Chapter 5

Ho looked at Georgiana and suddenly saw a completely different girl. She was no longer the timid little girl that she used to be. Somehow, between yesterday and today she had matured into a confident young woman. But how had that happened? Did the shock of Miss Bingley attempting to compromise him cause this? Had it reminded her of what Wickham had attempted to do to her? Either way, he was glad. He felt a weight off his chest. His Georgie was stronger, and was clearly overcoming her past.

"Well, lets get this over with shall we?" His uncle had never been a patient man, but he, like Richard, seemed amused. Although he was attempting to hide it, not very successfully much to his chagrin.

His aunt looked at Georgiana and with a nod started talking. "So our current situation is, Miss Bingley, in attempt to compromise my nephew attempted to enter his chambers in the dead of night without realizing he was not actually staying there. She managed to, not so subtly, wake everyone up and in the process compromise and make a fool of herself. Did I miss anything?"

"That is not correct at all Lady Matlock. I had no such intentions, I don't understand why every one is trying to malign me. Mr Darcy will not own up to it, but we had agreed to meet –"

"That is a most horrendous lie! There was no such plan!"

"Charles you must believe me."

"Caroline –"

"Miss Bingley please desist with this lie."

"Lady Matlock –"

"Enough! I was going to give you the benefit of the doubt and allow you to come clean and spare you a great deal of pain. But I see you are as shameless and conniving as Georgiana had said you were. Unfortunately for you, you are not as cleaver as you think you are. If you were, you would not have made the plans in my nephews own home, where his servants might overhear you. Servants that are very loyal to the family that they serve, and because of that loyalty I knew of your plans before you even put them in motion."

Miss Bingleys face had gone white and her mouth was open in absolute horror. Mrs. Hurts was looking downwards in accepted defeat, Bingley had a face of such shock he was afraid he would stop breathing. He also found that he was quite stunned. The servants had found out, and he guessed, had informed Georgiana that had informed his aunt. But why had no one informed him? For a moment no sound was made, until my aunt continued.

"The maid in question that overheard you went to Georgiana, who devised a plan with the secrecy of many of the servants in Pemberley to set up a trap for you. She, also sent me an express and wrote to me about what she had learned and off her plans, and asked for my assistance today. As you can see Miss Bingley, you had failed before you had even started. I also know how ladies like you work, and I know what sort of lies you would have created to try to force my honorable nephew to choose between marrying you, or, leaving you in ruin and possibly losing your brother's friendship in the process. As I know you would use all your influence to manipulate your brothers affection to your side."

"Why was I not informed? After all the plans were made around me." He directed the question at his aunt but looked at Georgiana. He was not happy that he had been kept ignorant of what was going on in him own home.

"Very simply Darcy, Georgiana thought, and I agreed, that you would simply go to your friend and inform him of what you knew. He is too kind a person to think badly of others, especially his own sister, and he would have been convinced it was some sort of misunderstanding. Miss Bingley would have heard her plans were discovered and would wait for a later date to come up with a different plan and try again. Neither Georgiana nor I wanted to give her a second opportunity. So Georgiana set the trap, Miss Bingley fell into it, quite inelegantly I hear, and here we are. I also sent an express myself to London to my dear friend Lady Bethany. As you know, she has connections to several newspapers and magazines and unless I send a letter to contradict what I have already sent, it will be all over London that Miss Bingley made an absolute fool of herself by trying and failing to compromise Mr. Darcy. She is a very good friend of mine and will control the rumor so that it is in my nephews favor so that his reputation remain impeccable. Can't say they same for yours Miss Bingley."

Miss Bingley looked like she was about to faint, Charles had to hold her up. He looked at his aunt near trembling himself. A part of him was enjoying her suffering, she had chased after him for years, making his stay at his own home uncomfortable. She felt absolutely no regard for him, she had seen him as a staircase to high society, a way or raising herself up. But he did feel for Charles, his dear friend. He composed himself a bit and attempted to reach a compromise with his aunt.

