Page 31 of The Marriage Game

Caroline frowned as she saw Lord Russell walking toward her. She had hoped to avoid him, but he was giving her no choice.

“Ah, there you are, Miss Bingley! I had heard that you were to be here tonight, but I could not find you in the crowd.”

“Yes, here I am,” Caroline replied, as neutrally as she could manage.

“Shall we have a dance?”

“Very well.”

He cocked an eyebrow at her cool tone. She looked away as he offered his arm, but she took it and allowed him to lead her to the dance floor.

Colonel Fitzwilliam had not left the ballroom after his dances with Elizabeth and Georgiana, but had instead stayed to watch the dancers. If he spent more time looking at Miss Bingley than any of the other attendees, he did not think about it. But he did happen to be looking at Miss Bingley as Lord Russell led her to the dance floor.

His cousin materialised beside him. “Say, Darcy who is that?”

“Who is who?”

“The gentleman about to dance with Miss Bingley.”

Mr. Darcy made a sour face. “That is the Baron de Clifford, Lord Russell.”

“Oh! The one who is hoping to marry an heiress in order to pay his gambling debts?”

“The very one.”

“He is after Miss Bingley’s dowry.”

“Without a doubt, but I believe Bingley warned her away from him.”

“Good.”

The two cousins watched Lord Russell and Miss Bingley for a few minutes. Then, to their surprise, they saw him lead her off the dance floor.

“Where are they going?” the Colonel asked.

“I do not know; perhaps she has told him that she is tired and wishes to rest.”

But it looked now as if Miss Bingley was being propelled with some force. The Colonel started forward, but Mr. Darcy put a hand on his arm. “Be careful, Richard. Do not make any sort of show here at Almack’s or you’ll find yourself married to the girl before you can blink.”

The Colonel nodded his understanding and then moved, as quickly as he dared so as not to attract attention, to where he had last seen Miss Bingley and Lord Russell. But they seemed to have vanished. Then he heard something behind the draperies. A voice? A woman’s voice, whispering with some urgency?

The Colonel groaned. Either he was about to make the worst mistake of his life by interrupting a courting couple, or he was going to stop an attempted compromise. He opened the drapery just a fraction of an inch and saw Miss Bingley struggling in the arms of Lord Russell.

The gentleman looked up at the Colonel with rage on his face, but the Colonel merely said, rather lazily, “I do hope I am not interrupting anything.”

Miss Bingley gasped out, “Oh, Colonel, please help me!”

Lord Russell smirked at her. “If you make so much as a move, Miss Bingley, I shall throw the draperies open and let everyone see you.”

Indeed, she would present quite a picture; her hair was down, pins askew, and her bodice had been tugged down to a rather indecent level.

“Lord Russell, we have not been introduced. I am Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam, and if you do not release the lady at once and allow her to repair her appearance, I shall call you out. I assure you that I am a crack shot and an accomplished swordsman; it is unlikely you would survive our encounter.”

There was a tense moment while Lord Russell eyed the Colonel up and down. Finally, with a muttered curse, Lord Russell released Miss Bingley. White-faced but dry-eyed, she put her hair up as well as she was able and tugged her dress back into place.

“Miss Bingley,” the Colonel said, offering his hand to her. “Walk to that chair, just in front of the drapery, and then sit down.”

He had his back to the assembly room, and adroitly shielded Miss Bingley as she made her way to the chair he indicated, and then she sat, rather heavily. The Colonel immediately sat beside her. It looked for all the world as if he had been speaking to her while she was sitting.

“I cannot thank you enough, Colonel. That dreadful man! How did you know?”

“I happened to be looking in your direction when you were dancing with him. Darcy told me who he was, and then when he all but dragged you off the dance floor, I knew he was up to some devilment.”

“He told me that he wished to marry me, and I replied that I would not marry a fortune hunter. Then he said that I would be glad to marry him when he was done with me, and he forced me to go with him. I was so afraid of causing a scene!”

“Rightly so, as it would have been in the papers in the morning. It is, alas, very difficult for a young lady to avoid difficulties if a gentleman is that determined.”

