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Caroline’s delight at being invited to dine with a countess was tempered by the tepid reality of actually attending the dinner party.

She wore her finest gown, a gauzy gold confection that flattered her very well, and yet still the countess and her stepdaughters made Caroline feel as if only her fortune made her acceptable society.

They were kinder to Charles, for he was handsome, single, affably unbothered by their pretensions, and far wealthier than his sister.

The countess paid him every kindness, sat him between her daughters at dinner, and suggested more than once that he ought to purchase an estate rather than simply renting one.

The greatest indignity was Caroline’s placement at the table.

Lady Matlock held court at the head of the table; far at the opposite end of the long and ostentatiously dressed table was an empty seat where the earl might have sat, though he was unable to attend.

And beside that empty seat sat Caroline, in the lowest of places; Elizabeth sat opposite her, and a Caroline could scarcely converse with her friend due to the placement of one of the too-tall floral arrangements that served no purpose but to flaunt the family’s wealth, and to vex those the countess considered unimportant.

Elizabeth might not have spoken much to Caroline, anyhow, for Jane was at her side, ignored by Miss Darcy on her left and forced to observe the girl speak chiefly to Charles, who had been placed like bait between the two youngest Fitzwilliam sisters.

Mr. Darcy, too, sat near the haughty young ladies; how Caroline wished to commiserate with poor Elizabeth!

Instead she had only the colonel positioned to converse with her. After a few moments of silence, he began by vexing her - carrying on just as he had begun their acquaintance. It was going to be a long night.

“I dare not hope you are so often gazing in my direction because you begin to find me quite as handsome as my cousin. I suppose you hope to catch some thread of the more interesting conversations. No doubt my charming sisters have the other gentlemen utterly enthralled.”

She did not miss the sardonic notes of his voice, and made free to respond in a similar tone. “A possibility that surely delights you.”

He leaned a little closer - not that it was necessary to whisper.

“I should like nothing more than to call Bingley kinsman as I do Darcy already, but I would not wish it at such a steep price. You see, Miss Bingley, I am as out of favor with Lady Matlock as you are this evening. We may happily sulk together; indeed, I might begin to make ardent love to you and nobody would take notice.”

“Making our punishment complete,” she said with a wicked smile for him.

If he was indeed out of his stepmother’s good graces, the countess had inadvertently given him a great boon in positioning him to easily tease Caroline all evening.

He had been indefatigably dedicated to harassing her since the earliest days of their acquaintance, and showed no signs of tiring of it before dessert.

But she was resolved to snipe back at him, since chance afforded her an opportunity to do so.

“You do look greatly aggrieved by the slight, Miss Bingley. Might I suggest your placement is actually a compliment of sorts?”

“Because it is such a treat to have your undivided attention?” Caroline wrinkled her nose at the notion that she and her fortune were being tossed to the second son of the house with the same indelicacy that the countess was dangling her daughters before Charles.

“Yes, naturally,” the colonel said with a grin. “But I had intended to say that my stepmother clearly sees you are in such fine looks that she must keep you away from my sisters if they stand any chance of being noticed.”

She knew it must show on her face how it nettled her, but she gave a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders. “I have no particular wish to be noticed, sir. Surely the ladies shall withdraw before the gentlemen, and then I can freely speak with my friends, whose company is all I desire.”

The colonel narrowed his eyes and surveyed her. “I say, you really look as though you mean it. But I know you better than that.”

“Do you indeed? Astonish me, sir.”

He let out a breathy laugh and shook his head. “It would be too cruel.”

“I would by no means suspend any pleasure of yours, Colonel. Indulge yourself, and tell me what I am really thinking.”

She recalled an evening recently when she had played a similar game with Mr. Darcy. But that had been done in friendship; Colonel Fitzwilliam only ever spoke to Caroline to raise her ire. Resigned to her misery, she braced herself to hear his raillery.

“You are thinking that you wish to prevent the chance of my sisters making a particular impression on my cousin - ‘tis a very slim chance, I will reassure you of that much. And you are perhaps hoping there may yet be some chance of displaying yourself to advantage by fawning over Georgiana and the Miss Bennets. Perhaps you believe you may display such improvement to your charming manners as to make Darcy reconsider his declaration that he will never wed you.”

Caroline recoiled as if he had struck her. It was evident that he was aware of what she had overheard. Had Charles or Mr. Darcy learned of her eavesdropping - had Louisa betrayed her?

