Back to Hunsford where Mrs. Charlotte Collins does have a keen interest in Jane's love life.

Chapitre 14: Realpolitik

Hunsford, Thursday the sixth

Once more Lydia was explaining how she and Duchess Waintree had surmounted the odds and had survived within what could only be called a women's prisoners' camp.

Charlotte made a sign toward Jane and they both went out into the garden under a shrubbery were even in this hot august afternoon it was cool and windy.

"We have to speak, Jane..."

Jane looked at her and she could see that her best friend's sister was not serene.

"About what?"

"About you, about us, about England..."

"About England, Charlotte? Pray, be serious, why should we speak about England! What's happening is happening, we can do nothing about it!"

Charlotte looked at Jane and shook her head.

"We, I agree, you, I'm not so sure..."

Jane's eyes darkened.

"I don't want to hear anything about Him!"

Charlotte came nearer.

"Jane, don't be a fool. They are here and if History has been able to teach us a lesson, it's that an invading army stays once victorious!"

"We cannot be sure, Charlotte. The King is probably mustering new armies and soon he will send them against the French."

"That would only mean throwing good money after bad, Jane. Believe me, these French are here to stay. And nothing our good King George will throw at them will stop them!"

She shook her head.

"Think about it. They came ashore at the exact spot where we had encamped most of our troops, regulars and militias included. They knew it and they came nevertheless. And what's more tragic, they pulled it through. They landed on English soil and our troops were unable to throw them back into the sea!"

She stood up and paced before Jane.

"I would really like to know how they stormed Brighton and the military camps. If we can believe Lydia, they did not even shoot a lot..."

"I asked her" said Jane. "When they came out of the Theater everything was under the control of the French. She never witnessed a fight. Thank God..."

"Yes, one could say that she came rather unscathed out of her little test. You know why she is here, don't you?"

Jane looked at the floor.

"Of course I know. The same reason he freed Mr. Collins..."

"To please you!"

"I don't want to be pleased by him! He's the enemy, he's the villain of this story..."

Charlotte stopped pacing and knelled before her best friend's sister.

"Jane, open you eyes, he is courting you!"

"I don't want to be courted by him" said Jane with fiery eyes.

"He-is-our-enemy..." hammered she.

"Yes" said Charlotte. "He is our enemy, but he is also a man and, if you want my opinion, a man madly in love with you. You'd be a fool not to use his feelings!"

Jane's eyes bulged in her face. For a second she was speechless.

"Charlotte!"

Mrs Collins didn't even blink.

"What? I have no shame to say so, Jane. It's a matter of survival. We must adapt!"

"It's the means of such adaptations I don't like," said Jane.

"Pray, be lucid, Jane! Since Julius Caesar every army who smashed the defending troops and was victorious stayed! As I see our future, we're French and we are French for quite a few years!"

"Charlotte, you can't really believe this, can you?"

Charlotte could only nod with strength.

"Indeed, I believe it! And the shameful defeat of our troops in Brighton gives me no doubt about the final outcome of this campaign. Not after having seen the French commander in chief..."

She stood up and took up pacing.

"Jane, I'm a woman of good sense. I'm no romantic and I never was. I married Mr. Collins not out of love or because I had the least regard for him. I married him because he was my only chance to ever be freed of my father's household and to get my own house. He wanted a wife and I wanted my own home. There was a price to pay, and I accepted to pay it... That's what I call good sense. And this same good sense tells me that if this d'Arcy is not to be trifled with in matters of war and politics..."

She stopped pacing and pointed toward Rosings.

"...It is not so in matter love! He seems to be quite as romantic as the other one out there in Derbyshire. But this one will not waste time asking himself silly questions about worth and family ties. He knows exactly what he wants. He believes you are the woman he needs at his side. And, as I see it, he won't take 'no' as an answer!"

"I won't be forced!"

"He has no will to force you, Jane. He wants you to come willingly to him. He will do what's necessary to convince you. That's why he gave William and Lydia their freedom back. Before you had to ask. He don't want you grateful, he wants you in love with him. He doesn't lust after you, he worships you. Like his cousin, I deem him a hopeless romantic who was believing that out there somewhere the perfect woman awaits him. And for d'Arcy, Jane, you are that perfection!"

Jane could only shook her head.

"Charlotte, I'm not perfect. I'm..."

"Nobody's perfect, Jane. But that is not what's important. What's important is that he believes that you are his perfect match. What's important is that he believes it!"