“It is all so unfair!” Now her voice sounded teary.

Alarmed, the Colonel said, “Now, Miss Bingley, we cannot have you weeping at Almack’s. Remember, instead, how very much you hate me! That will dry your tears right up.”

His ploy was successful, as her tears vanished, and she smiled at him. “I do not think I hate you any longer.”

“Mother will be delighted to hear it. She said you sent a very charming note, thanking her for the voucher.”

“I really thought she did not like me.”

“She says there is more to you than she originally thought. Something about a tea shop.”

“Oh, yes, I recall it.”

“Tell me about it.”

“I shall not; it involves some gossip about a friend, and I will not repeat it.”

The Colonel looked at Miss Bingley with new respect.

***

Elizabeth was finally able to join her husband at the refreshment table. He was looking over the offerings with a grimace, but turned when she touched his hand. “I would not bother with any of it; we shall have a nice cold collation when we get home,” she advised him.

“Quite right,” he said, with relief. “Come, Elizabeth, can we not go home now?” He had seen Richard rescuing an upset Miss Bingley and had made an accurate guess as to what had occurred there. He was certain that Miss Bingley, at least, was more than ready to leave.

Elizabeth had witnessed Georgiana’s discomfort when dancing with Lord Fane; doubtless she was ready to return to Darcy House. “Yes, we have done our duty for both Georgiana and Miss Bingley,” she said. “Let us collect our charges and retire.”

***

That night, in Elizabeth’s room, Mr. Darcy recounted his cousin’s actions.

“That odious Lord Russell! How dare he!” Elizabeth was furious. “But how very clever of Richard to extricate her from behind the draperies! It was good of him, particularly as the two of them seem always at odds.”

“Richard’s military mind at work, evidently. Did Georgiana dance with Lord Fane? I did not notice, as I was busy squiring about the wallflowers, as you required.”

“Yes, she did dance with Lord Fane, and she was quite cool to him. He then danced with me and pressured me to tell him what was wrong. Oh, William, they are both so very unhappy! Is there not something we can do?”

***

Caroline was able to wait until she was alone in her bedroom before giving way to tears. That dreadful man! What if he had been successful in compromising her! Her entire life would have been ruined, through no fault of her own. It was with great chagrin that she recalled how she had contemplated compromising Mr. Darcy. She would have ruined his life, as surely as Lord Russell would have ruined hers.

Oh, how very, very wrong she had been throughout her entire life! She had not befriended the nicest girls at school because she had thought them beneath her; what a fool she had been! And she had sought out Mr. Darcy solely for his wealth and importance, giving no thought to his own happiness! She had almost succeeded in separating her brother from his beloved Jane! How had either of them tolerated living with Caroline after that? She wept and wept, not noticing when her bedroom door opened a crack.

“Caroline?” a voice whispered.

Caroline stopped crying at once, though her face was wet, and she sat up. “Who is it?”

“It is Jane.”

“Oh.”

“I heard you weeping, Caroline. Let me help you.” A slight figure in a white nightgown came to sit beside Caroline. Jane put an arm around Caroline and hugged her. “Tell me what troubles you, dear sister.”

Caroline, who had scorned Jane for so long, now melted in her embrace. “Oh, Jane! I do not know how you can be so kind to me, when I have been so awful to you!”

“I cannot do otherwise,” Jane replied, simply.

And Caroline poured out everything that had happened to her at Almack’s, and how she had been so wrong about her schoolmates, and wrong about Mr. Darcy, and wrong about Jane, and wrong about how to dress and how to behave, wrong about everything – everything! – in her entire life! “I know not how you have been able to live with me, Jane!” she concluded, hiccupping.

“You have not made it easy, Caroline. But I could see that under it all, you were so very unhappy.”

“I was, oh, Jane, I was!”

“Perhaps now you have a chance to be a different Caroline Bingley, and so find happiness,” Jane said. “Lie down now, dear sister, and try to sleep. You have had a very trying evening.”

Caroline lay back down, drained and empty, but somehow lighter than she could ever recall feeling before. And, as Jane stroked her hair, she fell deeply asleep.