Just when he had believed she was warming to him, he was sure after that news that he had lost her forever.
The reason he volunteered to convey Wickham’s body to Pemberley was more than he had said. He could not bear to remain and be the target for his beloved’s scorn. This way, at least, he could remember the warmth in her looks before this tragedy.
One thing he did know; he would never be able to love another.
Chapter 11
On their return to London, Miss Bingley demanded that her brother call on Mr Darcy to announce their arrival. She, of course, was with him as she told her brother that Mr Darcy needed to see hisspecialfriends to cheer him after their absence.
Caroline Bingley was convinced that Miss Darcy appreciated her company and guidance in all things fashionable. After all, the mousy girl’s face showed admiration when Caroline regaled her with the lateston-dit. It was, she was sure, vastly impressive to the young girl who she needed to convince of her friendship until she married Mr Darcy. Of course, then they would send her away to a boarding school until she was old enough to marry Charles.
Miss Bingley was dressed in one of her garish burnt orange ensembles with four tall ostrich feathers dyed to match her gown. Mr Bingley had never been able to tell Caroline that what she considered fashionable caused many to laugh at her behind their fans.
As was his wont, rather than fight with his sister and have her unleash a tantrum, Bingley took Caroline with him. Darcy did not like him arriving at any of his homes with Caroline without issuing a specific invitation to her. Charles would rather suffer Darcy’s disapproving looks than Caroline’s vociferous vitriol if he did not do what she desired.
Bingley had been reluctant to leave Scarborough and his latest angel, but in this too he was not willing to put up with Caroline’s behaviour if she did not get her way. He supposedit was not so very bad because although Miss Cartwright was pretty, she was not close to Miss Bennet in looks. It was a pity Miss Bennet had had no tender feelings for him; if she had loved him, she could have been the one for him.
Bingley was pulled out of the thoughts of his various angels when his coach slowed and then stopped. He looked out of the window and saw they were before Darcy House. It was strange that no Darcy footman was on duty to attend to them. His own footman placed the step and opened the door. Bingley alighted and then handed out his sister.
Miss Bingley stood admiring the mansion, already imagining all the changes she would make to it as soon as she married Mr Darcy. His décor was far too simple for her tastes.
There was no missing the possessive look in his sister’s eye. Although he had never told her so, Bingley was well aware that Darcy would never offer for Caroline, even if she attempted a compromise. Again, his not relaying what Darcy said was to avoid exciting a tantrum by his sister. He hoped she would not resort to that because even if he wanted to demand that Darcy do the right thing by his sister, he was cognisant of the fact that Darcy had all the power in society and the Bingleys had none. Just then he noticed that the knocker was not on the door.
“Come, Caroline, we should leave. The knocker is down,” Bingley suggested.
“That does not apply to me…us,” Miss Bingley insisted. She proceeded to flounce up the stairs and used the handle of her parasol to knock on the thick oak door. There were no sounds from within, so Miss Bingley knocked again, this time with more force, which resulted in the handle of her parasol breaking.
There was movement to Bingley’s side. One of the Darcy footmen must have exited the houseusing the servants’ door.
“You there, boy. Have this door opened immediately,” Miss Bingley commanded when she saw the footman. “Well, do not stand there like a lump of coal. Mr Darcy will not be well pleased when he hears how his friends have been treated.”
“The master and Miss Darcy are not in residence,” the man related. With that, he turned and was gone.
“Well I never!” Miss Bingley exclaimed, her feathers waving in the breeze as she shook her head. “To leave us on the doorstep is unacceptable. As soon as I am the mistress here, I will sack that man with no character.”
“Caroline, be reasonable. What would you have him do? If the Darcys are not here, he has no authority to let us in,” Bingley said to placate his sister.
“I suppose that is true,” Miss Bingley owned as she walked down the stairs back to the Bingley coach. She threw her broken parasol at the footman holding the door. His reflexes were sufficient that he caught the damaged item. As she had when she alighted, she had to manoeuvre her head so her feathers did not break on the doorframe of the conveyance. “That is very high-handed of Mr Darcy to leave London and not inform me…us.” She claimed once they were under way.
“In that case, do you want to tell him that?” Bingley challenged.
As she only wanted Mr Darcy to think she always agreed with him, Miss Bingley snapped her mouth shut, sniffed loudly, and she pretended as if she was very interested in the passing scenery until they arrived at Hurst House.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
From the time the guests departed his home, William Collins had been in a bad mood. He was annoyed that Cousin Elizabeth had never even once acknowledged the error of herrefusal of his generous offer of marriage. No matter how many times, subtly and not so subtly, he had enumerated all the advantages her stubborn refusal had cost her, she had not been moved. If anything, she had seemed amused.
Now he was stuck with a plain wife, and his plan to make his cousin jealous by offering for her best friend had come to nought. The only reason he had agreed to allow his wife to extend the invitation to his cousin was so he could lord over her everything that could have been hers had she only accepted his hand. Not the least of those benefits had been his close connection to the house of de Bourgh. His cousin had not been deferential in the proper way to his patroness like he was. In fact, at times she had been impertinent.
He had been sure that Lady Catherine would put Cousin Elizabeth in her place, but for some unknown reason, the great lady seemed to tolerate his cousin’s impertinence.
One thing was certain. The day her father passed from this world into the next, sooner rather than later, he prayed, he would have the pleasure of throwing her from his house. To show her how foolish her refusal of him had been, he would make his point by evicting anyone named Bennet still living at his estate. Being sure that no one would ever offer for Cousin Elizabeth, the thoughts of taking his revenge on her and her family made him feel warm all over. She would pay for forcing him to offer for a plain woman.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The morning after he had told his family the truth of the entail, Bennet arrived at his brother-in-law Phillips’s office just as the latter began work for the day.
“Bennet?” Phillips’s eyebrows shot up to see his brother-in-law out and about when he would normally be in his study with coffee and a book. “Iseverything well at Longbourn?”
