Chapter 19 #3
With a look of concern on her face, she allowed her husband to help her to stand and draw her into his study.
Leading her to sit beside him on the settee before the fire, he took her hand and caressed it as he seemed to marshal his thoughts in order.
“I met with Bingley at the club today. He and your sister departed Netherfield just a day before Mrs. Bennet left for Ireland. He … he brought a letter with him that he thought I should see.” He paused, taking the folded letter from his coat pocket.
“It is from his sister to Mrs. Bingley …”
“William, what is disturbing you so much about this letter? Obviously, it contains something upsetting to you. Does it have to do with me?” Elizabeth asked. He nodded, so Elizabeth continued. “May I see it?”
She could tell from his face that he was torn. “I knew that you would want to, but I am hesitant. Will you listen to what I tell you first?” he pled.
She looked at him in concern. “Of course I will, William; I will always listen to what you have to say,” she told him lovingly.
“I do not know how she knows, but Caroline Bingley had been threatening your … Mrs. Bingley to reveal the truth about Lydia and has threatened to spread rumours about our relationship—the same ones she has been sharing with Mrs. Bingley. Miss Bingley, of course, blames her banishment on you and is very unhappy. Still, she had been determined to ruin Jane’s happiness by telling her stories, blaming you for everything that has gone wrong in her life since the autumn we all met in Hertfordshire,” William paused and took a breath.
“Since Bingley has been intercepting all the letters from his sister so his wife cannot read them, she has become more desperate since, understandably, Jane has not been writing her back. In this letter, she threatens to ruin both the Bennet and the Darcy families and claims to have ‘evidence’ that you are pregnant with Bingley’s child since not only did you seduce me at Pemberley this summer, but you also used your wiles to seduce Bingley when they were visiting at Pemberley at Christmas. ”
Elizabeth gasped at this revelation. “My baby will be born far too soon for that to be plausible since we already suspected I was with child before the time they visited. And how could she possibly have ‘evidence’ since she was not there then? And how does she even know of my pregnancy?”
“Neither Bingley nor I understand her claims either. We think she is simply ranting at this point, growing steadily angrier as she receives no response to her threats to Mrs. Bingley. Her influence is waning, and she is desperately trying to grab at whatever straws she believes she can. What we cannot understand is her ultimate goal in separating you from your sister. Is it just to hurt you both and, by extension, to injure her brother and myself by driving a wedge into both relationships? She knows she will never be permitted at Pemberley again, but perhaps she is seeking to prevent her brother’s welcome at Pemberley as well.
Does she gain satisfaction knowing she can control her sister-in-law since she can no longer manipulate her brother? ” William asked.
Elizabeth sighed and leaned against him. “I cannot say that I understand what she could be thinking. Is it possible she is not merely angry but truly mad? Does she believe this venom she spews?” she wondered.
“Bingley intends to send his aunt a letter to ask the same question,” he said. “There is a hospital in Scotland near Edinburgh that houses the insane, and Bingley is seriously considering taking her there and leaving her. The letters are increasingly unbalanced.”
“Does he think that Jane has softened toward me at all?” Elizabeth wondered.
“Has she begun to understand what she has done by believing Miss Bingley’s lies?
Does she begin to think better of me?” She truly wanted her sister back but was uncertain it would be possible given what had passed between them.
“He does not think so,” William admitted sadly.
“She is becoming bitter, feeling very isolated and alone in London. She knows very few people in London, and because Bingley is still upset with her, they go out infrequently. He has not permitted her to shop since he is uncertain she will not spread gossip about us. She has also been rather sick with her pregnancy, and they came to London to consult with a physician as much as anything else.”
Elizabeth pressed her face to William’s chest, and he felt her tears dampen his shirt. “Is she better? What does the doctor say? I cannot stop caring about her despite what she believes about me.”
William rubbed his hands down her back to soothe his wife.
“Bingley is hopeful she will be, but they have not seen a doctor yet. He had hoped to meet me today to ask for a recommendation for a doctor. I have given him the address of our family physician, who will know who to recommend if he cannot help.” He continued to hold her close as she cried.
“I am sorry, Will; I do not mean to cry, but I cannot seem to help it,” Elizabeth said as she began to pull away.
“Elizabeth, dearest, it is understandable. You are sad for your sister despite the distance between you, and I believe the fact that you are carrying our child likely influences your tears as well. I love you, dearest, and will always want to hold you when you cry, no matter the reason,” he said in a soothing tone as he pulled her back to him and began to pull the pins from her hair.
“I believe, Elizabeth, that it is time for you to rest. I will have Mrs. Annesley sit with the girls while we retire to our rooms.”
He pulled her from her seat and escorted her up the stairs and to their rooms. Acting as her maid, he helped her undress and, once she was settled in the bed in her shift, departed to his dressing room so his valet could help him remove his boots.
That done, he removed his coats and cravat and returned to the bedchamber, where he stripped down further before crawling into bed with his already sleeping wife.
Spending several moments just looking at her and caressing the bulge that held their baby, he eventually curled his body around hers and fell asleep beside her.