Page 25 of What Comes Between Cousins
T HE MOOD AT LONGBOURN was jubilant. While Elizabeth had been distracted by Mr. Darcy and Lord Chesterfield, she had not imagined that the relationship between Mr. Bingley and her sister had progressed so far. Jane was quick to tease her for her inattention.
“Something quite particular must have commanded your interest, Elizabeth. You have always known of the interest a man has in me before I have known of it for myself.”
“And so I have,” cried Elizabeth. “But I must own that your Mr. Bingley has come to the point in a far more expeditious fashion than I had ever thought possible!”
“I suppose he has,” replied Jane. “But I cannot repine my good fortune.”
“You deserve it, if any of us does,” said Mary. “But I must own that I find myself wondering if I am not to lose another sister before long.” Mary turned a raised eyebrow on Elizabeth. “Mr. Darcy and Lizzy were quite cozy out on the back lawn. At one point, when he turned and caught up her hand, I thought he might actually propose too!”
“It is still too early for that,” replied Elizabeth, though she felt the heat in her cheeks from the memory of the feelings which had coursed through her at that moment. “I do not know him nearly well enough yet. He is much more reserved than Mr. Bingley and much more careful in his deliberations.”
“Lizzy!” exclaimed Jane, her gaze falling on Elizabeth with mock affront. “Are you calling my Mr. Bingley impetuous?”
“No, indeed, dearest Jane. Though I wonder if impetuosity is not a part of his character. Mr. Darcy is anything but impetuous. He will come to the point in his own time if he decides it is a course he wishes to pursue.”
“I am sure he will,” replied Jane, catching Elizabeth up in a tight embrace. “And I am very happy for you, my dearest sister. You will be happy with him, I think.”
Elizabeth forbore mentioning that all was as yet not decided.
“Now we will simply need to take thought for our dear Mary,” said Jane, the teasing glint in her eye now focused on their younger sister. “Have you noticed anything about her that suggests interest in a man?”
“Please desist, Jane,” pleaded Mary, though there was a rosy hue on her cheeks which suggested Jane might have stumbled on the truth. “I am content to remain unmarried for some time yet. I am not looking for a husband.”
“Do not fear, Mary, my dear,” said Elizabeth. “You shall not have to search yourself, for Jane and I will be happy to do it for you.”
Mary fixed Elizabeth with a withering glare, but Elizabeth only laughed.
On such a joyous occasion as this, it was not a surprise that Mrs. Bennet responded with jubilation, as her lifelong goal of seeing her daughters married finally saw its first success. Elizabeth had wondered if her mother’s newfound composure would survive such momentous news. It appeared the answer was a decided no.
“Oh, Jane, Jane!” cried Mrs. Bennet the moment the news was made known to her. “I am so happy! I dare say he is the handsomest man I have ever seen, and I congratulate you!” Mrs. Bennet paused and glanced at Elizabeth. “Well, I suppose Mr. Darcy is equally as handsome as Mr. Bingley. I hope you will forgive me at present, Lizzy, if I inform you that Mr. Bingley is quite my favorite at present. When Mr. Darcy finally comes to the point, I am sure he will take his turn as my favorite at that time!”
Elizabeth laughed. “I will be certain to inform him of it, Mama. I know he will be happy to occupy such a preeminent position.”
“Oh, Lizzy! Again, you speak such nonsense! I am certain Mr. Darcy does not care two figs if he is my favorite. However, I am certain he will be vastly pleased to be yours .”
In all the years her mother had embarrassed her, it had never been with her teasing. Elizabeth hardly knew how to react, even as her family laughed around her.
“I believe your mother has the right of it in this instance, Lizzy,” said Mr. Bennet. He stepped forward and kissed Jane on her forehead. “Congratulations, Jane. I have no doubt you will both be very happy, though I wonder how you will get on together. Every marriage needs one partner who is forceful. You and Mr. Bingley are both so complying, that it will be a wonder if any decisions are ever made.”
Jane smiled in the face of her father’s teasing. “I believe, Papa, that he may just surprise you.”
“Perhaps he will at that.” Mr. Bennet turned to Elizabeth. “Mr. Darcy, on the other hand, suffers from no lack of resolution. How long do you expect it will be before he accosts me in my library as Mr. Bingley has done today?” he grinned at both his daughters. “I would wish to get it over with, for I am not accustomed to being interrupted by every man in residence at Netherfield.”
