Vol 2, Chapter 5 #2
As Miss Caroline descended the stairs, she affected the sweet look she had seen Miss Bennet use to enamour her brother and then entered the room where her aunt was waiting for her.
Once she sat, her aunt wordlessly handed her a letter.
Caroline’s smile brightened at receiving a reply at last, certain her efforts were about to be rewarded when she saw it was in Louisa’s handwriting. She started to read:
22 March 1811
Caroline,
I am writing this letter for Charles so you will be able to read the missive.
By the time you are reading this, we will no longer be in England. We have left the Kingdom permanently.
A stream of invectives flew out of Miss Caroline’s mouth, a number of which her aunt had never heard before and was uncertain she wanted to know how her niece had.
“What is this nonsense? I am always able to manipulate them, so just what is going on here?” Miss Caroline’s facade had slipped, and she was again revealing her true self as she read on.
I have spoken to some of our former acquaintances in town and can faithfully report that, just as your letters to us, your letters to them were consigned to the fire.
Do you not realise your behaviour has made you, and all of us by connection to you, persona non grata?
Are you truly so delusional you think Charles, Harold, or I believed one word that you wrote, Caroline?
Your days of working on us are over, and as you will never know where we are, you will never again be able to cause havoc in our lives. Since you were sent to our aunt, I now have a good and felicitous relationship with my husband who no longer needs to feign being in his cups or asleep!
If only you had had the capacity to change, Caroline, we would have happily taken you with us. It is unfortunate that you never learned to care for anything but your own selfish and delusional desires! We choose to no longer live that way.
As sad as it is to admit, we are all happier without you, for your attempts to gain your own way always made our lives miserable.
I pray you one day find true happiness, no matter how much I doubt your being able to.
Louisa.
“Bitch!” Miss Caroline screeched, ripping the letter and angrily throwing the pieces into the fire.
Her aunt smiled at the symmetry, for the same fate had befallen the letters she had sent in her attempt to gain her wish of returning to society.
All, except of course the one addressed to Jane Bennet which was waiting for her at Gardiner House.
“Were you not wanting to make amends for your past mistakes, Caroline?” Miss Bingley asked with feigned concern, for two could play the game, and she had much more time to affect being sincere.
“Why should I make amends when I did naught wrong?” Miss Caroline spat back, slamming the drawing room door on her way to her bedchamber to start scheming all over again.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Having been told he needed to come to London alone due to some necessary family business, Tom arrived on the final Friday in March. After a long soak in a steaming bath, he changed clothes and joined the family in the private sitting room.
To say he was surprised might not convey the full depth and breadth of his reaction. As they had with his siblings, his parents allowed him to read the copy of the letter which had started the Bennets on this whole new path in life.
Tom was similar in character to his oldest sister.
He seemed easy going, even biddable, until someone tried to convince him to do something he knew was immoral or would hurt another.
It was then the antagonist would find out just how hard it was to manipulate Tom Bennet.
As he read the letter, his anger toward the long dead third Duke was palpable and the Bennet heir took exception on behalf of his namesake and all his ancestors for whom the avaricious and cruel Duke had caused so much pain and heartache.
Initially, he had not been interested in meeting the current Duke, but he owned that he could not hold the man responsible for what was done by one evil man long before the man in question was born.
Tom accepted the logic of his thoughts and agreed to join the family for dinner at Bedford House after church services on the morrow.
He listened with awe as his parents explained their new position in life and the immense wealth it came with.
He was warned to be on his guard for false friends, and, of more immediate concern, huntresses who would view him as the ultimate prize given he would be the heir to a dukedom and the biggest fortune in the realm outside of the royals.
Then Tom was allowed to address what he had only done by letter, giving Jane a long, congratulatory hug as he expressed his belief in her future felicity.
He was also impressed that Mr. Darcy had started to make amends, had even apologised to the Lucases, and was currently in Meryton making his apologies to all whom he had offended.
Darcy would arrive back in town by the evening, and he and his sister would join the Bennets and Fitzwilliams at Bedford House after church.
“You have a higher rank than me, little brother, do I need to genuflect to you,” Tom teased as he ruffled the young Viscount’s hair.
“Leave off!” Mark complained, trying to flatten his hair back into place.
“When Papa becomes the Duke, you will be a Marquess which, I believe, ranks above an Earl,” Elizabeth interjected.
“That is true! Enjoy it while it lasts scamp!” Tom grinned at Mark, then hugged him. He knew his brother missed him when he was away, and he missed being with his siblings as well.
“Let us enjoy the last few days of anonymity,” Bennet sighed.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
If Mr. Darcy had made his amends to those he offended in Meryton on the first day of April, they would have thought the man was making a fool of them.
The combination of the fact it was not the fool’s day, the sincerity of his speeches, and that Sir William Lucas organised the central meeting, made sure all of his apologies were accepted graciously.
After he had completed his apologies to the members of the neighbourhood, Darcy presented himself at the militia encampment and sought out the officers he had sat with during the dinner he had attended with Bingley, and to whom he had been rude and dismissive.
He particularly wanted to apologize to Colonel Forster for not informing him of Wickham’s vicious propensities as soon as he became aware the man was in the unit.