The Maiden's Stratagem

by Margaret Gale

  Mr and Mrs Hurst, who had sat in slack-jawed amazement as events unfolded before them, finally rose to their feet and made to leave the room. Louisa Hurst thought it politic to confer with her sister before her brother did, but in an uncharacteristic display of authority, Bingley ordered her to stay away from Caroline, and charged Hurst with ensuring his order was complied with. Hurst was surprised at such a stricture, but readily agreed. He was not one to bite the hand that fed him, and Charles Bingley certainly kept a fine table. Louisa was upset to be denied the opportunity to comfort her sister, or, more importantly, to learn whether Caroline had thought of a way to explain away the highly incriminating evidence, but she was unwilling to defy a direct order. Accordingly, the Hursts retired to their rooms to oversee the unpacking of their trunks, and then sat quietly in their private sitting room playing cards. When a note was delivered to Louisa asking her to join her sister in her rooms, a polite reply was dispatched declining the invitation.

  Once Darcy and the Hursts left the parlour, it was as if a spell had been broken, and the three remaining occupants stirred from their places. Bingley led Jane to a couch, where he joined her. Elizabeth echoed Darcy’s movements by walking to the window and gazing out over the garden.

  Bingley and Jane spoke quietly, while Elizabeth hummed a tune to herself to reassure them that she was not attempting to eavesdrop. It was quickly discovered that even on such a brief acquaintance, they held each other in the deepest affection and resolved between them that they would very much like to get to know each other better. Bingley applied for permission to enter a courtship, and Jane agreed that if her father consented, she would be most happy to be courted by Mr Bingley. Before many minutes had passed, they had agreed to call each other by their Christian names in private, and Bingley had offered, and Jane had accepted, his handkerchief to dry the tears that still traced her face. Jane assured him that they were tears of happiness, and the two sat grinning at each other as though there were no one else in the world.

  All this was accomplished almost with the rapidity of thought – no sooner did Bingley perceive that Jane Bennet was upset by the prospect of him holding another woman in regard, that she regretted his departure from the neighbourhood, than he resolved to win her for himself. No sooner did Jane perceive that Bingley held her in affection than she unveiled the truth of her regard for him. No sooner did they begin to comprehend their feelings for each other than they acted to secure a future together.

  Unfortunately for Elizabeth, they resolved to follow the well-trodden path of courtship prior to engagement. A courtship was promising, but it was not a firm enough promise to relieve her of her parents’ expectation that she sacrifice herself for the future security of the family. A courtship, once begun, could not be ended within a week without itself causing scandalous speculation about a compromise. Oh, why could they not have been more precipitate and leapt direct to an engagement?

  Elizabeth chided herself for such selfishness. Jane was everything kind and gentle. Of course she ought to have the benefit of a courtship, especially after the pain and doubts of the past few hours. She needed to be sure that Mr Bingley had the fortitude to stand up to his manipulative sisters, and that he would place her happiness above theirs, before she could agree to tie herself to him for life. Mr Bingley had yet to prove himself as more than a suitor. He had to earn the prize that was Jane Bennet’s hand. Elizabeth looked fondly on the pair, and hoped that whatever eventuated with her own concerns, Jane’s story would have a happy ending.

  Darcy returned to the room to find Bingley and Miss Bennet still conversing closely on the couch, and Miss Elizabeth looking at them with a gentle and contemplative eye. This look was so different to the sardonic gaze he had observed on her face before he left the room that he was once more thrown into confusion as to what it meant. Shaking off these reflections, for after all what Miss Elizabeth Bennet might or might not think was of little import to him, Darcy asked his friend for a moment of his time. Bingley agreed, turning back to his beloved to say, “Please wait for us here. I hope to accompany you back to Longbourn when it is time for you to leave, but in the meantime, I will have refreshments sent in.”

