Page 22 of Great Uncle Henry (Pride & Prejudice Vagary)

Bingley’s older sister had married Mr Harold Hurst a year previously.

She had been five and twenty, and Hurst was in need of her dowry of twenty thousand pounds to prop up his estate, which his late father had left in arrears.

Due to the amount of her dowry, Hurst had overlooked that the money had been earned in trade.

For the former Miss Bingley, it had been a step up from tradesman’s daughter to wife of a gentleman.

Hurst’s estate, Winsdale, was in Surrey, less than ten miles from Rivington, which sat on the Surrey side of the Kent-Surrey border.

Although Darcy had not thought much about the new Mrs Hurst, she was not a problem like the youngest Bingley.

Miss Caroline Bingley was three years younger than Bingley and believed herself to be the daughter of a peer rather than what she was—the daughter of a tradesman.

She had attended the same seminary in London that her older sister had.

That education combined with a dowry of twenty thousand pounds made for a very high in the instep Miss Bingley.

Worst of all, from the first time he had allowed Bingley to introduce his younger sister to him, she had set her cap for Darcy, and she was none too subtle about it.

She often implied far more intimacy than there was.

She thought nothing of using his name to garner invitations to events among the Ton to which she otherwise would not have been admitted.

No matter how much disinterest in her Darcy displayed, she did not relent in her chase of him.

This was one time he was more than pleased his late father had made his aunt and uncle his sister’s guardians.

He was certain that had Miss Bingley been introduced to his sister, she would have fawned over Anna, making her very uncomfortable.

No matter how many hints Miss Bingley dropped, other than Richard, none of the Fitzwilliams had allowed the shrew to be introduced to them.

That meant Anna had never been subjected to her as well.

He could not fault his family for refusing the connection and never pushed them to meet her.

Darcy told himself he tolerated her for his friendship with Bingley.

Hence, it was when Darcy called at Hurst House that he realised he had erred.

As soon as he saw the predatory gleam in Miss Bingley’s eyes and the way she glided across the room and latched onto his arm, he realised he should have sent Bingley a note asking him to meet at White’s or Boodle’s.

Worse, he did not see Bingley in the room, which meant that Miss Bingley would construe his visit as calling on herself.

“Mr Darcy, how honoured we are that you called on us before any others in Town,” Miss Bingley purred before her sister, who was the hostess, could welcome him.

Past experience with the harpy had taught Darcy that unless he detached her talons from his arm, no hint would achieve that aim.

He dropped his shoulder and then pulled his arm from her grasp.

“I am here to see your brother, but I see he and Hurst are out. I will take my leave.” Darcy gave a quick bow, determined not to allow Miss Bingley to attach herself to his arm again, like a barnacle to the bottom of a ship.

“Charles and my brother-in-law will be back by and by; you should wait for them,” Miss Bingley cooed, batting her eyelashes at him.

“But Caroline, you know they will be at White’s for a few more hours yet,” Mrs Hurst interjected. Her statement earned her a dark, angry look from her younger sister.

“I will be on my way to White’s. Mrs Hurst, Miss Bingley, have a good day.” Darcy bowed and retreated from the drawing room with all speed.

“Louisa, how could you?” Miss Bingley screeched loudly enough that everyone, including Darcy, heard her.

“You cost me time with my Mr Darcy! We had not seen him for many months because of the inconvenience of his father passing away. Charles refused to take me to Pemberley to comfort him when he needed me most!”

Darcy escaped from the house before he heard Mrs Hurst’s response.

How many times had his family, Richard especially, told him he was doing neither himself nor Miss Bingley any favours by allowing her to keep the delusion alive that he would offer for her one day?

How could he do that without causing a breach between himself and Bingley?

Once again, as he had several times, he would have to inform Bingley that he would never offer for his younger sister, even if she engineered a compromise.

He could only hope Bingley would convey the message.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Two days later, Darcy arrived at Rivington and was greeted by his cousins. Darcy went up to his suite to wash and change. By the time he arrived, his valet, Carstens, was already unpacking his trunks. A half hour later, he was on his way back down to meet the brothers.

