Page 71 of Collins Takes Charge

Forster showed them to a parlour with a door in one wall. He indicated chairs, all of which were facing the closed door where the four Bennets sat. One of Collins’s men took up a position behind each one. Seeing a nod from Collins, Forster opened the door and stepped into his office while leaving the door cracked open by a few inches.

Wickham’s back was to the door, so he had no idea it was partially open.

“I need my office back, so let’s get this over with soon. I want this libertine back in the brig where he belongs,” Forster said as his eyes slid to the door, telling Fitzwilliam that the audience was present.

Lydia was wondering which of the men other than her Wicky the Colonel was speaking to in that fashion.

“Alright, Wickham, this is your one chance to not end up in King’s Bench,” Fitzwilliam began. “We know about your debts you were able to amass in Meryton. Those were added to the more than three thousand pounds of your debt markers Darcy is holding. Do you deny that this is true, that you left unpaid debts wherever you went?”

“You know it is true, but if I must say it, then yes, I left those debts behind me,” Wickham admitted. He wanted to add that it was only right Darcy paid his debts, but he knew it was a bad idea.

“Why did you seduce so many girls by promising to marry them before telling them that if they truly loved you, they would anticipate their vows? Did you not care that you ruined them? Of those who became with child, do you know some were called home to God? Do you know or care that Darcy here is having five of your by-blows cared for?” Hilldale enquired.

As if hearing Wicky admit to leaving debts in such sums behind him was not enough, now Lydia was praying that he would not admit to being a seducer of girls—girls like her.

“Yes, that is all true. And why should I not take what is freely given? How they would believe I would ever marry some penniless nobody is beyond me,” Wickham responded. He did not know where these questions tended, but if they saved him from King’s Bench, so be it.

As soon as she heard the reply, Lydia wanted to gasp, but she placed her hand over her mouth. She who never cried, had tears in her eyes.

Fanny had turned white, a similar colour to her husband.

Kitty was crying silently. Was this why Jane, Lizzy, and Mary always warned Lydia and her about the way they behaved around the officers?

“I know the town was warned against your type of seductive arts,” Fitzwilliam drawled, “but tell me, Wicky, have you been able to bed an unsuspecting local girl? Failing that, were you working on one?”

“I have not had luck in this damned town, and had I not been arrested, I would have plucked a flower from the stupidest, most flirtatious girl in the area,” Wickham revealed. He understood that Fitzwilliam wanted details and that his future was tied to his answers. “It is Miss Lydia Bennet; not only is she a lightskirt, but can you believe that she told me it was her own mother who taught her how to catch a man by flirting and even allowing him to kiss her? She allowed more than kissing.”

“Did you bed her?” Darcy demanded.

“No, but she allowed me to touch her breasts and between her legs. She thought I was to propose marriage today. I would have said what she wanted to hear just so she would have allowed me to take her virtue without hesitation,” Wickham told.

“What of the older one, Miss Kitty?” Hilldale queried.

“Too much of a prude,” Wickham replied. “She would not allow me to kiss her even when I told her she was so much better than her younger sister. The one I really wanted was Miss Elizabeth, but she seemed to become cold towards me. That younger one is a slattern, and doing what her mother…”

“No, no, no, no!” Lydia screamed as she jumped up from her chair before the man behind her could move. She reached the door between the parlour and Colonel Forster’s office and threw it open before one of the men caught her and lifted her off the ground as if she weighed nothing.

Inside the colonel’s office, Wickham turned as much as he was able while still clapped in irons on hearing the shouting and the door being flung open. His face expressed shock at seeing the girl he had planned to bed. She was white with fury and he could see she wanted nothing more than to scratch his eyes out. Thankfully, a huge man held her back. Wickham did not miss the looks of disgust on the faces in the office with him.

“Lord Hilldale, Colonels Fitzwilliam and Forster, and Mr Darcy, thank you. I think we have heard enough,” William Collins stated. “You may return the prisoner to his cell.”

Hearing the sound of retching behind him, William turned to see Cousin Bennet casting up his accounts into a vase. Cousin Fanny looked as white as a sheet. She was sitting and shaking. As soon as the door to the office was closed, Johns released Cousin Lydia who fell into her older sister’s arms. The two youngest Bennets held one another tightly and cried piteously.

As much as he hated to cause anyone pain, William knew that a shock had been necessary.

Now he had a very good chance of the Bennet parents and the two youngest daughters listening when he attempted to suggest some changes they should make. William believed that this trauma, showing them how close their family had come to ruin, would end up being something good.

He hoped it would lead to the Bennets repairing their broken family. William lifted his eyes to the Father and prayed it would be so.

Chapter 27

Due to the fact that the information about what was to occur at Colonel Forster’s house had been imparted to them, Jane, Elizabeth, and Mary had an idea of what was to follow there. The three eldest Bennet sisters had been aware that Mr Wickham was a bad man. However, after Cousin Collins, Colonel Fitzwilliam, and Mr Darcy returned looking very grave, combined with the wailing of their mother and two youngest sisters, that awful man was far worse than they had imagined.

The change to Papa was shocking. He walked into the drawing room before turning and leaving again without a word to anyone. It was as if he were in a stupor; his face was drawn and not the normal colour as he made for his study.

“Mamma, what happened?” Jane enquired.

“Everything I taught Lydia about catching a man was wrong,” Fanny cried. “She took my advice too far, but it was me who set her on the path to ruin.”