Chapter 17
Elizabeth never went anywhere by herself. She understood that being the wife of a prominent man precluded her wandering about freely. Today she wanted to visit a book seller and had asked Georgiana if she would like to go out also. It was a beautiful day so they took the phaeton and headed to the business section of town. Georgiana wanted to find some music and Elizabeth wanted to tease Lydia and Kitty with sending them Mrs. Radcliffe's newest novel. They had been in the book shop for over an hour before they forgot caution.
Everything was going perfectly until suddenly it was not. Georgiana was not paying attention to where she was and wandered over to the music section without telling Elizabeth where she was going. Elizabeth looked around and did not see her. She did not panic, but she did ask the footman to go to the music section and check on Georgiana. As soon as he moved off to do her bidding someone moved up behind her and pressed a rag with chloroform on it in her face.
It took the footman all of five minutes to find Georgiana and help her get the music she wanted before they hurried back to where they had left Elizabeth. When they got there they did not see her. It took Georgiana another two minutes to find someone who saw her being helped out of the shop by an older woman who was practically carrying her.
Georgiana wanted to go into hysterics but decided it would be better if she remained as calm as possible and try to remember everyone who had been in the room before she left. She did so well that when Darcy asked her to remember everything she could she actually sat down and sketched a perfect likeness of Winnifred Kraft. Knowing Winnifred had Elizabeth did not make him feel that much better…
Elizabeth woke up in a shabby bedroom that had outlived its beauty some twenty years ago. She had a splitting headache, wanted a drink of water, and was gagging desperate for a chamber pot. Strangely enough, she was not tied up. That had her rather worried although she did not say so. Sitting up did not cause any difficulties either, so she put her legs over the side of the bed and proceeded to sit up. Eventually she rose to her feet and began investigating the room she was in.
She did not remember walking in here so obviously someone carried her. Why would someone carry her here though? Had she been kidnapped? She would be one of the first people to say that her life was so crazy that this just fit in as another day.
She was standing beside the window looking out into an overgrown backyard when she heard a key in the lock. Instead of being scared like she knew she should be, Elizabeth calmly stared at the door as it opened to reveal Winnifred Kraft. The first words out of her mouth was, "Why am I not surprised?"
Winnifred dusted the flour off her sleeve as she looked around the room. "I hope you find this room to your liking." She stated.
Elizabeth shrugged. "It is functional. If you want a critique I can state that it is shabby, in a relatively clean state, and seems to have everything I need for the time being."
"Well, Mrs. High and Mighty, having everything you need for the time being seems to be essential." Winnifred gave her a spiteful smirk. "However, I do not care all that much about your comfort beyond supplying you with the essentials."
Elizabeth recognized the tone and where this tale was going. Winnifred was going to give her more of her hard luck story and wanted an appreciative audience to coo and awe at the appropriate places. "I appreciate that you have taken the trouble to make the room as comfortable as it is. Giving me books, a chair, and a chamber pot is quite appreciated."
"Are you interested in why you are here?" Winnifred asked.
"I have found you to be reasonably articulate and figured you would tell me why I am here when you were ready to."
"You are awfully calm about being kidnapped."
Elizabeth giggled. "I was wondering about that. Am I to be ransomed? Killed? What is my fate?"
Winnifred glared at her. "You will do well to not be so cheeky. I do not tolerate disrespect well."
Lizzy shrugged. "Sorry, I have never been kidnapped before. I am feeling a tad bit nervous and when I am nervous I tend to giggle."
"Well, I can understand that bit. But, I will say that I do not appreciate being laughed at."
Lizzy had visions of a talking door knocker saying something to the effect of "oh, no, no, no, no." She was hard pressed not to snort and break out in a guffaw. She managed to control herself and went back to asking questions. "So, you wish me to ask the question; 'why am I here'?"
Winnifred glared at her. I know that you and Mr. Darcy want Helia locked up in the pokey. Right before she stopped writing she sent me a letter telling me that you were breeding again and since Thomas Gorden has been taken from us it is only right that you give us your whelp."