  The gentlemen quit the room and Elizabeth rushed to take Bingley’s place on the couch. Grasping her sister’s hands, she cried with unconcealed enthusiasm, “Oh, Jane. Tell me all. What did he say?”

  “Lizzy, I am the happiest creature in the world,” she said, with tears in her eyes. “'Tis too much! By far too much. I do not deserve it. Oh! Why is not everybody as happy? He will ask Papa to consent to a courtship."

  Elizabeth swallowed her own misgivings to concentrate on her sister’s happiness. Jane deserved the best, and looked to have found it with Mr Bingley. Elizabeth’s congratulations were given with a sincerity, a warmth, a delight, which words could but poorly express. Every sentence of kindness was a fresh source of happiness to Jane.

  It was not long, however, before Jane became anxious to return home to share her news with her mother and father. And Mr Bingley had said he would accompany them home – surely he meant to talk to her father this very day. After the agony of the morning, Jane could not imagine a better resolution to the day.

  Caroline’s Comeuppance

  As their thoughts turned to their return home, the sisters began to wonder what was going forward between Charles and Caroline Bingley. While Elizabeth indulged in imaginings of that lady being brought low at the hands of her brother and his proud friend, Jane fretted at the pain that such a confrontation must inevitably bring to her beloved.

  In a private parlour in the family wing of Netherfield Park, Charles Bingley and Fitzwilliam Darcy were waiting the arrival of Miss Bingley, who had been summoned from her suite. The lady entered the room with an air of contrite apology, and attempted to speak first: “Charles, you must believe me…”

  Her brother was in no mood to hear her inventions, however. The letter spoke for itself. There could be no other opinion on the subject than that she had meant to dissuade Jane Bennet from any interest in Charles, and that she had been cavalier in her use of his friends’ names in doing so. He had been surprised when Caroline and Louisa had so quickly decided to accompany him to town, even though he only meant to be away for a few days. Surely a couple of days in town were not worth all the bother of relocating twice. Having read her letter, though, Charles understood that Caroline had never meant to return to Netherfield, and would have done everything in her power to prevent him from doing so either. Without suspicion of her true motives, he might even have been persuaded to linger in town through the Christmas season, leaving Miss Bennet to conclude that his sister’s letter was nothing but the truth. Now, with the scales fallen from his eyes, he was disgusted by Caroline’s heartless manipulations, and equally disgusted by his own gullibility.

  Before she could offer her excuses, he cut her off and instructed her to take a seat. He remained standing, as did Darcy. Caroline’s eyes flicked nervously to that gentleman, not sure what his presence imported for the discussion that would follow. Hopefully, once past his irritation about her mention of Georgiana, he would endorse Caroline’s concerns about the unsuitability of the Bennet family and the need to separate her brother from the eldest daughter of that brood. Somewhat heartened by his presence, she carefully straightened her skirts as she primly took a seat and waited to hear what her brother had to say.

  Darcy intended both to support his friend and to deliver his own message to Miss Caroline Bingley. His acquaintance with that lady would end today and he did not want her left in any doubt about that fact. She would be given no opportunity to use her connections to the Darcy name in future. He watched her as she sat. She had all the appearance of a fine lady, but none of the substance. Inside her beautifully coiffed exterior nested a viper. Hiding his scorn, Darcy waited with apparent calm for his friend to speak: it was for Bingley to start this interview.

  Bingley paced twice across the room and back before he too
k a stance in front of his sister’s chair, feet planted firmly and his hands clasped behind his back. He looked at the woman his sister had become and shook his head in sorrow. “Caroline, your conduct is unforgivable. You deliberately lied – cruelly lied – to a gentlewoman who has shown you nothing but friendship, despite our origins in trade. In that, Miss Bennet has shown herself far more the lady than you.” He held up his hand to silence her when she tried to speak: “No, don’t interrupt. You will listen. I have no interest in whatever you might want to say at this time. Let me be clear. I will woo Miss Bennet, and if she will have me after your abominable conduct, I will marry her. There is nothing you can do to change that. I do not care one straw whether you approve or not. This is my life we are talking about, and I will do what will make me happy. You will say not one word against Miss Bennet or any of her family. They will be your family soon enough, so you had best accustom yourself to them. You will apologise to Miss Bennet and Miss Elizabeth for lying to them. You will not prevaricate, or suggest that there was some misunderstanding. You will admit your fault in full and apologise sincerely. Until you do so, I will have nothing further to do with you.”

