All Hallow's Eve (27 page)

“
A
little, sir, but not much!
”

“
Well, it will have to do.
We have much to discuss
,
and I do not trust speaking of it anywhere
else just now
.
”

~%~

“
I never understood why you
and Margaret
travelled so far across England to train with me when you had a
n
Immun
living on the same estate. Did you not know that Mr. Darcy was a weapons master?
”
Mr. Bennet asked after he saw his old friend relax a little about
halfway
through their meal.

Reynolds
nodded and
smiled.
“
The
late
Mr. Darcy tried to
teach
us
, but when he
realized that
neither of us
could
even
think
of holding a sword to
our
employer
, he sent
us
here
.
He
felt
more comfortable
that
we
be trained by
the best
since
we
would be protecting his family.
”
Reynolds hesitated a few moments before drawing breath to speak again.
“
Mr. Bennet
, I would like to make a request.
Alt
hough
Margaret and
I have done
the best that
we
could, m
y sons have not been
formally
trained
.
T
hey are not quite of age,
but
I would feel better if
my wife and
I were not the only one
s
in the household
,
especially since...
”
He looked at Elizabeth, both men knowing full well that she would soon be living at Pemberley.

“
Yes
–
yes, of course.
Send them to me when th
e danger
here
has passed
,
and I
will
be happy to take them on as students.
How many sons do you have?
”

“
I have
three sons, sir, ages
twenty
,
eighteen
and sixteen
.
A
ll
three
work in t
he household
.
”

“
That is ideal then,
al
though I am certain that Elizabeth would be happy to train them...
”
Mr. Bennet halted his
speech
when
he saw Reynolds pale once again.
“
Well, consider it as an option.
She is fully qualified as an
Immun
, and in fact, she may end up be
comin
g the next Lead
Immun
!
I had hoped to find someone else since she has enough responsibility on her shoulders
already
, but
I have
yet to find
one
as skilled as
she
,
”
he said thoughtfully
, staring off to
wards the group of young people.
“
I
do
see quite a bit of potential in Darcy.
”

“
Are you certain that you
do not
wish me
to stay,
Mr. Bennet?
I would be
honour
ed to
help
defend the High
Priestess
.
”

“
Miss Darcy is at Pemberley, is she not?
”
At Reynolds’
nod, Mr. Bennet continued,
“
You may help us move tonight, but t
h
e
n i
t
would be
better
for
you
to return
home
as soon as possible
.
Miss Darcy must be protected as well.
”

~%~

“
How are your trunks coming along
, my dears?
”
Mrs. Bennet
enquired of
her daughters
as they entered the parlor
.

Jane
responded
,
“
Mr. Hill, Mr. Reynolds, and John
have just now gone
to fetch
them
to load
onto the cart
s
, Mama
.
”

“
Are you certain
that
you do not wish for me to send for
some
footmen
to
assist
with the trunks
, Mr. Bennet?
”
Bingley asked.

“
I
thank you,
Bingley,
but
I do not wish to risk detection.
Alt
hough your men may be trustworthy, t
he
smaller the
number of people
who
are aware
that the
reason
we
are
relocating
has been
fabricated
,
the
easier
it will be
to
conceal
.
That
the
roof was
somewhat
damaged
is
a
well-
established fact
since
I
spoke of it openly
when
the inspector had
informed
me of
the problem
more than a month ago
, and
I had
since
discussed
with several of our
neighbour
s
how
I was anticipating
the
arrival of
supplies
so that we could
commence repairs
.
I am thankful that the shipment of materials
was delivered at the end of
last week
so that
m
y men
can
begin their work
early i
n the morning
and
there will be no evidence proving the claim of a collapse
is
false
if any busybodies come to snoop
.
As always, even if they do not know the specific reasons for what we do,
Longbourn’s
staff
fully
understands
the
requirements of
confidentiality
and discretion in
all
of
the goings-on in our household
.
We shall return
with the carriages
to move
a portion
of the armo
u
ry ourselves tonight after dark.
”
At Bingley’s nod, Mr. Bennet turned to
face
his family.
“
Ladies, let us be off to Netherfield.
”

Chapter 8

November 11, 1811

In the
ball
room at Netherfield,
Elizabeth stood by the
wall of
window
s
gazing
out
at what seemed
to be
a perfect day
whil
st
a deep longing nagg
ed
at her soul
.
What she would not do to
be able to
take
a
solitary
ramble
!
She
was very well aware
that if something should happen to her, it might be decades before
another Destined One was born and ready to perform
the
Sanun
once again
,
so
she
would do what she must to remain safe for the
benefit
of all good
people
of
this world
and
the Otherworld
. However
,
it did not follow that she would
have to
be content with this decision
.

As she
felt
someone
approach
,
Elizabeth turned
, and found her father standing beside her
.

Unnoticed by the pair,
a deep shadow broke
off
from that of a nearby tree and moved
away from the window
.

