Chapter 7 Reckless Behaviour
"Where is Elizabeth?"
"She is out of doors on her morning constitutional. I saw her, not so long ago in the rose garden."
Mrs Darcy usually broke her fast in her apartment but her dear friend, Lady Wilhelmina, was leaving today. She wanted to utilise the last few hours to plan for future encounters between Mr Elliot and her daughter Georgiana. All her plans had gone awry this summer. Mrs Darcy was not used to broke disappointment and handled it poorly.
Miss Elizabeth had drawn Georgiana out of her shell when she was surrounded by females but any gentleman apart from her brother and Mr Bingley made her revert back. She was at her wit's end, nothing she did had the desired effect.
"She is usually here when I break my fast," Jane replied softly.
"She might be bidding the grounds farewell. Mr Gardiner will arrive any day now, curtailing any future adventures on Pemberley ground," Mr Bingley comforted.
"I wish we had had the opportunity to visit the Peaks," Georgiana added. "Miss Elizabeth would have loved the Peaks and climbed every summit; I am certain of it."
"So am I," Jane chuckled. "What are men compared to rocks and mountains," she mimicked Elizabeth's tone of voice.
"I did not know you were such a talented actress, Drury Lane has lost a star potential," Mr Bingley teased his fiancée. He would be sad to leave Pemberley but he was immensely looking forward to opening up Netherfield to his future wife. Miss Elizabeth would be welcome to stay with them as well. She could keep Jane with company while he was out on estate matters. This spring and summer had been educational as he had been allowed to follow Mr Darcy and his father around Pemberley to watch and learn. He was by no means fully educated but Mr Bennet would be his father and neighbour. He had someone to ask in a pinch.
"Perhaps she has already eaten?" Jane suggested, more to herself than anyone else.
#
Jane was writing letters to her family all morning, the last they would hear from her before she arrived home in a week or two. Lydia was currently in Brighton as Mrs Forster's particular friend while Mary had moved to Hunsford, only Kitty was still at home. Jane suspected she was bored and would be particularly pleased to see them home. Although Jane and Elizabeth were no substitutes for Lydia.
Lydia would be called home in time for her August wedding, keeping Kitty company as she had asked Elizabeth to move in with them after the wedding. She wanted someone of her own as Miss Bingley had made no secret of her opposition towards her brother's choice of bride. It could hardly have come as a surprise but Miss Bingley had been occupied with vying for Mr Darcy's attentions. He seemed immune to most of her machinations but Jane suspected that was due to Mrs Darcy's ominous presence. She had made it perfectly clear that she expected a most advantageous marriage for her son and she was probably right. Many peers were in a dire financial state while Pemberley prospered, several lords would not mind a hand in Pemberley's copious coffers.
Mrs Darcy was, however, of a mind that her son was too young to marry yet and had not put the same pressure upon him as she had on Miss Darcy despite her being of the tender age of sixteen while Mr Darcy was five and twenty. It was not fair but it was the way of society. Jane pondered what Mrs Darcy made of her who was nearly two and twenty and still unwed?
"Have you seen, Miss Elizabeth?" Miss Darcy interrupted her musings.
"No, I have not seen her all day, I thought she was with you."
"No, I have not seen her since last evening."
"Perhaps your mother had need of her since Lady Wilhelmina has left?"
"Yes, that must be it. Did you hear that?"
"What?" Georgiana could not hear a thing.
"A carriage, it might be my aunt and uncle Gardiner."
Jane hastened to tidy up her writing supplies while Georgiana praised her excellent hearing.
#
"Aunt! Uncle! I hope you have had a pleasant journey."
The change in Jane since she visited them in town this winter was so profound they were stunned. She was practically glowing.
"You look very well, Jane. It must be the good news we heard when delivering our children at Longbourn." Her uncle winked at her and looked at Mr Bingley who came striding towards them.
"Mr Bingley, my aunt and uncle, Mr Edward Gardiner of London."
"Pleased to meet my intended's favourite relations," Mr Bingley smiled, shock Mr Gardiner's hand and bowed low over Mrs Gardiner's hand.
"I hear you took good care of my Jane while I was upheld by some unforeseen business but that is all water under the bridge now. Mrs Reynolds, I suppose you have some tea and refreshments waiting for us?"
"Certainly, Mr Bingley. I have readied the blue parlour for your guests."
"Thank you, Mrs Reynolds."
#
"Where is Lizzy?" Madeline Gardiner wondered why her niece had not come to greet them.
"I do not know; I will send for her."
Jane pulled the bell and a maid answered promptly. Jane told her to fetch her sister and alert her that their relations had arrived.
In the meantime, they chatted animatedly about the upcoming wedding at Longbourn.
"Was my mother very excited?" Jane wondered, delighted to bring relief to her mother's concerns for her future, yet apprehensive her delight might be a tad on the overly excitable side.
"She was delighted for you, my dear, your father as well although he was less vocal about it. They approve of your choice of husband very much and sent their blessings to both of you. I believe your father was particularly looking forward to your return to Hertfordshire."
