Chapter 4 #3
Fanny tensed in resolve and Bennet grinned, a small part of him hoping that the next time Miss Bingley slighted them his Fanny would be within hearing of it so he would be able to witness his wife taking the harridan to task.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Darcy arrived at Netherfield Park just as the sun was setting. Bingley and his hostess, Miss Bingley, were waiting on the front steps to welcome him. A footman took his trunk off the carriage and to his room so his valet, Carstens, could unpack for him.
Darcy was unsurprised when Miss Bingley flew down the stairs and attached her talons to his arm. She appeared surprised when Darcy physically removed her hand and stepped away from her. She did not understand why he pushed her away, she, the perfect candidate for Pemberley’s mistress.
‘Mayhap he is tired from the trip and has been upset by being forced to travel to this backwater country,’ she told herself, conveniently forgetting two salient facts: first, she had been told more times than memory would serve that Darcy did not like her and only tolerated her to be polite and second, Darcy himself spent the bulk of his time at Pemberley, in the country near the town of Lambton, an area much like the one where they were now.
‘If he does not offer for me soon, then I will affect a compromise and he will have to marry me. He will thank me for helping him get to the point!’
Seeing how uncomfortable Darcy was with Caroline’s behaviour, her brother requested she go inside to make sure everything was in order for dinner, as he was sure their guest was hungry after journeying from Town.
She believed she could display her skills as a hostess by doing so, so she made her excuses and went into the house. She intended to make an entrance at dinner that would dazzle her Mr. Darcy.
“Bingley, so there will be no misunderstanding, I repeat what I have previously told you; no matter how much your sister desires it, I will never offer for her, even if she attempts to compromise me,” Darcy stated in a tone that brooked no opposition as soon as Miss Bingley was gone, and the gentlemen were alone.
“Darcy, you have no idea how many times I have told her exactly that,” Bingley said despondently. “I know what she is like. As it now stands, she is but one faux pax away from someone setting Lady Matlock and her daughter-in-law on my sister.” Bingley grinned.
At Darcy’s inquisitive look, Bingley relayed all of the drama from earlier in the afternoon. It need not be said that Darcy was anything less than astonished. “I wonder why Richard did not mention my uncle’s friend, Thomas Bennet, lives here. Maybe he did and I forgot,” Darcy mused aloud.
“I owe him a call in return. Would you like to come with me in the morning and meet him?” Bingley offered hopefully.
“Yes, thank you, Bingley; I would very much like to meet Mr. Thomas Bennet. By the way, he is a very good, if not the best, friend of my uncle’s family; they have stayed at each other’s estates many times.
Unfortunately, those visits never coincided with a visit of mine, so I never met his family,” Darcy informed Bingley.
“However, I have heard Richard’s family talk very warmly about the Bennets.
Mr. Bennet was correct; one word from him to my Aunt Elaine and Cousin Marie and your sister would be done in society forever.
“As an aside, from what Richard and Andrew both told me, the Bennet daughters are all beautiful and highly accomplished. The eldest three were sponsored for their curtsey before the Queen by Aunt Elaine. They consider the Bennets’ offspring as nieces and nephews.”
“Darce, I have a favour to ask of you: If Caroline is stupid enough not to heed the warnings she is been given, do not say anything. She has to learn, and the hard way may be the only way she ever will,” Bingley requested with a pained look.
“All I can hope is the whole family will not be ruined by association. This afternoon I had to apologise to Mr. Bennet. He was gracious and told us he did not hold the rest of us responsible for Caroline’s despicable behaviour.
I was shamed by the foul language she spewed.
Even Louisa took her to task after her embarrassing performance.
If Caroline refuses to listen, she will feel the repercussions. ”
Darcy made for his chambers to change for dinner and wash the dust of the road from his person.
He descended to the drawing room a little while before the meal.
As soon as he entered, Caroline Bingley latched onto his arm again, conveniently forgetting his reaction when he arrived and ignoring the look of disgust on his countenance as he tensed at her touch.
Even through his clothing, she made his skin crawl.
“My dear Mr. Darcy,” she cooed, “you will not believe the lies a pretentious country nobody told today. He claimed a connection with your esteemed uncle and aunt, the Earl and Countess of Matlock. How preposterous!” she continued, not noticing the look of disgust on the faces of everyone, especially Darcy’s.
“As if your noble relations would ever suffer the degradation of connecting themselves to a mere country bumpkin without fortune.” She simpered, thinking that she had his ear and believing she was showing her superior knowledge of all he held dear.
Darcy was having a hard time keeping his word to Bingley already.
He practically threw Caroline’s hand from his arm and glowered at her when she tried to reclaim it.
“I have never given you leave to be so familiar with me, Madame. You are the sister of my friend, naught more!” Darcy said through clenched teeth.
Miss Bingley gaped at him as if she could not comprehend what Mr. Darcy was saying. More than that, she did not understand how he was saying it. “But, Mr. Darcy,” she stammered, “we have always been best of friends. We do not associate with those below our circle...”
She got no further. “Our circle?” Darcy cut her off.
“What circle is that, or is it you believe you belong to mine?” He turned to Bingley and said, “I am sorry, Bingley.” Bingley gave him a nod, granting permission for him to continue.
“Do you, Miss Bingley, think that, like you, I am the offspring of a tradesman?” She paled but did not reply.
“Miss Bingley, let me speak plainly. I have only tolerated your presence for the sake of my friendship with your brother, no more than that. You have never been my friend, nor will you ever be more than my friend’s sister—an acquaintance tolerated at best! ”
Caroline Bingley felt her dream crashing down around her as everyone in the room looked at her with scorn, even her brother-in-law, Harold Hurst, who normally showed no interest in anything but food and drink. Even more shocking was the look of disgust, and rejection that she saw on Louisa’s face!
She could always manipulate Louisa, could she not?
For the first time since she had begun, at twelve, to take on the airs and graces of those at the seminary, Miss Bingley suspected she would not get what she wanted this time.
With this insight, for the second time this day, Caroline left the drawing room red as a beet, but unfortunately for those in her family, no wiser.
After reaching her room and slamming her door so it sounded like a clap of thunder, she let out a screech a harpy would envy.
What followed thereafter was a tantrum of epic proportions.
She hurled every piece of bric-a-brac in her room into the fireplace; the sounds of breaking porcelain reverberated throughout the house.
Had she known the landlord was the very Mr. Bennet she had so soundly denigrated, she might have destroyed even more in her fit of pique. When her anger lessened, she rationalised her brother would pay for the breakages. She could always manipulate him into doing so in the past.
Once she calmed down, she filtered what Mr. Darcy had said through her delusional mind, and discarded whatever did not fit with the narrative she continued to tell herself; it was as if he had never said it.
In the world she had created for herself, there was only one reality, one where she would be given whatever she wanted. She wanted Pemberley and the status that went along with being the mistress of one of the largest estates in the country.
Dinner at Netherfield Park that night was pleasant because it lacked the company of the hostess.