunning him for payment. His movements had caused his roommate to wake. Hearing her stir, he quickly folded Darcy's note and put it in his trunk. All too soon he heard her voice,
"What are you writing Georgie?"
"A note to Darcy, my love."
"Mr. Darcy, why?"
"Darcy will be helping us. He has agreed to give me that living I was promised by his father. I am making arrangements now for us to move there in a couple of days."
A squeal of delight issued from Lydia Bennet. Her first words were, "We shall be married then. Can we be married in Longbourn? We will have a special licence! Oh, I need wedding clothes. I must write mama. She will be overjoyed. Imagine, I will be the first to be married. What fun!"
"Gently my dear, gently. We will be married by special licence but it will have to be in Derbyshire and quite soon. We will not have time for wedding clothes before the wedding but you and your mother can arrange that afterwards, I am sure. I think it best to write to your family once we have arrived at our new home."
Lydia walked over to stand behind Wickham and leaned against his back. He could feel her breasts against his shoulders and her hands running down his chest. His hand moved around her waist and he pulled her into his lap. His hand stroked her thigh and moving up her over her hip, squeezed her breast firmly. Her head fell to his shoulder and she squirmed on his lap causing him to become quite uncomfortable. He abruptly moved his hand under her knees and stood with her in his arms. Moving to the bed, he dumped her in the middle and then grinned at her, saying, "Patience, my love, patience. I will tend to your needs when I have finished my letters."
Ignoring her complaints, Wickham completed his list and wrote a note to Darcy accepting the terms. Lydia looked at him with anticipation but he shook his head.
"Not just yet, my love. I must post these immediately. I shall not be long and we have all night, do we not?"
Ignoring her pout, he was out the door quickly. He had arrangements to make and they were not such as he wanted Lydia to know.
October 7, 1812 – London
It was early in the morning when the hackney coach came to a stop at a side door to a three story building on _ Street. Telling the driver to wait, Wickham escorted Lydia inside and greeted to proprietress, Mrs. James, who showed them to a room. Looking at Lydia, Wickham gave her a quick kiss and said, "Be patient a bit longer, my love. I must go to arrange our coach to take us to our new home. I will be back in two hours and we will be off. Mrs. James will take good care of you. You should rest now since we have a long drive ahead."
Wickham hurried out the door, paying no attention to Lydia's parting comments. Shutting the door behind him, he turned to Mrs. James and gave a small smile. "Give me a couple of hours before you break the news to her. I think she will do well by you. She is certainly enthusiastic enough though quite unskilled."
"Skill we can teach, enthusiasm….not so much. Good-bye, George. I won't ask to where you are bound."
"Good, I will only say there will be a lot of water between us. Take care, Grace"
With that, Wickham walked out the door and boarded the hackney coach, which, in thirty minutes deposited him at Mrs. Younge's boarding house on Edward Street. When Darcy's coach drove up twenty minutes later, Wickham's small trunk was quickly loaded on top. He entered the coach to find Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam seated across from him.
He was greeted by a cool "Hello George" from Darcy and a scowl from Fitzwilliam. Wickham was too pleased with himself to take offence and greeted them both quite cheerily.
"Darcy, Richard …..what a pleasant surprise. Here to see me off, I presume."
"Here to see you get on the damn boat and the last of you, George." Replied Fitzwilliam. "If I had had my preference, you would be courtmartialed and on your way to Australia."
"Well, we don't always get what we want, now do we, Richard?"
Darcy spoke before Fitzwilliam could do so. In a deceptively mild voice, he said, "Richard is correct in this. We are here to make sure you get on the boat and leave. I have the £50 as agreed and will give you it when you are to board. As well, you should know that I have paid the creditors you listed and, when I include those debts I paid to creditors in Lambdon, the total amounts to nearly £4,000. Enough to put you in debtor's prison for a very long time. As well, Richard has confirmed that an order to arrest you for desertion has been issued. The penalty is transportation to Australia. If I hear of your returning to this country, I will make every effort to find you. Believe me on this, if you believe nothing else. You should never return, George. Never!"
The remainder of the drive to the docks was silent. As they drew up to where the ship was moored, Wickham got out of the coached followed by Darcy and Fitzwilliam. He walked towards the gangplank and, as he took his first step to board the ship, turned to both men and said "A final farewell then. Wish me luck amongst the savages."
