Page 29 of Saving Jane
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Dear Georgiana,
I have been much affected by yesterday’s events and your brother was most kind to bring me home last evening. My life has been much protected and persons such as Mr Wickham and Mrs Young have not been among my acquaintance. I am grateful for the friendship you offer, and we must remain thus. This afternoon, my uncle has loaned me his copy of Shakespeare’s sonnets so when next we meet, we can begin our discussion of this work.
Please thank your brother for his kind considerations.
Your friend, Elizabeth Bennet
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Chapter 12.Mr Darcy’s Visit to Prison
Another day passed before Mr Darcy arranged with the governor of Newgate Prison for an interview with George Wickham. On the arranged day, his coach left Darcy House early in the afternoon and joined a second of his carriages outside the old stone prison. Darcy stepped from his carriage in the company of his attorney and crossed to the second carriage where he opened the door and spoke for several minutes with the passengers. Then he entered the gaol with his attorney and the passengers of the other carriage following at some distance.
Inside the building Darcy and his attorney met with the governor for a moment before the man led them deeper into his prison to a particular cell. Once there, the governor nodded to the jailer to open the door. The three men walked into the cell with two rough-looking guards in attendance.
“Darcy! At last!” George Wickham cried. “I sent you word three days ago to come help me!”
“I have been delayed Wickham,” Mr Darcy replied as he looked about the cell; there was a cot, chamber pot and window with bars. Wickham also had blankets, a small table with scraps of food and drink in a pitcher–evidence that he had some funds on his person to pay the guards.
“If you had delayed many more days, I would be dead. Have you arranged my release?”
“We must speak on several matters before there are any arrangements,” Darcy stated. “It is always expensive to meet with you and this time, it is not a matter of debts to repay. Indeed, debtor’s prison would much more pleasant than your future prospects.”
“It is all a misunderstanding,” Wickham insisted. “My wife died but her cousin is the culprit! The man was in Bath, and he has disappeared!”
“George, as I said, we must talk.”
Darcy nodded to his attorney and the man pulled out several documents that appeared to be notes of conversations.
“I want to know of your arrangements with Mrs Young.”
“What do you mean?”
“Why was Mrs Young in my household as mysister’s companion?”
George Wickham smiled. “It was an unforeseen happenstance. I had no contact with Mrs Young for some time until this past summer when I happened upon her on the street, and she divulged that you were her employer now.”
Darcy examined the man closely; George was the consummate liar.
“And you did not work with Mrs Young to place her in my household with a scheme to approach my sister; to attempt to compromise my sister?”
“I would never do such a thing. Miss Darcy is as dear to me as a sister!” Wickham protested but Darcy smirked.
“George, what of your two sisters in Derbyshire? You stole their inheritance and left them penniless in Lambton when you took the coach to London with my cheque for four thousand pounds.”
“I knew you would care for them, Darcy. You settle all my women for me,” George said.
“Indeed, I have cleaned up behind you each time you have ruined a woman,” Darcy agreed. “Now, what woman should I assist this time?”
“My wife–Mrs Edith Wickham will need help with a few minor bills–nothing more than two, three or four hundred.”
“Mr Wickham, in what church did you marry Mrs Wickham?” asked the attorney. “I must have verification from the parson that you were married by common license or after the reading of the banns.”
Wickham leaned back in his chair, “She’s a common law wife. Nothing licensed or registered.”
“It requires seven years for such a marriage to be recognized,” the attorney replied. “And since your licensed wife died just three months previous, that nullifies any previous time spent with the lady and thus common law does not apply.”
