Chapter Twenty One #2
Mr. Bingley came toward them, looking ten years older and thoroughly exhausted.
They all stared impatiently at him. “Caroline has asked for some time to consider, to make her choice between Willoughby and Sir Walter. I informed her that one way or another, she will be announcing an engagement on Saturday night, and the banns will be called at church the next morning. If you will permit her to stay at Richmond Cove, there are three Sundays remaining, and she might marry directly after the party is concluded. I am given to understand that… time is of the essence.”
Brandon looked appalled. “And if she chooses Willoughby, would you have him remain here? It cannot be permitted!”
“I shall be the judge of that,” Lady Dorothea said briskly.
Mr. Bingley eyed Willoughby warily. “If he is made to leave, he could hardly be held accountable, if it falls to him to make this right.”
“I have told you that I am willing,” Willoughby said gruffly.
“We shall deliberate upon it,” Blanche suggested to Dorothea.
It might be most amusing to keep the happy couple at Richmond Cove, and watch them make one another miserable.
That would likely be the case no matter who the little strumpet chose, with two such dismal suitors.
She was sure it would be fascinating to watch the next few days unfold.
***
The whole house was teeming with intrigue when Elizabeth went down to breakfast the next day.
It was a very late breakfast – they might as well have called it a luncheon, for the whole party slept late after their exploits into the wee hours.
Elizabeth was tired, and her head throbbed as she ate.
Jane sat further down the table with Captain Wentworth and the Crofts, looking cheerful and refreshed.
Of course, she had not gotten so debauched last night, even sword fighting Lady Rebecca with wooden swords the actors taught them to use.
And Jane had not kissed a man on stage for all to see – thought she was looking every bit like she wanted to.
Elizabeth chastised herself, for she had practically challenged Mr. Darcy to do it, yet it had still taken her by surprise, and it had been rather a shambles.
It seemed that nothing could be quite simple between them, and she wallowed in the misery of comparing her friction with Mr. Darcy to the perfect ease of Jane’s blossoming romance with the handsome captain.
Elizabeth was famished, and when she finished her plate, she took a second helping of sweet pastries, feeling a little better already.
Her headache eased and she made a little idle chatter with Harriet Smith; the poor girl was floundering with Captain Benwick, despite Jane’s gentle efforts over the last fortnight.
Elizabeth felt herself a hopeless case, but she would help the affable orphan if she could.
When they adjourned to the drawing room, Elizabeth sat with Jane, Harriet and the two captains for a time, enjoying the quiet ease of her sister’s idle chatter with her beau.
The two were quite lost in one another, but Elizabeth was sensible of something odd in the air.
She watched her friends, Anne and Rebecca, who sat across the room, listening intently to whatever Mrs. Jennings was telling them.
They wore wildly disparate expressions, for Lady Rebecca appeared vastly amused, while Anne hung her head with dismay.
Ere long, Anne asked Elizabeth to take a turn about the room with her. “I have just heard the most shocking thing – I ought not repeat it, but I daresay you would hear it from Lady Rebecca, anyhow.”
“More shocking than the events of last night?”
Anne giggled softly. “I suppose we were all a little naughty! I rather liked playing Midsummer Night’s Dream with the colonel, and Miss Dashwood and Captain Benwick – and those two worked marvelously together!”
“Was it not strange, enacting scenes of quarreling with her over the colonel?”
Anne sighed. “It grows stranger still – that is what I have to tell you – oh, it is awful!”
Elizabeth’s mirth ebbed into concern. “What has happened?”
“You know that Colonel Brandon was ill-used by Mr. Willoughby, I suppose?”
“I have some sense of it, yes.”
“They were once rivals for Miss Dashwood. She favored Mr. Willoughby, and he was resigned to it. Then she pursued Mr. Willoughby to London, only to discover his benefactress had forced him to become engaged to an heiress, and it broke her heart.”
