Chapter 10
Charles Bingley was more scared than he had ever been before.
One of Lady Catherine’s goons had caught him attempting to watch some young ladies bathe through the window of their cottage.
The man had frogmarched the errant clergyman to his mistress, where he now stood, sweating, before her throne in the drawing room.
“I knew you were not to be trusted when you looked at my Anne the way you did! Spying on young maidens! What kind of libertine are you, Mr. Bingley?” the great lady spat out. “Do not try to answer; there is no excuse for the way that Dryden discovered you!”
“W-what w-will you d-do to me, y-your Ladyship?” Bingley managed to get out.
If only he could control his urges, he told himself, for it was the same overwhelming impulse as when he tried to drag the delectable Jane Bennet away.
He had to believe a base need controlled him rather than the other way around.
It was easier not to look at his behaviour as a cause of his problems.
“As I see it, there are two choices here. One is that I contact the Bishop and you will be defrocked and never be allowed to be even a curate, never mind a vicar.” Lady Catherine paused allowing her words to sink into the disgusting pastor’s consciousness.
“I will do anything you require, your Ladyship, just please do not summon the Bishop. Bingley was well aware he was already treading on thin ice with the Bishop, so there would be no returning from this.
“Your mother just wrote to tell you that the Duke of Derbyshire has recently taken up residence in an estate neighbouring the one where she is mistress, did she not?” Lady Catherine asked, seemingly changing the subject.
“She did, in fact, relate that news. I do not understand…” Bingley started to say when the lady held up her hand.
“You will soon enough. She told you his sister, Lady Georgiana, is also reputed to be with him, did she not?” Bingley nodded.
“I have a task for you. Succeed, and I will give you a character so you may seek a new parish along with ten thousand pounds. Fail me and your Bishop will hear all!” Lady Catherine stated.
“What is it you would have me do?” Bingley asked with trepidation. Especially where her nephew was concerned, he knew the lady bordered on the insane.
“You will visit your family on the estate that neighbours my nephew’s,” she stated flatly.
Bingley’s stomach roiled as he had never shared how he was not allowed to set foot on the estate.
“You will find a way to compromise my niece! Despoil her, or Dryden here,” she pointed a bony finger at the man, “will end your miserable life for me! I want enough done that I will be able to force my nephew to finally do his duty to his betrothed, my daughter! You have your choice. What is your decision?”
Bingley was not sure what he would do once he reached the Meryton area, but he had to make her think he would do as she desired to buy himself some time. “I will do as you ask. You realise it may take me a little while to get close to her, do you not?”
“Do you take me for a fool?” Lady Catherine slammed her cane down.
“I am not a simpleton; I know you will not be able to walk through the doors of their Netherton estate, or whatever its name is, and simply have access to her! I expect updates at least once a week. If not, Dryden will come and visit you! Do I make myself clear?”
“It is Netherfield, your Ladyship.” Bingley then convinced the lady that he would need funds for travel and to purchase some clothing that would make him look the part of a man who would be noticed by the sister of a duke.
Lady Catherine gave him a hundred fifty pounds and told him it would be deducted from his final payment.
Charles Bingley was on a carriage from Bromley headed towards Meryton by stage early the next day.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“It will be the finest gown I have ever owned!” Louisa gushed as Elizabeth and Charlotte watched her while she was being fitted for the gown Elizabeth was gifting her at the seamstress in Meryton.
“You look very well in it, Lulu,” Charlotte assured her friend.
“Charlotte has the right of it, Lulu; it is perfect for you. Louisa blushed with pleasure not being used to compliments about the way she looked. She quickly changed, and the three friends departed.
As they walked down Meryton’s main street, Elizabeth spied her stepmother and Caroline exiting the jewellery store, which was also Meryton’s pawnbroker.
“Charlotte, I will meet you and Lulu at the tearoom; there is some Longbourn business I must take care of.” She crossed the road to Smithers Emporium and rang the bell for Mr. Smithers, who looked decidedly guilty when he saw her.
