Page 59 of The Scarred Duchess
The militia man to the left grunted, then sagged to the ground, a baton bouncing next to him. Two separate clicks of pistols cocking split the air.
“Step away!” shouted Legget, his voice thunderous.
No one moved. A dozen eyeballs ricocheted about.Bennet stepped forward; he kept his pistol pointed at the militia man on the right. “Make room for the carriage!” barked Legget; his pistol remained fixed on the left-most soldier.
Both militias took two further steps backwards. Legget glanced at Bennet.
“Girls, gather behind me,” Bennet ordered. Elizabeth, Jane and Mary rushed behind him. Kitty and Lydia stood behind Legget.
The spectacle emptied the shops.
“I am the former Colonel Bennet of the Royal Horse Guards.” The soldiers stood to attention. “Good, you understand.” They nodded repeatedly.
“Return to your camp,” he ordered.
The two standing militia officers hoisted the third and dragged him off. Bennet carefully un-cocked his weapon and handed it to Legget.
“Papa!” Lydia and Kitty ran to their sisters. Bennet guided them towards the carriage. Legget climbed up the side and the vehicle headed back towards Longbourn.
“Kitty, Lydia.”
“Yes, Papa.” They did not look at him.
“Let this be the punctuation mark on the subject of escorts.”
“Yes, Papa.”
Mrs Bennet and the elder three girls, in company with Legget, began walking to Meryton each Tuesday after tea. They returned early from their third visit and Franny camedirectly to the book-room to speak to him. Her countenance concerned him. He led her to her favourite chair by the dormant hearth and sat adjacent.
“What has upset you, my dear?”
Franny narrated the foolish actions of those attending the village on the high street. As Elizabeth had noted on previous walks, people stopped and stared. Men gaped. Young men walked into doorways. Women glared at them; their daughters hid behind their mother’s skirts.
“Do even the horses bow?”
Franny was in no mood for his joke, so more seriously, he asked, “Did you sense cruelty in their looks?”
Franny shook her head. “The women, yes. It is as we feared.”
“And the men?”
“They seemed to be struck dumb. Jane has not been seen, truly seen, in three years, and it appears her beauty had been forgot, or never known by some.” Franny tried to smile. “It would be encouraging if it were not so...so overwhelming. It is almost frightening.”
“I see.” Bennet refrained from offering his agreement to avoid alarming his wife.
When she left his study, he asked Hill to find Legget.
Legget sat with his commander, knowing full well what the conversation would entail.
“You have a problem, Colonel.”
“Do you foresee additional trouble?”
“I do. Our good fortune is that the militia departsto Brighton in June.”
Colonel Bennet pursed his lips. “Until they depart, do we require additional men?”
“You’ll want to have two more men to watch the other ladies until the curs get on.”
