Bearing witness to young Henry devouring the meat from the plate of leftovers that Kitty had hidden under her bed turned her stomach around in vicious circles. Despite having eaten the bread 3 hours before, the poor child was clearly starving. He looked up at her with grateful eyes and wiped the greasy stains from around his lips. Seeming self conscious for the first time.
"I thank you mistress" he said quietly "I thank you with all my heart. That is the first time I have eaten meat in many months and probably the last" his young voice trailed off into quietness again and he sat on the floor with his arms around his knees. She knew then that he was as much a captive as she was, clearly forced to do the bidding of the disgusting man who held her there. Her thoughts turned to Wickham and she wondered where they could have been keeping him, she wondered if he too had been given the luxury of a room that had a bed or whether he languished in the dungeon below her feet. The dungeon was where he belonged in her opinion, despicable man.
She held the wooden cup of water out to the young boy and he took it gratefully, drinking long and deep. When he had finished he got up from the floor and took up his broom it was clearly what he was meant to be doing in the first place. She knew that he could not be seen as neglecting his duties here or they would stop him from coming and then where should she be?
"I wonder what could have befallen Mr Wickham" she said quietly, watching to see if the boy took her bait. The sounds of the Broom scratched across the stone floor for a few moments more before stopping. He then began to sweep more viciously but worked his way closer to her. She knew that he meant to tell her, but did not want to be overheard.
"He still stays below mistress he is in the dungeon they have left him there"
"I see" said Kitty "I wonder why they moved me here then"
"I am afraid that I cannot say" Henry took up the Broom once more "I cannot say because I do not know ,but I will say that Mr king never does anything for no reason, he always has a reason behind his actions, that is why I am here also."
"Oh do go on" Kitty said encouragingly when the boy stopped once more. He looked at her fearfully, he knew that he was speaking out of turn and would likely get a lashing if not worse for talking to the young lady about anything, but she had been so kind to him, Kinder than anyone in this place had ever been, he would trust her with this at least.
"It began when I was very small" he looked towards the door to make sure that nobody was coming in before continuing quietly in his own little way. His movements reminded her of a frightened animal and she wondered what could have happened to make him act in such a manner. "When I was small I lived in a big house, I am the son of a gentleman, it was just Mother Father and I, I did not know much about the way of the world, but I did know that Mother and Father were very unhappy. Father like the drink you see and mother became sick and sad. I was sent to live with my grandmother and before I knew it mother died. I never got the chance to see her before she left us and father did not want me back at home, but at the time I did not know that there was no home to go to. Father had borrowed from King. He owed him an awful amount of money, so much so that nothing my father could ever do would be enough to pay him back. My grandmother was poor and struggled to keep me in clothes and food. In the end King came to some agreement with him and I was sent to Kings care to work back the debts of my family in exchange for the bed and board that my grandmother cannot afford, they send money to my grandmother you know to help keep her in comfort, she was kind to me, she loves me and I love my grandmother"
He looked away then his eyes filled with painful tears and Kitty new that the young lad was not so Naive as this King, who half staved and flogged the boy, did not send money to his grandmother, but he worked on, in the hope and belief that he did and that his long days and hard Nights were not in Vain. "Henry you are a brave boy" Kitty stood and reached her hand towards him, she clutched at his wrist, "Henry you are such a brave boy, you have been through an awful ordeal and if you will help me then I will help liberate you also. When my family come, I will see to it that they help you out of this terrible situation. You will have somewhere to live and there will be food, you do not belong here nobody belongs here, but you are clearly a gentleman's son and I am a gentleman's daughter I give you my word and my solemn promise that you will not be left here with King. Hush Now child..." she placed an arm around his shoulder as his little body and thin frame began to shake with emotion and relief.
"Forgive me Miss Kitty" he wiped the tears away hurriedly completely overcome, " forgive me for weeping like a child, please forgive me, it is not gentlemanly and I've bought shame on myself, but you have no idea how relieved I am to hear you say this." He paused and swallowed, calming himself down.
"I will help you if I can, but I must not be seen to be helping you if you understand my meaning? If King knows what is happening then he will whip me and I will not be permitted to come here and then I will be no use to you and I will not be able to help you"
"Yes I understand all this very well" Kitty said in hushed tones "I understand that I am putting you in a very dangerous situation, I know that it will be a very hard thing to do and you will have to be quick and clever and deceitful on my behalf, but I promise you that it will not go unrewarded. You must not give us away Henry you must keep quiet and be careful you must not tell anybody that you are going to help me or that I am feeding you or anything that suggests either of the two things at all"
"I give you my word Miss Kitty that I will help you," Henry gave a short bow and moved away from her again, he brushed outside the door loudly and clanked plates about as he wiped the table.
"How long does it take to sweep a floor and pick up plates boy hurry up!" the guard called crossly from outside the door, Idol boy he could be heard muttering Their Eyes met once again before the young boy left the room, his own full of meaning and kitties full of desperation. She prayed to the lord above that she had not made the most dreadful mistake by putting her trust in a 12-year-old boy. She was sure that he would not give her away on purpose, but she did not know his person and so did not know how careful he would be with everything that I passed before them. She lay down upon the bed then, the hard hay poked out from its mattress and scratched her through her dress, the cold draught blew from underneath the door and made gooseflesh rise on her skin. Please please I must be released from this hell she pleaded, no tears would come today, and she had cried so many now that they had run dry for a long time. She sat up again and moved to the desk, Kitty Bennet would not be defeated; she would not lie down and take this. A plan began to formulate in her mind and she set about putting it into action.
"We firstly need to lay together everything that we know" Mr Darcy sat heavily down at the desk and looked between the colonel and Elizabeth.
