The cavalry arrives in Hunsford.
Chapter 30: Hunsford Abduction
Kent, Hunsford parsonage, seventh day
"Sergeant!"
Kervadec opened his eyes and squeezed them immediately.
It was still night and he should not have been awoken before sunrise.
And it was Kennedy's voice.
Problems for sure...
"What's up?"
"Horse guards, between eighty and a hundred. They are coming through the woods. Seems to me they have a local guide. They are using paths we didn't even knew. We have nobody in place in numbers great enough to stop them..."
Kervadec stood up and got his bags.
His orders were clear! Stop if possible, follow and report if not.
He could have taken fifty but a hundred was way too much. Not if he wanted to protect his ward.
"We quit. I want everybody out of here in ten minutes, horses and all. We take the hole in the wall at the North West corner. Nobody should be able to see us. They are surely coming here and I don't want a firefight in the vicinity of the house. Let's pass the message that I await everybody at the great gray oak tree. They'll take them to London, we will follow..."
"Everybody is already awake. We are ready to move."
"Then, let's move..."
"We saw nobody," whispered captain Maddows. "They marched on..."
Let's hope, thought Richard Fitzwilliam. If they catch us on foot in these woods, we'll lose eighty percent of our men.
"Don't be too sure. They are here since Wednesday, ample time to build fox holes and tree seats. I'm quite sure they have already seen us. We are hopefully too numerous to be easily eliminated. They'll have orders to limit the firefights on the estate..."
"How far away?"
"Ten minutes and we will be at the gates of the parsonage. I want most of the troopers left behind in the woods with you. I'll take five men and we'll advance without the horses till the back entrance. I know a way that will bring us there without showing too much of us... When everybody's ready to move I'll give you a lamp signal from the left upper western window. Three brief flashes and you'll come. One flash and you'll retreat. No flash within the next half hour and you do what you deem necessary."
He heard the captain gulp. Like all the officers of the Horse guards he was the dashing image of a red coat. But, like the others, he had no real combat experience.
"We will be await your signal..."
There had been a noise in the kitchen.
It happened that one of the French guards came in to grab something to eat but they rarely took so much precautions.
These ones were slow and stealthy.
Charlotte looked at her husband and smiled. Once asleep, nothing could awake him save hits or a water canteen.
She stood up and put on her house coat.
She had a pistol but she decided not to take it.
If they had passed the French they would be much too powerful for one lonely bullet to take them out. And if it was a stealthy stealing Frenchman, a broom would be a much more effective weapon.
She tiptoed down the stairs and opened the door to the kitchen.
She hadn't opened it more than an inch when it was pulled out of her grip and a powerful hand crushed her mouth.
"Please not a word," said a voice she recognized immediately. "You are safe with us..."
She stood still and awaited the next orders.
"Nod if you accept not to shout..."
She nodded.
The hand disappeared immediately.
"Sorry Mrs. Collins, I had no choice..."
"Colonel, what about the French?"
"What French? We saw no French..."
"There are two dozens of them living in our outbuildings... We are under heavy guard since they passed through Rosings."
"They must have spotted us and left the parsonage," said Fitzwilliam. "We are quite a lot in the immediate surroundings. They were probably loath to risk a firefight."
Chalotte chuckled.
"He would not take it pleasantly if something happened to her..."
She looked Fitzwilliam into the eyes.
"I hope you're not here to harm her, Colonel, because it would be a very bad idea and not only for the authors of said harm..."
"It's General now and of course we're not here to harm her. The Prince regent would like her to stay in London. He hopes that my cousin will be more inclined to open negotiations if she is in our custody..."
"It's not my business, but playing the hostage game is not a good idea. He has lots more than you and his numbers are increasing daily..."
Fitzwilliam shook his head.
"We're not playing the hostage game," lied he. "We hope he will come to get her..."
"Than it's the bait game and it is as foolish as the other one. He has most of the best cards in his hand, you should not upset him. She could be our best chance to get to him some day. Trying his patience seems not to be the best strategy to me..."
Fitzwilliam made a face.
"As you said it's none of your business and it's even none of mine. I have very precise orders and I fear I have no other choice than to obey. She's coming to London and the rest of her family will come with her..."
He made a sign and a sergeant came carrying two bags.
