Sir Phillip judiciously moved on to another topic.“The maid—Lucinda Dodd—she had a confrontation with Mrs. Darcy’s sister.
We assumed she was the one to destroy Mrs. Wickham’s belongings. The question remains, why did someone kill Miss Dodd?”
“It seems logical to me, Sir Phillip,” Elizabeth spoke first, “that, like Lawson, Lucinda must have surprised the intruder.”
Lady Catherine snarled, “Is it not possible that Mrs. Wickham exacted her revenge on the maid? She was overheard reprimanding your servant, Darcy.”
“If we accused every man or woman of murder who has spoken harshly to the help, most of English aristocracy would stand accused, including you, Aunt.” Darcy defended Elizabeth more than he did Lydia Wickham. His aunt still clung to her old ways, and he feared he would once again have to sever ties with her. Besides, her defection from Georgiana brought his own personal censure.
Her Ladyship snorted her disgust, but she refused to force Darcy’s hand any further.
“As Mrs.Wickham is nearly a head shorter and more than two stone lighter than the maid, it is not likely that she could first, overpower the woman, or, second, carry the body so far away from the house,” Stafford pointed out.
Cathleen Donnel asked, “Is not Lucinda the maid who claimed to have had several flirtatious conversations with your unknown footman, Mr. Darcy?”
Darcy observed her evenly. “You are correct, Miss Donnel. I do not believe any of us had made that connection before now.”
“Then if I understand what we have said here today,” Sir Phillip made some quick scratches on the paper, “Mrs. Jenkinson’s passing appears more calculated than the other two, which seem more opportunistic.”
“And Harwood?” the colonel asked into the silent room.
Cathleen Donnel glanced furtively about the room. “Where is Lieutenant Harwood? I expected him to be here.”
“There are a few facts about the lieutenant of which I would like each of you to be aware,” Darcy took up the tale; yet, he did not answer Miss Donnel’s question.“The lieutenant has misrepresented himself to my family and to me.”
“How so, Mr. Darcy?” Cathleen asked innocently. Despite Adam’s warning, she saw the man’s goodness.
“Initially, when Harwood called at Pemberley, I expressed my surprise at his being able to travel in such inclement weather. The lieutenant assured me that Derby had received the storm’s force. In reality, it was the reverse: Cheshire took the hardest hit. I am positive of my words’ truth because the colonel came from Matlock today, and although the roads were muddy—”
“And miserable,” Edward interjected.
“And miserable,” Darcy continued, “traffic to the east has resumed. Roads headed north or west are still impassable.”
Anne found her voice. “Why would Lieutenant Harwood lie?”
“Why the lieutenant offered a prevarication I will explain momentarily,” he assured everyone. “When the viscount and I began our investigation, we found an unusual muddy pattern on the tree trunk closest to the tenant cottages, where my sister had seen the phantom stranger.”
Lord Stafford stood to fill his glass with brandy. “It was a heel print,” he said casually as he poured the golden brown liquid. “The heel’s shape was irregular—not curved like those most of us wear. We discovered a similarly shaped track near Lucinda’s body and again today.” He returned to his seat. “When Colonel Fitzwilliam tracked in mud and snow on Pemberley’s tiled foyer, we quickly noticed that the mark from the tree and from Mr. Darcy’s floor compared favorably. They both came from a military-issued boot.”
“That does not prove the lieutenant created the mark.” Mrs. Williams appeared shaken, but she raised her chin defiantly.
Darcy smiled in perverted amusement. “You are correct, Mrs. Williams; however, Miss Darcy identified Lieutenant Harwood as being the man she had observed.”
Georgiana explained, “I thought from the beginning that the lieutenant held a familiarity. He did: He wore the same style of dark cloak and hat that I have seen the colonel wear with his uniform, but there was something else. It was his blond hair tied back with
the leather string that caused me to make the connection. I am sure you all noticed the lieutenant’s straight blonde hair.”
“The point I wish to make is that Harwood could know nothing of Cheshire’s roads because he dwelled in Derby before we were beset by the storm. He has been in the area all along,” said Darcy. “I checked with my groomsmen and the gatekeeper, and they report that the lieutenant has been asking questions about this household for several days. He was most interested in the Rosings Park equipage, for example.”
“That scoundrel!” Lady Catherine declared.