“I do not know, Papa,” replied Elizabeth, feeling all the embarrassment of the situation. “Mr. Darcy is also deliberate, so it might be some time before he acts.”
“Well, then I suppose we shall simply need to wait for him. But remember, Lizzy—he gives all the impression of a man besotted. I am sure you can hurry him along if you try.”
Mr. Bennet winked and excused himself, leaving the womenfolk of his family to their jubilations. It was a propitious day, indeed. Hopefully, there would be more to come.”
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T HE MOOD AT NETHERFIELD was in no way equal to that at Longbourn. While those at Longbourn celebrated, the company at Netherfield was beset by a mass of ill feelings, suspicion and fury, the likes of which Louisa had never seen before in her life.
Dinner that evening was largely a quiet affair, and Louisa took the simple expedient of not speaking with anyone, for there were few with whom she could speak with any equanimity. Besides, she was too busy ensuring Caroline remained calm to devote much attention to what was occurring at her table. Charles was angry with Caroline for her violent reaction to news which should be happy and with Lord Chesterfield for his comments concerning Caroline—comments for which Louisa could not blame the man. Mr. Darcy and Lord Chesterfield were at odds. Lord Chesterfield made a comment here and there about various subjects, seeming to focus on betrayal, which Mr. Darcy ignored. Only Hurst seemed unaffected. He ate with gusto, glancing about the room and chuckling from time to time. Louisa might have found it inappropriate, had she not been able to see the dark humor in the situation.
No one showed much inclination to gather in the sitting-room after dinner, and the party separated to see to their own concerns, most retiring for the night. Louisa, however, watched her youngest sibling, concerned that Caroline was contemplating something which would ruin them forever. When she took herself to her room, Louisa decided she had little choice but to confront Caroline.
When she entered her sister’s sitting room, it was to the sight of Caroline pacing the floor muttering to herself. Caroline had been badly upset these past days, not only because of Charles’s engagement to Miss Jane Bennet, but also because of her dawning comprehension that she was not so favored by either Mr. Darcy or Lord Chesterfield as she had thought. It was making her desperate. A desperate Caroline was not a situation to be ignored, for anxiety also made her foolhardy.
“Do you finally see it, Caroline?” demanded Louisa. Her sister ceased her pacing and turned to glare at Louisa. “Do you finally see you have no chance to elicit a proposal from either of our guests?”
“Mind your own concerns,” spat Caroline.
“Your concern are my concerns,” replied Louisa. “Especially when I fully believe you are contemplating actions which would have a detrimental effect on our family in society.”
“Do you believe I am so incompetent as this?” This sneer with which Caroline beheld Louisa was truly offensive. “You have become a milksop since you married that sodden drunkard of yours, Louisa. I have always been the best of us. I am fully aware of what I am doing.”
“Please stop, Caroline. Come to your senses. Lord Chesterfield will not marry you, and Mr. Darcy has all but declared himself to Miss Elizabeth. Nothing good can come of this. Hurst and I will be happy to take you back to town. I am sure there are men aplenty who will see your worth.”
“I do not want a man of society!” screamed Caroline, stamping her foot in her petulant anger. “I want to be a countess. I will be a countess!”
Caroline waved her hand, dismissing Louisa. “Leave me be, Louisa. I shall know what to do.”
There was nothing to be done, for Caroline turned and continued her pacing and muttering. She took no more notice of Louisa, though Louisa watched her for several more moments before exiting the room. Before she left, however, Louisa spoke quietly to herself, vowing: “I, also, shall know how to act, sister dearest.”
When Louisa shared her concerns with her husband that night, he laughed, as she might have predicted. “I have wondered when Caroline would come to the point. It would be most amusing to simply allow her enough rope to hang herself.
“Hurst!” exclaimed Louisa. “I am trying to save the family from infamy! You should recall that your connection to us is such that your father would not be pleased, should scandal arise because of Caroline’s imprudent actions.”
But Hurst only continued to chuckle, “I did not say we should allow it to happen, only that it would be amusing to see. I suppose you must take this to Bingley and alert the housekeeper.”