“
Lizzy, are you well?
You have been standing here for a very long time.
”

She exclaimed,
“
Papa,
I have been indoors for
days
,
and
I do not
know if
I can
remain
so
for
much
longer!
”

Mr. Bennet’s demeanor
displayed
his
concern.
“
Lizzy
,
after what happened at the meadow
, I do not think it is safe
for you to go walking about out of doors
.
”

“
Papa
, I cannot hide forever.
If I never stray from the house, do you not think that the
Olc
will find a way to get inside?
Perhaps
William
can come
with me
,
and
we shall
w
alk within sight of the house.
”

The entire party o
verheard their conversation
as it echoed through the enormous
room, which
acted as a cavern when not full of people
.
Richard suggested,
“
Since i
t
is
a fine day
,
why do we not
all
take a stroll?
”

~%~

November 13, 1811

George Wickham
walked through the door of one of
his
favourite
haunts and stopped just inside
the entrance
, searching
through
the sea of faces
.
T
his
pub was not
situated
in the
finest
part of
London
by far
, yet it was not the
poorest
either
.
Alt
hough he
gladly
would visit
the
vilest
section
of the city
very soon as well
,
t
hat
stage
of his plan would
have to wait
since
what would
be
need
ed
there
was
contingent upon what
t
h
is
friend
could do for him
.

Wickham laughed at the designation,
since
he doubted
that
anyone
thought of him
with this word in mind
, even
in jest
.

His guffaw settled into a satisfied
smirk
as
he
recogniz
ed
the set of features
belonging to
the
man
he
sought
,
Archibald Denny
.
C
urrently
in town
on leave
from his
position as
a
l
ieutenant
in
the militia
,
by coincidence
Denny was
assigned to
the village
that
Wickham
had
spent the
past
few
day
s
observ
ing
stealthily
—Meryton—which was quite advantageous for Wickham’s purposes
.
If Denny knew what was g
ood for him
,
he would find a legitimate reason
to
make
certain
that
Wickham return
ed
with him
.
Wickham knew that
ever since
a certain
fateful night long ago, Denny had been much more particular about knowing the difference between what was good for him and what was not.

Denny happened to look toward the door and cat
ch
sight
of
Wickham
standing there.
The stricken look upon his face was priceless
!
Wickham
nodded as he
laughed
wickedly
in response
.

Yes,
as always,
Denny would do as he was tol
d
.
If the
information
that Wickham
knew about him
should be made public
,
the consequences
would
end his life as he knew it
, and
Denny
had good reason
not
to doubt
that Wickham
would
publicize it
if he did not
do all that
Wickham wished
.

Wickham
’s
evil snicker
rang out
again a
s
he thought that he
always made certain
to
ha
ve
many such
friends
.

~%~

“
William?
Tell me about th
e
man that your parents
had
warned would be coming to Meryton.
”

William
barely
succeeded in limiting his disappointed groan to his thoughts.
After the previous day
s
’ walk
s
had been
uneventful
, William
had
agreed to another, but this time
,
he felt more comfortable
limit
ing the invitation
to
just the two of them.
Since the Bennets had been staying at Netherfield, he had
spent
so little time alone
with Elizabeth
,
and
he
had been
looking forward to
hold
ing
a
pleasant
conversation
with his beloved, devoid of
the
distraction
of others.
I
f
he
had
to choose the
subject that would
be
least
likely
to be considered
“
pleasant,
”
it would be
th
is!

He s
igh
ed
lightly
, kn
o
w
ing that
he should
answer
her
;
he had
delayed
this discussion
long enough
.
It was
better
that Elizabeth
be armed with as much information
as possible about the
miscreant
who would soon enter the
neighbour
hood
.

“
George Wickham,
”
he almost growled,
“
is
the son of an
honour
able
man who held the position of steward
at Pemberley
until his early death
.
During
our childhood
,
his manner was much like I imagine Bingley’s would have been as a child, except George tended to have a more
highly
developed
,
wry
sense of humo
u
r.
We were the best of friends
,
until I returned from my first year at Eton.
”
His expression darkened.
“
Something
had
happened to him whilst
I had been away
—I know not what
.
Physically, he was the same
boy
I had always known, but his
behaviour
had changed
so dra
ma
tically
whilst
I was at school
that
I
almost
could
not recognize him
as my old friend
.
There was something about his
eyes
that betrayed
him
first,
and then
his actions
...
”
William shuddered
involuntarily
.
“
Together,
as
young
boys
w
e
had been
involved in
our share of
fairly
harmless
mischief,
and
George
always
had a talent for being
able to
charm
his way out of
being held responsible
most of the time
.
A
s he grew older
,
the
trouble
Wickham
became involved in
was much more serious
in
nature
.
Unfortunately, he continued to be able to
enchant
his way out of
being
found
accountable for his actions
.
”