“So Rich, how are you adjusting to life as a landed gentleman?” Darcy asked as the three sipped madeira before dinner.

“I am making the transition rather well. I thought I would miss the army far more than I have. I would have done my duty to King and country, but that letter your late father wrote to me forced me to look at my former beliefs from a very different perspective. Speaking of fathers, mine was here and assisted me a lot. Now Andy will be with me for another two months, and you are here for several months as well, I hope. I am confident I will learn what I need to know,” Richard related.

“Before I forget, you will never guess who darkened my door a day after Father departed to join Mother and Anna.”

“The mistress of Rosings Park?” Darcy guessed with raised eyebrows.

“The very same. Evidently now that I am the owner of an estate, I am eligible to marry her daughter. She would prefer that it be you or Andy, as your estates are much farther away, which would leave her to rule her fiefdom unmolested, or so she believes.” Richard rolled his eyes.

“Our aunt is very transparent. All of her machinations are designed to keep control of the estate for herself and keep it away from Anne’s cousin Albert de Bourgh.

Father told us that according to our late Uncle Lewis’s will, if Anne is not married by five and twenty, the estate will devolve to de Bourgh.

We all know Anne is not healthy enough to be a true wife to any man, Aunt Catherine’s blustering notwithstanding.

That is the only reason she is lowering her expectations to allow Richard to marry Anne.

As much as she would dislike a husband who lives close to Rosings Park, she detests the thought that de Bourgh may be able to claim the estate in less than six years even more,” Andrew revealed.

“So after Aunt Cat’s talk of money-grabbing tradesmen, it seems that she is the worst fortune hunter of them all,” Richard summarised. “William, you do not look easy. Is it talk of our aunt and her mercenary ways, or did something occur in London which troubled you?”

“The latter. I made the mistake of…” Darcy explained all about his call to Hurst House.

“We will come back to Miss Bingley, but William, I have always found you rather hypocritical regarding the taint of trade. Your late father was, and our father is, very close to Mr Henry Bennet, yet you hold him in disdain because he once may have been in trade; how is it you accept Bingley?” Andrew pressed.

“Ehrm, Bingley is going to buy an estate…” Darcy attempted to justify a position his late father had also questioned. Was this just loyalty to his mother, and had her fe elings been purely driven by her older sister?

“Darcy, you clodpole,” Andrew shot back, “Mr Bennet owns an estate and has done so for close to twenty years, one which brings in more than Pemberley. If that were not enough, he was an estate owner in India for twenty years before that. Does an estate owner not trump someone who may or may not own one at some point in the future? You do know that unlike Bingley, Mr Bennet was born a gentleman, do you not?” Richard had not been told about Mr Bennet’s vast wealth, and as he was honour bound not to mention it, Andrew did not say anything about the man his cousin was prejudiced against being many times wealthier than himself.

There was nothing Darcy could say. It seemed his mother had been wrong, but how could he acknowledge that and not dishonour her wishes?

But then again, was he not doing the very same thing to his father’s desires?

Had Father not told him in almost those words that his mother was wrong and had only been influenced by her sister, who Darcy knew was never, or almost never, right?

Was he being a buffoon? Before he could ponder that, Richard spoke.

“Besides your hypocrisy in your treatment of Bingley and Mr Bennet, if you do not put your foot down with Miss Bingley, you will have no one to blame but yourself,” Richard asserted.

“I spoke to Bingley at White’s. I once again told him that not even entrapping me will get me to agree to marry the shrew,” Darcy responded.

“William, you know better than any that Miss Bingley wears the breeches in that family. When have you ever seen the puppy stand up to her? Even if he says something, she will ignore him, and well you know it,” Richard rebutted. “You and I both know he needs to grow up and find his backbone.”

As much as he wanted to refute Richard’s words, Darcy knew he could not and still remain honest. For the nonce, he would only meet Bingley at the club because he had no confidence if he invited Bingley, and only Bingley, to Darcy House or Pemberley Miss Bingley would not be with him.

He had much on which to cogitate.