Page 118

After what was unanimously considered a good afternoon at the modiste, the five Bennet ladies, Mrs. Hurst, and Miss Bingley presented themselves at the Phillips’ residence for tea.

Mrs. Hattie Phillips and her daughter Franny who would have her eighteenth birthday on December the fifth greeted them warmly.

Franny had the colouring of her late grandmother, sandy blonde hair like her cousins but she had green eyes rather than the trademark blue eyes of the Gardiners.

Their colour was a contribution from her father.

Franny did not know that she shared a name with the one that her cousins, the Bennets, referred to as that woman .

Her mother and father had never informed her of her late aunt’s name, so she never had questioned that she was not named after her late grandmother.

Graham Phillips, who was a little more than six years older than his sister, knew the story, but like the rest of the family, the dishonourable woman’s name did not cross his lips.

Mrs. Phillips was the opposite of her late sister.

She was intelligent and genteel. Selfish, vain, and a gossipmonger were not terms anyone could ascribe to her and still be truthful.

She apologised that the visitors had missed her son Graham who had returned to London.

Thanks to his Uncle, the Duke, he had been accepted as a clerk in the chambers of Norman and James at the Inn of Courts under the supervision of Sir Randolph Norman himself to continue his studies and to become a barrister.

The son’s desire to be a barrister was in no way a rejection of, or a feeling of superiority to, his father who encouraged him in his endeavours with no rancour or envy.

Graham Phillips wanted to broaden his horizons and felt that it would be advantageous to do so in Town.

His parents and sister were justifiably proud of the Phillips heir.

The ladies sat and partook of the proffered tea and treats.

After tea was complete, Lady Elizabeth drew Miss Bingley to one side of her aunt’s sitting room where she could continue the conversation that had been interrupted when the carriage stopped.

Caroline was not deficient of understanding, so she had no doubt that the middle Bennet daughter wanted to ask about Mr. Darcy.

“We were interrupted when we arrived at the modiste. Do you remember the question that I asked that you did not have a chance to answer? If you are uncomfortable answering, I will understand. It is not my intent to force a confidence,” Lady Elizabeth said as she reached out and gave Miss Bingley’s hand a companionable squeeze to reassure her.

“I have no scruples about answering you, my Lady,” Caroline paused to gather her memories.

“When Charles went to Cambridge, Mr. Darcy was entering his final year at the university. As we discussed, our family is in trade and as I am sure that you know, not all members of the first circles are as accepting and gracious as yourselves and look down upon, even denigrate anyone not of their circle.”

“Just like the proud and arrogant Mr. Darcy did here in Meryton!” Elizabeth spat his name out with no little asperity as she was reminded of his abhorrent behaviour, but then her attitude softened when she remembered that her rush to judgement was not without fault.

“As much as I hate to disagree with you, Lady Elizabeth…” that lady interjected before she could continue.

“I would like it if you would call me Elizabeth, or Lizzy as my family does, Miss Bingley,” Lady Elizabeth requested.

Miss Bingley was shocked. A daughter of a duke had just given her permission to call her by her Christian name, and not just any daughter of a duke, the fearsome Lady Elizabeth Bennet! “It will be my honour La… I mean, Elizabeth. I will do so if you call me Caroline. Does anyone call you ‘Eliza?’”

“Only one is permitted to use that variant of my name: Mrs. Charlotte Pierce, the former Miss Lucas that was. She has used Eliza as far back as I can remember, so no, other than Charlotte. When my Christian name is used, I only answer to Lizzy or Elizabeth.”

With the subject of preferred names settled, Caroline continued the long-awaited answer to her new friend’s question.

“As I was saying, as much as I hesitate to contradict you, Lizzy, when Charles started at Cambridge he was bullied mercilessly by some lordlings and their friends…

that is, until Mr. Darcy stepped in and stopped it.

He stood up to members of his own circle and defended the son of a tradesman.

He let it be known that anyone who took any liberties with my brother would be doing the same to himself and his cousins.

“Lord Hilldale and the Colonel, then a Lieutenant, had left Cambridge but on a visit when they met Charles, they let it be known that like their Cousin Darcy they extended their protection to my brother. No one was in doubt that the threat against anyone who bullied Charles extended to the years after Mr. Darcy completed his studies until the day that my brother left Cambridge. From that day on, Mr. Darcy and Charles became a very unlikely pair of good friends. Mr. Darcy taught my brother the way of a gentleman and helped him become less na?ve, to examine the motives of those who wanted to befriend him and to be able to judge if their intentions were pure. Mr. Darcy gained an ebullient and outgoing friend, traits that I am sure that you have seen the man does not possess himself.” Caroline smiled as she had long loved these traits in her own brother.

Lady Elizabeth Bennet was silent for a long while.

Between what the Colonel had told her on Oakham Mount and with the information that her new friend was revealing about Mr. Darcy, her absolute surety that she had sketched his character accurately further waivered.

“I do not understand, Caroline. We all saw how he behaved here, how everyone seemed to be below him, how rude, haughty, taciturn, and arrogant that he was. How do I reconcile that with the man that you are describing?”

“I understand your confusion, Lizzy, and had I not known what I do of the man, I too would not have an explanation,” Caroline said.

“Please explain it to me, Caroline, as it seems like there are two different men,” requested a confused lady, something that was wholly new for her.

In the past, she had been very sure of her judgements, and now she had to start questioning her propensity to jump to conclusions based on a short interaction with people.

Had her mother and father not recently told her that she should reserve judgement until she had more facts?

“In a way, I think that you are correct. There are, in some respects, two Mr. Darcys. Have you heard that he is the best landlord and master?” Elizabeth nodded, “I have seen it and can verify the veracity of that statement.

With anyone that depends on him, or who want nothing from him like the members of the Ton do, he relaxes and removes his ‘mask.’ When he saw Charles suffering, I believe that his protective instincts, which are indeed very strong, kicked in.

Charles wanted nought but friendship from him, so he relaxed and let my brother know the real man behind the facade.

“I know better than most how he is hunted for his wealth and property. I am chagrined to admit it, but I was one of the huntresses,” Caroline appreciated the disbelieving look that her new friend gave her, so she continued.

“Lizzy, I can tell without fear of contradiction that you would not have liked the person that I was at seventeen, when I was a guest at Pemberley for the first time.

“I went to Mrs. Havisham’s seminary for girls in town.

Louisa had been there before me and warned me about the treatment that I as a tradesman’s daughter would receive.

I did not heed her words. I was shocked when everything that my sister told me was proved to be correct.

Rather than look at the behaviour of the horrid girls and learn to be better, I started to emulate them!

Like them, I put on airs and graces and ran away from my Papa’s background as fast and as far as I could.

In my delusion, I convinced myself that I was a member of the Ton and started to look down my nose at anyone that I deemed below me, which were all except those of the first circles.

“But when I accompanied my brother to Pemberley for the first time? Oh, Lizzy, you have no idea what a magnificent estate it is. All I saw was the wealth of the owner and how such a marriage would take me away from the stench of trade. I set my cap at Mr. Darcy and had the temerity to put on airs as the mistress of the estate while Lady Anne Darcy, Mr. Darcy’s mother, was still mistress.

“It was about a week after; as I was acting like it was a fait accompli , that Lady Anne invited me for a tête-à-tête in her private sitting room. In my delusion, I thought that she was about to endorse a match between myself and her son. The truth could not have been further from the truth, even had I imagined becoming a member of the royal family! I was so very wrong, Lizzy!” Caroline Bingley flushed red at the remembrance of how she used to be but continued her tale, no matter how mortifying it may be for her.