What price fortune and position?

When confronted with the separation of Jane and Bingley, Darcy tells a much different and much more tragic tale. What price would Caroline Bingley be willing to pay in her thirst for fortune and position?

NOTE: This is a tragic tale involving a character's death. Although there are some happily-ever-afters, for others there are not... at least for a while.

Rosings Park, at a dinner

"My sister Jane has been in London this many months since Christmas, Mr. Darcy, have you happened to see her?"

Mr. Darcy blanched and seemed to look at Elizabeth with a certain degree of confusion. "I have not, Miss Bennet... but then I have spent very little time in London since the new year." When he said no more, Elizabeth turned her attention to the much more civil Colonel Fitzwilliam.

Insufferable man!

Hunsford parsonage, where Mr. Darcy found Elizabeth alone

"And what of Netherfield Park, Mr. Darcy?"

"What of it?"

"Does Mr. Bingley intend to return and take up its proper management? If not, he should certainly release the property to a more attentive master."

Fitzwilliam Darcy looked shocked. He had to rise and pace for a minute in agitation, then he wheeled and looked directly at Elizabeth, "I should have known. It would be completely unlike you to be so careless and callous about something so terrible."

Incensed at her interpretation of his words, Elizabeth ground out, "And what, exactly, do you mean by that?!"

Darcy's eyes went from hard to hopelessly sad, "Miss Bennet... Elizabeth... Charles Bingley has been dead since December."

Flashback, Pemberley, December 1811

"Mr. Bingley to see you, Sir."

"Certainly. Have him come in please, Landon."

"Bingley! What brings you here? I thought you were in Scarborough?"

Bingley sat down heavily, looking tired and excessively careworn. "Darcy, I need your help. I don't know what to do!"

Darcy pushed aside the papers he had been reading, "Good G_d man, what is the matter?"

"I have been caught in a compromise, but I swear to you, it was not of my making."

"Tell me what happened and I will offer what assistance I can."

"As you know, Caroline and Louisa closed up Netherfield as soon as I left. I know that you transported them to London and I agreed with your reasoning. If they weren't at Netherfield when I brought my bride home, there would be less of a struggle. My Jane could assume her rightful position without having to fight Caroline. But Darce, Caroline followed me up to Scarborough. When she wasn't haranguing me about making a poor match, she was begging me to take her to some event or other!"

Bingley nodded his thanks as his friend handed him a drink and he drank almost the entire glass in one gulp. Then he continued, "I finally gave in and escorted Caroline to Sir Arthur Tucker's ball. I hadn't even planned on dancing, but Caroline wouldn't let the matter rest! So I danced a few dances and then the supper dance with Miss Tucker, a pretty girl I suppose, but not the equal to my angel." He took another swallow and continued, "And then all of the sudden as I was dancing with Miss Tuckman, I would swear that I was tripped and pushed right into the poor girl! The next thing I know, I was laying on the shocked girl and everyone was talking and pointing!

"My own sister was the loudest of all, claiming that I had to marry the girl! I went to talk with Sir Arthur, but told him that I needed to consult with my solicitors before we could seek any resolution. The man was livid, but I swore on my honor to return!"

"Was your sister dancing anywhere near you during the supper dance, Charles?"

"Yes. She and Sir Arthur were the next in line. But Darcy, you cannot think...?"

"I do think. It is precisely the sort of scheme your sister would hatch. I have tried to tell you this for years. Well there is nothing for it now. We will have to return to Scarborough and attempt to find some way to seek a resolution."

"I cannot marry her, Darcy! I love Jane! I planned to propose as soon as the sale of my father's textile mill was concluded!"

Darcy shook his head, unsure of what solution could be arrived at.

The men traveled all night by carriage. Caroline Bingley attempted to warm up to Darcy upon his arrival, but his cold contempt this time was enough to break through even her determined obtuseness. In the morning the two men made their way to Sir Arthur's home. Darcy's more trained eye recognized details which his young friend would not. The house was in disrepair. There were no people working outside and the stable was almost empty. When they were led through the home, there were spots where furniture should be, but it was empty instead. And when they stepped into Sir Arthur's office, many of the shelves were bare. It seems that the baronet is either bankrupt or retrenching. That would be a reason to force a compromise with a wealthy suitor.

