Chapter 8 #2
“We should have at least three courses,” Caroline said with a brisk nod. “I want Mr. Darcy to know that when we are married, I will be an excellent hostess for ton parties.”
“Yes,” Louisa agreed, standing up and striding over to a small desk in the corner. She sat down, pulled a clean sheet of paper out of a convenient drawer, and dipped pen into ink.
“So for the first course, we will have turbot, and…”
The next three minutes were entirely pleasurable. Caroline was truly excellent at arranging parties and particularly enjoyed such affairs when someone else was paying for food and drink and the like.
The door opened in the middle of the ladies’ discussion about the second course, and the Hursts’ butler stepped in with Charles Bingley at his heels.
“Charles!” Caroline cried out, her eyes shifting to the empty space behind her brother. “Where are Mr. and Miss Darcy? Did they not accompany you?”
“No, they did not,” Charles said, casually wandering over to the fire to warm his hands. “Good evening, Hurst, Louisa, Caroline.”
“Good evening,” muttered Hurst, reluctantly levering himself into a sitting position.
“May I have some of your best brandy?” Charles asked his brother-in-law. “I am celebrating today.”
“Of course,” Hurst said happily, rising to his feet and walking over to where the brandy bottle and two glasses waited. He quickly poured brandy into both, handed one over to his brother by marriage and waited.
“What are we celebrating?” Caroline asked suspiciously.
Charles grinned, raised his glass, and said, “I am engaged to Jane Bennet. To Jane!”
Hurst looked surprised, but he was a placid man who loved his drink.
“To Miss Bennet!” he replied, and both men drank.
Caroline had been so shocked by these words that her mouth had dropped open and her throat had seized, and it was only after both glasses were empty that she managed to croak, “Engaged … to Jane Bennet. No! No! Impossible!”
“Charles, you cannot be serious!” exclaimed Louisa from her seat by the desk.
Charles turned to look first at his elder sister and then at his younger, and Caroline, who had been marshaling arguments, suddenly felt a strange constriction in her chest. Her brother, while older, had always been a cheerful man who despised contention, and she had found it easy to manipulate him into doing whatever she wanted.
But at this moment, there was an unfamiliar rigidity to her brother’s countenance, one which she did not recognize at all.
But it mattered not. She knew what was best for her brother, for the family, and she had no intention of permitting her wealthy, charming brother to marry a nobody.
She took a deep breath, straightened her back, and lifted her chin. “Charles, how can you possibly have offered for Jane Bennet? You know that she does not truly care for you, not at all.”
“And her family is dreadful, too,” Louisa said angrily. “Mrs. Bennet is vulgar, the younger girls are hoydens, and…”
“Stop,” Charles said, and his tone was sufficiently stern that both ladies did, indeed, stop.
“I am engaged to Jane,” he repeated. “I will marry her next week. I came here to invite you to the wedding, but given your current behavior, I have changed my mind. You are not invited. That last thing I need is you both to swan around at the wedding breakfast with your noses high in the air and condescension dripping from your lips.”
“Next week,” Louisa breathed out in horror, and Caroline shrieked, “Charles, no! Just wait … you should not rush into anything. Talk to Mr. Darcy! He will tell you that Jane Bennet merely wishes for a wealthy husband!”
“Last Thursday, after you visited me at Clareton’s and filled my ears with your opinions on Jane’s love for me, or lack thereof, I did visit Darcy.”
“And I know he told you exactly the same thing,” Caroline said confidently.
“He did not,” her brother responded coolly.
Again, her mouth hung open in bewilderment.
She remembered, very clearly, the discussion between Darcy and Louisa and herself after the Netherfield Ball the previous week.
They had all agreed that Jane Bennet was interested entirely in Bingley’s riches, that behind that handsome countenance and serene smile was a woman who would do anything to gain financial support for her stupid mother and sisters.
“He said that he had not seen any sign of genuine love from Jane,” Charles continued, “but he also confessed that he did not know her well enough to be certain. I rode for Longbourn the next morning and talked to Jane, and I am convinced of her love for me. I then offered and she accepted. It is as simple as that…”
“Simple?” Caroline shrieked so loudly that Hurst winced noticeably. “Simple? Charles, you fool! You could have married Georgiana Darcy! You could have been…”
“Enough,” Charles interposed sternly. “I have made my choice, and none of you are invited to the wedding. And sisters, I suggest that you keep a closer eye on your own spending. I will soon be a husband and, in time, I hope a father, and my income must be focused on my wife and children, not paying for your hats and gowns and slippers!”
With these words, he marched out of the room, leaving Caroline and her sister shocked and horrified.