All Hallow's Eve (53 page)

In
two long st
ride
s,
Bingley
caught his sister
by the
arm
and turned her around to face the room. “
Caroline, I am ashamed of you!
W
hat have you done
to help these men
?
”

“Honestly, Charles, I
—”
When
she finally
looked up, she stopped speaking
.
From
the look
s she was receiving
, she knew t
hat none of those present
believe
d
her concocted story
.
S
he stated in an annoyed tone, “
Oh,
I had no choice!
Eliza Bennet has used her feminine wiles to catch
Mr. Darcy
.
Louisa,
Mr. Hurst
, and I saw them exit that bedchamber
together
with our own eyes!
She is not fit to clean his boots, let alone
to
become his
wife
.
It was left
up
to me t
o save Mr. Darcy from himself!”

“Elizabeth
is
my
wife
, Miss Bingley
,
” William stated in a
strained voice
.

The colour drained from Caroline’s face. “What – what are you saying?
You are confused, sir
. Y
ou are
only
betrothed
.
”

“I am not confused.
Elizabeth is my WIFE!”

Caroline backed away and
sank
into a chair.
“But
,
there was no wedding
. T
here were no announcements
.
”

Richard spoke up, “The
banns were read
,
and ther
e
was
a wedding, Miss Bingley
, I assure you
.
You are only correct in that
y
ou
were not invited.
For reasons of their own, Mr. and
Mrs
. Darcy chose not to announce
the
ir
exchanging of
vows
for a few days
.”

Disgusted
with his sister
, Bingley said,
“
Caroline, y
ou did not answer my question.
What did you do to help these men take Mrs. Darcy?
”

Deflated, Caroline directed her eyes toward her folded hands in her lap.
“
My maid overheard two men
discussing
their
designs
on a path to the village
.
When she told me of the plan, I had her contact them, offering
to exchange
information
.
They eagerly agreed to meet me.
I told them
the little that I had heard—
her
hoydenish ways, her habits, her likes
,
and dislikes.
But, i
t was nothing
that
they could not have learned from others in the
neighbour
hood had they asked.
I did no
true
harm.
”

“I believe that
withholding the knowledge that
she would be kidnapped
is
considered
quite
harmful!” Mr. Hurst stated angrily, shocking everyone with his
unusual
display of emotion.

William turned his back on the room and closed his eyes, taking several dee
p breaths to regain control
.
He shook his head and said in a voice barely audible,
“You would provide her enemies with information to aid them,
whilst
she was concerned with your safety.”

“Mr. Darcy
?” Louisa asked.

“We happened to have known that there was a threat against
Elizabeth.
My wife was so concerned that you ladies might be in danger that she asked
Bingley
to
send you to London.”

Bingley cleared his throat.
“
Caroline, any information that you
can
share
with us now
would be extremely helpful to us.
”

Too upset to think
clearly
, she shook her head. “Well, then,
I
will give you a bit of
time before speaking to you again. Louisa, I am sorry to have to ask this of you, but I would request that you take her to her chamber
s
.
See if you can help her to remember anything useful
.”

After the Hursts escorted Caroline from the room, Lord Reginald approached William
as he stood, unmoved,
at
the
window.
Livid, William turned on him and growled, “
You must explain
to me the reason that
we
are
any better than she i
s!
We knew
—
w
e
even
arranged
the circumstances to make the kidnapping possible!”

Lord Reginald placed his hand on his cousin’s shoulder.
“
T
he intent
sets
these
actions a
part
, Will.
We knew it
to be
absolutely necessary
for the good of all
.
We have
acted
to prevent the
Olc’s
evil from continuing in this world
, knowing that once
it
had
possession of
her,
it
would not leave her
.
It was the only way to make certain that we could capture
it
instead of having
it
leave Wickham’s body.
Elizabeth chose to
participate
with a selfless
and generous
heart.
Due to
Miss Bingley’s
meanness of spirit, her
intentions were
completely
self-serving
—
her
interest
was limited to the possi
bility of her own gain
.
”

William looked as if he would say something further, when a
knock on the door
interrupted.
T
he butler ent
e
r
ed
carrying
a letter on a tray.
With all eyes upon him, he crossed the room in a painfully slow manner and came to a
halt
before William.
William stared at the letter on the tray for several moments before snatching it up.
As the servant turned to leave the room,
he
examined the handwriting.
“Wickham
,
” he whispered,
then
broke the seal.