"Yes" the Colonel agreed "we need to come up with a formulated list of everything that might help us discover the whereabouts"
"Lydia seems to think that Wickham would travel 3 days by coach from Hertfordshire to get to wherever it was that he needed to be, in order to do King's bidding. That is a mighty long way; 3 days... you would expect it to be about 190 miles, where would three days travel take you from Hertfordshire?"
"Why Liverpool of course" Elizabeth looked between them "it is Liverpool. Mary King told my sister's that she was being sent to Liverpool to live with her uncle indefinitely. Liverpool is approximately that distance from Hertfordshire surely?"
The colonel and Darcy looks between each other "It cannot be this easy surely?" said the colonel "could they really be in Liverpool? Is she right Darcy; is that the right distance and the right amount of time?"
Mr Darcy took map out from his pocket. It had been residing there a long time waiting to be of use. He had been studying it for days now, trying to work out all the possible locations. He had been tracking the name King across the country, to find them out in the areas surrounding them.
"Indeed" he said cautiously, "indeed Liverpool would be just about right and there are kings in Liverpool that I have come to hear of"
The colonel sighed, got up and walked towards the whiskey decanter across the room. He poured 3 small glasses and brought them back to the table.
"Then it seems as though we're to go to Liverpool, though what we will do when we get there, I do not know. I cannot help but feel that we are grasping at straws Fitzwilliam, I wonder whether we should gather more information first before charging off to Liverpool"
"What do you propose that we try to find out Colonel?" Elizabeth said sharply "I do not know what we must wait for in order to act"
"I understand your frustration dear cousin" the colonel looked at her with kind eyes, " I do understand your frustration, but we cannot just charge into the abyss without knowing our enemy, without knowing anything more about King other than he is not a good man. We must be armed with the correct information and sent travelling in the right direction, we must be sure that it is the right direction before we go. What if we travel to Liverpool and then discover that they are in Ipswich? That sort of mistake could cause mayhem, it could be the result of many more days where your sister is The Captive and goes undiscovered!"
"We must not forget that they have offered a bargain also" said Mr Darcy "they have offered to return Kitty to us for a sum of money. I wonder whether we should reply first and wait to see if they give us a location"
"Yes I had quite forgotten about that" the colonel said gravely "in all the commotion that has arrived along with Mrs Wickham", he got up and began to pace the room, "Do you think then Sir that the best course of action is to reply first in the affirmative that we will do as they have asked? if we can track down the location from whence the letter has been sent, then it may give us the best idea of where to find your sister." he looked at Elizabeth again waiting for her agreement " if the directions indeed do come from a location close to Liverpool, then we know where we need to go to find her. We have the advantage of course in that we are closer to Liverpool than Pemberley is. They believe us to be still in Pemberley and so a day or two further away than we actually are. If we travel ahead of the arranged date it may allow us the chance to intervene, for I do not believe king has honourable intentions with your sister Elizabeth, I will not lie to you, I believe that he means to have the money and I do not know what he will do with your sister afterwards"
"I hear you meaning all too well" Elizabeth said slowly "if they are to be convinced that we're in Pemberley then the letter in which we use to reply must also come from Pemberley, for they are not likely to be so stupid. If we can ascertain their location using postal stamps than they might do that also Fitzwilliam can you not have a letter sent directly to Pemberley with some firm directions?"
"I can do Elizabeth but all this is going to take a very long time, are you proposing that I write the response to King on one letter and another letter with directions on where to send it?"
"I am" she said firmly and frowned at the Colonel who's pacing had become frantic, " but I am so sure that they are in Liverpool I can feel it, I know that is where she is my dear Kitty ...Richard for heaven's sake will you sit down for more than two seconds together!" She snapped finally. The Colonel bowed in apology and poured another glass of whiskey,
"My apologies madam" He said taking a seat once more, "I am not in the habit of keeping still; I am a man of action."
"I am sorry for being so harsh" She smiled, "It is just important that we all know what we are doing and if you take yourself over to the other end of the room whilst pacing around then you may indeed miss something!"
"And is all very well saying that you feel that Kitty is in Liverpool, my Dear," Mr Darcy interjected tactfully, "but we cannot just go on feelings Elizabeth, this has to be done properly. I know it is frightening and I know that it is hard to wait so long, they will not harm Kitty at present if she is to be used as a bargaining tool, there is great sense in what you have said I will have Mrs Reynolds send on the reply from Pemberley, to make it look as though we are still there. I will send this letter today it is Monday the letter will arrive on Wednesday and after it has been sent on it will not likely reach the King's again until Friday. It may well take them a few days to reply but as soon as we get our instructions on when and where they wish us to meet, we shall leave instantly for Liverpool, if that is where the trail leads us." "This could all go so wrong Fitzwilliam what if they are doing the same as us, what if the letters are being sent from London or elsewhere?"
"Elizabeth there are several of our party that can be sent in different directions at the same time. Lydia and Mrs Bennet will remain here with Jane and Georgiana to keep them sensible. Bingley and Mr Bennet will travel to the location identified by the King's, if it is different and not in Liverpool. We will solve this once and for all."
"In the meantime" said the colonel "I will make some quiet enquiries about these Kings amongst the officers I can promise their discretion."
"As long as their discretion is promised than you may of course do that" Mr Darcy, rolled his map away and put it inside his Jacket pocket, " but we cannot have any more details put out into the Open at risk of being discovered, if they move Kitty now then we may never find her in time." He sighed then as though he bore the weight of a thousand men on his shoulders,
"Come with me Elizabeth," He said, "Your written word is far superior to my own; please assist me in drafting this letter."