Jane looked at her feet and kneaded her fingers.

"I cannot do this, Charlotte. I have no skill to seduce a man..."

"No need to seduce him, Jane. He's already hopelessly enthralled to you. All we have to do is use the power you already have over him..."

Jane looked up and frowned at her sister's friend.

"I won't play that role, Charlotte. I'm not such a one..."

Charlotte sighed heavily.

"Nobody else can play that role, Jane. He has chosen you and you owe it to your land and to your people to go on with it..."

Jane opened shocked eyes.

"What do you mean: I owe it?"

"As I said it! Our country has been invaded, Jane and, in my opinion, this campaign has already been lost to the invaders. And it happens that the chief invader took a fancy in you. You could be the difference between an honorable defeat and an dreadful subjugation. With a woman like you at his side, he could be appeased and tamed. Without such a one, who knows what could await our poor Nation."

Jane shook her head and looked at Charlotte with shocked eyes. This was clearly not a topic she wanted to discuss.

"I'm speaking marriage, Jane, nothing else. And I do believe that's what he is looking for. I cannot be absolutely sure, but he seems very decided. I know he even wrote to Mr. Bennet..."

Jane frowned at her, a question in her eyes.

"He asked your address" explained Charlotte. "And I see no other reason to ask such a thing if not to send a letter. I doubt he has the time to make a call. Not yet for sure!"

She stopped pacing and sat next to Jane.

"He's serious, Jane. He is as serious in this courting that he is in everything else. He is not a man who will be pushed into believing that he doesn't love you even if he loves you..."

"Let Charles out of..."

"Charles is a fool, Jane. He could have had you and he let you down. He was unable to believe in his feelings and so he ended taking over the feelings of others!"

She took Jane's hand into hers and forced her to look straight into her eyes.

"But I do believe that you were not completely innocent in his failure to come to you. You never gave him a clear message of what you were really feeling. He could never be sure!"

Jane shook her head.

"It would have been untoward..."

"Blast untoward" exploded Charlotte. "We are speaking of feelings, Jane. Real feelings. What would have been untoward is to fake feelings to lure an innocent man into a false relationship. It's never untoward to give someone a clear understanding of the way things stand. Had you shown Charles how much you were in love, he would have proposed that very first night in Meryton."

She looked Jane in the eyes and hammered her arguments.

"D'Arcy-has-shown-you-his-feelings, Jane! He wants you to have no doubts that he is serious and committed. Give him the chance you refused to Charles! Do show him your feelings!"

"I have no feelings toward him" cried Jane. "I have no feelings..."

She could only sob at her own lies.

Of course she had feelings. And the more she spoke about not having them, the more she felt them right there in her heart.

"Of course, you have feelings" echoed Charlotte. "And he is not as blind as Bingley. He saw them in your eyes, Jane. You can lie to yourself, but you can no longer lie to him..."

Jane forced herself to stay calm. Else she would cry like a love stricken teenager.

"He is the enemy" repeated she. "He is an invader!"

Charlotte took Jane by the shoulders and shook her.

"That is of no importance, Jane. As I already said, the French are here to stay and d'Arcy, after having been an earl of the French Monarchy is now the equivalent of a Duke within that Republic of Theirs. He is what your family has waited for all these long years. A way to escape poverty in a way you never even dreamed of. With him, you're one of the most powerful women in Europe. With him the Bennet sisters become very suitable and interesting parties. All of them, Jane. All of them! And that even if his armies are, eventually, beaten."

That argument stroke Jane like a thunderbolt.

Yes, even if he was defeated, even if her country freed itself from the foreign yoke she would stay at his side. And he would still be a very important and influent French aristocrat.

And she knew that he would take care of her family. All her family.

Family was important for him. He had said it and he had shewn it.

Charlotte saw that her final argument had brought the results she wanted.

Jane was in love, that was a certainty. She had known it all along. And the Bennets were her husband's cousins. And within the new church hierarchy, her husband could gain power and status only by being of d'Arcy's extended family.

So, it was very important that Jane could find an agreement with herself on that matter.

And the only thing which was holding her back was her foolish sense of duty toward England and the Crown.

Nobody could deny that d'Arcy was invading their home country.

Nobody could forget that his armies were marching over British soil.

And for a pure and dutiful damsel of Jane's format, those were important points.

