Now, however, Caroline would not see reason. When Caroline had embarked on this campaign, Louisa had been her confederate, eager to ensure their family rose from its origins to become a consequential name in society. Yet, while Caroline stubbornly clung to her belief that Mr. Darcy would eventually surrender and make her one of the leading lights of society, Louisa could now see how the man maintained his distance. Mr. Darcy’s detachment had gradually grown to a guarded disinterest, and finally, of late, it had progressed to disdain.
Now that she considered it, suspecting what she did of the gentleman’s current interests, that last change had taken hold about the time of their stay in Hertfordshire the previous autumn. The chances Mr. Darcy might offer for Caroline, never great, had dissipated entirely. When the Darcys had last visited Charles’s house for dinner before his disastrous eavesdropping, Louisa had noted Mr. Darcy’s increased inability to tolerate Caroline and had seen the exact moment when he had determined he did not wish to subject himself to her airs any longer. Louisa had continued to humor her sister, but she had known at that moment any possibility of Caroline capturing him was gone.
The last few days until Caroline convinced Hurst to go toHertfordshire, Louisa had attempted to steer Caroline away from her doomed pursuit of the gentleman. Several men had expressed an interest in Caroline in previous seasons, and as the situations of a few were fortunate, the chances of Caroline catching some man of a lower sphere appeared to be much better. Yet Caroline would hear nothing of it, would berate Louisa if she even mentioned such a possibility, and nothing she said had made any difference to her sister. Caroline was determined to capture Mr. Darcy—no other man would do.
Now they had reached this end, thought Louisa as Caroline’s wild gesticulations accompanied her continued tirade. This was a side of her that Mr. Darcy had never seen, that Caroline never betrayed to anyone other than Louisa. Caroline had a petulant streak that manifested itself whenever she did not get her way. She did not descend to violence, hurling items around the room in a desperate need for destruction—for this, Louisa was grateful, for she had no notion of how she would endure a violent Caroline.
The question now was what Louisa could do to pull her sister back from the brink. She had seen the expressions of their guests when Caroline made her attempt to blacken the Bennets’ good name. Disdain was the most benign feeling betrayed by the family, and Louisa had thought Lady Catherine might denounce her right there, promising to ruin her in society. That shehadpromised to do just that should Caroline breathe a word of the matter to anyone was the least that could have happened.
How Anne de Bourgh of all people had wound up in such a predicament Louisa could not say. Louisa knew better than to push a family of the prominence of the Earl of Matlock to retaliate. Hopefully, Caroline understood how she could ruin the family with one ill-conceived comment in the wrong ears. Louisa had no wish for Charles to marry Miss Bennet, though she was a good sort of girl. She would accept Charles’s choice a thousandtimes over rather than risk vengeance from the earl’s family.
“Louisa,” snapped Caroline, drawing her attention back to her sister. “You must not be so dull while we decide what is to be done. Why, I dare say you heard not one word in ten!”
One word in twenty, more like, thought Louisa to herself.
“It does not seem there is much to be done,” said Louisa, suddenly tired of the whole affair. “If Mr. Darcy’s response does not prove his disinterest, I do not know what will.”
“That is unacceptable,” snapped her sister. “I have invested three years of my life into this effort to provoke a proposal from Mr. Darcy. I shall not surrender now when I was so close to success.”
“Oh, Caroline,” said Louisa, “I cannot understand what you see when you look at Mr. Darcy. Have you ever looked at him and attempted to comprehend him? Has he ever given the impression of a man who saw you as anything other than the sister of his friend?”
“I have no notion of your meaning,” said Caroline with a frown. That was an improvement on what Louisa had expected, for she had thought her sister would respond with angry words and denunciations. “What have you seen?”
Louisa knew Caroline had asked her so that she could better plan what she must do to change his opinion. To Louisa, this was a chance to persuade her sister away from what was becoming a disastrous failure.
“Mr. Darcy does not see you as a woman he is considering for his wife, for he displays none of the appreciation of a man interested in a woman. He pays you the precise degree of civility due to the sister of a friend and not a jot more, and his ability to discern exactly what deference he owes you is frankly astonishing. Did you not notice his abrupt departure when he dined with us last week?”
Caroline frowned. “What do you mean?”
“What I mean is how he was speaking with you, and suddenly he turned to Georgiana and announced their departure. I know it did not escape your attention, Caroline, for I saw you watching him after, wondering what he was about.”
“Ididnotice something of it,” said Caroline, her speech the slow cadence of deep thought.
“Well?” asked Louisa when Caroline did not elaborate. “Have you any notion of what provoked him? Of what were you speaking?”
Caroline’s mien darkened, informing Louisa that she had recalled. “We were speaking of Miss Elizabeth. If you recall, he spoke of meeting her in Kent—that was when he informed me.”
“Did you say anything to give him offense? That conversation led to his swift retreat.”
“I do not remember,” muttered a sullen Caroline. “It may have been something about her situation and her unfortunate failure to capture Mr. Collins for a husband.”
“That is nonsensical, Caroline,” said Louisa, shaking her head in dismay. “My feelings for Miss Elizabeth are not much friendlier than yours, but I can see how a marriage between her and the ridiculous parson that attended our ball would be a most uneven marriage.”
“With her disadvantages, it was foolish for her to allow the opportunity to pass her by,” insisted Caroline.
There was no reasoning with Caroline, though Louisa needed to attempt it. “Why can you not see the futility of your designs? Mr. Darcy’s comments about her in the autumn, his meeting with her in Kent, and his recent behavior toward her all suggest he considershera potential bride. He has never paid a tenth as much attention to you.”
Caroline’s eyes blazed with anger. “I shall not allow it,” hissed she. “Losing to Eliza Bennet is more than I can endure.”
“There may not be a choice, Caroline,” said Louisa. “If Mr.Darcy wants her, then he will have her. What he does not want isyou.”
“Then perhaps it is time to change my strategy,” mused Caroline, already forgetting about Miss Elizabeth.
“What do you mean?” asked Louisa, alarmed. “Surely you do not mean to attempt a compromise. Do not be foolish, Caroline!”
“Of course not!” rejoined Caroline. “I seriously doubt it would move him, even if I could engineer a success.”
“Then what are you suggesting?” demanded Louisa.