  Caroline was left gasping at this pronouncement. It was far worse than she had expected from her gentle brother. He had given her no opening to shift the blame and now he demanded she abase herself before the Bennet sisters. It was unthinkable. She drew breath to throw her brother’s commands back in his face and remind him of what he owed his family, but before she could launch her invective, Charles turned to Darcy and asked him whether he had anything to add. This was unexpected. Caroline knew Darcy disdained the Bennets. Surely he would be more her ally than Charles’s in this. For the moment, she forgot that she had named Miss Darcy in her letter. She turned an expectant gaze to the dark gentleman, hoping for more sympathy than she had received from her brother. She was to be disappointed.

  Darcy looked sternly at his friend’s sister and declared: “Miss Bingley, you have pretended friendship to my sister these many years. I see now that you hold her in no true regard or you could not have risked her reputation by writing of her in such terms. You have revealed yourself to be a calculating parasite, clinging to my sister’s acquaintance and mine for no purpose other than to gain access to circles of society which would otherwise be barred to you as a woman but one generation removed from trade. I cared little how much you exploited your brother’s friendship with me, but I draw the line at anyone hurting Georgiana. You, madam, have crossed that line and I will no longer forgive your conduct. I do not know you. For so long as you keep your distance, and conduct yourself demurely, I am willing, for Charles’s sake, to keep this matter private. But if you ever seek to approach me or my sister again, I will cut you in public for the world to see. Do I make myself clear, madam?”

  Caroline, now shaking with mingled shock and rage, surged to her feet and shouted “Do you expect me to rejoice at the prospect of connections so far beneath what I have been raised to expect? She has one uncle in trade, Charles, and another is a country lawyer. The mother beggars belief, and the sisters are all absurd. How can you do this to me? How can you be so selfish? I will be a laughing stock when people learn that I am sister to that gaggle! An uncle in Cheapside, for goodness sake! Of course I tried to separate you. If you will not act in your own interest, it is up to me. I exaggerated a little. What of it? It was done in the service of my family!”

  Turning in the heat of her fury to address Darcy, Miss Bingley said more, much more, than she ought: “As for you, sir, do you think it easy to fawn attentions on your mouse of a sister? She is dull as dishwater, with nothing to say for herself unless she speak of music. I have invested many hours into that child, in the hope of gaining her sisterly affections, but she is as devoid of emotion as her brother! To think of the years I have wasted. You are neither of you worth the effort, for all your money.”

  Noticing the shock on her brother’s face at this outburst, Caroline belatedly realised that anger was not her best ally. She took a tentative step towards Charles, one hand outstretched in supplication, and tried a gentler tone: “Please, Charles, you must forgive me. I spoke in haste. I did not mean it. Of course I love you, and want only the best for you. It is not a great alliance, to be sure, but if you are determined to have Miss Bennet, then I will make the best of it. Perhaps with a little work, Louisa and I can turn her into a woman you can be proud to present to London society.”

  “Enough, Caroline! Can you not hear yourself? Jane Bennet is ten times more a lady than you! You might learn from her, but there is nothing you could teach her. Will you apologise to her and her sister, or no?”

  “You cannot ask it of me, Charles. To humble myself so…”

  “I do ask it. I demand it.”

  Caroline nodded in resignation, but could not bring herself to utter the words. She turned to Darcy, whose face had frozen to a blank mask in response to her earlier tirade. Her description of Georgiana had cut him to the quick. Her disparagement of himself he could shrug off, but to hear how much she misjudged his gentle young sister, and how coldly she viewed their acquaintance, drove a shard of ice into his heart. How could he have been so stupid as to let this woman into his sister’s company?

