Other Mr. Darcy
Page 15
He resumed his pacing. His face had gone pale, and he struggled for the appearance of composure. He came towards her again and halted before her.
“It is my duty to interfere if I think that he is entering into a marriage that is unsuitable, to someone who does not care for him and, moreover, is not his social equal.”
His disclosure dazed her. She had not known Robert to be Mr Darcy’s heir. But her astonishment was nothing to the anger his words provoked. This, then, was how he viewed her? Yet she had pursued him for all that time, secure in the belief that she was his social equal, and that a match between them was possible. Fool that she was!
“Your cousin has already chosen to marry me,” she said, unyielding. “We are engaged, and have announced our engagement to the world.”
Mr Darcy’s lips tightened. “An engagement can be broken,” he said. “It should be broken. Robert is new to this country. He needs to look higher if he is to be accepted by his peers. Your family, and your connections, such as they are, will only hinder him.”
Caroline’s control snapped. It was one thing to talk of the engagement as generally unsuitable, and another to attack her family. “I do not see how you can talk in this manner when you selected as your own wife someone who has even fewer family connections.”
“I will thank you, Miss Bingley, not to speak of my wife in this manner.” His voice was ice cold. “Eliza is the daughter of a gentleman. Can you say the same of your father?”
She was breathing quite heavily now. “You interfered before in my brother’s affairs, and almost destroyed his happiness. I will not allow you to meddle in mine.” She stood, determined to put an end to this exchange. “I will not end this engagement simply because you have determined that I am unworthy.”
“That remains to be seen,” said Mr Darcy. He bowed stonily and left the room.
Caroline collapsed into her chair, breathing in ragged breaths and trying to regain some semblance of calm. She could scarcely believe what had transpired. How dare he think her below his cousin’s notice? How dare he try to break off their engagement? She had not known him to be so puffed-up with his own consequence. And she had actually been foolish enough to wish to marry him! She had clearly been blinded by her feelings. He was nothing more than an arrogant despot. She pitied Eliza Bennet.
It was not to be wondered at that Eliza’s health had declined so quickly, and that in a few months she had become so desolate.
***
Her first goal was to speak to Robert, before his cousin had a chance to waylay him. She requested one of the grooms to send Mr Robert Darcy to her the moment he returned from his ride, and, arming herself with her pelisse, waited impatiently for him in the garden. Mr Darcy’s words echoed through her mind, over and over. The interlude between them seemed almost unreal, like a fragment from a nightmare.
Finally, Robert Darcy’s familiar figure appeared, and she almost ran to him. She stifled an impulse to throw herself into his arms and cry.
“Miss Bingley! Has something happened?”
“No, no—at least, nothing of a serious nature.”
“Thank heavens for that!” he said, clearly relieved. He led her to a bench and sat down beside her. “You must tell me immediately what happened.”
She gave a little laugh, embarrassed now that she had to put the whole thing into words. “I am afraid I have quarrelled with your cousin. I cannot tell you how unpleasant it was!”
“If I had known that would happen,” he said, “I would not have left you alone with him in the breakfast-room.”
“I wish you had not,” she said, turning over her hands and examining her kid gloves. “He seemed quite certain that I have entrapped you into marriage, and that I am not worthy of you, and—a host of other things.” She could not tell him that Mr Darcy thought her Robert Darcy’s social inferior.
Mr Robert peered intently into her face. “No wonder you’re distressed! Darcy, of all people!” He took her right hand and held it between his. “You must be terribly pained. I know you must have been anxious about meeting him again after—after the wedding.”
He surprised her yet again with his astuteness. Caroline withdrew her hand gently from his, though it had warmed her inside, and made her feel safe. But it was too intimate.
Besides, his sympathy was based on a mistaken assumption. “No, it is not that at all. I no longer harbour any feelings for him. I have scarcely given him a thought since I arrived.” She rose, agitated, and studied a climbing rose bush, running her finger carefully across the sharp tip of a thorn. “I do not understand how he could say such things. I had always supposed he regarded me as an equal. Yet I have never been subjected to a harsher snub. And to be told I should break off the engagement because you should marry higher!”
“Did he say that, by God? I do not know what has come over him. Why should he care about whom I marry? Just a little more than a year ago, he scarcely knew of my existence.”
“That is what I wondered. Then he said that he has every right to interfere, since you are his heir.”
“That is all very well, but—” He stopped, clearly struck by something. “Ah.”
His sudden reserve unnerved her.
“What is it? What have you discovered?”
“There may be more to it than meets the eye, Miss Bingley,” he said gently. “I must ask you to make allowances for my cousin. There is something else that I am not at liberty to speak of. I believe it accounts for his behaviour. You must trust me when I ask you not to take to heart what he said to you.”
She stood very still. “You are asking a lot of me.”
“I know,” he said. “But I believe you can find it in yourself to try and forget what he said.”
Somehow, he had managed to soothe her. Though she was still angry, the nervous agitation she had experienced earlier had disappeared.