“What can Charles do?” fretted Louisa. “She is becoming so ungovernable that he will be forced to lock her in her room or send her to our aunt’s house in Scarborough.”
“Then so be it,” replied Hurst. “She deserves nothing less.” Hurst paused for a moment, his thoughtful expression very unlike him. “You know I do not like your sister, Louisa. I have tried not to make an issue of it, but she is rude, arrogant, treats both you and Bingley with contempt, and delusional besides. I cannot think of anything which would suit her more than to be taken down a peg or two and shown that she is not the center of everything.”
“I know,” replied Louisa with a heavy sigh. “I have not liked Caroline for many a year. I simply do not know how to manage her, and I am afraid of her ruining us.”
“Then some action must be taken. If some way can be found to allow her to dig her own grave, I would suggest we take it. It will be easier to ship her off to the north if she is already aware she has no prospects left here.”
Louisa thought about her husband’s words for some time after, but no solution presented itself. How Caroline might be ruined without her family partaking in her disgrace was quite beyond Louisa’s ability to fathom.
The following morning Louisa went to see her brother as soon as she could. Fortunately, Charles’s mood was improved from the previous evening. He listened to her with a gravity which was not usually a part of his character, asking a few questions to clarify her words. In the end, he let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Where did we go wrong, Louisa?” asked he. “How did she come to this end? She was sweet and obliging as a child. How has she become such a bitter, scheming shrew?”
“To you, she might always have been sweet,” replied Louisa. “But she was never to me. She was always aware of her position as mother’s favorite, and she used it to her advantage.”
Charles nodded slowly. “I suppose you are correct. She only acted sweet when it suited her purpose.”
“She was conniving almost as soon as she learned to walk,” said Louisa. “Though I am hesitant in general to assign a bad temperament to another, in Caroline’s case I think it is warranted. She has always treated us all as if we are her personal retainers, and her plans have never taken our happiness into account. She cares little for whether we are happy—only our position in society as it affects her own.”
“Nature versus nurture?” asked Charles. It was a rhetorical question. “In this instance, I believe you may be correct. But our parents may share some of the blame, for they never acted to curb these tendencies of hers.”
“Father was never present,” replied Louisa. “You know he put his heart into the business, dreaming that you would one day be a gentleman. As for mother, she was not so different from Caroline in essentials. She merely lacked the means to make her dreams a reality.”
“Caroline will not confess it, but she lacks the ability herself.”
“Which is why we must control her. Even if she successfully compromises Lord Chesterfield, I doubt he will willingly marry her. Failure of such a scheme, without severe censure on our parts, will be disastrous, especially if Lord Chesterfield proves vindictive.”
Charles’s countenance turned stony. “Perhaps he deserves it. A shrew-like Caroline as a wife might pierce his puffed-up pride.”
“Charles—”
“I know, I know,” said Charles, raising his hands in surrender. “But the viscount has proved himself less amiable than I had ever thought.”
“He was not incorrect about Caroline.”
“No, he was not. That I can acknowledge. But he should not have spoken so either. Darcy has long thought ill of Caroline, yet he refrained from speaking to me of her in such a way.”
“Yes, Mr. Darcy has proven to be a great friend,”
They were silent for a moment until Charles shook himself free of his dark thoughts with a visible effort. “Please speak with the housekeeper and inform her of our suspicions. I will talk to the butler and ensure he keeps a careful watch. We will need to be careful of this, Louisa. If any word is carried out by the servants our name will be ruined.”
“We will take every precaution.”
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W HEN DARCY SOUGHT HIS friend that morning, he found Bingley in a pensive, most un-Bingley-like mood. There was something weighing on his friend’s mind, quite different from what Darcy might have expected, considering his engagement to Miss Jane Bennet. He greeted Bingley, prompting a bit of his friend’s previous amiability in response, before sitting down in front of the hearth in Bingley’s study to share tea and a little conversation.
“I apologize for not telling you this last night, Bingley, but you have my congratulations on your engagement to Miss Bennet. She is a lovely girl; I am certain you will be happy with her.”
Darcy might have expected Bingley to reply with pleasure, jubilant thanks for his well wishes, or perhaps a long monologue concerning the virtues of his new fiancée. But Bingley surprised Darcy by regarding him with no little suspicion, his brows drawn down in a scowl.