"I am certain there is not need for such drastic measures Lady Madlock. My sister, I am sure, has learned her lesson and will not try anything of this sort again."

"Truly Mr. Bingley? Can you assure it? You have never tried to reign her in before. My nephew is your best friend and yet you have allowed your sister to hound him incessantly in his own home. That does not inspire confidence." Louisa finally straightened up and addressed his aunt.

"I will help Charles you ladyship. I admit to encouraging her and take the blame for it, but, she can go to our aunts for a time and then stay with us. I will make certain with Charles that she does not inconvenience your family again. I swear."

"Aunt, I am as outraged about this as you are, but completely ruining Miss Bingley reputation will bring a shadow upon the entire family." As much as he despised what she had attempted to do, he could not do that to Charles. He was his friend, and he did not want him to suffer the humiliation of reading the story in every newspaper and magazine.

"I will have some mercy and write to Lady Bethany."

"Thank you your Ladyship."

"Don't thank me yet. While her indiscretion will not appear in the newspaper and gossip magazines, Lady Bethany had instructions to starts spreading rumors the moment her expressed arrived. I did not know how this would develop and I did not wish for it to get out of control, so, I made sure to have a fail safe. The rumors will not say exactly what happened, only that Miss Bingley attempted to force my nephew to marry her and failed. It will be all over London soon."

Miss Bingley did faint then and Louisa jumped from her seat to help her sister. One thing was certain Miss Bingley was ruined, Lady Bethany would ensure it. She was a good friend of his aunts and had been a close friend of his mothers and she was very loyal to her friends. She was also powerful member of the ton and a master at the rumor mill. She had destroyed many reputations in her lifetime, she would know exactly how to spin the rumor in his favor and make Miss Bingley a laughing stock. Charles pulled his sister into his arms and exited the room, Louisa and Mr. Hurst followed close behind.

"Well, that concludes it then. It was certainly an amusing show. Right Darcy?" Richard looked even more amused than when he had arrived, he also looked terribly pleased. Darcy didn't know how he felt. He was feeling very contradictory emotions.

"I don't know why you're looking so pleased Richard, it's not like you did anything."

"Don't look so dour Darcy, it all went well and now you'll be free of her." He did feel relieved that he would not have to deal with Miss Bingley again. Georgiana looked at him and she looked more like the timid young girl he had known that the new confident girl he had just seen.

"Brother –"

"Thank you Georgie. Thank you for everything." A smile appeared in her face and the confident young woman appeared again. He was a bit cross at her for not informing him, and scheming behind his back, but he did not want to set her back. She had grown, and matured all to save him, and he was proud. He did not want to undo it. He would talk to her at a later date about keeping him ignorant of the schemes going in his own home.

"So, since you came all the way to Pemberley to help with Miss Bingley, and it has all been resolved, how long will you be staying?" A part of him wished that they were not staying at all. While he was grateful, he had suddenly recalled a charming pair of eyes that he wanted to see again. With Miss Bingley out of the way it would be easier to court Miss Bennet, or at least try to show her who he really was, that he had improved and that he was worthy of her.

His uncle looked at him with a smirk in his face. "Why nephew, you sound as if you wish to get rid of us. Doesn't he Richard?"

"Indeed father, why would that be…?"

His aunt attempted and failed to hide her amusement but reprimanded them both. "Stop it both of you, whatever reasons he might have–" and she looked at Darcy with a knowing smile "–it's none of our business… for now." And she gave him another piercing look, that clearly stated that the conversation was not over. He looked at Georgiana and she had an amused but slightly guilty face and avoided his eyes when he looked at her. He was suddenly very eager to know what had been in that express that Georgiana had sent his aunt. "We will be out of your hair after lunch dear nephew, if that does not pose a problem."

"Not at all, I'll tell the servants to prepare rooms for you so you can freshen up from your trip and I'll tell them that you'll be here for lunch."

"Fantastic, that's settled then."