She stiffened her posture as she replied coldly to him.

“So this is your opinion of me? Thank you for explaining so fully. Perhaps you might have thought me more capable of sincere motives had I chosen to flatter you, but I see little merit in recommending myself to someone who has never extended the same courtesy to me, and with whom I have so little in common that I might consider you the last man in the world I could ever be prevailed upon to waste any overtures of friendship.”

The colonel leaned back against his chair and gave a low whistle of appreciation. “Again you astonish me with your candor, Miss Bingley.”

“I see little point in dissembling, though you may do so. Either you are indeed blind to my true feelings and intentions, or you willfully misunderstand me even as you undermine my actual wishes.”

He half-smiled and raised a hand to his heart. “I may indeed be ignorant and willful - you have composed my epitaph to perfection - but now you must enlighten me. How have I undermined your wishes?”

Caroline glanced nervously at the hideous floral arrangement; on the other side of the gauche monstrosity, she could hear Jane and Elizabeth speaking, though their words were indiscernible from the general din of the table.

Even so, she leaned close enough to the colonel to notice the pleasant, smoky scent of him as she whispered furiously.

“You have flirted shamelessly with Miss Elizabeth, and I am sure it is all a lark to you. Has it never occurred to you that you may raise her hopes, when you must inevitably disappoint them? If you have allowed her to misunderstand your circumstances….”

He began to laugh and leaned his head toward her own; Caroline drew back at once. His countenance altered, and he wore a mask of such severity as she had never thought him capable of. “Perhaps you misunderstand my circumstances.”

“Certainly not. You cannot convince me that Miss Elizabeth is suited to the life of an army wife, nor that you could offer her what she is accustomed to.”

“Which is?”

“Cheerful contentment at a country estate with a loving family.” Caroline glanced in the direction of the flowers that barred her view of Elizabeth, and she gave a little sigh.

She rather envied her friend’s version of happiness.

In defiance of his sudden intensity, Caroline added, “And an inordinate supply of books.”

He tipped his head from one side to the other in feigned consideration.

“Darcy did always say I ought to learn to read,” he drawled.

The sarcasm in his eyes turned to something like surprise, and he straightened.

“Oho! Now I see - now I understand perfectly. Miss Bingley, I must shock and disappoint you at last, for you and I may be forced into an unholy alliance.”

Caroline set down her fork and smirked at the colonel. “Are you to make ardent love to me after all?” She dared him, she absolutely dared him. She would relish the chance to bite his ever-mocking face off.

“Not yet, but let us not consider that matter closed,” he said with a roguish wink. “I cannot say if it shall be better or worse for you, but I intended to align myself with what I now suspect you are scheming and plotting.”

“If I were doing any such thing, I should never admit it, much less seek your assistance.”

He idly toyed with his cutlery, moving the potatoes about on his plate for a moment.

“So you would not wish me to flirt with Miss Elizabeth in Darcy’s presence, and rouse his jealousy until he finally admits that he admires her?

It is your desire that he do so, is it not?

Knowing that he is beyond your grasp, you would elevate a beloved friend to that station which you no longer aspire yourself. ”

The colonel looked up before she could conceal her surprise - and the truth of his conjecture.

She said nothing, and he leaned closer, grinning as he whispered, “I might just as easily take every chance of flirting with you in Miss Elizabeth’s presence, so as not to raise her hopes.

What do you say to that, Miss Bingley? Should you like to see me so eloquently enamored, and thoroughly humble me for my years of clever banter?

You have the chance to quite bring me to my knees. ”

“Clever banter? I have only ever heard you speak nonsense, and you are still doing the same.” But in spite of herself, Caroline began to privately entertain the idea of accepting his assistance.

She was far from satisfied with her progress since coming to London; she had expected better of the excursion.

“Your brother has invited me to return to Netherfield with your party. I might bring my nonsense, or I might be entirely at your command.”

Caroline smiled. Under any other circumstances she might have beat her brother about the head, but she would be in need of all the help she could get when she returned to Netherfield, and it may indeed prove a novelty for the colonel to be under her influence.

To receive the colonel’s attentions would certainly prove to Mr. Darcy that she no longer sought his addresses, and it would probably irritate Louisa.

Perhaps flattery and flirtation might even render the irksome man rather handsome; Caroline was intrigued by the possibilities.