"Please bring these clothes to them and ask them to dress. We have horses in enough numbers and we go back to London as soon as they are ready." He tried a shy smile. "Please do convey them that we rare here to protect them and not to harass them. If they could accept without being informed that they have no real choice, it would be even better..."
Charlotte took the two bags.
"I'll see what I can do."
Edward Bennet was a light sleeper and his old training had kicked in the day he mounted his horse at Kervadec's side. And if there was one thing an old soldier never forgets, it's to feel when something is ajar in his environment.
And something was definitely not normal.
He stood up, dressed with all the speed of years of training and was on the stairs with his two pistols in hands when Charlotte came back carrying two bags.
"They finally came?"
"Yes," agreed Charlotte. "Horse guards under the command of a General. Fitzwilliam Darcy's cousin by the way..."
"Oh, he sent family," chuckled Mr. Bennet. "What a kind gesture of His Highness..."
Charlotte made a gesture to show the kitchen.
"They are half a dozen and in full uniform. There's probably half an army outside..."
"Probably," agreed Mr. Bennet. "Or our friend Kervadec would have mad known his displeasure. Thank God for sergeants and smart officers who know how an army is run..."
"I'll wake the Girls," said Charlotte. "It should take a few minutes..."
Mr. Bennet bowed.
"Since we are probably going to London very soon, please accept my thanks for your hospitality, Mrs. Collins. You were the most attentive of guests."
"I was my pleasure," curtsied Charlotte. "I hope you'll do your best with your high connections to get my husband a bishopric..."
He smiled and she could see the mirth in his eyes even in the darkness.
"As a Christian it's my duty to do everything in my power to save his flock from boredom, Mrs. Collins. You can count on me..."
She crutsied again.
"I knew you were a gentleman, Mr. Bennet."
"We do what we can, my dear Charlotte, we do what we can..."
"General?"
Fitzwilliam looked up and turned toward the new voice.
He stood up and bowed.
"Don't search them, you won't find them," said the newcomer pointing to the window where Richard Fitzwilliam was just searching the night. "They are experienced scouts and if they let you through they are probably already preparing the trap you'll fall in on your way to London..."
"You're quite the cheery gentleman, Sir..."
Mr. Bennet bowed.
"Edward Bennet, General. I'm very satisfied that His Majesty has sent a General to get my daughter. I would have surrendered her to nothing less..."
"I'm Richard Fitzwilliam and it happens that I spent a part of my youth on this estate. I'm here because of my area knowledge not because of my rank."
"Than it's a happy coincidence... You have the rank to get her from me and you have the knowledge to get her around the trap the French will probably mount to get her back..."
Fitzwilliam shot a worried look to his soldiers who suddenly were very attentive to what the old man had to say.
"You really believe so?"
"No idea," lied Mr. Bennet. "Depends probably on how numerous you are and how you intend to hide my daughter in the mass of your soldiers..."
Mr. Bennet was quite satisfied with the little blush that came on the general's cheeks.
"Hide is not the word I would use, Mr. Bennet. A well thought strategy wants us to make every effort to spoil the plans of our enemies. If they do not know who's who, they will probably renounce to try to get her back..."
Mr. Bennet made a face.
"Or you could get her killed..."
"I'm sure they have orders not to take any risk with her safety..."
"And clearly that's not one of your orders..."
"Quite the contrary, Mr. Bennet. My orders are very clear. She's to be in London as soon as possible and she has to be there safe and sound..."
"That's the theory! We will see what happened on the road."
He looked at the window.
"Is the rest of the family invited or are we ordered to stay behind?"
"My orders include all the Bennet sisters, Mr Bennet. And of course I wouldn't want to separate a father from his daughters..."
He smiled at Mr. Bennet.
"Could I ask if your daughter Elizabeth is well and in good health?"
Mr. Bennet frowned at the officer facing him.
""I do believe she's well, General. I can't be sure since she was in Derbyshire these last weeks and in Pemberley since last Wednesday..."
The General couldn't help but show his surprise.
"In Pemberley, at Fitzwilliam's home?"
"Indeed, and if she's accepted this time, they should be betrothed now. It seems that this month is a month where the Bennet daughters are even more beautiful then before..."
He pointed upstairs.
