Chapter 18 #2
For all of her life, Louisa had taken the abuse heaped on her by her mother and then by her mother and Caroline together. After the death of their mother, Caroline had continued her campaign of cruelty on her own. Of course, this was done for the most part when she thought she was unobserved.
Her sister’s crazed words were far beyond the pale. Louisa jumped up from her chair, approached her sister, pulled her arm back, and unleashed it with the back of her hand connecting with Caroline’s left cheek.
Miss Caroline stood in shock for some moments as her hand rubbed her stinging cheek.
“YOU BITCH!” she screamed. “Mother should have drowned you as soon as she saw that mark of Satan on your face! Had our weak father not stopped her, she would have!” With that Miss Caroline raised her hands, her talons ready to scratch, and began to charge towards where her sister had retreated to.
She only managed two steps before Bennet and Bingley grabbed an arm each and stopped her.
“She has slipped the bounds of reason,” Hildebrand opined as she shook her head sadly.
“This was my late sister-in-law Mavis’s doing.
She filled Caroline’s head with so much stuff and nonsense that created expectations which could never be fulfilled.
Is it any wonder that it has led to Caroline’s insanity? ”
“I am NOT insane!” Miss Caroline screeched as she fought against the men who were restraining her.
Hildebrand rang the bell. As soon as Mrs Nichols entered, she asked for four footmen to be sent to the drawing room, with good rope for binding and something to be used as a gag.
Within five minutes the person who used to be Caroline Bingley was now some crazed shell of her former self. She was bound, gagged, and removed to a small windowless room where she would be locked away until she could be consigned to Bedlam.
“I still did not manage to meet Miss Caroline,” Bennet said sardonically after she was taken away.
The quip caused the three Bingleys to relax a little.
“Unfortunately for my friend here,” Bingley cocked his head towards Darcy, “since the day my sister wheedled information about him from the Medford twins, friends of ours from Cambridge, she decided that she would marry Darcy regardless of how many times she was told he would not marry her. Darcy went as far as to tell her himself. He told her a compromise would never be gratified.”
“A man after my own heart.” Bennet shook his head.
“As much as I hated having to marry the woman, I have five wonderful daughters from that marriage. I lift my prayers to Him every day to give thanks for the fact that none of them are like their birthmother in character. Jane, Mary, and Lydia look just like her. Lizzy and Kate, which is short for Catherine, look very much like my late mother, for whom Elizabeth is named.” He looked at his host and hostess.
“I think it is time for me to leave. I am sure you have much to discuss as a family.”
“To that end, Mr Bennet, may I accompany you back to your estate? It will allow the Bingleys time to discuss what they need to and for me to offer my amends to Miss Elizabeth,” Darcy requested.
“You do not need to leave, Darce,” Bingley stated.
“Perhaps not, but I do need to beg Mr Bennet’s daughter’s pardon in person. There is no time like the present for that,” Darcy assured his friend.
A message was sent to the stables to have Zeus saddled and brought along with Mr Bennet’s horse to the drive in front of the manor house. Ten minutes later, the two men had mounted and had begun the three-mile ride to Longbourn.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The five Bennet sisters, along with Mrs Dudley and Miss Jones, were seated in the drawing room.
Lydia was trying to induce Lizzy, who was the best player other than herself, to play chess.
Jane and Kate were working on repairs to clothing for tenant children, and Mary was sewing new gowns for one of the tenants who was about to be blessed with a new babe.
Kate was facing the window, looking out onto the drive. “I see Papa on Jupiter, but he is not alone. There is a tall, rather handsome man on a big black horse next to him,” she reported.
Elizabeth walked to the window. It was Mr Darcy, and he looked in much better humour than he had been at the assembly.
Things must have gone well for Papa to allow him to visit Longbourn.
She assumed that meant that Mr Darcy had apologised.
Their father had always been very selective regarding single men calling at the house.
She would have been lying to herself had she said she was not intrigued by the man.
Like her sisters, Elizabeth waited in the drawing room for their father to enter. It could be that Mr Darcy would not be spending time with them but only with Papa in the study.
In two hours, Jane and Elizabeth planned to walk into Meryton—escorted by John Biggs—so they could call on Charlotte, who was very close to her second lying-in.
All of the Bennet sisters enjoyed spending time with little Lawrence who would turn two next month.
Although the two eldest Bennet sisters had kept to their resolution never to address Charlotte with the title of aunt, they were still as close as sisters.
When the door opened, her father led Mr Darcy into the drawing room, all thoughts of the impending visit to the Phillips’ house were banished from Elizabeth’s mind. She had thought before that Mr Darcy was handsome, but now, with much less worry evident on his countenance, he was an Adonis.
Darcy had to fight to keep from gasping when he saw Miss Elizabeth from close up in the light of day. She was not just a handsome woman—she was absolutely beautiful. From closer he could see that her eyes were magnificent, not just fine.