“I imagine, Aunt, the lieutenant arrived before your journey to Pemberley. Harwood likely escaped Liverpool when you arrived to claim Anne—it is very likely the man paralleled your journey on horseback.”
Mrs. Williams sniffed in disgust. “You accuse a man when he can make no defense.”
“That is where you are in error, madam.” Lady Catherine’s autocratic tone brooked no debate.“The lieutenant practiced a deceit upon my daughter—opening my poor, dear Anne to a possible ruination—and then demanded payment for his silence.” Her Ladyship’s desire to keep her family’s good name had gone by the way-side in her need to have the final word.
Anne felt the embarrassment of her mother’s announcing her daughter’s weakness to the whole room, but the shame of the incident lessened with each retelling; and in a strange way, Anne gloried in her own mistakes. They meant she had taken control of her life.
Colonel Fitzwilliam sat forward to draw the room’s attention to him. “I suppose it is time that I share what I know of the lieutenant.” Even Darcy turned to listen. He had his suspicions, but only his cousin knew the truth. “Lieutenant Robert Harwood accompanied me to Kent three months ago. We were to set up an exchange of information post with the British Navy. Being at Dover, it seemed only appropriate that I call upon my aunt, and I often requested Harwood’s company.
“It took me little time to note the lieutenant’s interest in my cousin. Thinking it but a simple flirtation, I saw nothing of which to object. In fact, observing my cousin’s change of demeanor and her newfound confidence, I purposely looked the other way. Yet, something about Harwood and Anne’s relationship disturbed me, and after my cousin’s trusted companion, Mrs. Jenkinson, sought me out to express similar concerns, I took it upon myself to find out more of the lieutenant’s background.”
“And what did you discover, Colonel?” Elizabeth encouraged him.
Mrs. Williams rose quickly to her feet. “I must object, Sir Phillip, to this line of questioning. The officer is not present to defend himself against these acrid accusations. I will not allow anyone to soil the good name of an honorable officer.”
She made to depart, but Sir Phillip’s words stayed her leaving. “You will remain where you are, madam, or I shall have you detained by my magisterial powers.”
Evelyn Williams bristled with indignation. “Am I to be another of the innocents accused without provocation?”
“You will be treated with the same civility as you treat others, madam,” the baronet retorted.
After a moment’s silent battle of wills, Mrs. Williams took a seat away from the others.
“Might you continue, Colonel?” Sir Phillip gestured as he accepted the lady’s act of noncompliance.
“I left the lieutenant in Kent to assist Colonel Cavendish, and I returned to our unit. There, I pulled the lieutenant’s official record. What I discovered nearly set me on the road again. However, when news came of Harwood’s removal from Kent, I assumed all would be well. I planned to speak to Her Ladyship and Anne if the lieutenant showed himself to be my cousin’s ardent pursuer.”
Elizabeth slid her hand into Darcy’s, sensing what they were about to hear might change everything, and she needed to hold onto the only solid thing in her life: Darcy’s love. “What did you discover of the man, Colonel?”
“Lieutenant Robert Harwood’s file showed the man to already be in possession of a wife.” A rumble of disbelief filled the room. “A wife whom he had married some five years earlier—a woman several years his senior—a woman whose first husband had lost his life at San Domingo—a woman from Cumbria—Angel Harwood.”
Lydia gasped, “Oh, my goodness!” Nearly everyone else in the room gasped also.
Cathleen looked amusedly at Adam. “Angel? It sounds like a stage name.”
“I am sure it is a shortened version of Angelica, a name quite common on the Continent,” the Colonel noted.
“So the miscreant already had a wife?”Worth growled.“I should have known.”
Anne stammered, “Rob-Robert? Had-Had a wife? How could he offer himself to me, knowing he had given away what he so intimately professed to need?”
Elizabeth observed, “I do not understand such duplicity. His poor wife…how she must suffer.”
Mrs. Williams flinched, but she again came to the officer’s defense. “One can only suppose that the lieutenant had his reasons.”
“But the man practiced a deceit of a most personal nature,” Stafford declared.
“Exactly,” Worth stated. “A proposal of marriage should not be anything less than personal.”
Anne whispered, “It certainly felt personal to me.”
“To you?” Mrs. Williams’s composure snapped. “To you?
