I know some people were missing Caroline Bingley (although why would you?), so here she is...
Chapter Six
"Charles," Miss Bingley's nasal voice interrupted her brother's concentration, "I hope you were not serious when you talked about giving a ball here, the society of these country mushrooms is bad enough with their constant invitations to their dull entertainments, you should not encourage them."
Bingley had been addressing his correspondence, attempting to reply to his aunt and uncle's enquiries about Hertfordshire, while Darcy was working on a small writing table that had been added to the side of the study for his use, when Caroline had barged into the room in her usual manner, with Louisa following reluctantly. Miss Bingley had not noticed Darcy as she was staring at her brother in an attempt to intimidate him and gain her point.
"I am indeed serious, Caroline," Bingley said coldly. "Have you already forgotten the request I made the three of you this morning? I believe Hurst, Louisa and you gave your word that you would start respecting my neighbours; Hurst will refrain from over-indulging and my charming sisters will behave in a more ladylike fashion."
"You were not thinking straight, for you cannot believe these people are worth my attentions, I cannot believe this. They are so far beneath us as to be contemptible." Her nose was high in the air and her whole attitude screamed of disdain and disgust.
Bingley stood slowly, and marching around his desk to face her, replied: "The four or five and twenty families we have been introduced to are all landed gentry, and therefore above us in society, each and every one of them, sister. You are nought but the daughter of a tradesman, poorly educated at an overpriced seminar that has filled your vain little head with pointless gossip and notions of grandeur." He stood inches from her, looking down at her with stern features and cold eyes. "I am done with your attitude, Caroline, you are no longer my hostess and therefore do not need to worry about organising my ball, or anything in my home. And just in case you chose to ignore that part of my earlier discourse as you seem to have done the part about your attitude, let me remind you that I will no longer cover any of your expenses above the allowance I told you about. You have eight hundred pounds per annum from the interests of your dowry, you will get an additional two hundred pounds from me, and that is all. As you wasted your allowance for this quarter and the next entirely on your wardrobe before we left London, I will allow you to live here for free until the end of March when you will get your next allowance, but you will get no additional funds from me. Is that clear?"
Caroline Bingley's eyes were wide open, nearly bulging out of her head, and her features were twisted in rage. "You will not treat me in that manner, I am the mistress of Netherfield, and I require an appropriate allowance, not that pitiful amount. When I am Mrs Darcy, I will..." She never finished that sentence for her sister gasped and Mr Darcy stood up and cleared his throat at the same moment.
"Miss Bingley, let me be clear, you will never be Mrs Darcy. I despise your attitude as much as your brother does, and I have never felt any attraction to your person. Should you be found naked in my bed by a member of the Ton, I still would not marry you, for my reputation would survive far more easily than yours." Darcy was speaking slowly and clearly, but his anger was apparent to all.
"M-M-M-Mr Darcy." Miss Bingley stuttered, "You cannot listen to Charles, please, you know I will be a perfect mistress of Pemberley, I am exactly what you need in a wife." Her voice had become a high-pitched whine by the end of her speech.
"Caroline, shush, do not make things worse." Her sister whispered with more than a hint of panic in her voice, knowing that Mr Darcy could ruin them all if he so chose.
"Miss Bingley," Darcy's voice was pure ice, "you have shown over the past few weeks that you are incapable of caring for your guests; you are offensive and vitriolic to your neighbours, ignorant as to the duties of a gentlewoman and demanding and cruel to the servants. You are not fit to be my butler's wife; no gentleman of taste or character would ever be tempted by you, not even for ten times the dowry you possess."
He turned to his friend. "I apologise, Bingley, you know that I value your company greatly, and I am sorry I was forced to be so blunt with your sister, but the thought that she could ever imagine being my wife was so repulsive I could not help myself. If you prefer I will remove to the Meryton Inn until your ball and depart for London afterwards."