"If you want to try your luck, Mary and Lydia are, I suppose, still free to be courted."
Lost in his pun, Mr. Bennet did not see the slight disappointment that covered the face of Richard Fitzwilliam for a fraction of a second.
"Fitzwilliam and Miss Elizabeth? What a surprise... I would never have guessed that those two were sharing feelings."
"Neither would I, General. I received the news end of last week. It seems that the impending war has given those two a better understanding of each other's feelings. I do not have an official confirmation but they should be betrothed by now."
At this very moment there was a commotion in the stairs and a few seconds later Lydia came bursting in the kitchen. She was wearing trousers and a red coat and a smile was splitting her face.
"Papa, look at me! I'm a soldier now! I'm wearing trousers..."
Her father look at her and could only accept the assessment.
"Indeed you look like a soldier. But I fear you're far from being a soldier..."
He looked at the General.
"You know each other, I do believe?"
"Indeed, Papa, I met col... General Fitzwilliam in Brighton."
She came nearer and took the General's hands.
"What a pleasure to see that you have escaped, General. And congratulations for your new rank. It must have been a very difficult evasion... You must have fought like devils to get out of d'Arcy's hands..."
Once more Fitzwillian couldn't help but blush.
Indeed it had been a fantastic evasion but only because it was staged by the enemy commander himself. Nothing heroic in that exploit...
"We did the best we could, Miss Lydia. We were helped by... hmmm... Unusual circumstances."
Lydia came nearer.
"You wouldn't have news about Lieutenant Wickham, General? I lost track of him the day before the invasion and I feared that he could have been killed defending the beach. Wasn't he the one officer responsible for the line of defense..."
"That he was, Miss Lydia," answered Fitzwilliam trying not to greet his teeth. "He came out of the battle unscathed and in good health. He was one of those who helped our three most famous generals to escape... Got a new rank and an estate for his exploits..."
The last part came only with difficulty.
Lydia did not get the unsaid message.
"Wickham is alive, Wickham is alive..." danced she around the kitchen. "Dear Wickham is alive..."
The dance would probably have continued but for the irruption of the second Bennet daughter.
"Papa, it can't be! I's unseemly! Never will I accept to show me in..."
Mary stopped when she saw that her father was surrounded by half a dozen soldiers.
She blushed and retreated immediately.
And was replaced by Jane equally wearing trousers and an red coat...
She looked at Fitzwilliam, flashed him an apologetic smile and went out to run after Mary.
The General could only stare, open mouthed, at the kitchen door.
"My eldest," mocked Mr. Bennet. "Jane. You did not yet know her I presume?"
After a few second of gasping, Richard Fitzwilliam was, at last, able to think clearly.
"No I didn't and I regret it indeed..."
Mr. Bennet could not help bu chuckle.
"As I said, this month my daughters are particularly handsome. But I fear you just came a few days late..."
"So do I," sighed Fitzwilliam. "Had I known that Elizabeth's sister was even more Beautiful than her, I would have stormed your house with my men, Mr. Bennet..."
Mr. Bennet accepted the compliment with a little bow.
"And it would have been worth the assault, General. Now I really do fear that this peculiar stronghold has already been taken and taken by a Master in his craft."
Fitzwilliam sighed once more.
"Even more reason to bring her to London as soon as possible. A man who is able, in the same week, to take half of England and his most precious treasure, is a dangerous man indeed."
He made a sign to his sergeant.
"Go upstairs and signal to the captain. We are underway within the next ten minutes..."
Lydia was immediately at his side.
"Will we also get one of those lovely silver helmets? Those with the black long hairs?"
"I fear not, we only have bearskins with us..."
"What? Those ugly things who sprout out of your heads?"
"Indeed, Miss Lydia! But it will give you the possibility to look really like a soldier. And looking like soldiers will give us the opportunity to take all necessary short cuts. We will be in a hurry and we will probably be forced to go through very unseemly quarters of London. Quarters no well bred young girl would ever have the chance to visit..." He looked at Mr. Bennet. "I apologize in advance, Mr. Bennet..."
Lydia didn't hesitate a second more, she took the cap, bent forward, stashed her hair in the cap and stood up to adjust it.
"I'm ready, we can go," said she with sparkling eyes.
Next chapter: Night whispers