“I will try,” she said. “I am afraid things have become more difficult now, however.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
She bowed her head, not wanting him to see the flush that stained her cheeks.
“It is silly of me, but I feel I cannot end the engagement now. It would be too humiliating. He will think it is because of what he said and will be encouraged to become all the more tyrannical in his behaviour.”
Mr Robert regarded her gravely. “It was very wrong of him to speak to you this way, and he has raised your hackles, and done far more damage than he could know. Yet I cannot perceive Darcy as so very tyrannical. At times, perhaps, his sense of responsibility can drive him too far, and he is inclined to organize other people’s lives as he pleases. Do you wish me to speak to him and explain the situation?”
It was the simplest solution, yet her pride would not permit her to take it. “I have been too insulted to set aside my pride so easily,” said Caroline, honestly. “It seems mortifying to think I owe him an explanation when I do not.”
Mr Robert nodded. “Then I will say nothing. Although I will be hard put when he approaches me to warn me against you,” he added, with a teasing smile.
Warmed by the smile, she found herself smiling back. “I hope you will at least defend me against his charges.”
“Perhaps,” he said. “However, not being a gentleman…” For a moment he seemed serious, and she was afraid he meant to throw her remarks back at her. Then he grinned, and she could not resist hitting him playfully with her reticule.
“My word!” said a voice. “Young people nowadays seem lost to all sense of propriety.”
They turned around to see a gentleman in vicar’s clothing standing watching them. Caroline, feeling guilty at being caught, placed her hands behind her back and blushed. Mr Robert bowed.
“Mr Bass. I hope you are well. May I introduce you to my fiancée, Miss Caroline Bingley. Reverend George Bass.”
“How do you do, Miss Bingley? I feel it incumbent on me to warn you, as a man of the cloth,” he said, in a voice heavy with gravity, “that even if you are e
ngaged to be married, you must never allow a man to take too many liberties. It will not do at all.”
Miss Bingley, about to retort angrily, caught Mr Robert’s glance. The suppressed laughter in his face dissolved her resentment, so she was able to answer, with every show of meekness, “Thank you, Mr Bass. I will keep your advice in mind.”
He regarded her thoughtfully. “A lady must never be too careful. One small slip, and she is a fallen woman.”
“I daresay she is,” said Mr Robert. “Especially if she falls to the ground.”
Mr Bass stared at him suspiciously. “I do not follow your meaning, sir. Perhaps you would care to explain?”
“I simply meant that the lady would be extremely fallen.” A small snort escaped Caroline, who was really trying her utmost to be solemn.
Mr Bass’s watery blue eyes peered at her closely. They were large and bulging, and put her in mind of a frog. “I do not see what could possibly be amusing,” said he, pushing his lips forward in irritation. “I can assure you, it is a fate worse than death.”
“Too few women take it seriously enough, in my opinion,” said Mary Bennet, approaching from behind them with her sister Kitty. “That is why the world is full of unfortunates who live a sordid life of squalor and misery.”
The watery eyes revolved and came to rest on the new arrival. “My sentiment exactly,” said Mr Bass.
“I do not know if you have been introduced. Miss Katherine Bennet,” said Mr Robert, “and Miss Mary Bennet.”
Mr Bass’s gaze passed over Kitty, but he appeared struck by Mary, who regarded him earnestly.
“There is no need for introductions. We met on a previous occasion, when you were in Pemberley earlier in the year.”
Mary nodded gravely. “You are perfectly correct, sir.”
“I see you are taking a stroll,” said Mr Bass. “I feel it my duty to escort these young ladies around the garden. One cannot be too careful, after all.”
“Yes,” said Mr Robert. “One cannot know what dangers lurk in the corners, awaiting such delicate blossoms.”
“Precisely,” said Mr Bass, offering his arm to Mary.
“I’m not a delicate blossom,” said Kitty, loudly. But Mary pulled her by the arm, and she had no choice but to join the vicar in his stroll.
The moment they were out of hearing, Caroline let out the laughter she had been holding back and was joined immediately by Robert. “How can you say such outrageous things?” she said.
“Very easily,” said Mr Robert. “I cannot help it, in fact. It is one of my most grievous faults. My father often warned me against it.”
They had no chance of pursuing their conversation, however, since Lydia came running out of the house. “You must hide me!” she yelped. “I’m trying to rid myself of Mama. She follows me everywhere. She means to ask me about Wickham. What does she think I can tell her? I don’t know where he is, and I hope never to see him again. But there she comes. I can hear her behind that hedge. If she asks, tell her you have not seen me.” She dashed round a corner just in time to escape Mrs Bennet, who came hurriedly in their direction.
“Have you seen my poor darling Lydia? She is quite inconsolable,” said Mrs Bennet. “I cannot bear to think how much she is suffering. And all because of that wicked, wicked Wickham.”
Robert obligingly pointed her in the direction in which Lydia had disappeared.
“Oh! How can you be so unfeeling?” said Caroline.
