Chapter 24 #2
“Please keep this particular secret until late tomorrow afternoon: Tomorrow morning I will be marrying Miss Elizabeth Bennet.”
“Oh!” Bingley’s face lost its grin. “That…is astounding.… Darcy, you told me….”
“Before you repeat all the things that I told you, when you asked for my advice regarding Miss Jane Bennet, let me tell you the other secret, the one I am asking you to never repeat.”
Bingley wrinkled his nose and then hoisted his eyebrows high. But he nodded and promised again, “I will not tell a soul.”
“I feel I must backtrack a bit, and review some other things before I get to the most shocking report,” Darcy began.
“First, if you recall, I warned you that you often found yourself enchanted by new angels, which makes me think that what you are considering love is more of an infatuation, and I believe that this has proved true in this case.”
“Perhaps, but—” Bingley interrupted himself to say, “Well, do go on.”
“Second, I reminded you that the various members of the Bennet family are guilty with some regularity of ill manners and impropriety. That was certainly proven with plenty of evidence that we saw at the time, and is again proven with the new incident I will soon relate to you.”
“I look forward to hearing additional evidence,” Bingley said. A rueful smile began to steal across his face again.
Darcy felt his face become more sombre as he continued, “Third, I opined that Miss Bennet did not like you as well as you liked her, and at the time I was trying to spare you knowing the truth. However, I will share with you now the fact that Miss Bennet made very careful yet quite obviously flirtatious approaches to me during the assembly when we met the Bennets and during our first call. That is one of the main reasons I argued against her. A few months later, Elizabeth told me that she was certain that her sister did care for you, but she was merely shy, and that was why I did not observe her true feelings. However, the woman who flirted with me the night we all met was not shy.”
Bingley’s face crunched in a bit as his smile disappeared again. This time, he closed his eyes, his brows pinched together, and he looked to be in pain.
Darcy rushed on, saying, “But I will say that I never doubted Miss Bennet’s nor Miss Elizabeth’s good character, and even the most vulgar Bennets still struck me as being honest and decent people.
He paused for effect. “This is the shocking secret I wish you never to divulge to another: Miss Jane Bennet, with the knowledge and help of her father, and perhaps her mother as well, gave my Elizabeth a secret dose of laudanum that was strong enough to keep her asleep while she was carted far away from her home and family. When I arrived at Longbourn the next day, Miss Bennet lied to me, a deliberate lie meant to hurt me and turn me away from Elizabeth. She claimed Elizabeth had left of her own free will by eloping with another man—in fact, with my nemesis, George Wickham. I knew it to be a falsehood, and Richard and I followed evidence and were able to discover Miss Elizabeth’s location, her one-room prison, her jailers.
The reason I tell you this now is so that you have zero regrets about Miss Jane Bennet, even if you find yourself in social situations with her sisters.
Which I hope you will be, because of my marriage to Elizabeth. After all, I value our friendship.”
Bingley’s jaw had gone slack and his legs had become rigid, and he sprang up from his chair and stared at Darcy in bewilderment. “Wh—?”
Darcy rose, too, and he walked around the desk so he could put his hand on his friend’s shoulder.
“Will you continue to see Jane,” Bingley asked, “after—after what she did to your Elizabeth?”
“No,” Darcy said…. “As things stand now, we will never willingly be in her company again. However, Elizabeth is a true angel, and she has allowed the possibility that a written apology and sufficient explanation may lead to a resumption of their sisterly relationship—although we are both certain that the closeness and trust that once existed, on Elizabeth’s part, could never resume. ”
Bingley contemplated the news for several silent minutes.
Then he said, “Of course I am happy to keep these things secret, Darcy. And I do not even know if I can learn from the fact that I misjudged Jane so much, because it seems that even Miss Elizabeth misjudged her. I am glad of the knowledge that you shared, because I know that it will be easier to be warm to your wife and her younger sisters, when I see them, if I know this background information.”
“Yes, I would not have burdened you if I had not thought it imperative that you know these things. Now…to the unpleasant topic I need to speak of….”
Bingley looked astonished. “There is something even more unpleasant than the fact that lady who I considered making my wife flirted with you and drugged her own sister?”
“Well, it is unpleasant because I have a complaint about your sister, and a warning.”
“Oh, my God, what has Caroline done now?”
“Apparently she is using my name, and Georgiana’s, to tell falsehoods and to hint that the Darcys are particularly close with her, and it may be that the listener is meant to wonder if I am courting Miss Bingley or if you are courting my sister.”
“Oh, dear. That explains….”
“What does it explain, Bingley? Did you know that your sister was using my name in such a way?”
Wincing, he said, “No! I never heard Caroline do such a thing—but, then, she would not do it in front of me. But some friends of mine were recently saying things about me taking advantage of a young heiress, and I truly did not know of what they spoke. When I asked, they laughed it off and said that they were just having fun, but now I believe that my sister may have intentionally started a rumour linking me and Miss Darcy.” Bingley shook his head, his shoulders slumping, and he added, “I apologise.”
Darcy nodded but, fixing his friend with an intense gaze, he said, “I do not like to do such a thing, but I intend to spread the word that I have zero relationship with Miss Bingley, and that anything she says about myself and my family should be assumed to be a lie. If I see her in public, I will greet her as I should a distant acquaintance, but if she dares to approach with presumed closeness, I will give her the cut direct. I am hoping that you can convey all of this to her so that she does not embarrass herself, but in the past all that you said to her, and my own polite rebuffs, did not prevent her from clutching my arm and attempting to promote herself, so I assume this will be no different, and she will embarrass you several times at least.”
“I believe you may be correct. Well, I will have a serious talk with her—without, of course, conveying the fact that you are marrying Miss Elizabeth, and certainly giving no hint about Jane and the laudanum and all of that!”
“Thank you. And Bingley, I hope Elizabeth and I will see you often.”
“At your wedding?” he asked.
“Hmm…we only have Richard and the Gardiners—Elizabeth’s beloved uncle and aunt—and of course Georgiana. But it might be nice to have a friend there, too. Allow me to consult with Elizabeth—wait right here, if you please. I will only be gone for a minute.”
Darcy easily found his bride, obtained her warm consent, and returned to his good friend to invite him—and no other member of his family—to the wedding.