Darcy handed him two letters saying, "Here are the names of the men you should contact in Halifax and Boston. And here is the £50 as agreed. Good-bye George."
Wickham received a final nod from Fitzwilliam and continued up the gangplank until lost from sight. Darcy and Fitzwilliam strolled back to their coach, entered but gave no directions to depart. Wickham, from on board the ship, could see the coach waiting. An hour later, as the ship weighed anchor and began to move down the river, he watched the carriage slowly drive off. Inside the coach, Darcy turned to Fitzwilliam and said, "I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. He will not be missed."
At Mrs. James house, Lydia had dozed until about noon when she woke as the door opened. Her cry of "Georgie" was cut short when she saw Mrs. James enter the room caring a small tray with tea and a few biscuits. Mrs. James looked at her and calmly said,
"Not George Wickham, my girl. I have brought you something to eat. I suspect you have not eaten since breakfast. You eat and I will talk."
Placing the tray on the table, she direct Lydia to a seat and placed another opposite her. She watched as Lydia began to eat with enthusiasm. She waited until Lydia had consumed almost all the biscuits and was savouring the tea. Finally she spoke.
"How old are you? Seventeen? Sixteen?"
"Sixteen"
"Are you with child?"
At Lydia's puzzled look, she amended her question. "When did you last have your courses?"
Lydia thought for a moment or two and replied, "About three weeks ago."
"Have you been sick in the mornings?"
"No"
Lydia's puzzlement was obvious and Mrs. James only shook her head at such naivety.
"You are not with child then. Good."
"I do not understand. Where is Georgie? He should be back to get me by now."
"Girl, there are a couple of things that you must accept right now. The first is that George Wickham is not coming back for you. Not now. Not ever. If he promised marriage to you, he was lying. If you expected him to marry you, you are a fool."
Mrs. James leaned back and observed the shock of her blunt words striking the young girl in front of her. Disbelief, anger, fear all chased each other across her face. Tears followed. And as she watched, she could hysteria taking control. She raised her hand and smacked her across the face. The shock silenced Lydia and she stared at the women with wide eyes and an open mouth.
"Be quiet and listen to me. You are a very foolish girl and you have placed yourself in a spot where there are few options open to you. I suggest you listen to me very carefully. I will not be repeating myself. First, do you have relatives in town here?"
"Yes, an aunt and uncle on Gracechurch Street."
"That is quite a distance from here – probably about several hours walk unless you have money for a hackney cab. Do you?"
"I don't think so."
"You will have to decide if your relatives will take you in. Most families will send a girl like you away to distant relatives – out of sight, out of mind. You cannot expect to go back and live with your family as though nothing has happened."
"Young lady, as I see things you have only three choices. The first is to walk out my front door and try to reach your aunt and uncle. You might be successful but I would not be surprised to see you lose your way and spend the night on the street. The second choice is to walk out my front door and try to make your way as best you can. I think you will find very quickly that, if you want to eat, you will have to sell the only thing you own – yourself. The men you encounter will care little for your welfare. They will use you, leave you and give you a pittance. Thieves abound and, if you are lucky, will leave you your life after they take what few coins you have. You will become very quickly intimate with disease and death. Truthfully I suspect that if you are unsuccessful in reaching your relatives, you will land in a similar condition. The third option is to stay here and work for me."
"Work for you?"
"If you have not guessed, this is a brothel. I will feed and house you. In return, you will make yourself available to my customers. You will do for them what you did for Wickham except they will pay me and I will give you a portion. After a couple of years, you might be able to set yourself up as respectable. I will leave you alone for an hour to think. If you are still here when I return, I will assume that you plan to stay."
Mrs. James stood and left the room, leaving Lydia alone once more. When she returned an hour later, the room was empty. Shaking her head, she returned downstairs. She had a business to run.
Lydia's mind was to beset for rationale thought, unfortunately a concept with which she was quite unfamiliar. Accepting that her Georgie had left her, impossible to believe; selling her body, impossible to accept. Her only coherent thought was to reach the Gardiners and have them find George and have them marry. With little further thought, she gather her few possessions and hurried out of the house.
It is not the intent here to discuss those events which subsequently afflicted Lydia Bennet. Suffice it to say she did not reach her relatives on Gracechurch Street and the payment, for her wild and foolish behaviour, was heavy indeed. Mrs. James was, unfortunately, very accurate in her predictions.
