Mr. Bennet had gone straight to bed when he arrived back in his room earlier in the evening. He came awake to a strange noise—something was thumping and it was noisy enough to wake him. At first, he did not know where he was, but the light coming from the window was sufficient to remind him that he was in Brighton and not in his familiar room at Longbourn. The thumping continued, increased in tempo to a crescendo, then suddenly stopped. He thought that the noise was someone pounding on the wall next to his bed, but it was not that. He realized it was coming from the room next door; then he remembered that this was where his wife was sleeping. He thought that he had better see if she was all right. It had almost sounded as if she were having some kind of seizure.
He found his robe and pulled it on, then went out to the hallway. As he was walking toward the door to his wife's room, he saw someone come out of it, look down the hall the other way, then close the door. Mr. Bennet could see that it was a man wearing a red coat—an officer!
"Hey! What are you doing, coming out of my wife's room? Who are you?" The officer turned to him. "Wickham! Why were you in my wife's room? What is going on?" Mr. Bennet was not stupid. He put two and two together and realized what the thumping had been. He went up to Wickham and punched him right in the nose as hard as he could. Wickham yelled in pain and Mr. Bennet continued to yell at him.
Wickham was much younger, stronger, and faster, but the blow caught him by surprise. It hurt and he could feel blood streaming down his face. Bennet continued to swing at him, so Wickham pushed the older man away from him as hard as he could. He had not realized that Mr. Bennet's back was right at the top of the stairs until he stumbled back with his arms flailing for balance. Mr. Bennet seemed to fall in slow motion down the stairs, crashing every several steps until he hit the floor at the bottom of the stairs. There, he lay motionless, facing upwards.
Wickham took a step forward until he was right at the top of the stairs. He looked down and saw the older man was not moving. He turned around to see if there was time to escape, but he saw that several people had opened their doors when they heard all the noise. They were gaping at him. He knew he was in trouble but thought that he might be able to run down the stairs and out the front door. However, before he had a chance to run, he saw that a woman was now standing by Mr. Bennet's body, looking up right at him. She turned and opened the front door, yelling, "Help! Murder! Murder! Someone help me!"
The woman was the landlady whose room was on the ground floor. She had also been awakened by the shouting and went out into the hall to see what was going on. It happened that two officers were just passing by in the street. She saw the officers and shouted, "Help me! A red-coated officer just pushed a gentleman down the stairs and killed him! Help me!"
The officers knew they could not ignore her as the general in charge of the whole camp had stressed how he expected every officer and man to be on their best behaviour with the local population as he needed their goodwill and cooperation. This was the worst possible scenario. The officers, a major and a captain, immediately went in and saw the body at the foot of the stairs. They then looked up and saw a lieutenant still looking down at the body. The major shouted up the stairs, "Lieutenant, we see you! Come down at once!"
Wickham knew he was in big trouble. He did not recognize the officers, so he thought that he still might be able to escape. He looked around, looking for somewhere to go; anywhere! He knew that he could not just hide as he would soon be found. Ignoring the occupants who were still gaping at him, he ran down the longer hallway towards the back of the house, hoping that there would be a rear staircase.
When his disappeared from the top of the stairs, the major said to the woman, "Is there a rear staircase? Where does it come out?"
The landlady pointed down the hall, "It comes out down there."
The two officers turned and ran the way she had pointed. When they reached the end of the hall, they found the bottom of the back stairs and heard feet pounding down them. When Wickham reached the bottom, he saw the officers and tried to jump out of their grasp. However, the captain stuck his foot out and caught Wickham's legs; he went sprawling. The captain immediately jumped on his back, grabbing one arm. The major grabbed the other arm, holding him tight.
They realized that they could use more help, so he yelled, "Madam, see if there are any other soldiers on the street. Tell them a major needs their help at once."
She went out and saw two common soldiers coming towards her on the street. "You there! A major needs help in here. You had better come at once." They came in and she pointed down the hall where the three officers were struggling. "Help them!"
They went to help and their extra weight was all that was needed to subdue Wickham. The major stood up and addressed the landlady, "Madam, would you happen to have some rope or strong cord so we can tie him up? He does not want to cooperate."
