Chapter 21
Charlotte was besieged by doubt. She had heard Sidney say that his wedding was no longer taking place. She had heard him express his desire to continue their courtship. But could they simply resume where they had ended at the Midsummer Ball? Despite his words of affection, Sidney's indecisive behavior throughout the past few weeks had hurt Charlotte deeply. Yes, he had proposed to Mrs. Campion to rescue Sanditon from financial ruin, but how could his attentions towards Mrs. Campion at the London ball be explained? Did he truly feel nothing for Mrs. Campion? And what of Mrs. Campion? Did Mrs. Campion still desire to marry Sidney? If she defied Lady Worcester and told Sidney she wished to marry him, would he choose her over Charlotte again?
The fact that Charlotte could not answer these questions weighed heavily on her. She felt that she should be able to answer them unequivocally. She had spent the summer with Sidney, and had fallen madly for him, yet she knew so little about him. Who was Sidney Parker? Georgiana had said he could not be trusted. Did she know something about his relationship with Mrs. Campion that Charlotte did not know? Or was Georgiana referring to something else entirely? Sidney had been away from England for ten years and had never mentioned his absence to Charlotte. In fact, the Parker family rarely spoke of it at all. What had he been doing while he was away? Were there hidden secrets? Was Sidney Parker the man he appeared to be?
And how could he so easily say that "things are the way they should be" in reference to Lady Worcester's plan? Was he not bothered in the slightest that Mrs. Campion was innocent? Despite Mrs. Campion's terrible actions towards Charlotte, Charlotte still believed what had happened to Mrs. Campion was unfair. Lady Worcester may have had the best of intentions, but her plan was mean-spirited. Why the dinner? Why the dead mouse? It was true that Lady Worcester had not lied to Charlotte. Rather, Lady Worcester conveniently did not tell Charlotte certain things about her plan. Charlotte surmised this was because if she had known the details of the plan, she would never have agreed to it. As intensely as Charlotte had questioned who Sidney was, she questioned who Lady Worcester was with equal fervor. She had thought she knew the noblewoman. But after the events of last evening, she wondered if she truly knew Lady Worcester at all.
Charlotte wrestled with her uncertainty into the night and the early morning hours. Charlotte knew she would not rest properly until she atoned for what happened to Mrs. Campion, even though it was Lady Worcester's plan and Charlotte had no detailed knowledge of it. Charlotte needed to apologize to Mrs. Campion. It was the right and proper thing to do. While Mrs. Campion had treated Charlotte terribly since they met at the regatta, Charlotte believed that everyone—even Mrs. Campion—deserved kindness. Charlotte was under no illusion that they would ever be friends, but Mrs. Campion certainly could not consider Charlotte an enemy if she saw how truly sorry Charlotte was. Charlotte knew Lady Worcester would not agree to allow Charlotte to see Mrs. Campion, so before the house began to stir, Charlotte dressed and silently left the house. Luckily, Lady Worcester's coachman and footmen were already outside at the carriage and Charlotte did not have to go far to find them.
"Good morning, Miss Heywood," the coachman said.
"Good morning. I would like to go to Mrs. Eliza Campion's house, please."
"Will Lady Worcester be joining you?"
"No, no it is just me."
"Very well then." The coachman opened the door for Charlotte and she stepped inside, gathering her skirt beneath her as she sat. The footmen took their post on either side of the carriage and the horses trotted around the pathway towards the iron gate.
The large wooden door of Mrs. Campion's terrace loomed before Charlotte. She hesitated before ringing the bell. Mrs. Campion was not expecting her, and Charlotte braced herself for what was sure to be a wintry greeting from the widow. If Mrs. Campion decided to see her at all. It was certainly possible that Mrs. Campion would refuse Charlotte's visit. Charlotte breathed deeply and rang the bell, hoping for the opportunity to unburden herself.
Mrs. Campion's butler opened the door. "May I help you?" he asked with an air of suspicion.
"My name is Charlotte Heywood," Charlotte answered as brightly as she could. "I wish to speak with Mrs. Campion."
"Mrs. Campion is occupied."
"Please, it is very important that I speak with her."
The butler relented and stepped back, widening the door. "Wait here, please."
Charlotte entered and stood to the side in the entrance hall as the butler closed the door. He disappeared into the drawing room opposite the staircase and then quickly re-appeared.