"Yes," Jane answered absentmindedly while she wondered what was upholding Lizzy. She was taking an inordinate amount of time to come to greet their aunt and uncle. Hopefully, they would not take insult to her tardiness.
Mr Bingley took over the conversation, discussing the advantages to purchase Netherfield as opposed to finding another estate with even greater potential. A topic Mr Gardiner was well informed of and genuinely interested in as he himself contemplated to sell his warehouses and buy an estate. The discussion continued animatedly when the maid entered the parlour sans Elizabeth.
"I beg your pardon, Miss, but I cannot find Miss Bennet anywhere."
"Have you asked Miss Darcy?"
"Yes, she has not seen her all day, neither has Mrs Darcy. No one I asked had seen her since she went out for a walk this morning, Miss. She has not even broken her fast but she did stop by the kitchen before she left and took an apple and a roll with her."
"Heaven forfend, she must have had an accident on her walk and had not been able to walk home!" Jane exclaimed.
"It would not be the first time she sprained an ankle, scampering around the countryside," Edward Gardiner added good-naturedly. He could sense Jane's growing distress and wanted to comfort her. They would just have to go outside and locate her. She would probably not wander too far from the gardens at a location she was not intimately familiar with.
"I am a terrible sister! I noticed she did not break her fast and instead of seeking her out or going to look for her. I spent more than two hours writing letters and forgot all about her."
"There, there Jane. It is not the first and will not be the last time your sister wandered a little farther than she had initially intended. Lizzy has never gotten lost in all the years she has roamed the out of doors, there is no reason to fret. Let us venture out into the gardens and see if we can find her. I am sure all is well," aunt Gardiner added.
"I will have my horse saddled and enlist Mr Darcy to ride out with me. He grew up at this place and know all the haunts that attract a nature-loving lady. We will find her, Miss Bennet."
"Thank you, Mr Bingley. You just eased my mind considerably." Jane looked upon her fiancé with pure adoration, a happenstance he noticed and minded not at all. His steps had an extra spring to them as he walked out of the room to find Darcy.
#
"We have looked everywhere in the gardens but there is no sign of Miss Elizabeth. Do you happen to know in which direction she was heading?" The maid was wringing her hands.
By now, everyone available was participating in the search of the gardens and the paths beyond. Pemberley's park was vast—ten miles to go around, neither was it an easy landscape to search at there was either dense forest, creaks and a river to cross. Some of the terrains were steep, bordering on inaccessible.
"No," Jane admitted ashamedly. She had been too engrossed in her happy tidings to pay much attention to her sister. "She did mention one morning that she wanted to see the view from the top of the hill but I do not know if she has already seen it or gave up the thought because it is a long and steep walk. She discussed it with Mr Darcy but he was trying to discourage her."
"Knowing our Lizzy, she would have gone upwards to enjoy the view. Oakham mount is her favourite haunt in Hertfordshire. She would probably try to reach the top before we came to drag her away from this beautiful landscape," Mr Gardiner suggested.
Mr Bingley and Mr George Darcy were engaged in the task as they were both mounted on their steeds. They followed the path from the back garden as it was unlikely Miss Elizabeth would venture off the safest route.
At the top of the northeast hill, Pemberley's sixteenth-century masterpiece of Elizabethan architecture, a hunting tower with four turrets, were situated. It was used as a summer house, a banqueting house and a house where the ladies could watch the hounds while hunting, as the name suggested. The panoramic views were breathtakingly scenic. Mr Bingley was quite certain that they would find a tired but happy Elizabeth when they arrived.
The hunting tower looked quiet and abandoned but the doors were probably locked so she could not have entered. They dismounted their horses and walked around on the outside to look for traces but nothing could be seen until Mr Darcy looked up.
"Bingley, she must be inside. Look, a window has been opened in the western turret."
Mr Darcy strode to the door and wrenched it open, it was not locked as it should have been.
"Come," he shouted to Mr Bingley and they ran up the spiral stairs.
No Elizabeth was to be found but the room bore testimony of having been recently in use. Some leftover food and empty bottles stood on the table and the cot looked like it had been slept in. Some papers lay on the windowsill, covered in dust. Mr Darcy blew the grime away and cursed.
"Wickham," he hissed through clenched teeth.
The notes were debts of honour, long overdue as most of them were more than a year old.
Mr Wickham had come to his father a little over a year ago. Requesting the living that had recently become vacant in Kympton. His father had sent him away since Mr Wickham had not been ordained, not that he was fit to serve as a man of the cloth.
Mr Darcy senior had paid for his godson's education after his friend and steward had died working in his field. A bull had gotten out of its enclosure and had run him down. His death had been ugly and painful for all concerned. Mr Darcy had felt responsible for the fence that had broken down; it had been on his mending list for some time which is why he indulged the son Mr Wickham had left behind.
Mr Wickham was a couple of years older than himself but had attended the same schools, Eton and Cambridge University. Their paths had not crossed much and not at all at Cambridge University where Wickham had left before he was finished and Mr Darcy had begun the next year.