“I might have expected condemnation or at least an attempt to convince me I was making a mistake. That seems to be all the rage, recently.”
“I do not know where I might have given you that impression, my friend,” replied Darcy, taking care to speak with caution. “I do not believe I have said anything against the Bennets. Quite the opposite, in fact.”
Though Bingley peered at him for a moment, suspicion alive in his countenance, he soon sighed and turned away. “You have my apologies, Darcy. Of course, you have not. It is simply . . .” Bingley paused for a moment, struggling with his emotions before his words came out in a rush. “After Caroline’s behavior last night, I remembered all the times you have counseled me regarding marriage and my attentions to young ladies. I hope you will forgive me if I expected you to advise me that marrying Jane Bennet would do me no favors in society.”
“She is a gentleman’s daughter,” replied Darcy, again speaking slowly to avoid being misunderstood. “She will not assist you in society in London, for she is an unknown there. But it is clear that is of no concern to you. No, my friend, I can do nothing other than congratulate you for finding a woman who makes you happy and possessing the fortitude to ensure she does not escape.”
Bingley nodded. “Then I accept your sentiments. Thank you, my friend. I cannot tell you how much your support means to me.”
“As much as your support will mean to me,” replied Darcy. Though he had not thought to inform Bingley of his own designs on a Bennet sister, Darcy felt now was the right time to do so. Bingley was not so caught up in his own happiness that he missed Darcy’s words.
“Oh? I will support you, of course, but I would like to know your meaning.”
“Only that I have designs on my own Bennet sister.” Bingley’s eyes widened in surprise. “Surely you have seen the attention I have paid to Miss Elizabeth.”
“I have, but I had not thought your interest so advanced.” Bingley paused and then continued: “And I have also noticed that Fitzwilliam has some interest in that quarter.”
“He has,” replied Darcy. “But I have confirmation from the lady that she is not averse to my presence, whereas she finds Fitzwilliam too intent upon flirting and flattery.”
Bingley’s countenance fell again. “He does lay it on a little thick at times.” Then Bingley laughed. “Then again, I suppose he is not so different from me. I would, however, prefer that he keep his opinions to himself. I am well aware of Caroline’s temper. He does not need to inform me of it.”
The situation demanded Darcy’s response, but once again he proceeded with care, not wishing to offend his friend as Fitzwilliam had.
“His manner in stating his opinion was, of course, deplorable. But in essence, I cannot help but think he is correct. Your sister has ever had an ungovernable temperament, Bingley, and she does you no favors with her behavior.”
A sigh escaped Bingley’s lips, and he put his head back against the chair in which he was seated. “And her behavior is bound to raise new problems.”
Darcy turned a sharp glance on his friend. “Do you speak of something particular?”
“Louisa came to speak with me this morning,” confessed Bingley. “She has been concerned about Caroline for some time now and is convinced she means to make an attempt to compromise your cousin. I have no need to tell you how this would affect our standing in society if she tried and failed, and the matter was made known.
“For that matter, I wonder if we could escape censure regardless.”
“Perhaps we should simply leave him to her,” muttered Darcy.
Bingley regarded him with a grin, quite incongruous to the situation. “That sentiment seems to be in vogue today, Darcy. When Louisa informed me of the matter, my first thought was to leave him to his fate.”
“He has been a bit troublesome lately,” agreed Darcy, “but I cannot allow him to be compromised into marriage. I would not wish him the misery of such a situation, and your sister might find that there are certain drawbacks to procuring a husband in such a way.”
“You flatter her,” was Bingley’s short reply. “Had she the status of a countess and the means to lord her position in society over all and sundry, I am certain Caroline would not allow herself to be unhappy.”
“You might be correct, my friend. But I cannot betray my cousin. Every feeling revolts against it, even though in some ways he deserves it.”
“Agreed,” replied Bingley. “Louisa has informed the housekeeper. If she attempts anything, we will ensure she is not successful.”
The two friends sat together for some time, and at length, Bingley did begin to extoll the virtues of his newly betrothed. Darcy was more than willing to simply listen to his friend. Moreover, Bingley injected more than a few comments about the goodness of her younger sister and Darcy’s rapidly growing feelings for her. He was beginning to think them both the most fortunate of men.