Chapter 15
William and his parents were awaiting the arrival of the Bingleys at Pemberley.
If there had been a way of getting out of extending the invitation William would have taken it, but there was no option but to grin and bear it.
As he waited, his reverie took him back to the conversation that he had with his friend at school a fortnight before the end of the school year.
The two had been sitting in their bedchamber reading letters from home; William was amused at a letter from Lizzy, describing her latest antics at Snowhaven.
Evidently, she had become very adept at hiding in the maze and her governess would have fits trying to find her charge.
Lizzy had thought it very amusing until her father had admonished her and pointed out that making poor Miss Johnson worried was not fun.
She told her cousin how she had contritely apologised and was now having to find a new game that would not cause her governess to suffer a minor apoplexy.
She mentioned how her mama had reminded her that she would soon be eight and was getting older.
“Oh!” Bingley exclaimed as he read his missive from his father.
“What is it, Bingley?” William asked concerned that something was amiss.
“All is well,” Bingley assured him, “my father writes to let me know that we are to go to Scarborough for the summer,” Bingley informed William.
“We have not been back since we moved away from Yorkshire. Each time Father wanted to go, my mother and sisters would make such a cacophony that he would give up to maintain peace.” Seeing Darcy’s questioning look, he explained.
“Being back where we came from makes it hard for them to pretend that we do not have roots in trade. In addition, they are not going to be welcomed with open arms as they angered many of our family and friends with their airs and pretentions when we left to take up the lease at Netherfield.”
William took a deep breath and then did what he knew that he had to. “I will confirm with my parents, but would you and your family like to stop at Pemberley for a few days on your way north?”
“You know that ALL of my family will be travelling, do you not, William?” Bingley asked in order to let his friend reconsider.
“I understand that Bingley. Do you give me leave to write to my parents and canvass an invitation, as long as they have no conflicting plans?” he asked, praying that mayhap they would not be able to accommodate guests at that time even as Bingley nodded his head.
Four days later an affirmative reply was received from Lady Anne.
Bingley then wrote to his father with the invitation, and two days later an express arrived accepting.
Both young men had been hoping against hope that Mr Bingley would demure, but it was not to be.
Mrs Bingley and her two daughters would be coming to Pemberley.
William was snapped out of his reverie as Douglas knocked on the drawing room door to inform the Darcys that a carriage had passed the gatehouse.
The Fitzwilliams would arrive on the morrow, so at least they would only have three days with the objectionable Bingley ladies.
William took a walk in the house to work off some of his nervous energy, but when he heard the carriages in the courtyard, he returned to the drawing room where his parents waited.
As the Bingley equipage passed the gatehouse, Caroline, who felt that she knew all exclaimed, “You should sack the driver father; he is taking us into a forest. I thought this was a grand estate.”
“Did you not notice the arch above the gates, Caroline?” her brother asked, already exasperated by the inane chatter of his sisters.
“Why would I care about an arch?” Caroline said with her nose in the air.
“Because it said ‘Pemberley’, meaning that we are now on the estate!” Mr Bingley was regretting the trip with each mile that they travelled.
“From what Darcy told me, it is more than two miles to the manor house,” Charles informed his family.
“Of all this, I will be mistress one day,” Caroline said aloud while she imagined the jewels, carriages, and pin money that she would have, astonished when her father and brother erupted in loud guffaws.
“Even were Darcy to lower himself to marry a tradesman’s daughter, it would never be you, Caroline,” Charles said more amused than angry, his sister’s pretentions seemed to tend toward delusions in this case.
“Why would my Caroline not make a good wife for Mr Darcy one day?” Asked an indignant Martha Bingley.
“Because Mother,” Charles said as respectfully as he was able, “after my sister’s performance when Darcy visited Netherfield, he can barely stand the sight of your thirteen-year-old daughter.”
“You are just jealous, Charles…” Caroline was cut off by her father.
