Page 25 of Cousin Elizabeth
“Jimmy says he’s goin’ round to all the gamblin’ places lookin’ for that one. He heard someone call the man ‘Rose…somethin’.
Tyler and Timothy looked at each other. No one had seen Miss Darcy quietly coming out on the lawn. “Could it have been Rosemont? My cousin is tall and blonde.”
“Coulda been. Did you folks want ta get rid of the rat there? I knows a way. You’ll never see ‘im again.”
“We won’t do anything illegal, Tommy.” John admonished the young man.
“Not illegal. Navy’s always lookin’ for more hands. Ya take him down ta the docks. I know the men that’ll take him and glad of it.Ya don’ even hafta pay um, but they don’ mind takin’ a tip, if ya know what I mean. Keeps quiet an all.”
Slow smiles spread around the gathered men. Miss Darcy started backing away. “I think I had best go inside. Lizzy and Beth should be here to take me to Rock House soon.” She turned and fled back in the house. It was mere minutes before George Wickham was being wrapped in a rug and thrown into his own carriage. Tommy rode up with John who would drive down to one of the rougher parts of town, while Timothy and Tyler rode inside the carriage with a still unconscious George laying at their feet.
Chapter Twenty-two
Theodore Fitzwilliam, viscount Rosemont, was at his wits end. He saw Reggie at one of the gambling rooms near the Brass Duck. He had been assured that Wickham had been seen that very afternoon. “But come! Sit and play a few hands. Wickham isn’t going anywhere.”
“How can you be sure. Has he been in here playing? Is he on a winning streak?”
“No. I haven’t seen him in here. Must be playing somewhere else. He’s using your sobriquet again. Going by Henry Blake.”
“That dastard! I’ll have him transported this time. That name is known now, and his creditors come to me to pay up! When father finds out I lost those greys because of Wickham, he’ll probably disinherit me. I’ve already been banished to Rosemont.”
“You should have fessed up to the old man years ago. Wickham has never done anything but lead you into trouble and then cause trouble for you when you refused to follow along anymore.”
“Too late now. I need to clean up my own messes. Richard and Darcy won’t even talk to me anymore. My own mother just cried when she last saw me. My father called me a spineless worm. A worm!”
“Tut tut old man. You sure you don’t want to sit in for a few hands?”
“No, Reggie. I’m done with cards.”
Reggie slapped him on the back and went back to his game. Theo resumed his hunt for his oldfriend.
It was well after midnight when he ran out of the nicer places to check, and now he was down at the docks. There were three places left on his list to check for Wickham when he saw a small black carriage pull up in front of a very dingy pub. A huge driver and a boy got down, and two footmen climbed out of the carriage and dragged what looked like a man out. ‘Wait a minute! I know those footmen! Those are the twins that work for Darcy! What in the blazes is going on?’ He walked a little closer but stayed in the shadows. The boy ran inside the pub and came out with two burly sailors. One toed the man on the ground. “He’s still alive ain’t he?”
The big man leaned over and touched the man on the ground. “He is. Just sleeping off a bad night.”
“He got a name? Not that it matters where he’s goin’. He’ll earn a name or he won’t.”
One of the twins was heard to say, “Wickham. George Wickham.”
The sailors nodded. One of them hoisted the unconscious man over his shoulder, and the other took something from the big man and said, “Thanks gov!”
Theo couldn’t believe his luck. He just saw Wickham hauled off to become a landsman on a ship! The boy stayed behind when the men left with the carriage. He sauntered over to where Theo was standing in the shadows. “You’ve been lookin’ for that one?” He threw his thumb over his shoulder.
“I have. Glad to see he is getting what is coming to him. Do you know where he is going, and if he’ll ever be back?”
“Owes ya money?”
“A lot, but I’ll never get it back.”
“The blokes that took ‘im are leavin’ for India first light. Doubt he’ll be back.”
Theo pulled a crown out of his pocket and gave it to the boy. “My thanks to you and your friends. Do you know where the Darcysare staying? I am their cousin. I need to check they are well before I go back north.”
Tommy stared at the blonde man for a minute and finally said, “Miss Darcy’s stayin’ at Seaview Cottage, just down from “The Rock House”. Ask anyone. They’ll give ya directions.” And he slipped away into the night.
Theo felt lighter than he had in a long time.
~~~~~
