Chapter 26
“What in Heaven’s name?!” snapped Darcy to an empty library as a second loud bang sounded nearby in as many minutes, likely the noise of a slammed door.
The slamming of doors always irked him. It smacked of carelessness either by the occupants of a house or its servants in leaving windows open. Today, it was disturbing his already unsettled equilibrium.
All morning, he had been steeling himself to walk over to Longbourn and put an end to his suspense over Elizabeth Bennet in the only way he could — by asking for her hand in marriage.
Although Georgiana did not ask him whether he was going, Darcy felt her questioning eyes upon him at breakfast, as he had at supper and luncheon yesterday.
It was time now, and he knew what must be done.
The third slammed door brought him to his feet and out into the hallway, determined to ask Bingley what in the world was going on.
Georgiana and Mrs Annesley had gone out for a last drive around the local countryside and could not be blamed.
Could Bingley be working out his undeclared love for Jane Bennet in some stupid way?
It seemed only too probable. Ought he to drag Bingley over to Longbourn with him and set him in a room with her?
An angry roar came from the study, and a moment later, Bingley emerged, red-faced and raging, a young servant boy racing ahead of him.
“Find one and bring it here now!” he yelled after the boy.
“Bingley, what’s the meaning of all this noise?” Darcy demanded, taking in both his friend’s odd behaviour and the grim-faced coachman standing in the hallway, cap in hand, evidently waiting for Bingley.
“I’ll horsewhip him! I’ll have him drummed out of his regiment!” Bingley shouted. “Where’s my damned whip?”
“Bingley!” Darcy insisted, putting a hand on his friend’s shoulder.
“I must go to Caroline. She’s in trouble in Meryton. I’ll shoot the blackguard through the heart if what Symes says is true.”
“Symes?” Darcy asked the coachman as Bingley continued to rush about, pulling on boots and calling again for his whip to be brought. “What is the meaning of all this?”
“Miss Bingley had me drive her into Meryton early this morning and then sent me back with the carriage. She didn’t say why. Now a messenger boy says she’s in trouble and her brother must come and fetch her. The whole town is up in arms.”
None of this seemed an adequate explanation of anything.
Miss Bingley had not told the household of her visit to Meryton, although it was an odd thing to keep secret and no one would have stopped her.
Presumably she had gone to shop or visit the lending library, since there was little else there to interest her.
Miss Bingley didn’t even have friends to call on, scorning the modest salons held by Mrs Philips and other local matrons.
While she had been overdressed for a simple outing to Meryton when Darcy saw her after breakfast, Caroline Bingley was often overdressed, and little could be deduced from the fact.
Had there been anything unusual in her manner or words, he tried to remember?
No, from his perspective, she had been as he had come to expect, all knowing smiles and unwelcome murmured compliments.
“Why should anyone be up in arms about Miss Bingley going to Meryton, Symes?” Darcy asked him. “I don’t understand.”
“Miss Bingley was found in the lodgings of one of the young officers of the regiment,” the man admitted, his eyes on the ground. “People in Meryton are saying the most terrible things.”
At this, Darcy swore and picked up his own coat from the rack in the hallway.
Bingley was still rushing about calling for whips and pistols, whatever the young manservant had previously provided having been deemed inadequate.
It was time that was of the essence now, and maybe money, if Darcy’s first suspicions were correct, but not weaponry.
Bingley was too distressed to think straight.
“Forget the whip, Bingley, and get outside to the carriage,” he told his friend. “I’m coming with you.”
“I’ll kill him, Darcy!” Bingley insisted again, although he allowed Darcy to direct him out of the front door. “Whoever he is, damn him.”
“I suspect he is damned already,” Darcy muttered under his breath.