“If you do anything to upset our hosts, and that includes trying to hang on Master Darcy as he does his best to escape you, we will leave immediately no matter the time of day or night,” Mr Bingley said in a tone that brooked no opposition.
“But Mr Bingley…” Martha tried to interject.
“One more word from any of you,” he skewered the three females with a thunderous look, “and I will have this carriage turned around and we will leave. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!” Mother and daughter nodded mutely while one daughter mutinously planned to impress the Darcys with her poise and superior knowledge, regardless of what her father said.
As the carriage reached the crest of the hill and started to descend, the three Bingley women gasped audibly as they saw the magnificence of Pemberley for the first time.
It was so much more than any of them had ever imagined, but it did have the effect of silencing mother and daughters as they drew nearer to the edifice.
None of the three saw the true natural beauty of Pemberley; all they saw was wealth and social standing.
They entered through a portal in the building that had columns of marble on either side.
“Why is no one waiting to welcome us?” asked an indignant Martha, while her daughters had pinched looks of disapproval.
“It is not done in the first circles,” Charles informed his mother.
What he did not add was ‘unless the hosts were particularly close to their guests.’ The carriages halted and footmen sporting the Darcy livery placed the steps then opened the door.
The butler was standing next to the massive double doors that led into the interior.
The five Bingleys followed him to the drawing room.
Caroline could not understand why, like the Bennets, the Darcys did not display more of their wealth.
‘When I am mistress here,’ she promised herself, ‘there will be many changes.’
A few minutes later, Douglas announced the visitors, and if the looks on the three women had not been so gauche, the Darcys would have found the open mouths entertaining.
On Mr Darcy’s request, Charles Bingley performed the introductions of his family, starting just before Caroline made the gaff of trying to speak before the introductions were completed.
Lady Anne pulled a bell and Mrs Reynolds, the housekeeper, materialised as if from thin air to ask that the Bingleys follow her to their chambers which were up on the fourth floor in the far east wing.
“Are we in the family wing?” Caroline intoned in her most haughty voice, as if it were her right to stay there.
“No, Miss Caroline, this is a guest wing,” Mrs Reynold curtsied, denying the seething miss the information of where the family wing was situated.
The Bingleys’ personal servants were waiting for them to help them wash and change from their traveling attire.
It still galled Caroline that she and Louisa had to share a maid.
Before Mrs Reynolds left, she told them that once they had rested, the footman on duty in the hall would direct them to the drawing room where the family met before dinner.
With that, she was gone before the youngest Bingley could ask any more questions or issue orders like she so wanted to do to prove she deserved the same treatment as the Darcys.
Watching his youngest, Mr Bingley could only shake his head. Nothing he or Charles said to her got through to her at all. He had decided that Caroline would not be going to the seminary that Louisa had attended nor to the finishing school programme she had attended in September.
He had received a letter from the Dark Hollow School for Girls.
It was situated on an old estate in Wiltshire and specialised in problematic girls.
The headmistress, Mrs Hesperia Gilbert, had written to him a few days before they departed for Derbyshire to inform Mr Bingley that she had an opening from the middle of July onward for Caroline.
Mr Bingley would not say anything to his wife, Louisa, or Caroline until they made a stop at the school on their return from Yorkshire.
He was not proud of prevaricating to his wife when he told her that they were to look at some potential estates in Wiltshire before returning to Netherfield Park.
She had responded with glee at the prospect of them owning one, forgetting that her husband had told her when they moved into the leased estate that it would be many years before he was able to purchase.
It was sad that he had to employ subterfuge, but he felt that he had no choice.
He could not allow Caroline to run rampant as she had.
She was not yet fourteen! What would she be like when she came out?
He had told no one, not even Charles who would return to Pemberley on their return from Scarborough.
That was another nugget of information that he had not mentioned to his wife and daughters yet.
They would break for a few hours and leave without spending a night with the Darcys.
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