Page 57 of To Go Against Her Heart (Pride and Prejudice Variation)

“I shall look forward to tomorrow,” he said, and as much as he was, Elizabeth was impatient to be united with Darcy for life.

***

That night, Miss Bingley paced her room in evident rage, unable to understand what had gone wrong in her scheme.

According to her account, everything had been executed with meticulous planning. She had posted the letters to Darcy and Lady Matlock, skillfully altering her handwriting to preserve their anonymity, but now she doubted whether the letters reached them. In a fit of anger, she summoned her maid.

“Did you post the letter I asked you to send to town?” she demanded.

“I did, though Mrs. Hurst looks over your correspondence, I concealed it from her and posted it the same day, Miss Bingley, please do not doubt…”

“Enough! Leave!” she ordered.

From the moment Miss Bingley learnt that Elizabeth and Darcy had renewed their acquaintance in town and met frequently, she resolved to find some means of tarnishing Elizabeth’s reputation. She immediately perceived that any knowledge of Elizabeth’s former suitor might serve to her advantage.

With the help of a few friends who had connections with the same circle as the Gardiner family, she discovered who had courted Elizabeth the previous year.

Though she knew nothing beyond the gentleman’s identity, Miss Bingley was confident she might turn the knowledge to her advantage.

When she overheard her brother speak of the ball at the Ashfords and that Elizabeth was to attend as Lady Matlock’s guest, she was livid.

As luck would have it, her closest friend—a woman much like herself in both age and disposition—was to be present at the ball that very day.

Miss Bingley instructed her to watch and gain every possible detail about Elizabeth.

She was astonished to learn that Elizabeth had encountered her former lover there, and in Darcy’s very presence.

From her friend’s account, it appeared that Elizabeth had conducted herself as though she did not recognize the gentleman.

At once, Miss Bingley perceived that, if ever she were to find a true advantage, this was it.

After cherishing the knowledge for many weeks, she finally put it to use—writing letters, maliciously injecting falsehoods with scanty truths she knew in her account.

Unfortunately, she now doubted whether the letters reached Darcy and Lady Matlock at all, for in their faces there was not even a faint sense of worry or anxiety, as she had observed them the entire day.

She had expected the letters to have an immediate effect, resulting in the calling off of Darcy’s engagement.

How could my calculations have gone wrong?

With the status and respect Lady Matlock commands in society, she would never allow her family to associate with someone like Elizabeth, and the contents of my letter should have enraged her.

I don’t know why they are here, without any reaction? What could this mean?

Just then, her maid arrived with a message.

“What? Why would Lady Matlock wish to speak with me?” Miss Bingley asked, perplexed.

“I am not aware, Miss Bingley, she requests your presence in her room, and her maid informed me that it is something important.”

Miss Bingley suddenly felt a chill run through her veins, and a feeling of numbness overtook her.

It was a quarter past nine when Miss Bingley made her way to the guest wing; the faint clatter of servants at work on the lower floor, preparing for the party, reached her ears.

As she reached Lady Matlock’s room, she tried hard to think of a reason for such a request. She knocked upon the door and entered.

She found Lady Matlock seated with a book in her hand, looking calm and she motioned Miss Bingley to take the seat opposite hers.

As nervous as she had been, Lady Matlock’s unaffected manner gave Miss Bingley some confidence.

This cannot be regarding the letters, Miss Bingley reassured herself.

“Miss Bingley, I thank you for meeting me at this hour. I hope you are aware of the need for this discussion,” Lady Matlock finally spoke.

“I do not, and quite honestly, I am perplexed.”

“Is that so? Surely, when you wrote to me, you must have understood that I should wish to discuss the contents of your letter with you,” she said and calmly closed her book, watching Miss Bingley’s face turn white.

“Madam, I do not know… Pardon me, which letter are you referring to?” she asked in horror, and Lady Matlock casually drew the letter and placed it on the table before.

“You are a courageous woman after all, and I do not understand why you did not have the strength to own up to it, and yes, if you must know, my nephew received a similar one, and he brought it to me, convinced that it was pure falsehood. He is in love with her and will not choose to believe the facts you have laid out. But I am not like him; our family’s reputation is at stake here. ”

“So, you believe me?” she asked, instantly regretting the admission, and glanced about the room to see if anyone else was present.

Lady Matlock laughed.

“There is no one here, my dear; to put you at ease, only Fitzwilliam and I are aware of these letters, and I have not disclosed to him, as yet, that I know the sender’s identity.”

“By what means did you discover that I had written them?”

“I knew it came from Hertfordshire by the stamp, and it was plain to see that you have always favored my nephew. And there is your motive to prevent this wedding—and I do not doubt your sincerity in claiming to be my well-wisher. Had it not been for you, I should never have suspected anything.”

“Then why did you not stop the engagement? Surely, Mr. Darcy cannot doubt her past and everything she has done to deceive him,” she asked with a sudden burst of irritation.