His father had been informed of Wickham's penchant for gambling, racing and debauchery though and had eventually cut him off entirely. Mr Wickham frequently came to Pemberley to beg for more funds which he had been given until his father believed his debt to his old steward had been paid in full. Mr Darcy had given Mr Wickham three thousand pounds in lieu of the living he would never qualify to receive and the connection had been severed. Mr Wickham had not believed Mr Darcy when he had told him to not return and came back for more coins, a little more than a year later. Mr Darcy senior had refused him which led to Wickham's thwarted attempt of retaliation. He had wooed Georgiana for about fifteen minutes and tried to intercept her stroll on the beach when in Ramsgate. His last futile attempt had been to persuade Georgiana to elope at the Netherfield ball but he had yet again been thwarted—by Miss Elizabeth Bennet.
"I do not like it," Mr Darcy muttered to his friend.
"What! What have you discovered?"
"Notes of debts of honour from our mutual acquaintance, Mr Wickham."
"The debauched rake and gambler, your father's godson?"
"Yes. We should head back and show this to my father. The woods must be searched thoroughly by every man available. Mr Wickham is not a clever man but he knows these woods. If he has accosted Miss Elizabeth as some sick form of revenge, she might be in dire straits. There are caves to hide in that is difficult to find if you are not already aware of their location. This is going to take some time, Bingley. I hope Miss Elizabeth is safe in the meantime. She seems like a clever, useful sort of girl who would not faint at any moment."
"No, Miss Elizabeth is certainly not a helpless damsel but Mr Wickham is a man..."
"Yes, but we should not conjecture sorrows before we know more. She might not have encountered him and he may not be in the area. These receipts are old, perhaps they have been left there on a previous visit."
#
Miss Bennet's countenance fell when Mr Bingley and Mr Darcy came back empty-handed. They immediately ensconced themselves in Mr Darcy's study before a flurry of activity commenced. Servants, tenants and people from the village had been called to form a search party that would stretch across the entire Pemberley estate and beyond.
Mr Bingley came to inform Jane about his findings in the Hunting Tower, that Mr Wickham might be in the area. He tried to comfort her that there had been no sign of Elizabeth anywhere near the tower or on the path leading to the panoramic view. It was more likely she was on one of the nearby paths with a sprained ankle.
When tears rolled down her cheek, he could not suppress the urge to enfold her in his arms and whisper sweet words into her dainty ear.
"I have a pit in my stomach, like something is terribly wrong, Mr Bingley. I cannot quench it until Elizabeth is found, safe and sound." She whispered into his moistened coat, tugging on his heartstrings.
"I swear I will find her for you, dearest Jane. I will leave no path unexplored, no stone unturned..." no ravine unchecked!
"I must leave you now, Darcy is coming with a fresh set of horses. Stay with your aunt, you may bring each other some comfort."
"Thank you, Mr Bingley, for your comfort and your diligence. I am forever in your debt."
"No, no gratitude is necessary. I only want the best for you and right now that is to find your sister and bring her home."
#
A meeting was adjourned on the third day of the search. Some clues had been found but nothing substantial. The search party had been divided into areas with a leader who spoke for them all.
"We found the remainders of a bonfire on the northern border, it was strange because it was not far from one of the small caves. If it was Mr Wickham, I believe he would have known of it and used it to take cover. We did find some provisional beddings under a tree. It was just some moss and leaves to make the ground softer but nothing else."
"You mentioned beddings, as in plural, was that your intention?" Mr Darcy inquired.
"Yes, it looked like there had been two because there were two indentations on the ground."
"Did you find any signs that suggested one of them was female?"
"No, apart from the ashes from the fire and indentations, there were no other traces. No hoof prints or footprints. I would not expect footprints because the ground is dry but if they had a horse, it would leave marks."
"It could be Miss Elizabeth and Mr Wickham but it may also be poachers, it is impossible to tell, Sir." One of the younger lads added.
"Yes," Mr Darcy senior rubbed his chin. It was him that had taken charge of the men.
"There has been no news from the riders that are checking the inns and roads in all directions. I suppose there is little point in continuing the search in the close vicinity of Pemberley. If Miss Elizabeth was still here, we would have discovered her by now. I believe she has been abducted against her will or she has left of her own volition. The latter is highly improbable, I can see no reason why she would leave her friends and family. It must be the first option. If she has been taken, I would expect a ransom claim to arrive."
"We should send for her family."
"I already have. I sent a rider to Longbourn on the day she went missing. I saw no reason to postpone it when she did not turn up during the first few hours," Mr Darcy admitted.
"You did?" Mrs Darcy had joined the men and sounded a little surprised. "You could have delegated that task to me. You are tired, Mr Darcy. You must remember that you are no longer a young man. Let your son and I aid you more in this endeavour."
"George has been riding tirelessly for three days, Susan. I could hardly expect more from him and you have kept the ladies occupied and fed the men, I could not expect more of you either."
He turned towards the dejected men.
"I am calling off the search. We will continue on a wider span but please, if you think of anything or hear about someone who might know something, do not hesitate to call on me. My door will be open and no matter is too small to contemplate. Thank you for your diligence and swift response, it will not be soon forgotten. Mrs Reynolds has prepared a basket for each family to take home with you when you leave as a token of our gratitude. Go home and rest, you have all deserved it."