Darcy listened but remained silent as Bingley tried to explain the matter to Sir Arthur. The father was having none of it. He was demanding that a marriage must take place. Darcy finally intervened by looking directly at the man, "And how much longer do you have, Sir, before you are forced to leave your home due to insolvency? Did you push Mr. Bingley or were you in concert with his sister?"

The man blustered and threatened, but Fitzwilliam Darcy, though without a title, was a much more powerful man than this impoverished knight. In a rage, he ordered both men off of his property. Bingley seemed lost on what to do or think, but Darcy took his arm and led him out of the room. They were out of the house and heading for their mounts when the door slammed open behind them and a single shot was fired.

Darcy watched in horror as Bingley jerked in shock, blood came out of his mouth, and he fell to the ground. The next hour was chaos, with the baronet seized, his daughter screaming, and the magistrate demanding answers. At some point in the tumult Caroline Bingley arrived upon the scene. Rather than weep for her brother she bemoaned her own future. "You have to marry me, Mr. Darcy! For my brother's sake, as his closest friend! He would want that!"

"Unhand me, woman! You and Sir Arthur forced a compromise! You are just as responsible for your brother's death as he, even if you did not pull the trigger! Now go and see to your brother!"

Present day, at Hunsford Parsonage

Mr. Darcy had tears in the corners of his eyes at that point and Elizabeth wanted nothing more than to hold him. Instead she sat in horror as he finished his tale. "When everything was said and done, Mr. Bingley was buried three days later in the church cemetery where his family had attended for generations. Sir Arthur was incarcerated and will spend the remainder of his life imprisoned. I do not know what became of Miss Tucker because her relatives came and took her away. The Hursts journeyed up in time, so I was able to leave the reading of the will and the disposition of Bingley's worldly assets to their family...

"But it seems that Miss Bingley had one more arrow in her quiver. I was assured by the family that your sister would be notified about Charles' death... and I was foolish enough to believe them. I can only suppose that Caroline wished to hurt Miss Bennet more... and that she intended to do all she could to destroy any hope that I had for winning your hand."

Elizabeth jerked up, shocked by Mr. Darcy's final sentence, but the man was looking into the fire and did not see her reaction, "Miss Bingley was the first who saw that I was falling in love with you when I made the foolish mistake of praising your fine eyes. When she began to abuse you behind your back and to your face, I thought it best to hold back and conceal my thoughts until such time as it was possible to make you an offer."

Darcy looked up but did not correctly interpret the dismay in Elizabeth's eyes, "As you know, my aunt has declared for years that I was intended to marry my cousin Anne, that it was the fondest wish of my own mother. Anne and I knew that this was not true and we had no intentions of marrying, but by not vehemently contradicting Lady Catherine it prevented her from forcing another match on her daughter until Anne was five and twenty. Now that she is, Anne is the true owner of Rosings and her mother can no longer force anything. I had an agreement with Anne and had to wait until her birthday, which happened to be Easter this year."

Darcy had alternately sat and stood during the rendition of his tale. Now he sat close to Elizabeth and continued, "There was another reason as well: so that George Wickham would not target you in one of his foul schemes for revenge on me. I could not leave you vulnerable while I was far away."

Elizabeth, still attempting to recover from her shock, asked, "George Wickham?"

"He almost certainly told you that I denied him the living promised to him by my father. It is one of his favorite tales to garner sympathy. In fact he informed me that he did not wish to preach sermons and asked for the value of the living instead. He wanted ten-thousand, but I finally agreed to pay him three. He had never taken a single step towards becoming ordained, so I did not have to pay him a farthing, but I thought... hoped that it would be an end to the matter. Three-thousand along with a one-thousand pound bequest should have set him up for many years.

"Instead he demanded the living again only three years later, when the incumbent passed suddenly due to apoplexy. I felt justified in refusing, but Wickham swore revenge." Darcy rose and paced again, clearly agitated, "He almost won his revenge in the worst way possible. Last summer my sister Georgiana pleaded to go to the ocean. My family owns a cottage in Ramsgate, so to there she went with her companion. I was deceived in her companion, for I later learned that all of Mrs. Younge's letters of recommendation were forgeries. Worse, she was intimately familiar with Wickham."