All was quiet as William crossed the room to the writing table, scribbled upon a piece of paper, and sealed it.
He rushed toward the door and found t
he butler standing just outside
.
Handing the servant the letter, he
said
, “I believe the man who delivered th
e letter
is waiting for an answer.
Give this to him immediately.”

The butler bowed and walked away
.
William closed the door
firmly before saying,
“
I told him that I was preparing for a business
transaction
and happen to have the money
presently available
.
I will
meet
him
on Oakham Mount in one hour
.”

Chapter 1
8

After receiving the
ransom
request
,
William
asked the butler to send a message to the stables
since
he would need a horse readied
as soon as was possible
.
A
djourn
ing
to his chamber
, he
retrieve
d
the cash from
the places
he had hidden
it
on his person
and chan
ge
d
his clothing
. Soon,
he was
joined there by his friend and cousins
.

“Our horses are ready, Darcy
,
” Bingley informed him.

“
Our
horses?
None of you are coming along.”

“Do you honestly
believe
we will allow you to go alone?” Lord Reginald asked.

“
I appreciate your concern, but
I feel that
it is best that I
d
o
.
The letter stated that when I ha
d
the money
, I w
as to
notify Wickham and hand it over
to him
on the Mount
...
alone. We will not endanger Elizabeth any more than we already must—I
will
follow the
Olc’s
directions in this matter!

“
While possessed by
it
, I learned a little about the way
Cher-nog
thinks. Based on Caroline’s experience, it is obvious that the others believe the kidnapping ruse, and
I had quite a bit of time whil
st
travelling today to consider th
e
Olc’s
plan
.
It will not be Wickham who comes to the Mount to collect the ransom
;
you said it yourself—
Cher-nog
will not leave Elizabeth now that
it
has her, and I doubt very much that
it
would
risk
bring
ing
her there
to meet
me
.
It will send another that they all trust instead
.
The
Olc
will
most likely tell the men
that the group will split up the money
.
But
I am certain that once the others are
asleep
,
Cher-nog
plans to take Elizabeth
as well as
the money
and
make an
escape
instead
.
We will
take the cottage
at
nightfall.
Agreed?”

“Shall we give them a bit of time for some celebratory drinking to
put them off their guard and
make our task easier?”

“
The logical side of my nature
approves of that plan
,
Richard,
but I do believe that you will have to remind me
of that fact.
”

~%~

Whil
st
Julian slept,
Elizabeth had loosened the knots in the ropes around her hands enough to pull her hands free when the time was right. For now, she would leave them on. She had
found that by wiggling in a certain manner she was able to
slowly turn the rope around her body so that she could examine th
e
knot there
and reach it with her hands.
This endeavor
came
to
an
end
when
she heard a key turn in the door’s lock
.

Julian awoke with a start when the door
was flung open
with such force that it
hit
the wall
behind it
.

Oliver laughed.
“Told ye you’d fall asleep!
Wickham wants y
e
to meet ’er man ta get the money.
”

Julian yawned.
“Already?”

Oliver nodded.
“
F
or some reason ’e ’ad it with ’im. If we knowed that, we could’a sneaked in and stealed it
without takin’ Miss Stink ’ere
.”

Julian nodded.
“Why’s ’
e
want
me
t’ go?”

“Wickham knows you’ll come back with the money ’cause o’ ye
niece
.
Says ’e’ll go straight to
git
’er if ye don’t.”

An expression of deep
sorrow
passed across Julian’s face.
“
I thought as much
.”

