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“Charles, the footman who brought your message was very nearly insolent—you must learn to instruct the servants more carefully. He insisted I come immediately, though I can’t imagine why it couldn’t wait.

What could possibly be so urgent?” Caroline vaguely noted that Mr. Darcy was glaring at her with something verging on contempt and Jane would not meet her eyes.

Bingley merely pushed some papers across the table. “Can you not imagine, sister?” The words were spoken with such bitter sarcasm as Caroline had never heard before from her brother.

Even so, Miss Bingley would have dismissed him at once had she not recognized the handwriting on several of the pages as familiar—namely that of her sister…

and herself. “Charles!” she exclaimed, horrified.

“That is my private correspondence! How dare you!” She reached out to snatch them away, but her brother was too quick for her.

“How dare I?!? How dare you , Caroline!!! Until this day, I still held out hope that the bonds of sisterly affection would bring you to act correctly, if not warmly, to my new family.” He gestured toward Jane and the Darcys.

“Certainly, my own loyalty to you as a brother has led me to overlook your insults and snubs in exchange for the most trifling and insincere of apologies… yet you continue to willfully injure me and those whom I care about.”

“But Charles…” For once in her life, Miss Bingley was at a loss for words.

She had expected that her brother might question her about the rumors at some point and had planned to lay the blame on jealous ladies who had twisted her own innocent comments.

However, in all of her cunningly formulated responses, she had never considered that her brother might see the words written out in her own hand.

“Charles… I can explain…”

Bingley cut her off angrily. “Don’t bother, Caroline; at this point there is nothing you can say that I would believe.”

His fury spent, Charles sat down beside Jane and received her hand with a weary smile. Turning resolutely back to his sister, he spoke coldly and with resolution; “I have called you here not to demand an explanation, but to inform you of those plans we have made that affect you.

“First, we shall be leaving Pemberley tomorrow. If you are not prepared to depart promptly at eight, then you will be brought to the carriage, even if I have to carry you down the stairs myself, and believe me when I say that I couldn’t care less if you are still in your night clothes.”

Miss Bingley opened her mouth to protest, but the look on her brother’s face caused her to pause and he continued in the same cold manner before she might speak a single word. “Second, the three of us will be spending the remainder of the winter at Netherfield.”

This time, Caroline managed to blurt out an indignant, “But Charles!” before her brother spoke over her.

“At the end of February, we shall celebrate your birthday by going to London. There, I will visit my solicitor and arrange for you to have full access to your inheritance.”

What joy Miss Bingley might have felt at that pronouncement was greatly diminished by her brother’s next words.

“Jane and I will give you until the first of April to remove yourself from our household. As the Hursts have indicated a similar disinclination to host you, I suggest that you use the time at Netherfield to consider your options.”

“But Charles! Whatever can you mean?!?” Caroline had never considered that her brother and sister might refuse her the right to live with them.

“You have three options that I can see,” Bingley continued mercilessly. “The most obvious is that you marry, and certainly I would be happy to see you settled. However, given your lack of success over the past six years, the possibility of a suitor within the next three months seems unlikely.”

Charles ignored his sister’s sputter and spoke over her protests.

“So, as I see it, you have two alternatives. First, you could use part of your inheritance to set up your own establishment in London, or Bath, or I care not where. Or, you might save your money and go to live with our relations in Yorkshire, if you can convince one of them to invite you. Jane and I plan to visit in March, and we are willing for you to accompany us on the trip north so you would not have to travel so far by yourself.”

At that point, Miss Bingley flew apart and directed such a vicious rant at her brother (though not excluding his wife or either of the Darcys) that even Jane was affronted.

Eventually, it was Mr. Darcy who stood and, towering over the lady who had irked him for so long, bellowed a single word; “Quiet!!!”

His tone was such that Miss Bingley obeyed instantly, staring at her host with not a little alarm.

Charles made the most of the opportunity.

“Thank you, Darcy. Now, I believe you have said quite enough, Caroline. Jane and I shall see you to your room and have the servants begin packing.” He took a breath and turned to the other couple.

“Elizabeth, Darcy—my wife and I will see you for dinner. My sister shall be taking her meals on a tray in her room until we depart.”

When the library door clicked shut and Mr. and Mrs. Darcy were left alone, Elizabeth slumped back and exclaimed, “Well!”

After a final glare in the direction of the door, Fitzwilliam joined her on the sofa; “Indeed.”

The couple remained sitting in the same position for some minutes, recovering from the shock of Caroline’s venomous diatribe. “I would never have guessed that Miss Bingley possessed such a… broad vocabulary!”

The corner of Fitzwilliam’s mouth twitched and he turned to draw his wife against him. “Well, I suppose she always did claim that a mastery of all the modern languages is one of the marks of an accomplished woman.”

The Darcys’ laughter filled the library.