Nothing
is personal to you, Miss de Bourgh.You change your affections as easily as you change your gown—first your cousin Mr. Darcy—then the lieutenant—and now Mr. Worth. Do you not think that an inordinate number of
lovers
in so short a span of time, Miss de Bourgh?” Her tone slivered with contempt. “Your companion’s body had not lost its heat before you turned your attention to Mr. Worth, a man whose name means nothing; for one day, he spent time with Mrs. Jenkinson and the next with Miss de Bourgh.”
Worth came to Anne’s defense. He worried not for his own reputation; society expected men to have an inconstant nature. “Mrs. Jenkinson spoke of Miss de Bourgh’s fine qualities—the lady led me to what she saw in her charge. My true affection for Mrs. Jenkinson awakened me to the excellence of Miss de Bourgh’s character.”
Cathleen Donnel put into words what many others were thinking, “You defend Lieutenant Harwood’s actions? His attempted seduction and ruination of a lady?”Adam took note of how her bottom lip trembled, and he realized he needed to let her go—she deserved better—deserved to return to her family a
lady,
not his mistress. He wondered if he felt the guilt that Harwood would never know.
“It would seem to me that
the lady
participated willingly. By her mother’s own words, Miss de Bourgh followed Lieutenant Harwood to Liverpool. If she misjudged the man—if she knew so little of the world as to not see the man’s true nature—then perhaps Miss de Bourgh learned a valuable lesson at the lieutenant’s hands.”
“A lesson the vulgarian hoped to make profitable,” Lady Catherine hissed.
Darcy cleared his throat, silencing them all. He had been carefully observing their interactions, doing what Sir Phillip had instructed him to do—be a good listener. “Did you know Harwood previously, Mrs.Williams?”
“Why would you make such an assumption, Mr. Darcy?” She turned quickly away.
“When he first arrived, you slipped from the room before I could introduce you,” Darcy thought aloud.
Mrs. Williams stood slowly, pressing her skirt’s wrinkles. “As I am assured that my opinions are no longer welcome at Pemberley, I shall beg Mr. Darcy for the comfort of a coach into the village. Perhaps the lieutenant might serve as my escort. His presence, I assume, is no longer required. If the gentleman’s scheme has failed, he will likely be most eager to take his leave. As I am not as naïve as many of my present company, I will have no qualms in sharing a coach for the five miles into Lambton.”
“Surely, Sir Phillip, you have no intention of allowing Mrs.Williams to leave Pemberley until she truthfully answers my nephew’s question,” Lady Catherine declared.
“Never fear, Your Ladyship. No one will leave until both Mr. Darcy and I have the answers to many questions.”
“I know my rights, Sir Phillip.You may not detain the lieutenant or me, as no crime has been committed. Intention is not action, sir,” Mrs.Williams asserted.
“And what of my dear Mildred’s death?” Mrs. Williams’s frame overshadowed Anne’s, but Darcy’s cousin demanded an answer as she shot to her feet.
Mrs.Williams made a move toward the door, but Stafford blocked her retreat.“Am I accused once more?” she asked incredulously.
Worth took up the cause.“By your own words, you disapproved of Miss de Bourgh’s companion and of Her Ladyship’s daughter. You arranged the cups of hot cider, and I venture to say if we searched your room, we would find arsenic among your cosmetics, although I recall your most vehement denial of the traditional use of arsenic as part of a lady’s beauty secrets.”
Darcy noted how the lady recoiled when Worth mentioned searching her room. He instantly regretted not having searched specifically for that
beauty
item after Mrs. Jenkinson’s death. Now, he clearly saw the fault in his helter-skelter efforts. Thankfully, Sir Phillip understood the intricacies of searching for the truth.
“I will allow no one access to my private quarters,” the lady declared.
Darcy countered, “As this is my house, madam, I doubt you could keep me out.”
“When we finish here, Darcy,” the baronet summarized,“you and I will do just that. We will also search the other rooms—under my supervision, of course.” His businesslike tone instilled confidence.
“Of course, Sir Phillip.”
“Might we return to the issue of Robert Harwood?” Edward interjected.
Mrs.Williams’s composure slipped. “What of the lieutenant?”
Sir Phillip sat straighter, aware of the importance of his announcement. “The lieutenant has lost his life.”
“Oh, no!” Elizabeth gasped, turning her face into Darcy’s shoulder, seeking his immediate comfort.