“Mr Darcy, allow me to present my daughters, Miss Jane Bennet, Miss Elizabeth, Miss Mary, Miss Kate, and Miss Lydia. The ladies who are their companions are Mrs Dudley and Miss Jones. Ladies, Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley and Darcy House.” Bennet watched as each lady curtsied when her name was mentioned and then Darcy—they had agreed to address one another more informally on the ride to the house—bowed to his daughters and the companions.
As there was no reason to procrastinate, Darcy cleared his throat.
Before the man could speak, Lydia, who was perhaps the most fearless of all of the Bennet sisters, spoke up. “Mr Darcy, are you in need of spectacles to have called Lizzy only tolerable?” She was standing with arms akimbo.
“Lydia!” Her older sisters chorused.
“Miss Lydia, you should have waited to hear what Mr Darcy has to say before you take him to task,” Mrs Dudley admonished.
“Please pardon me; I may have spoken prematurely,” Lydia responded contritely. Even though she was the youngest sister, she was very protective of all of her sisters, and she felt the closest to Lizzy.
“It is I who am here to beg for forgiveness,” Darcy replied magnanimously.
He turned towards Miss Elizabeth. “Those words should never have been spoken by me.
Miss Lydia is right about the words regarding your looks being anything but true.
It was rather arrogant for me, as a visitor to the neighbourhood where you were born and raised, to think that I could somehow give you consequence.
“If my words were not bad enough, Miss Louisa Bingley informed me that all of you ladies sit out two sets because of the shortage of men at the assemblies. With a cousin who is a colonel in the Royal Dragoons, I should have realised why there were so many more ladies than men.
“In addition to my vile words, I now realise that had I behaved like a gentleman, I should have asked others, well, other than the Misses Kingston, that is, to stand up with me. I humbly beg your forgiveness.”
“I noticed Mrs Kingston accosting you; hence I understood what added to the mood you were in when you arrived,” Elizabeth related. “Yes, Mr Darcy, you are pardoned of any offences you think you committed against me. I am sure Papa told you I was the least upset by your words when we heard them.”
“He did, Miss Elizabeth,” Darcy returned.
“I would like to thank you for your understanding and generosity of spirit in your assessment of my mood when I arrived at the assembly. Please understand that no matter what I was feeling, nothing excuses my untrue and insulting words. As Bingley pointed out to me, like I did when Mrs Kingston tried to foist her daughters on me as dance partners, I should have either walked away or told Bingley to cease importuning me as I did not want to dance.” He turned to face the youngest Bennet.
“Miss Lydia, had I, in fact, actually looked at your sister before speaking, I would have seen her beauty, so no, I am not in need of spectacles…at least not at this stage of my life.”
The apology had been all that was sincere, and more than that, Elizabeth was impressed by how Mr Darcy was willing to humble himself before all of them. Then with his last statement to Lydia, using self-deprecating humour, Elizabeth was pleased.
“At the next local dance I attend, I promise to dance with any lady in want of a partner to whom I have been introduced, that is, other than any of the Misses Kingston,” Darcy vowed.
“That, Mr Darcy, is a good determination. Any half-wealthy man who agrees to dance with one of the Misses Kingston is considered her daughter’s property by the mother,” Jane revealed.
“No one will fault you for keeping your distance from that family. Would you believe Mr and Mrs Kingston tried to offer my father one of their daughters as a wife? Papa was not interested in a child!”
“For obvious reasons, we have no contact with that family,” Bennet added.
“I understand Bingley mentioned I was a chess champion at Cambridge, did he not?” Darcy verified to speak of something far pleasanter.
Bennet allowed it was so.
“It is not to boast that I mention this; rather I understand Miss Lydia is rather accomplished at the game,” Darcy explained.
“That is an understatement,” Mary said in sotto voce.
“Would you like to play against me?” Lydia asked excitedly. “I will remove my queen and one of my bishops, if you like.”
“Darcy before you do, I have an admission to make,” Bennet stated. He saw Darcy was listening. “Did your father ever mention that from some point on, he lost every game to me?”
Darcy allowed it was so.
“That was when Lydia took over and played him via the post,” Bennet related with a smile.
He grinned, Darcy knew his father would have been amused to learn who had been beating him every game they played.
He turned to Miss Lydia remembering her offer to remove some pieces.
“Let me attempt a game with both of us beginning with a full complement of pieces. The result will determine if I ask you to remove one or more pieces,” Darcy proposed.
Lydia agreed and won in just over five minutes. Mr Darcy asked her to remove her bishop, and he lasted about ten minutes. In the third game, the queen was removed as well, this one took almost twenty minutes. Lydia felt very pleased with herself when Mr Darcy tipped his king for the third time.
“Never have I seen or played against a better player,” Darcy observed in awe. “No wonder Father could never win against you.”
When Darcy departed, he was carrying an invitation for those at Netherfield Park, sans the confined Miss Caroline, to come for dinner that evening.