Vol 1, Chapter 16 #2
“Shut up, Caroline!” Hurst commanded, satisfied when Miss Bingley’s jaw shut with a clack.
“Until and unless I am satisfied that your sister has learnt how to behave like a lady, you will not see her again. And until your brother grows a pair of balls, excuse my language, we will not see him!” Hurst allowed his words to sit for a minute.
“Do you understand, Mrs. Hurst?” His wife nodded wordlessly.
Miss Bingley wished she had something to throw.
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Once the door to Darcy’s study was closed, Bingley made to sit in the chair he had used in the past when he had joined his friend in the study. “Did I invite you to sit, Mr. Bingley?” Darcy asked menacingly.
“But Darcy…” Darcy cut Bingley off before he could utter another word.
“Only my friends are allowed to address me thusly. One who blatantly disregards what I tell him is no friend of mine. Did I or did I not expressly tell you that your sisters would not be allowed in any of my homes again, and if they were with you, neither would you?” Darcy demanded.
“Yes, but Caroline…” Bingley tried to justify the unjustifiable.
“Miss Bingley what? Manipulated you into coming here without an invitation?” Darcy saw his guess was correct.
“B-but she and Louisa said you sent one that was wet in the rain and then…” Bingley stopped as the realisation hit him. “You never sent any post, did you?”
“I did not. I was waiting to see you in Town face-to-face so I could do what I must do now. All connection between us is at an end. I will not acknowledge you if I see you in public. If you or your sisters try and approach me or any member of my family, you will be given the cut direct. I will have word disseminated that there is no connection between us, and neither you nor your family may use my name to gain admittance to the first circles. If any of you attempt to use my name, I will hear about it and know how to act. You are to return to your carriage; my men will escort you off my land and you are never to return. My good opinion, once lost in this fashion, is lost forever!”
“B-but why?” Bingley barely managed to squeak it out.
“Why? Are you as delusional as your younger sister? Did I not warn you that if you did not assert control over Miss Bingley not only would she ruin both you and herself in society, but you would lose my friendship as well? Or did you ignore me then as you did everything else I said about your sister? Do not answer; I do not care to hear any more excuses. Leave. Now!” Darcy commanded in his best Master of Pemberley voice as he rang for his butler.
“Douglas, escort Mr. Bingley to his carriage. He is to enter and none within are to exit. As soon as the door closes, have him escorted from my land. If he or either of his sisters ever arrive here without a written invitation from me in hand, have them arrested for trespassing.” The butler bowed and escorted an almost catatonic Charles Bingley from the study.
It did not please Darcy to break with his friend of more than five years in the manner that he had, but he was left with little choice. There was a light knock on his study door as Georgiana entered. “Are you well, William?” she asked concerned with the look of anguish on her brother’s countenance.
“I will be, Gigi, I will be.” Darcy assured his sister as he enfolded her in his arms for a much-needed hug.
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When their brother entered the coach, he looked like a broken man. As soon as the vehicle exited the internal courtyard, four outriders took station to comply with the master’s order to make sure its occupants departed Pemberley forthwith.
As the gates of Pemberley closed behind the Bingley coach, two outriders continued to follow it in order to make sure there was no attempt to return. “You will not believe how that slob,” Miss Bingley pointed a bony finger at Hurst, “spoke to me!”
“Be quiet, Caroline! Just silence yourself. There is nothing you have to say that I want to hear. Your lies have cost me my best friend! I was too weak to see through your lies and enforce what Darcy, no, Mr. Darcy, told me, and now it has cost me everything. We are to be at Scarborough for the foreseeable future,” Bingley stated as melancholy set in.
Hurst informed his brother-in-law that he and his wife would be exiting in Lambton. When the coach reached the inn in that town, Bingley hit the ceiling with his stick. Once the Hursts exited and their trunks were unloaded, the two remaining Bingleys began their silent journey north.
Hurst decided to rent a room for the night and asked the landlord to arrange for a hired carriage to depart in the morning. The next morning, just after sunrise, the Hursts were on their way to his family estate in Yorkshire.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
A few days after Christmas, the Duke of Bedford whistled as he read the report he had commissioned on the Bennet family. Ironically, it was prepared by the same investigators that performed the task for Bennet when he ordered investigations.
In the fourth Duke’s letter there had been no mention of the property the first Tom Bennet had inherited.
The Bennets were wealthy, and not only that, connected to close friends of the Duke and his wife.
The Duchess entered the study and did not miss the incredulous look on her husband’s face.
Before she could ask a question, the Duke wordlessly handed his wife the report.
“No!” Lady Rose exclaimed with something approaching glee. “Is this correct?”
“When have you ever known Norman and James’s investigators to err my love?” He grinned.
“Of course you are correct, Sed. The first wife died, and he married little Priscilla! Do not look at me so; I know she is not a little girl any longer.” Lady Rose could not believe the coincidence, and how fortuitous it was that her friend’s daughter would be the next duchess!