“What did that woman sell you Mr. Smithers?” Elizabeth asked sharply, her arms akimbo.
“J-just some old pieces of hers, Miss Bennet,” the man hedged.
“Mr. Smithers, you may tell me now, or I will return before you know it with Mr. Philips, the magistrate, and the constable! Now, I ask again, what did she sell you?” Elizabeth demanded.
The man crumpled, knowing if he were convicted of buying and selling stolen goods, he would lose his business and be transported. “Some of your father’s first editions,” the man owned.
“Is this the first time she has sold Longbourn’s property to you?” Elizabeth asked.
“Just one other time. She sold me a pair of silver candlesticks. They are in the back.” the defeated man acknowledged.
“If you do not want the law involved, you will have all of my property sent to the Halverson’s farm.
I will not reimburse you one penny, as you were warned along with every other merchant in Meryton.
She is not to be trusted. At the very least, you should have told her you needed time to appraise the goods and called me or Mr. Philips.
Which you will do if she attempts to sell you anything else, will you not?
” Elizabeth stated, leaving no room for argument.
The man nodded, summoned his man and had him load whatever the woman sold him with instructions to deliver the items to the Halverson’s farm.
Elizabeth stopped at the tearoom and told her friends she needed to return home urgently and was gone before they could protest.
After the two friends completed their tea and pastries, they paid and left the tearoom.
Louisa was turned, looking at Charlotte as she whispered her concern for Elizabeth, so she did not see the gentleman barrelling towards her as he too was distracted.
The two collided, and Louisa would have fallen had the man not quickly reached out and caught her arms, saving her from harm.
“I am so sorry, sir,” the embarrassed young lady stated with her head down.
“No madam, it was all my fault; I was preoccupied and did not see you,” Mr. Hurst averred.
“Rather than argue who was more at fault, may we know who almost bowled my friend over, sir?” Charlotte asked, offering an amused, teasing tone when she saw how uncomfortable both were.
She wondered when one of them would wake up to the fact the gentleman was still holding onto Louisa’s arms. Charlotte said nothing, as she did not want to add to their embarrassment, but both of them seemed to find the contact comfortable enough to maintain it—that always boded well.
Just then both separated a step or two, blushing furiously. “Harold Hurst at your service, ladies. Private secretary to the Duke of Derbyshire, Earl of Lambton.”
“Miss Charlotte Lucas, and the lady you accosted is Miss Louisa Bingley,” Miss Lucas made the introductions from their side.
Hurst almost recoiled when he heard the chit’s name, but he schooled his features.
As he remembered the report, it had stated that the younger Bingley, Caroline, was the objectionable one.
He had the good fortune to bump into the one who was reported to be nothing like her mother or sister.
She was standing demurely, waiting for his reaction and had not in any way tried to call compromise.
“Well met, Miss Lucas, Miss Bingley. I must be away, but may I be so bold as to solicit a dance from each of you at the upcoming assembly?” Hurst bowed to the friends. Both nodded, so he requested the second from Miss Lucas and the third from Miss Bingley.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The afternoon The Charger left New England behind, the Captain and his Executive Officer introduced the arriving Bennets to their wives.
For the first night, the Countess and Jane joined Mrs. Sandiford in the captain’s cabin while Ladies Cassandra and Alicia were billeted with Mrs. Chandler in the second-in-command’s cabin.
The two senior officers shared the Captain's day cabin with the Earl, while the Viscount, Phillip, and Tommy joined the officers in the wardroom. Parrot was not allowed in the wardroom but seemed mollified when he was given a perch near the crew’s messdeck.
The night before the wedding, her Aunt Amy had given Jane the talk.
It was, at the best of times, not the easiest talk to give, and when the Countess had talked to Marie it was easier than in this case, when the bride was marrying Jamey—notwithstanding the intimacy of their lives on the island.
Both had made it through the awkwardness with a minimum of embarrassment.
Before she went to bed that night, Jane had found Uncle James. “I feel guilty that I am being selfish for not waiting until Papa walks me down the aisle,” Jane admitted to her uncle.