Bingley shook his head. "No need for that, Darce, you have not said anything untrue about Caroline, and I am not offended. Indeed, I should apologise for some of our recent discussions, as I should have seen and acted much earlier regarding my sister's behaviour; you never should have been in a situation such as today in the first place. Please stay here as my guest, and we can travel to London together after the ball as I need to go to town for a few days to arrange some matters with my solicitor and my uncle's man of business."
Darcy bowed at his friend and left the room without a look or a word to the ladies.
"Now, Louisa, do you wish to act as my hostess and organise a ball for the end of November, or will you side with Caroline?" Bingley was looking straight at his oldest sister. "If you are my hostess, I will make your authority will not be undermined by anyone."
Louisa glanced briefly at her sister before replying. "Thank you, Charles, I believe I would like to attempt organising a ball for you, although I hope Mrs Nichols has some experience as well, as I have never done anything quite so large. I apologise for supporting Caroline in the past few weeks, and I will strive to behave better, if you will agree to remind me when I step out of line. I will also talk to Gerald again, although it may be difficult for him to change fast."
Bingley smiled at her gently. "Thank you, sister, I know Hurst will require a little time and I am counting on you to keep him on track. For the ball, I will help and Darcy may have ideas, so you will not be alone."
Caroline could contain her anger no longer and swiped at the few ornamental pieces that were displayed on top of the fireplace, sending them crashing to the floor. "Louisa, you traitor, how can you? And Charles, if you think I am done, you are mistaken. You may have ruined my chances at being Mrs Darcy, but I will not be set aside, and you will pay for it." She seethed.
Bingley stared at her. "You never had any chance at becoming Mrs Darcy as I told you many times before. And if you do not start controlling yourself, you will not receive any allowance for a very long time. The items you just destroyed will be listed and their value deducted from your next allowance."
He walked to the door and asked a passing footman to summon the butler and the housekeeper to his study as soon as may be. When the two senior staff members arrived, he did not give his sister a chance to talk.
"Mr and Mrs Nichols, my older sister, Mrs Hurst will now be acting as my hostess. Miss Bingley no longer has any authority with any of the staff apart from her maid. Mrs Nichols, could you prepare one of the guest rooms recently redecorated for Caroline; maybe the gold room that overlooks the side gardens, ensuring that any breakable or valuable item is removed," he was looking at the broken ornaments on the floor as he spoke, "Caroline is unwell and will be staying in her new room for a few days, so please post footmen outside her room and inform me if she requires anything."
The servants understood perfectly what was not said. The gold room, which Mrs Nichols thought garish and tasteless, had no access from the servants' corridor being at the very end of the guest wing; Miss Bingley and her maid would be unable to leave the room unnoticed.
"Mrs Nichols," Bingley said after asking the butler to help Caroline to her soon-to-be former suite, "Louisa and I will be organising a ball for all our neighbours, and we hope you will be able to assist us. For starters, do you know where we can source everything we need locally?" With that, the discussion shifted to the planning of the events. The housekeeper, having assisted the previous tenants on several occasions, was even more helpful than Louisa had hoped for, and soon the three of them had agreed on a date and the most urgent things to prepare. Bingley was relieved; the most difficult conversations he ever had to initiate were over, and in his opinion, very successfully; Louisa was behaving well and would make a much better hostess than Caroline. More importantly, the day was still young, and he would be able to call on Miss Bennet again this afternoon.
Charlotte Lucas had joined the three girls on their way back to Longbourn, and with Jane's assistance had found an excuse to visit daily, weather permitting. She had been surprised to hear Elizabeth's proposal, but on reflection, Mr Collins would suit her very well indeed. Her friends had observed him closely and assured her he had no vicious tendency, his prospects were good, better in fact than she had hoped for in a spouse and he was young and could be influenced and improved; perhaps he was not as clever as she would have preferred, but it could be advantageous for a married woman to be more intelligent than her husband. Turning his attentions from Elizabeth to herself would be a challenge, as her friend was so much prettier than Charlotte had ever been, but a challenge worth the effort.
She was sitting next to Mr Collins, listening to his description of Hunsford, when Mr Bingley and Mrs Hurst came to issue the invitations for the Netherfield ball, written by the lady as her handwriting was infinitely more legible than her brother's. Mr Darcy had accompanied them and made more of an effort to converse than usual, although it was not overly noticeable in the tumult of the gathering.