  When Caroline tried to apologise to Darcy for her outburst, he turned his back on her. The message, though delivered in silence, was eloquent. Darcy had said he no longer knew her, and he clearly meant every word. That fence could not be mended. If she persisted, she had no doubt he would fulfil his threat to cut her in public.

  All the anger drained from her, and she slumped in defeat, saying quietly, “Take me to Miss Bennet and I will apologise, Charles.”

  Elizabeth’s Stratagem

  The trio returned to the parlour where Jane and Elizabeth were waiting. Charles announced that his sister had something to say, and then stepped to Jane’s side and took her hand.

  Caroline stood looking between Jane and Elizabeth, carefully avoiding eye contact with either. She took a deep breath, and said “Miss Bennet, Miss Elizabeth, I apologise for my letter. It was wrong of me to send it. I make no excuses, and hope you can forgive me.”

  Everyone waited a moment, but it appeared that Miss Bingley had nothing to add. It was clear to the Bennet sisters that the apology was given under duress, but at least it was direct and unqualified. Elizabeth nodded her head graciously, but Jane stepped forward to take Caroline Bingley’s hands in her own and squeezed them comfortingly. “Of course we forgive you,” she said. “I am sure in time we will be friends again.” Caroline looked up at this unexpected overture. She had taken Jane’s gentle manners as indication of a weak and tractable nature, but what she saw in Jane Bennet’s face now gave her pause. This was a woman who would not be taken advantage of again. Jane might be willing to forgive, but was unlikely to forget, or to trust again.

  Caroline stored this insight away to ponder at another time. For now, she made her excuses quietly and retreated to her rooms. She had well and truly lost this round. She had underestimated her brother and the Bennet sisters. She had lost any chance with Darcy, probably permanently – he had ascribed to himself a resentful temper, saying that his good opinion once lost was lost forever. She could not doubt that, had she ever had his good opinion, she had lost it now.

  If anything was to be retrieved from this disaster, it must be done quickly. No longer blinded by her earlier anger, Caroline sat down to ponder the situation.

  Her brother would marry Jane Bennet: that much was clear from the doe-eyed way the two had looked at each other and her brother’s scandalous action in holding Miss Bennet’s hand. If he did not offer for her now, Jane would be a ruined woman for having allowed him such a liberty. Charles’s honour was engaged, and, pretty clearly, so was his heart. No, that ship had sailed.

  Darcy was still unattached. He might detest her, but he would not cut her in public if she left him alone. For a moment, she considered complying with his edict, but it would not do. E
ven without a public cut, she would suffer if he refused to acknowledge her. Her entrée to high society events was dependent on being able to arrive in that gentleman’s party. If he would no longer allow her to accompany him to balls and soirees where the upper classes mixed, she would not be admitted. The fact that her inclusion in Darcy’s party had always been incidental to his friendship with her brother was a minor detail. His refusal to spend time in her company in future would be a disaster.

  She had once wished for his good opinion. Now that was unequivocally denied her, she found she was not heartbroken. Caroline Bingley sat in the late afternoon light, turning over the novel idea that she actually didn’t much like Mr Darcy. He was too cold, too interested in farming and politics, not enough in dancing and fashion. He was entirely unsuited to her, in fact. But he was decidedly rich and had impeccable standing in the first circles. On all measures that really mattered, he was the ideal husband. If she must marry a man who hated her in order to secure the social standing she deserved, then so be it. She would teach Mr Darcy the foolishness of threatening to cut Caroline Bingley. She would stage a compromise, so that his only honourable path would be to marry her. If his honour was engaged, she did not give a tinker’s cuss for his heart. Let it bleed, for all she cared (though, knowing him, it would more likely freeze than bleed). He deserved such a fate after the way he had treated her today!