“Says ta’ tell ye ta expect
her
man’s gonna be real mad ‘cause ’e be waitin’ more ’an
an
hour already!” Oliver laughed.

Julian rolled his eyes. “Could
’a done without that.”

“Leave the door open—
can’t stand ’er smell!
I ain’t gonna fall asleep.”

~%~

S
tanding at the peak of Oakham Mount
,
William alternated between
looking out in all directions
and restlessly pacing the area.
A
ll the while
, he
tri
ed
very hard
not
to think of what Elizabeth might be going through at that moment
, but that was
an
impossible
task
.

After wait
ing
an hour, he
had not been
surprised that Richard and Reginald had ridden out to make certain that he was safe.
William had sent them away
as soon as they had arrived about
a half hour ago
,
and he was still waiting.
He hoped that Wickham’s man had not come and left whil
st
the others
had been
there.

H
e
turned around and
gazed
across the land
below
once
more
,
still
unable to
see anyone approaching the Mount.
His heart beat wildly against his chest.
Could
we
have been wrong about the
Olc
needing the cash
?
Perhaps
Cher-nog
has
already left with Elizabeth
?
If so, we
may
never find her
!

William could not forget that w
hen he had first told her of the
Olc
, she had
vowed
never
to
give in to
it
s demands.
She
had been very serious
when
informing him
that she would
take her own life
rather than allow
Cher-nog
to harm
those
she love
d in order
to c
onvince her to cooperate
.

Pivoting quickly toward a noise in the woods behind him, William breathed a sigh of relief when he saw a man he did not recognize moving toward him. “Darcy?”

“Yes.” William hesitated.
Not knowing what
the
protocol might be in a situation such as this, he searched the man’s face for some clue.

“I
’m supposed t
o get the money
from ye
.” Julian noticed William’s worried expression.
“I been with ’er all day.
She
’urt ’er ankle in the carriage
,
but she
’s safe. The man with ’er now won’t hurt ’er.”

“The others?”

“They been warned.” Julian held out his hand, and William handed him the case
that held the
cash.
“Ya knows we gotta count this ‘afore we let ’er go?”

William nodded.
“When will that be?
How?”

“Not up
ta
me,” Julian said
. He
began to walk in the direction that he
came
from, but then stopped and turned to
say
, “Can’t promise nothin’ if ya try
ta
follow me! You start ridin’ back to the house so’s I can see ye.”

“I will not follow you
,
” William answered
.
We know where you are
;
there is no need.
He mounted his horse and began to ride in the direction of Netherfield before Julian disappeared into the woods.

~%~

Elizabeth could feel
Cher-nog
approaching her location.
Oliver had the door open
to air out the room
, and
i
t had now been many hours since her bath
.
S
he had no experience with how
long
the smell of this particular herb
al
bath would
last
or how strong it needed to be to affect the
Olc
.
Was her scent still strong enough to keep
Cher-nog
away?
If they had had more time, she would have tested it in advance.
Perhaps
they
should have sewn some sachets into the lining of her skirt as Kitty had suggested, but she had not wished to give anyone a
n excuse
to
touch
her!

H
ear
ing
footsteps in the hall
, she turned her
eyes
in that direction.
T
he sound stopped and
began again
shortly before
Wickham came into view
in the open doorway
, sporting a sword in his belt
.

It was obvious that he
was holding his breath
as
he
took
the first
few steps into the room
.
Earlier he had not been able to stay this near to her even without breathing, but it seemed that now he could.
Elizabeth was filled with disappointment as she watched him take a deep breath and
saw
a satisfied smile cre
e
p over his features.

As Wickham
tentatively
took
one
step
after another
toward her, he stopped halfway across the tiny room
,
and then
quickly
backed up a step.

Ah,
Cher-nog
can come closer, but
not very close. How long will that
continue
, I wonder
?
And what will happen once
it
can come near
er to me
?
She hoped that the others
would
arrive
before she
f
ou
n
d
out.