~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
As soon as Bingley saw the six trunks against the wall in the entrance hall, he had no doubt his wayward sister was in his home—uninvited and unwelcome! Before he exploded with anger, Bingley needed to know everything.
Bingley looked at the trunks and then at Nichols. “Miss Bingley, your aunt, is in the drawing room awaiting your return home,” the butler informed the master.
“This is private family business, William and I will take ourselves to our chambers,” Richard drawled.
“Nonsense,” Bingley retorted. “Besides, it will assist me to hear your opinions of what needs to be done about her.”
The three men entered the drawing room to find an agitated Aunt Hildebrand. She quickly related the facts of her niece’s arrival and how speedily the rented carriage had been dispatched.
“If she thinks sending her rented conveyance back to Town will somehow keep her here past the morning, then she is far more delusional than I thought her to be,” Bingley shook his head.
“You are aware, are you not, that your sister still believes Mr. Darcy will marry her?” Aunt Hildebrand enquired of hernephew.
“Surely not, she has been told more times than I care to remember he will never offer for her,” Bingley whistled in disbelief. It was not that he was fooled about his sister’s ambitions, Bingley was fully aware of her social climbing and fortune hunting desires, he just could not, perhaps did not want to, believe she had slipped the bounds of reason to such an extent.
“Charles, she has failed to attain that which she desires through, what she thinks are, means fair. Now, it is my belief she will try to compromise Mr. Darcy to get her way,” Aunt Hildebrand opined.
“It will gain her nothing,” Darcy stated firmly. “As I have said in the past, I will not allow her or any other woman to force me to marry where I have no inclination.”
“I have a suggestion,” Richard spoke up. He had been listening up to now and formulating a strategy to try to stop his friend’s sister from ruining herself.
“Well, what is it young man?” Aunt Hildebrand questioned.
“We go speak to her plainly, like I did with the now Mrs. Hurst,” Richard proposed.
“It may turn her away from her ruinous path,” Bingley averred. It was more of a wish than an expectation.
“As much as you do not want to contemplate it,” Aunt Hildebrand placed a calming hand on one of her nephew’s forearms, “you must be prepared that she will see nothing but her delusions. In that case, I am afraid she is too far gone and…”
“Yes Aunt, you do not need to say it. If I see no other way, I will take that step,” Bingley said resignedly.
“There is no time like the present,” Darcy suggested. He wanted the delusional shrewish harpy dealt with. When he thought of his future, he conjured a pair of emerald-green eyesin his mind’s eye.
There were nods from the other three in the drawing room.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
While in the middle of contemplating all she would do and purchase as Mrs. Darcy once she was married after successfully compromising him, Caroline was snapped out of her imaginings as she heard the key being turned in the chamber door. She scowled when she saw her aunt enter, followed by her brother. She was expecting a dressing-down, which she would of course ignore.
Her visage brightened up and she began batting her eyelids coquettishly when she saw the object of her matrimonial designs enter the chamber with his cousin. She stood and straightened her gown while directing her most alluring look at Mr. Darcy.
“Miss Bingley, are you well?” Darcy enquired.
“I have been treated infamously, but I am much better for seeing you,” Miss Bingley averred as she batted her eyelids furiously.
“You must have something in your eye which is causing you to do…well, I do not know what to call it. Should we summon a doctor?” Darcy asked all the while keeping his expression deadpanned.
Miss Bingley froze her facial expressions. How was it Mr. Darcy was not attracted by her actions? He thought her ill!
“As for the way you are being treated, you are most fortunate it was our aunt who was home and not me when you arrived uninvited. I would have had you under guard at the inn and on the post first thing in the morning!” Bingley barked at his wayward sister. “What did you think you would achieve by coming here? Have I not told you over, and over, and yet over again Darcy willneveroffer for you? He is here before you, why do you not ask the man himself if you will not believe me?”
“Why would I bother dear Mr. Darcy with such…” Miss Bingley began to reply when Mr. Darcy raised his hand. She stopped, thinking surely he was about to put Charles in his place.
“Miss Bingley, you will not call me yourdearanything,” Darcy bellowed. Miss Bingley shrank back, her confident look wiped from her smug face. “You are not now, nor will you ever be, more than the sister of a friend. You are one who I do not find even close to tolerable enough to tempt me! I am in no humour at present, or ever, to give consequence to a supposedladywho deserves to be slighted by all men. You had better give up this impossible delusion of yours. You are wasting your time with me.”
Caroline Bingley heard the words but did not process the meaning. It could not be! She would never accept the death of her dreams.