She went into a room and came out with some rope. The captain soon had Wickham trussed up with his hands tied behind his back. Wickham realized the perilous position that he was in, so he said, "Major, it was an accident! He was angry at me for some unknown reason and he swung at me. He lost his balance and fell down the stairs. I did not touch him. I am innocent!"
The major saw all the blood on the lieutenant's face and doubted this version of the events. He took charge and said, "You soldiers, help him up. Do not let him escape or it will be your necks that will be in danger." By saying this, they all realized that the punishment for murder was death by hanging. This frightened Wickham more than anything. He hoped that his charm might still be able to get him out of the perilous situation that he was in.
Before Wickham had a chance to say anything, the soldiers stood him on his feet and marched him down the hall to the front door. The major went to the body and checked to see if he was actually dead. When he was satisfied that there was no sign of life, he knew he had to get evidence so that the lieutenant would be properly punished. "Captain, we need written statements from all these witnesses about what they saw. You are now assigned to do this." The major addressed the people who were gathered at the top of the stairs and were staring down at the soldiers. "Everyone, we need all of you to provide written statements of what you saw. The captain will talk to each of you in turn. I expect all of you to cooperate in this, so please come down.
"Madam, would you kindly get us some paper, a quill and ink? I am sure that you also want to see that justice is down for this foul deed." She went off to find these items. When she returned, the captain began to take statements from each person, writing down what they said they saw.
The one person who was not there was Mrs. Bennet, as the effects of all the punch she had consumed and Wickham's ministrations helped her fall into such a deep sleep that the shouting had not been loud enough to wake her. Besides, she still had a big smile on her face. If she had been in any condition to dream, we know what her dreams would have been about.
The major was looking at the body, turned to the landlady, and said, "Madam, do you recognize this poor gentleman?"
"Yes, indeed. He is a Mr. Bennet, a gentleman from Hertfordshire. He and his wife arrived here just a couple of days ago. I am not sure where his wife is."
"Would you mind checking her room to see if she is there? She needs to be told what happened."
The woman went up to Mrs. Bennet's room and knocked on the door. There was no response, but she listened closely and heard snoring. She went in and saw that Mrs. Bennet was sound asleep on her back. She went to her and shook vigorously her by the shoulder, which she noticed was bare as she was not wearing a nightgown.
"Mrs. Bennet! Wake up! Something has happened. You have to come down."
Mrs. Bennet came to groggily, shaking her head. "What? What? What is it? What happened?" When she began to pull back the covers to get up, she realized she was naked. She pulled the covers back up and said, "Give me a moment to get a robe on. I will be right down." The landlady went out, shaking her head. She knew there was more to the story than was apparent. In her heart she hoped that it was not what she thought. Otherwise, why would Mr. Bennet have started to fight with that lieutenant? Was Mrs. Bennet such a woman to dishonour her husband, and in her house? The landlady was indignant as she had always tried to run a decent establishment. She decided that she had to get this woman out of her house as soon as possible.
After a few minutes, Mrs. Bennet came out, now wearing a nightgown and a robe. When she reached the top of the stairs, she looked down and screamed as she thought that the crumpled body at the bottom looked like her husband. The shock of seeing him lying there seemed to sober her up in a hurry. She rapidly went down the stairs and looked at his face. "Mr. Bennet! No! Why did you do this to me?" She turned to the major. "What happened?"
She knelt down beside her husband and touched his face. From his stillness, she knew that he was gone. She looked up and saw all the soldiers, recognizing only one of them, the one all tied up with blood on his face. "Mr. Wickham! What happened? Why are you here?"
Wickham's face took on a look of complete innocence. "Your husband fell down the stairs. I did not touch him. I swear! You have to help me!"
She looked at the other officers, "Why is Mr. Wickham all tied up? Why is he all bloody? What happened?"
The major responded, "Mrs. Bennet, I am very sorry that this event took place. This lieutenant was with your husband at the top of the stairs when this happened. We are just now interviewing the witnesses to find out what they saw. Please be assured that we will find out the truth. Now, you obviously know this Lieutenant Wickham. Do you know who his commanding officer is?"
"Yes. Colonel Forster. His regiment was stationed in Meryton in Hertfordshire this winter."
