Chapter 15 #2
Bingley was already uncomfortable, as he hated confrontations.
On top of that, once they arrived home, if not sooner, his sister would unleash a tantrum for the ages after she had seen all of her dreams crumbling to nothing.
He remembered the part of the page Darcy had shown him.
Was there something there which would prove Darcy’s assertion that Caroline dissembled?
For now, he needed to hold his peace. He was sure that if he attempted to defend Caroline, it would cost him his friendship with Darcy.
That was something Bingley was not willing to risk.
“So when you told Miss Bennet that I am being courted by your brother, and my family approved, what was that?” Gigi demanded.
She was normally shy and retiring, especially since Ramsgate, but meeting Lizzy had given her strength.
On top of that, Miss Bingley using her name to hurt another had angered the normally mild-mannered girl greatly.
Who was this forceful Miss Darcy? She was supposed to be the easily led girl who would never contradict anything.
Miss Bingley could not imagine how Mr Darcy and his family were aware of what she wrote in that letter to Miss Bennet.
Of one thing she was certain: they would not have any proof, so she needed to deny she had ever said such a thing.
“How sad; it seems that one of those lowborn Bennets has been spreading lies about me. I would never say such a thing about you. Can I be condemned if I think that you, dear Georgiana, and my brother would make…” Miss Bingley closed her mouth with a clack when both Mr Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam growled at her.
“When did any of us ever give our permission for you to address our ward so informally? She is Miss Darcy to you,” Fitzwilliam barked.
“But we are such good friends…” Miss Bingley tried again.
“No, Miss Bingley, we are not friends or anything else. Like my brother, I used to tolerate your company, but that stops now,” Gigi said firmly.
“Are you telling me you did not say that not only was your brother courting my sister, who is only sixteen and not out yet, but that you claimed that I was about to offer for you?” Darcy demanded.
“I want to make something as plain as I am able. I have told your brother time and again, but he has either not told you, or you have ignored that which you do not want to hear. I will never offer for you. You could compromise me before all of the Ton, or even the royals, and I would still not offer for you.”
As much as she wanted to, there was no way for Miss Bingley to interpret Mr Darcy’s words positively.
She still needed to deny that she said anything of the kind if she wanted to be able to use his name to gain invitations so she could seek another man to marry her.
After all, she had not said the words; she had written them.
“No, Mr Darcy, I never said anything of the kind,” Miss Bingley responded, thinking her answer had been very clever.
“But you did write those words, did you not, Miss Bingley? You remember the letter you wrote to Miss Bennet to discourage her pursuit of your brother, the one which was full of lies,” Darcy shot back.
“I never wrote such drivel,” Miss Bingley insisted as she attempted to salvage what she could from the situation.
“Before we proceed, Bingley, I owe you an apology. I should have never tried to divine Miss Bennet’s feelings, or lack thereof for you.
I am also sorry I participated in subterfuge with your sister by inviting you to be hosted here so you would not see Miss Bennet when she called at Hurst House.
You should know that in an intended slight, your sister waited four weeks before she returned Miss Bennet’s call,” Darcy revealed.
“I am shocked; it seems I will need to speak to my sisters later.” Bingley shook his head.
“That leads us to this.” Darcy pulled the letter Miss Bingley wrote from his pocket. “Miss Bingley, do you still want to deny you wrote the words contained within this missive?”
“That is a forgery!” Miss Bingley screeched.
“It is not, Caroline!” Bingley exclaimed. “Darcy did not show me the whole, but he showed me part of one page, and I was able to identify the writing as yours. How can you lie to everyone in this room so easily? Darcy has the right of it; you prevaricate as easily as breathing.”
In a last-ditch effort to save some face, Miss Bingley turned to her older sister. “Louisa, tell them I did not write that epistle.”
“No, Caroline, I will not dissemble for you any longer. I felt terrible telling Miss Bennet that her letters were not received when they were, and you consigned them to the fire,” Mrs Hurst said sadly.
“You have made this bed, and now, you must lie in it. I tried to warn you of the danger of writing what you did, but as always, you knew better.”
Caroline Bingley was horrified. Her normally pliable siblings had both abandoned her. How could this be?
“As we are meeting, my mother and some of her friends—the patronesses of Almack’s and a host of duchesses among them—are making sure it is known that you are ruined in society,” Fitzwilliam announced.