But she was also --Charlotte knew that from her conversations with Lizzie-- a romantic. And her dreams of a White Knight coming to save the damsel in distress had just became a very disturbing reality.

Even if the Knight was more Gray than White, he was her Knight and he had effectively saved them. And since then he had shown that even if she was not sure that he was her Knight, he was sure that she was his Damsel.

"He won't abandon his men" said Jane finally. "He'll stay at their side and fight till the end..."

Charlotte could only note that Jane had just taken his defense. Or perhaps not his defense but had spoken in his name and on his behalf and in a rather positive way.

Luckily, she's gotten over that particular hurdle, thought Charlotte. A few more to come...

"And he'll probably win," added Charlotte. "And even if he is vanquished, he won't stay for ever in a British fortress. And when he comes out, his wife will have the same rank than before... Let's not forget that he is a Darcy and that even for the Gentry that's a name that counts."

A suspicious glint came in Jane's eyes.

"What are you steering at?"

Charlotte decided that the time for a more forceful discourse had come.

"What I am steering at ? I'm speaking of you and your relationship with the man who is, whatever should happen in the future, the number four of the French Republic and, if his campaign goes on as for now, the number one in Great Britain! He had shown that he has feelings for you and I know as I had known with Bingley that you are in love with him..."

Charlotte was not totally sure, but she knew that, at some point, it was necessary to assert one's position.

And promptly Jane confirmed it.

"I cannot accept my love for him, Charlotte. And if I cannot accept it, what will it be with the others. What will they think of me..."

Charlotte was very tempted to be very blunt. But she could not take the risk. Jane had confirmed her suspicions and it was more than she had hoped for.

Being too blunt would only startle the maiden she was trying to manipulate.

No, she had a overture and she had to use it.

"Jane, you do not need to fall into his arms and even less to fall into his bed. Do not forget that he worships you. He fell in love with Jane Bennet, the courageous, strong and fearless Jane Bennet and then he discovered that this Jane Bennet was covered and hidden under another Jane Bennet. A shy, compassionate and kind Jane Bennet. And he would not be the romantic he had shewn to be if what he discovered had not definitively convinced him that you are the perfect mate he was looking for..."

She went into a whisper.

"He doesn't want you to be wanton, Jane. He wants you to be shy to the world and open and strong only to him. He wants to protect you but he is also smitten by your willingness to stand up and protect those you love. Show him your esteem and for a time he will be content with it. He will ask for nothing more."

Jane shook her head.

"I couldn't do that. It would be like lying to him..."

Go and bed him, thought Charlotte smothering her temper. He will even be happier.

"It won't be. Not as long as you're not sure of your own willingness to walk at his side. He's a sensitive man. He will understand that you cannot decide in the blink of an eye to change everything in your life. He will have the patience to wait for you. He will have the love to wait for your feelings to clarify."

Jane nodded thoughtfully.

"Indeed, I do believe you're right, Charlotte. He won't ask me for more than I'm able to give. He will be patient."

A smile blossomed on her face.

"That's why I was out so early this morning. I had no idea of the right way I should go. I spent my night reliving the day before. How he appeared out of nowhere just to save our life, how he smiled to me while carrying me, how he stood up against Lady Catherine to fend for me. At a point there were only his eyes, looking at me, seeing nothing but me! I couldn't fathom why he was so intruding in my life."

She made a face.

"I tried to drive him out of my mind with images of Charles. To no avail! He would not stand a second against one hour of yesterday's memories..."

No surprise there, thought Charlotte. How could this whelp stand against a creature like d'Arcy. How could any normal man stand against such as him.

"Charles Bingley would have been a perfect choice for a time of peace and family shores. D'Arcy is a man for interesting times. A man for interesting women. And it seems that, for him, you are the most interesting woman of all."

"It seems so, Charlotte, but I'm ashamed of my feelings. How is it possible that a man who kills without even thinking about it, a man who confessed that he is deporting part of the Gentry to instill mere terror, that such a man I find alluring?"

She looked at Charlotte.

"Who knows, my own father is perhaps already aboard a ship sailing abroad..."

"No risk there, Jane. If traveling, your father is traveling toward Rosings, invited by d'Arcy. Your family runs not the least risk. Don't forget, he freed Lydia and William just to please you. He'll never go against a member of your family... Never..."

Charlotte took a deep breath.

She could probably go no further with Jane.

But she had one last argument.

"And don't forget Jane: while he is courting you, he is probably not his most efficient strategist."

Next chapter: on the road