Mr Bingley took the opportunity of securing the first set with Miss Bennet. Despite being tempted, Darcy did not request this set from Miss Elizabeth but was disappointed to hear Mr Collins ask for her first set as soon as Bingley had finished his request. The sad look on the lady's face as she was forced to accept her cousin's request or face not being able to dance for the whole evening pulled at his heart but he forced himself to bury the feelings; no matter how he felt, Miss Elizabeth Bennet was still not a suitable candidate for becoming Mrs Darcy.
Charlotte was also a little disheartened, but as Mr Collins had secured her second set immediately after, she was not discouraged; Mr Collins had not asked any of his other cousins, yet he had singled her out, second only to her dear Eliza.
When Elizabeth stepped into the library later that day to return the estate account ledgers she had just finished updating, Mr Bennet was gleefully looking at her, nearly sneering she thought as she put on her most practised smile, the one supposed to convey her most devoted daughterly love.
"Well, Lizzy, I see your suitor has secured the opening set at Mr Bingley's ball already." Mr Bennet said, still sporting the sneer she had noticed.
"Papa, Mr Collins is not my suitor, you know full well I would never marry a man I could not respect. I do wish you would discourage him so that I do not need to reject his offer, should he propose." She answered playfully.
"As my heir, he would be a very good match for you, you would be mistress of this estate one day." Her father sounded half serious and Elizabeth started to worry.
She laughed to hide her concerns. "No, even for Longbourn I could not do it. Besides Papa, you will still live for a long time, and I could not stand to live under the control of Lady Catherine. I do not even need to meet the lady to know we would not get on at all. I am afraid your heir and I would not suit, so you will not be rid of me quite so quickly." Her lingering smile fooled him.
"Well, we shall see what the future brings, my dear." Bennet was already looking at the book he had been reading when she entered, signalling that she had been dismissed.
Elizabeth found her mother and Jane in the garden, where they were preparing a few beds of winter pansies and forget-me-nots, and hastened to tell them of Mr Bennet's teasing and her worries about his intentions.
"I do not know if there is more we can do to prevent the man from proposing to you." Her mother answered, frowning. "Charlotte is openly encouraging him, and all of us have been praising her more than ever, not that it is undeserved for she is such a good girl. I know he asked you for the first set, but we must continue the offensive and make him see Charlotte's worth."
Fanny Bennet was thoughtful. "I have thought about some of your father's interactions with Mr Collins, and I fear I underestimated him, for he appears to plan something. I do not understand what he is about; he knows that you will not be able to run the estate for him if you are in Kent. I will keep complaining about you of course, so that he is distracted and annoyed, but we will have to be careful, my dear."
"Very well, Mama, I will not go directly against Mr Bennet yet, but if needed I may hint at how sad it would be for him not to have any more of his favourite cigars or fine port wine," Elizabeth answered with a smile.
The following day, Elizabeth joined Mr Darcy on a short stroll around the gardens as the weather was fair, admittedly as chaperones for Jane and Mr Bingley. He appeared shy and hesitant rather than arrogant, and the discussion was slow to start, but after a quarter of an hour, he had finally steered the discussion to Mr Wickham.
"I believe I owe you an explanation for my warning a few days ago about my former friend, Miss Elizabeth. Such a disclosure is difficult, and I find myself unsure of how to even begin, nor do I know how to start the conversation with your father afterwards."
"Perhaps I may help," Elizabeth answered with a soft smile, "by relating the story this gentleman told me, uninvited I may add, the evening after your warning." She proceeded to repeat Mr Wickham's words as closely as she could remember, as well as the doubts they had raised and her family's opinions on the topic. "So you see, there is no need to inform Mr Bennet, who would only make light of the situation and belittle your experiences, for my sisters are safe. Indeed I would prefer if you did not talk to him about any of our discussions, or about my sisters and I even meeting that lieutenant. You may now disclose as little or as much as you wish of your relationship with the gentleman, I will keep your words in confidence, although I will share some with my sisters and mother if you allow me," Elizabeth concluded.