“Bingley, you can support this shrew and be ruined with her, or you can take a stand. The same goes for the Hursts.”
“Charles, you will not allow this to happen! I am your sister, and you are to take care of me!” Miss Bingley attempted to use guilt to sway her brother. It had always worked in the past.
“I am sorry, Caroline. No, I will not be saving you from yourself. It is not only this letter, but you lied to me, and I am sure when you called on Miss Bennet, you prevaricated to her as well. How could you?” It was just then that Bingley remembered something Darcy had said at White’s.
“I should have gone back to discover her true feelings for myself. If I have lost her, I cannot blame anyone but myself.”
“I believe that your sisters knew that Miss Bennet loved you, but unlike your younger sister, she held to propriety and would not show her true feelings until you spoke,” Darcy opined.
“Lulu, is that true?” Bingley implored.
“I am so sorry, Charles, but yes, I supported Caroline no matter how wrong I knew it to be. Mr Darcy’s opinion is fact; she loved you,” Mrs Hurst owned.
“Is she still in London? I need to seek her out and apologise,” Bingley stated.
“The Bennet sisters returned to Longbourn some weeks ago,” Fitzwilliam shared.
“I apologised to Miss Bennet for my wrongheaded interference between you two. She was all kindness and forgave me, but she said she came to realise she did not love you like she thought she did, and you did not truly like her, but rather only her looks,” Darcy revealed.
“Miss Bennet said if you loved her, then nothing would have stopped your return to Hertfordshire to discover the truth for yourself.”
“You see, I told you she did not love you,” Miss Bingley interjected. “I was trying to protect you, Charles.”
“Caroline, be quiet!” Bingley and Mrs Hurst chorused.
“The only things you ever care about are your own selfish desires. What a fool I have been to ever cater to you and your nonsense,” Bingley bit back.
“Darcy, I think we need to depart. We have a great deal of family business we need to take care of.” After a nod from Darcy, Bingley was about to drag his younger sister out of the room. ”
“Miss Bingley, if you want to be foolish enough to test the veracity of what I said about your ruin, I can promise you that you will not be happy with the results,” Fitzwilliam warned.
Hurst took one of the harpy’s elbows, Bingley the other, and they half walked, half carried the reeling woman out of the drawing room and, for the final time ever, out of Darcy House. Miss Bingley was unceremoniously handed into the Bingley coach, destroying her remaining feathers.
Once everyone was seated, she attempted to defend her actions, but her brother commanded her to be quiet, and this time he meant it.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“Do you think Miss Bingley will be enough of a simpleton to try to show her face in society again?” Gigi asked after the overdressed virago had left.
“I do not know, but I have a feeling even she is not so delusional as to ignore Richard’s warning,” Darcy estimated. “I think I saw the beginnings of Bingley growing a spine. If that is true, then all is not lost for his family.”
“It is hard to imagine what Miss Bennet was like when you were first in Hertfordshire. The lady I met would not have tolerated Miss Bingley’s airs and graces,” Fitzwilliam observed.
“It is a pity we do not suit.” He looked at his cousin.
“What of you and Miss Elizabeth? Are you going to take the advice you dispensed to Bingley and return to Longbourn to see if she is open to you as a suitor?”
“I must, or it would make me a hypocrite,” Darcy replied.
“May I accompany you?” Gigi asked hopefully. “I would love to see Lizzy and Jane again. Last time, you were worried that Mr Wickham was nearby. Since he is not there now, I would be able to meet some of the younger Bennet sisters.”
Darcy looked at Fitzwilliam, who nodded. “Yes, Sweetling, you and Mrs Annesley are more than welcome to join me.” Darcy remembered he had not seen Andrew of late. “Where is your brother? Is he not seeking a wife this season? I have not seen him for some weeks now.”
“Andrew is very disillusioned by the huntresses of the Ton after the latest attempt to entrap him. He returned to Hilldale before the end of April and will not come back to Town for the next year, and only if he is not able to find a woman who loves him for himself and not his title, wealth, and connections,” Fitzwilliam related.
“It is why Mother is pressuring me to marry. She wants grandchildren.”
“I understand Andrew’s desire to be away from London.” Darcy turned to his sister. “What say you, Gigi? Should we depart for Hertfordshire on the morrow?”
The hug and kiss his sister bestowed demonstrated her approbation.