“If Mrs Bennet does not find Lydia she will enlist our help. I do not wish to spend the rest of my day chasing after her. I have done my duty by taking Lydia for a ride, and that is enough. But perhaps you would like to do so? She will lead you on a merry chase.”
“I do not wish to spend the day chasing Lydia, either. However, I should join Jane, Eliza, and Georgiana. I am sure they require help writing invitations. And I promised I would help with the planning.”
“I would offer to help, but it sounds as if four heads are more than enough. If I am not needed, perhaps I will go in search of Mrs Miles. With your permission, of course, my betrothed.”
Caroline laughed. “You have my permission.”
She could give her permission. It did not mean, however, that she approved.
Chapter 12
Once she entered the house, however, she could not banish from her mind the picture of Mr Darcy as he had spoken to her that morning. Instead of joining Eliza and her sister, she went to her bedchamber and lay on her bed. Never in her life had she imagined that Mr Darcy regarded her as he did. But no matter how much she congratulated herself on not being tied to such a man, it did not make her humiliation any less palatable.
She had never taken her position for granted, but she moved in the best circles, and she had come to accept it as her right. It was her mother who had established them in society. She had sent Caroline and her sister to a distinguished private seminary to turn them into young ladies.
But accomplishments, good manners, and the considerable connections they had made with other young ladies from excellent families did not change the fundamental facts. Their fortune had been made through trade, and her father, with all the riches in the world, had not been born a gentleman. His family was well respected, and he had acquired an estate that rivalled Pemberley in size, though it had been sold after his death, but the fact remained that he had made the money himself, through his own effort and persistence.
It would have been far better if her mother had not tried to make them more than they were. She had suffered all those years at Mrs Drakehill’s Seminary and emerged with nothing.
She stared at the ceiling and thought of Eliza, who also stared at the ceiling.
She sat up in her bed suddenly. Mr Darcy had married Eliza. And Eliza’s relations were dubious though her father was a gentleman. She had one uncle in trade, the other an attorney. Yet love had made Mr Darcy blind to Eliza’s position in life. He had married her, in spite of his objections.
She would not languish in her chamber, bemoaning her fate.
A new sense of purpose drove her out of bed. She would find someone. She had always counted on her position in society and her fortune to bolster that position. She had counted on Mrs Drakehill’s schooling, and her mother’s instruction.
But she had never counted on herself.
She peered at herself critically in the mirror. Her hair was askew, her complexion blotchy. There were dark circles under her eyes. But she was handsome enough. Certainly, as handsome as Eliza. She was accomplished. And she was clever. Time, then, to rely on something else entirely.
***
She drew on that resolve when she went down to the drawing room before dinner, for she needed to face Mr Darcy with some degree of composure. She steeled herself against Mr Darcy’s cold greeting. She made no attempt to claim Mr Robert, whose attention was taken by someone else entirely. She would not allow anyone to affect the giddy sense of excitement she had experienced that morning. Something of her new determination must have shown in her face, for she intercepted several questioning glances cast in her direction.
Jane came to her immediately and sat beside her. “You are looking far better this evening than you have looked for a while,” she said, quietly. “I have been worried that you were unhappy, living with us in Netherfield, away from London and society. Tell me it is not so. Have I or Charles not made you welcome?”
“As if anyone could be unhappy with two such amiable people!” said Caroline, pressing Jane’s arm. “It is true I have not been as cheerful as I am used to. With so many marriages taking place, I suppose, I have been considering my single state more than usual.”
Jane smiled sweetly. “Well, that is over now. You have found someone worthy of you. You have waited patiently for the right person to come along, and I can see from your expression that it was well worth the wait.”
Caroline shook her head. “When I consider how you had to be pati
ent when Charles left Netherfield for London. How you must have suffered! And it was all our fault! But at least your patience was well rewarded.”
Jane had suffered, and at their hands, though it had been Mr Darcy’s idea to separate the couple in the first place. He had not approved of the Bennets.
“That is all forgotten,” said Jane. “We belong together, and that is all that matters.” She sent an affectionate glance towards Charles, who stood drinking sherry with Mr Darcy.
Captain Trewson was the last to join them. As always, he was perfectly turned out, his boots polished to the highest standard, the silver buttons of his regimentals gleaming.
“Oh, there you are!” cried Lydia, going to him and taking his arm. She turned to address the assembled guests. “Are you not glad that I brought you Captain Trewson?” she said loudly. “He is by far the handsomest officer I have ever met. If it were not for my naughty Wickham, I would set my mind to marry him.”
Captain Trewson, clearly accustomed to such gushing sentiments, bowed gallantly. “Most certainly, Mrs Wickham. If your heart were not given to another, I would have run away with you this very minute, for you are by far the liveliest young lady of my acquaintance.”
She giggled and led him to a seat, but he did not take it, and sat by Louisa instead.
“Let us have no talk of running away,” said Mr Bennet. “We have had more than enough of that to last a lifetime.”
“Do not speak of such things, Lydia,” said Eliza sharply. Her voice was firm, and she sent an imploring glance to her father, whose face clouded immediately.