Darcy was stunned. Never before had George failed to elicit compassion and absolute trust in his audience, yet here were five young and beautiful ladies, or six ladies if he included their mother, who did not believe the well-rehearsed story of woes but questioned the motives of the teller. His heart felt lighter than he had in years; he did not need to beg for belief, the truth was enough.
Despite not understanding why Elizabeth was so reluctant to have him talk to her father, Darcy would respect her wishes and wait until their friendship was more established before probing further; as long as she was safe, together with her sisters, he had little need to bother a man whom he knew so little about, and who appeared to not know Wickham either.
"You cannot know how glad I am that you were not taken in by his smooth words, Miss Elizabeth." Darcy's smile was more genuine than any she had seen on his face before. "Even my esteemed father never saw who his protegé turned out to be. Indeed, parts of George's tale are true, he was my father's godson and was raised at Pemberley with me. We were friends as children, and it was only at school and then university that our animosity grew. We became as different as night and day. I studied while Wickham explored the less attractive sides of the circles we inhabit. Perhaps I could have done more to keep him on the right path, and I certainly regret not opening my father's eyes as to the changes I observed; it was done to protect my father whose health was deteriorating however and can no longer be changed." He sighed. "The living left to him should he take orders was also true, it was the Kympton living, a very agreeable position of three to four hundred pounds a year situated close to Pemberley. After the will was read, Wickham declared that taking orders was not in his plans for the future and accepted the sum of three thousand pounds, added to the one thousand pound legacy he was to receive. He relinquished all rights of the living to study the law, or at least that was his intention at the time."
"Four thousand pounds is quite a large legacy for the son of a steward. It should have been enough to set him up for many years, for life even if invested properly." Elizabeth was astounded, this was as much as her dowry and inheritance combined, and she had been very proud of having such a large amount to her name. "I assume his study of the law was unsuccessful as he is now enrolled in the Militia."
"Indeed, I know not how he lived in London after leaving Derbyshire, but when the living became free last year, Wickham appeared at my door again, asking for the position as his circumstances were very dire. As you can imagine, I declined and he swore revenge before living."
Elizabeth could read the sadness on Mr Darcy's handsome face. There was more to come, she was sure of it. After a moment he continued.
"The last encounter I had with Wickham before meeting him here must remain secret, can I ask you not to share this, not even with your elder sister as Charles is thankfully unaware?" She nodded. "Last summer my sister, Georgiana, who was only fifteen at the time, went to Ramsgate for several weeks with her companion, Mrs Younge. That woman had deceived us, she was in league with Wickham and allowed him to visit far more than was proper. He persuaded Georgiana that she was in love, and had I not unexpectedly arrived for a brief visit, she would have eloped and been lost to me."
"No!" Elizabeth's hands flew to her mouth, "please tell me he did not harm her, tell me she is safe and well, tell me her spirit will heal."
Darcy smiled, his heart warmed by her compassion for a girl she had never met. "She is safe, physically unharmed and her reputation was not damaged. But her spirit, as you guessed, is still subdued, and all her confidence has disappeared. When I last saw her, just before joining Bingley here, she was still but a shadow of her former happy self."
Elizabeth's tender heart broke for the unknown young lady, and for the brother who naturally loved Miss Darcy as much as Elizabeth loved her dear little sisters. "You left your sister behind unhappily. These were your words, and I understand them now," she murmured as they quietly made their way back to Longbourn behind her sister and his friend.
Reflecting on this conversation during the long and tedious hours spent listening to the rain in the days that followed reinforced Elizabeth's desire to help the gentleman as much as she could. Her sisters and mother were now aware of many of the dealings between Mr Darcy and Mr Wickham, although she would never reveal the last instance, and their quiet redemption campaign was likely to bear fruit if Mr Darcy continued to improve in his interactions with the local gentry.
Elizabeth was aware that her feelings for him were stronger than they should be, but was determined not to let her family understand her heart, for he would leave far too soon.