“I know this, too – Mrs. Jennings is not discreet, and neither is her charge.”
“Last night, Miss Bingley was caught in Mr. Willoughby’s room.
My sister was involved somehow, and there was an altercation that drew the attention of several others.
It all quite exploded, and the result is that Mr. Bingley has given his sister an ultimatum.
She must either announce her engagement to Mr. Willoughby, who is willing but much dismayed by the terms of her fortune, or…
. My father has offered himself up as an alternative, if Miss Bingley is not pleased by certain facts that have come to light about Mr. Willoughby.
I think my sister would still have him, if Miss Bingley does not.
And so, it seems, I may soon be connected to both of them by marriage. ”
Anne fell silent as their circuit of the room led them past Miss Bingley, who was holding court with her two beaux. The air was thick with tension around them as they played whist with Lady Dorothea, but Miss Bingley appeared entirely insensible to anybody’s comfort or discomfort but her own.
“She would be your step-mother,” Elizabeth muttered, screwing up her face. “But I suppose that is why Miss Dashwood did not come down for breakfast this morning. The poor girl! I wonder why she came here, after he jilted her in London. She has shown no interest in the colonel, at least.”
“Perhaps her passion for Mr. Willoughby is strong. I rather pity her, as much as I fear this may alter her opinion of the colonel, for he is such a truly good man. She must see it, now, after Mr. Willoughby…. But I fear I have been a fool, allowing myself some gradual, little hope this past fortnight.”
Elizabeth winced, feeling entirely responsible for all the hints and nudges she had given Anne and Colonel Brandon; it would be a pity if Miss Dashwood’s selfish histrionics now spoilt everything for poor Anne. “She did perform well with Captain Benwick. Perhaps there is something there.”
Anne shook her head. “You really are incorrigible, Lizzy.”
Lady Rosamund bustled over to them, her eyes shining with glee. “Well, what a fuss! I suppose you have heard all about it! I slept through the entire ordeal, but my sisters managed it all!”
“I wonder that they permitted the involved parties to remain at Richmond Cove,” Elizabeth mused.
Lady Rosamund blinked in confusion. “What fun would it be to send them away when they have finally done something interesting? But I will tell you who has gone away – the Bixlers. The viscount was worked into quite a snit, and would not allow his sister to remain under the same roof as fornicators.” The lady smiled brightly, as if using a newly discovered word.
Elizabeth looked around the room with panic.
Mr. Darcy had retired early last night, and while it was a mercy that he had not witnessed her most intoxicated frivolities, she was sure he had disapproved of the party that followed the theatrics.
He had not come down for breakfast, either, and her stomach twisted at the thought that he might also have been driven away.
“I suppose we did get a little carried away,” Anne admitted. “But Colonel Brandon’s duet with Colonel Fitzwilliam was most amusing.”
“We always go a little overboard with our theatre night,” Lady Rosamund said before clapping a hand over her mouth and giving Elizabeth a look of apology for her poor choice of words.
“But Dorothea says good riddance to the Bixlers, anyhow, for they thought themselves quite above everybody! We have written to some relations who were unable to attend last year, my cousin’s youngest son and daughter.
Henry will be sorry to have missed the theatrical night, but I believe they will get on better with everyone for the time that remains.
They might arrive within a few days! But for now, we shall be down two more gentlemen for the day – Mr. Darcy has gone to London with Mr. Bingley to speak to their solicitor about…
the upcoming nuptials. So very kind of Mr. Darcy to help his friend!
But we expect them back by dinner tomorrow. ”
Elizabeth tried not to show any relief. She was glad that he would return, and yet equally pleased to have a day apart from him.
She had not acquit herself well in their chaste and awkward kiss; she was sure that she could do better, and it chafed her that he might think it a failing of hers.
She did not wish to be cross about it, and what could it matter?
Surely they would never kiss again, for she remained determined to think that nothing could ever come of her improved opinion of him.