She turned her gaze away.
“I know I have been especially hateful in all my dealings with the Bennet sisters. It shocked me to see how taken he was with her, the very man who never looks at any woman except to find a blemish, completely besotted with another. I felt a jealousy I had never known, one that colored my conduct with resentment of the acutest kind. I shudder to think how I must appear to him, the man I have loved, in silence and in folly, these seven years past.”
He placed an arm around her shoulders. “I will do what I can for you. Let us return to the inn to eat, and then I shall drive north with you to speak with our cousin and Uncle Ambrose. As for your disappointed hopes regarding Darcy, he never looked at you in that way. He is deeply in love with his wife and has eyes for no other. I can only hope that you will turn your back on him, and on any hopes you may still cherish, and learn to cling to your husband in the future.”
As they walked back, he asked gently, “Caroline, tell me plainly, did Augustus try to hurt you or force himself upon you? Is that why you are so distraught?”
She shivered, and his alarm deepened. “No, he did not, but Charles, you should have seen his eyes, the way he looked at me, and the things he said. They were words no gentleman would speak to a stranger, much less to a gently-bred lady. He repelled me. I believe the express you sent him somehow gave him license to think he might treat me as his plaything, as property. He believed he could take me to his bed directly after the ceremony.”
Bingley sighed heavily. “I am sorry, little sister. I did not foresee such trouble. I see now that I managed the whole affair in a most hurly-burly fashion. I will do what I can to set it right.”
When they entered the inn, Bingley bespoke a private parlor and ordered stew, bread, and mince pies. As they sat discussing Caroline’s situation, a knock sounded at the door.
“Come in,” Bingley called.
Christopher stepped inside. “Sir, a Mr. Augustus Stanbury is here, wishing to speak with you. He claims to be your cousin.”
“He is my cousin,” Bingley replied. “Please send him in.”
Caroline reached out and clutched her brother’s arm, her face troubled. Charles rose to meet his cousin as Augustus entered. The two men shook hands. Augustus’s eyes flicked to Caroline and then back to Bingley, his manner taut with displeasure.
“Charles,” he demanded, “had you anything to do with my wife’s flight from her home and her husband?”
“No, cousin. I received an express from my uncle and set out to find her. Augustus, I have ordered food and am very hungry. Let us dine first, and afterward we may speak of this calmly.”
Caroline interjected, “This concerns me. I wish to be present when you discuss my future.”
“Very well,” Bingley said. “Will you join us, cousin? We may talk while we await our luncheon.”
Augustus sat and looked at his wife. Seeing her pale face and the shadows under her eyes, his own expression softened.
Bingley hesitated, clearly uncomfortable. “I find this exceedingly embarrassing, but it must be said. Caroline is afraid of you. Augustus, have you no sense of decency? No address?”
Color rose in the other man’s cheeks. “To what do you refer, Charles? What indecency do you accuse me of?”
Bingley turned to his sister, but she was looking down at her hands, a pained expression on her face. “You attempted to press my sister into intimacies she was not prepared to meet. She had scarcely made your acquaintance before the wedding. How many days had you known her, cousin?”
Augustus looked abashed. “Three days.”
“Only three,” Bingley repeated gravely. “My sister was reared as a gently-bred lady, not a tavern girl. It was my understanding that you desired a wife who would rear your children in the manner of the gentry. Is that still your wish?”
“Yes,” said Augustus quietly. “It is.”
“Then I do not comprehend you,” Bingley continued. “You attended Harrow and later university. You have lived all your life among gentlemen; you know how a gentlewoman is to be treated. Why then did you behave in such a manner as to cause her to fear you?”
Augustus’s eyes fell. “You are right, Charles.” He turned to Caroline, whose gaze remained fixed upon her lap, her cheeks burning. “You are a very beautiful woman, Caroline. I have seldom seen such delicacy of complexion and flaming hair. I lost my head when I first beheld you. When I read Charles’s express offering your hand, I believed you were agreeable to the match, that you wished to marry me as I wished to marry you.”
Caroline lifted her eyes, surprise written plainly across her face for both men to see.
Bingley spoke at once. “I apologize, Augustus, if I gave you that impression. Caroline and I parted under strained circumstances. She was on the verge of making her name a byword, and I feared she would bring ruin upon our family. Since my father’s death, I have been unable to manage her temper or her whims.”
Caroline winced. She had behaved very ill indeed. How had she become such a loathsome creature? She had been a sweet child once; she knew, for her father had often said so. Her brother’s voice drew her back to the present.
“I confess I panicked. I asked myself who could guide her, and I thought of you. You are a man of strength and resolution, and I believe that, of all my cousins, only you possess the firmness of temperament to keep her in line. I see now how ill-judged that decision was.”
He turned to his sister. “I am sorry, Caroline. I grew weary of your antics and, in a moment of weakness, I offered you to our cousin, thinking he alone could govern your impetuous nature.”
When Bingley paused, Augustus spoke, his tone subdued. “I, too, must beg your pardon, Caroline. I am ashamed to admit that I lost sight of you as a person, with feelings and wishes of your own. I have not behaved as a gentleman ought, nor as my vows required. I have treated you as property rather than as the woman you are, deserving of respect. Though the law grants me authority over you, it does not relieve me of humanity. But it is not too late. We can begin again. Tell me, what may I do to help you feel safe in our home?”