Lizzy did grin at that. "Lady, you have no idea what little Darcys are like. If I were not married to the man he would be welcome to make them with someone else."
"This is your first child. I do not believe you are telling the truth."
"You are not the only dishonest person around, Miss Winnifred. William is being raised as my little brother, but he is actually my son whom I had at fifteen. I do know about Darcys."
Winnifred glared at her. "I checked. William is your brother."
"You did not get all the facts straight, then because William is my son. I do remember you saying something about that when we were at your home in Glasgow. I did hear you talking with Miss Helia about you setting me up to ruin myself. But I was not ruined and now Fitzwilliam wants me and our child to live with him at Pemberly. I must thank you for shuffling Thomas off like you did because otherwise I would not have been able to convince my father that Thomas will make him the perfect son. After that all I need to do is scoop up William and go with his father."
"I intend to keep you here until the baby you carry is born. Then we can arrange an accident for you."
"I am not pregnant." Lizzy said with absolute certainty.
"I trust Helia more than I do you. She wrote and told me that you are."
Elizabeth huffed. "Miss Winnifred, please listen. I am not pregnant. If you want irrefutable proof all you have to do is lift the lid on the chamber pot." She gave Winnifred a sad smile. "Maybe you used too much chloroform on me when you brought me here. Whatever the reason, my courses have started and are quite heavy."
Winnifred glared at Elizabeth. "Which reminds me. I have not heard from Helia for several days. It is not like her to go so long without letting me know she is well. Do you know where she is?"
Elizabeth shook her head in frustration. "I have not seen Miss Helia since Thursday last. That would make it approximately nine days since I have seen her. I can tell you that Mr. Darcy and I took her and Thomas Gorden to Longbourne and Father met them. The meeting got rather heated at one point, but Father agreed to accept Thomas Gorden and make him his heir. When Miss Helia left Longbourne she was supposed to come to London." She shook her head in frustration as Winnifred once again refused to listen to her.
"No, she did not come to London, or she would have visited me here and reported everything that has happened since we were together in Glasgow."
Lizzy did her best to stay calm. "Miss Winnifred, I cannot account for Miss Helia not visiting you. Maybe something came up and she has been detained with something else." She knew better than to tell her that Miss Helia had been detained by the King's Prosecutor and she was facing the gallows because the murder she committed had been deliberate. Mr. Darcy had spoken at her trial and gave evidence that she was mentally unbalanced and was a threat to the general public because she did know about herbal remedies and had no conscience to refrain from using that knowledge to the detriment of others.
Bishop Darcy had also been at the trial. He spoke of meeting Miss Helia Kraft a few days before she was taken into custody. He had personal knowledge of her bragging that she had intended to dispose of Mrs. Francine Bennet. The reality was that she had not killed Francine, she had killed a maid who worked at Longbourne. He also spoke of the journal she kept. It was obvious to him that Miss Helia was either not mentally sound or if she was of sound mind she deliberately sought arcane knowledge that was classified as witchcraft. He spoke of first touching the book and feeling the evil it had imbibed. He then performed a cleansing on the book and opened it for the express purpose of reading it. After perusing the first four pages which were devoted to diagrams for setting up ritual circles he closed the book and wrapped it back up in the white silk cloth Elizabeth originally used when she took possession of the book from Miss Helia.
Elizabeth did not have the heart to tell the woman what was really going on. Miss Helia Kraft would pay the penalty for this woman's obsession. She was concerned about how the older woman would react when she found out that Helia would die. Lizzy determined to escape the house as soon as possible. It was broad daylight out so she figured she had not been kidnapped much more than so twenty-four hours ago.
Elizabeth heard the lock slam home when Winnifred left the room. Now that her head was clear it was time for her to take stock of her situation. She decided her situation was not as dire as it could have been. Winnifred had not strip searched her or removed any of her belongings from her person. Her reticule even had all her items still in it. Lizzy giggled as she pulled out her trusty pen knife, several coins and a few powders she used for headaches.