“Unfortunately, your letter has failed to convince him, for the claims you have made are without proof. Had you written it under your own name, he might have been more inclined to believe them; yet he has declared he would never question her and has explicitly forbidden me from doing so.”

“You cannot allow your family to be attached to her; can you not stop this marriage? Elizabeth Bennet betrayed all of you, and I assume she cares nothing about Mr. Darcy, except for his money and status. Who knows why she broke the engagement with Mr. Harrington? It might be because he did not have the wealth she had always dreamed of marrying into. You cannot allow her to be the mistress of Pemberley, Lady Matlock. Surely, there must be a way.”

“There is; I can never let those who deceive me go unscathed, and the only way to make my nephew understand the perils of his future is through her own confession.”

“She will deny everything.”

“Perhaps she might, if we question her within four walls, but not before her family and friends at the party. I request you to be patient and wait until tomorrow evening to witness what I have planned. All I ask is that you stand beside me when I entreat you to disclose the truth you know,” she said.

Miss Bingley could barely contain her delight at the prospect of Elizabeth being exposed before all her acquaintances.

She was delighted that, though she had penned several falsehoods in the letter, Lady Matlock had accepted them without question.

“Do you plan to expose her at the party? In front of everyone?” she asked, thrilled.

“Only that would suffice for someone who has acted with such spite.”

“Be assured, madam, whatever you want me to say to support you, I shall, and I hope Mr. Darcy finally sees what a filthy woman she is,” Miss Bingley said and left the room.

***

The next day, Netherfield buzzed with activity as the guests were set to arrive that evening.

Everyone was excited for the party and the upcoming weddings.

However, the delight evident in Miss Bingley’s countenance was for an entirely different reason.

She smiled sarcastically as she saw the servants hurrying here and there carrying decorations and anticipated that the party would end in Elizabeth’s ruin.

If Lady Matlock confronts her, she will have no means to deny her past. Even if she denies the affair, after such a public display, Mr. Darcy could never marry her—and I shall use this to my advantage and stop the other wedding, she thought.

She was hardly able to contain her triumph at the thought of everyone’s smile evaporating into thin air as the night ended.

Miss Bingley encountered Lady Matlock but once during the day—at dinner—and from the look upon her countenance, she felt reassured that Lady Matlock had not wavered in her resolve regarding the forthcoming confrontation.

As evening approached, she grew restless; at last, she knew it was time to disgrace all those who had caused the turmoil she had endured in the past weeks. She had become an object of ridicule to her own family, and now she wanted Elizabeth to suffer similarly.

Around half past six, she glimpsed the Bennet carriage from her window, and her heart immediately began to race. She mentally replayed everything she had planned to say against Elizabeth and at that very moment, a knock sounded at the door.

“I brought you tea, Miss Bingley,” her maid said and left the tray on the table.

Miss Bingley clenched her fists as an equal amount of excitement and tension engulfed her.

Finally my time has come and I shall ruin you forever, Elizabeth Bennet, she told herself, as she prepared to present herself at the gathering. With the inherent need to steady her nerves, she quickly drained her cup of tea and shut her eyes for a few minutes of solace.

***

As the night drew to a close, for the first time in her life, Miss Bingley felt a profound satisfaction as she witnessed the chaos unfold at the gathering, among a crowd she deemed so vastly beneath her in every respect.

She watched the torment on Elizabeth’s face as Lady Matlock accused her of having an affair with Mr. Harrington and of concealing the truth about her engagement.

She was ecstatic to witness the shock in Darcy’s eyes as Elizabeth wept in her father’s arms, unable to deny her past with Mr. Harrington.

Mr. Bingley and Mrs. Hurst appeared astonished, while Georgiana looked utterly devastated by the revelation.

With secret delight, Miss Bingley watched the crowd disperse, whispering among themselves about how the Bennets would be shunned from society forever.

With absolute joy, she watched Darcy storm from the room, declaring that the engagement was broken and that he no longer wished to be associated with her or her family. The Bennets retreated from Netherfield in shame, while she stood proudly beside Lady Matlock.

Finally, her heart was content; everything she had ever desired transpired in front of her eyes, and now, the world was hers again.

She breathed a sigh of relief, feeling the air fill her lungs, and finally felt powerful. Blood surged to her veins, awakening and thrilling her with the knowledge of the power she held to alter or ruin the lives of those she wished to.

She shut her eyes tight to relish the moment and finally found the peace and contentment her mind had craved for so long.

I shall be the mistress of Pemberley now, she thought, and opened her eyes—only to her horror, Miss Bingley found herself still seated in her room, in her chair.

Appalled as she was, she finally understood that she had succumbed to a deep slumber and everything she had experienced was but a dream.

It had seemed so real that she wondered whether she was in a trance.

Good Lord, how did I ever fall asleep?

She fled the room, trembling, hoping she was not yet too late for the party.

However, the moment she descended the stairs and entered the ballroom, Miss Bingley froze.