Page 32 of A Rational Man (Pride and Prejudice Variation)

C aroline Bingley was furious. Her brother could not be married unless she was not to live with them? And she was not to even attend the wedding?

How dare Mr. Bennet seek to arrange her life so! How dare Charles comply with such an absurd requirement!

“Charles, this is not right. You know it is not.”

“What is not right is that a father should be forced to set such a prerequisite to ensure his daughter’s happiness. This is your doing, Caroline. It is a direct result of your own behaviour.”

“My behaviour? My behaviour! There is nothing at all wrong with my behaviour!”

“The fact that you do not see anything wrong is part of the problem.” Mr. Bingley then recounted for his sister the thousand and one insults she had delivered since entering the neighbourhood.

“No one wants anything to do with you, Caroline, and I am forced to agree with Mr. Bennet that Jane could not be content with you here.”

“She needs me to –“

“She needs nothing whatever from you. Jane Bennet has been trained since childhood to manage an estate such as Netherfield, while you have not. Have you spoken to even one of our tenants since our arrival here? Darcy told me that the Bennet ladies have been taking care of the Netherfield tenants for some time now, and they continue to do so even with us in residence, knowing that you could not be bothered. I am embarrassed on your behalf, I truly am.”

“Mr. Darcy said that?” Miss Bingley whispered.

Mr. Bingley stared at his sister. “That is all you got from what I just said, Caroline?”

Miss Bingley drew herself up. “I have nothing more to say.”

“I believe you have a few choices. Perhaps the best option is that you go to our aunt in Scarborough; I am certain she would welcome you.”

Miss Bingley made a sort of strangled sound.

“No? Another option is that you live in your own establishment in London; with the interest from your dowry, you can live fairly well.”

“But how that looks, Charles! Why, it would look as if my own family –“ And here she stopped.

“You can simply put it about that you missed Town life, though your family prefers the country. It is unusual, but I do not think it would cause a good deal of talk. Your third option is to convince Hurst to kick out his tenants and open Hurst House. The interest from your dowry would help him cover the expenses of running it. There, you have three options, Caroline. Choose one as soon as may be. If you are not able to make a choice for yourself, then in two months’ time, in the middle of January, I shall have the footmen put you in a coach and bring you to Scarborough. Do you understand me?”

Miss Bingley burst into tears and ran up to her room. Mr. Bingley sat on a sofa, put his head in his hands and found himself shaking with the magnitude of what he had just done.

***

Up in her room, Miss Bingley found her maid, putting away clean laundry. “Leave, Alice,” Miss Bingley said, tersely, her voice tremulous with tears.

The maid obligingly put the laundry down, curtsied, and fled.

Miss Bingley threw herself down on her bed, heedless of her beautiful ballgown, and wept.

How could Charles possibly treat her this way?

It was so unfair! Was it not natural and right that she should try to better herself?

Was it not what her own Mama had wished for?

And how Papa would holler, if he could know that Charles had abandoned her for his future wife!

But there was a small voice inside her that could not be entirely silenced, and once her tears had subsided, that voice informed her that her behaviour truly had been that bad.