"Mrs. Campion will see you."
"Thank you." Charlotte followed his footsteps and when she turned the corner, Mrs. Campion was standing near the front window with another woman. The woman reminded Charlotte of the women she had seen on Bond Street: impeccably dressed and impeccably coiffed. She looked at Charlotte with disdain for a long moment, then refocused her attention on Mrs. Campion.
"Will you be all right?" she asked Mrs. Campion.
"Yes, yes," Mrs. Campion replied. She was holding an ivory handkerchief in her hand and dabbed her eyed with it. "Madeleine, you are a wonderful friend."
"I will return later in the day to see you." Madeleine embraced Mrs. Campion and passed Charlotte. Before leaving, she turned back to Mrs. Campion and remarked, "These country girls have no decorum. How dare she visit you after all that has happened!" Madeleine's eyes flickered over Charlotte once more in disapproval and then she was gone.
Charlotte understood Madeleine must have been referring to her when she said, "these country girls", but she did not understand why the woman seemed to dislike her so. To her knowledge, Charlotte had never met Madeleine before.
"Why are you here, Miss Heywood?" Mrs. Campion inquired. She fixed Charlotte with a cold glare.
"I...I wish to apologize," Charlotte said.
"For what, precisely? Ruining my engagement to Sidney?"
Charlotte swallowed. Her stomach was in knots. "I did not plan to ruin your engagement. I only came to London because—"
"Because you are in love with Sidney. Oh, yes, I am quite aware of your feelings toward him. And I am quite aware that you would do anything to be with him."
"I didn't—"
"But, of course you did. You planned everything from the beginning. You came to London. You asked for Lady Worcester's assistance. And then you planned the necklace incident to make it appear as if you were injured. Sidney rushed to your side, as you knew he would."
Charlotte shook her head in disbelief. "No! That is not true."
"I was certain there had been correspondence between you," Mrs. Campion continued, her tone menacing. "Letters he had kept hidden from me. You both have made a fool of me for weeks."
"You are not telling the truth. None of that has happened. I have not written to Sidney! He has not written to me!"
"There were witnesses last night, Miss Heywood. Lady Worcester's esteemed guests saw how concerned Sidney was about you. I suspect they will all come to the same conclusion that I did: Sidney has been unfaithful to me with you. And so, I was forced to end my engagement and to cancel my wedding. I have never been so humiliated in my entire life."
Charlotte looked at Mrs. Campion and the knot in her stomach had turned to nausea. Mrs. Campion was spouting nothing but lies. It made sense now, why Madeleine was looking at Charlotte with such hatred. Madeleine believed Charlotte was responsible for the ending of Mrs. Campion's engagement. She believed Charlotte and Sidney had been unfaithful without Mrs. Campion's knowledge. "You know none of this is true," she said, trying to reason with Mrs. Campion. "You know Lady Worcester had a plan."
"What I know, Miss Heywood, is that Lady Worcester had a plan to ruin my reputation and I have saved it."
"I do not condone what Lady Worcester did."
"No, but you will reap the benefits from it."
"People will believe that Sidney and I are terrible and have done you harm," Charlotte pleaded.
"You and Sidney are of no interest to me. It does not concern me what people believe about you." Mrs. Campion moved away from the window and towards the threshold of the drawing room.
Charlotte whirled around to face her, the nauseous feeling now supplanted by rage. "I came here today because I believed what happened to you was unfortunate," she stormed. "Because I thought somewhere in your heart, you were kind. But you are not kind. You only care about your money and your reputation."
"Yes, because those are the only things that matter, Miss Heywood. I understand you were taught differently on your farm. Tell me, does your family take pleasure in working the land from sunrise to sunset?"
"Yes, they do," Charlotte defended proudly.
"Well, not everyone wishes to work until they die, Miss Heywood."
"Perhaps not. But look at what this obsession with money has done to you."
Mrs. Campion stood stone-faced and Charlotte waited for a retort. But no retort came. Mrs. Campion simply looked at Charlotte and said, "Give Lady Worcester my regards. My butler will see you out."
Charlotte saw Mrs. Campion's butler appear in the hall and realized she was more than ready to leave. As she departed the terrace and heard the front door close behind her, she hoped it was the last time she ever saw Mrs. Eliza Campion.