"Thank you for that information. I will contact Colonel Forster. Do you have anyone in Brighton who can be with you now?"
Mrs. Bennet was shattered, but the major's calm questions helped her answer in a sensible manner. "My daughter is staying with Colonel Forster and his wife. We came here to take her home. What am I going to do now? We know no one else in Brighton. What are we going to do now?"
The major, having had much experience with difficult situations as he was a veteran of the peninsular wars, turned to the landlady. "Madam, may I leave Mrs. Bennet here while I go to Colonel Forster? I am sure he or someone else will come to take charge of the situation." She nodded, very reluctantly. She wanted nothing more than to get his woman and the body out of her house as soon as possible. What would people think?
The major left with the two enlisted men dragging Wickham beside them. The captain stayed to take statements. Mrs. Bennet stayed with her husband's body. She began to wail loudly, making the landlady even more concerned about getting her out of her house as soon as possible. To distract Mrs. Bennet, she suggested that she go get dressed, which she did, wailing all the way up the stairs.
The major first led them to the camp's stockade, where he left Wickham in the charge of the jailers. He made the formal charge of murder against him. He released the two soldiers and went directly to Colonel Forster's headquarters. Here, he obtained directions to the house where he was staying and asked the sergeant on duty at headquarters to accompany him there. When he arrived at the Colonel's house, he found that everyone was sleeping, but he insisted that the Colonel needed to be awakened. Colonel Forster soon came; the major gave him a proper salute and then gave his full report of everything that had happened.
Colonel Forster was aghast as he knew that the general in charge of the whole camp had stressed the importance of maintaining good relations with the local civilians. Both officers knew that they had to tell the general what had happened. Before he left to don his uniform, Colonel Forster said that he would wake his wife and Miss Lydia and send them with one of his officers to look after Mrs. Bennet and the body. He turned to the sergeant and told him to find Captain Carter and to tell him to report to him immediately. He knew that Captain Carter was friendly with the Bennets from their time in Meryton and that he could be trusted with the ladies.
Colonel Forster went up to tell his wife what happened. He asked her to wake Lydia and go to Mrs. Bennet with one of his officers. She was loath to go, but he convinced her that she was needed as there was no one else. When he came down, properly uniformed this time, they waited for Captain Carter, who arrived in short order. Colonel Forster told him what had happened. The Captain was shocked, "Wickham! I was worried that he would get into trouble here, but I never thought that he would murder anyone, especially Mr. Bennet. What a mess, sir!"
The Colonel ordered Carter to take Mrs. Forster and Miss Bennet to Mrs. Bennet and to do whatever was necessary to have the body removed and the Bennet ladies taken care of. He and the major then went to the general's headquarters and asked that the general be awakened and come to see them. When the general arrived, he was not happy as he knew there must be big trouble to have him summoned in the middle of the night.
The officers saluted smartly and the major told the general what he had come upon and every step that he had undertaken. The general realized that the major had done everything properly, so he turned to the colonel. "Colonel Forster, who is this Lieutenant Wickham? Is he capable of murder? Do you know this Bennet who is dead? I made it very clear that I wanted no trouble between our forces and civilians and now we have this mess."
"Sir, I know the Bennet family from when we were stationed in Hertfordshire. Mr. Bennet is a gentleman from a landed family with an estate that has been in the family for many generations. As a matter of fact, Mr. Bennet's daughter is staying with my wife as her special friend. The Bennet family will be devastated by Mr. Bennet's death. As for Wickham, I have suspected that he would be trouble. He is a fairly recent recruit and I have heard rumours of his gambling debts and money owing to shops when we left Hertfordshire to come here. There have also been rumours of his dalliances with young women in Hertfordshire."
The general was furious. "That is exactly the type of officer we do not want. His kind will destroy the goodwill we need from the civilian population. I want him court-martialed and hanged as soon as possible. Colonel, see to it! Dismissed!" The general had been in the army for many years and had worked his way up the ranks. He had seen action many times and had no patience for any soldier who did not follow his orders.
"Yes, sir!" The two officers left; the major to go to see if his captain had gathered sufficient information for a court-martial; the colonel to go to see how his wife was faring with Mrs. and Miss Bennet.