She shook her head at the insanity of it all. What kind of a kidnapper left the victim's personal items with them? Had she been a kidnapper she would have taken the money, weapons, and probably everything else in the bag and separated it from the victim. Winnifred had also failed to verify that Lizzy was telling her the truth about her courses.
The final bit of idiocy was Elizabeth's cloak lying on the bed. Winnifred probably intended for her to use the cloak as an extra source of warmth. If the woman believed her to be pregnant it made sense to keep her as warm and comfortable as possible. The cloak had a secret lining where she concealed both another knife and more money. It was still there.
The only thing left for Elizabeth to do was to check the windows to see if one would open up enough for her to climb out. For a woman who loved climbing trees the exit to the bottom of the garden was not particularly challenging.
The window sash moved rather easily. She was surprised that it was so well maintained. Until she realized that the house was probably rented out for nefarious purposes, and she had accidentally been installed in the escape room. The window opened up with no noise at all and Elizabeth placed a stick in the side to hold it up. It did not take her much time to slither out the window and close the window. The drop to the garden below was some ten feet and with her lowering herself as far as she could it was only some four to five feet to drop. The shrubbery beneath the window did an admirable job of breaking her fall.
Elizabeth had spent a few minutes looking around the back garden before dropping out the window and was soon up and moving along. The inside gate was locked with a brace of wood which she managed to move easily enough and let herself out into the streets of London with no clue of where to go next.
She was getting ready to start running when a little girl stopped her. "You want to go the other way, Lady. This side of the street gets dirtier when you go there."
"Oh! Thank you, darling. Would you like to help me get back to the park?" AH
The little girl nodded. "Me usual rate please?"
Elizabeth shook her head no. "Not until we are out of here. Then I shall give you a whole crown, okay?"
The little girl took her by the hand and set off at a good clip back toward Hyde Park. As they were walking Elizabeth decided to get to know her better. "What is your name, little one?"
"The other street kids calls me Edda. I don't know any other name. I lives here and we survive with odd jobs and whatnot."
Elizabeth liked the little girl. Under all the street grime she was a pretty thing. She even spoke well. "Do you know how old you are, Edda?"
"No, mum. The older girls tell me I have been with them since I was old enough to walk." As she chattered with Elizabeth the houses were getting bigger and more spaced out. Some thirty minutes after they began walking they arrived at the gates of the park.
"Well, here we are, Miss Edda. How would you like to go over to that street vendor and get a sweet bun with me. I am decidedly hungry and you look like you could use a meal also."
"Yes, Mum." Edda never let go of Elizabeth's hand as they walked across the street.
Elizabeth ordered two meat pies and two sticky buns and when they were wrapped and handed to her she took Edda's hand and walked to a bench where they sat down and started eating. They were nibbling their pies when Edda jumped up and started waving at a middle sized boy walking along. "Jimmy, come meet the toff I am helping." Her enthusiasm was endearing and Elizabeth stopped eating and began to watch Jimmy as he approached.
It occurred to her that Jimmy knew the city quite well and could find Darcy House in no time. When he was standing in front of her she could see his eyes fixed on her meat pie. He would not ask, but she saw his hunger. "Would you like to finish this pie for me?" she asked. "I think my eyes were bigger than my stomach."
He tugged his forelock and reached for the pie when she extended it. "Would you like to earn a crown also, Jimmy?" She asked. "I need to get a message to my husband at Darcy House on Mayfair."
"Yes, Mum." He answered. She pulled a bit of paper out of her reticule and wrote Darcy a note. The gist of the note was that she was rather tired after not eating for several hours and doing a strenuous walk. Would he be so kind as to come collect her at the front gate of Hyde Park?
Jimmy listened to the address and nodded that he knew that section of town. After ascertaining that he had the rudiments of reading and writing down she gave him the house number and off he went.