Elizabeth blanched, clearly understanding what was coming next, "There Wickham went as well, and trading upon his acquaintance with my sister as a child, he soon convinced her that they were in love and that they should elope. Of course he was after her thirty-thousand pound dowry. I had finished my duties early and wished to vacation with my sister, so I was fortunate enough to arrive in time to stop the elopement. When his plan was foiled, George spewed an endless venom of accusations and recriminations. Georgiana heard the truth from his own lips and her heart was broken."

"Oh! How is she now? Is she recovered?" Her sincere worry for his sister, who was unknown to her, touched Darcy's heart deeply.

"She is slowly recovering, though she has no confidence in her own judgment and she is too harsh on herself even now. When I came to Meryton it was shortly after the family decided that my presence was more harm than good."

"And thus you were in a foul mood. Oh, Mr. Darcy, I am so sorry that I took your words and behaviors so to heart!"

Darcy looked up, himself startled, and his mind played back his first weeks in Meryton. Then he blanched, "Oh G_d! Then you heard my stupid words at the assembly! You must hate me!"

He looked so bereft that Elizabeth rose herself and stopped his pacing with a gentle hand on his arm. When he looked at her he looked so lost that her heart finally opened up and allowed her hidden longings to be acknowledged. "Mr. Darcy, I am afraid that there were a great many mistakes and misunderstandings on both of our parts, helped along by the vile interference of people like Miss Bingley and Mr. Wickham. I cannot say what my true feelings are for you at this moment, but I would like to have some time to come to know you and explore those feelings."

Darcy's expression slowly turned from bereft to hopeful. Elizabeth felt almost overwhelmed by the look of love and longing in those blue eyes. "I... Yes, I would like it very much if we could begin again... but about your sister...?"

"I will need to leave as soon as may be to join Jane in London. I cannot bear to pass on this terrible information through a letter... do I ask too much... would you be willing to visit her with me to tell her your tale. She does not need to hear the worst, but if you could tell her of Mr. Bingley's unwavering love and determination to marry her, it might help."

Darcy took her slender hands in his and looked deeply into her dark eyes. "I will provide transportation and secure the assistance of a maid to act as chaperone. Would tomorrow morn be too soon?"

They departed the next morning as decided. Telling the tale to Jane was the most difficult task that either of them had ever done. Jane was torn up with grief, but learning that her Charles had not abandoned her after all eventually restored her confidence and allowed her to move forward.

Darcy became a fixture at the home on Gracechurch Street, along with his sister Georgiana, who found the humble home to be the most welcoming place she had ever been. It did not take long for Elizabeth to realize that she had been in love with Fitzwilliam Darcy for a very long time and that was why she reacted so strongly to his cruel words. With the past cleared away, the couple was soon engaged. Their marriage took place before the summer was out, as neither had any desire to wait for longer.

Jane and Georgiana had become such close friends that both women joined the newly married couple at Pemberley. Jane met Colonel Fitzwilliam before he deployed again to combat Napoleon and his attempt to reestablish supremacy. After making a name for himself once again on one of the most famous battlefields, he was returned home with severe wounds. Shoving propriety aside, Jane accompanied her sister's family to Portsmouth where he was hospitalized and she visited him as often as the doctor would allow.

Eventually they were able to transport the newly promoted and immediately retired Brigadier to Pemberley, where, in time, he recovered almost completely. It was no surprise to anyone when he asked for Jane's hand and she accepted. Since neither he nor Jane had much to live on, they remained at Pemberley, where the General took over Darcy's horse-breeding operation and his wife turned the dower house into their shared haven.

Of the Hursts and Caroline there is not much to write, mostly because Mr. Hurst was given control of his brother-by-marriage's wealth, which he promptly withdrew and then disappeared with. Louisa and Caroline subsisted how they could upon Caroline's dowry. Miss Bingley had the audacity at one point to approach Mr. and Mrs. Darcy, but they gave her the cut direct and went on their way.

Kind and understanding, Richard Fitzwilliam himself proposed that his and Jane's second son be named Charles.