‘Et tu Brute?’
‘That is how you got into this mess in the first place because you thought that everyone should render onto Caesar… forgetting that you are no roman emperor.’
The Earl rolled his eyes. ‘Enough of this nonsense. The tone of the invitation was dictated by your aunt’s vexation with your behaviour and its consequence and the fact that it has become public knowledge that a whole town asked you to leave.’ He added with a withering look, ‘Since you react badly to surprises, as you demonstrated earlier, I thought it best to warn you so that when we start discussing the subject, you watch what you are saying.’
Darcy shook his head. ‘But why would the ladies, and Miss Elizabeth in particular, help? What would they get out of it?
‘Miss Elizabeth gets to torture you,’ Richard answered with a grin.
‘How?’
‘By correcting you, every time you are wrong.’
‘Oh no,’ groaned Darcy and briefly closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he glanced around the room and addressed the other occupants. ‘I was a complete fool. I most humbly apologise.’
‘I hope you have learnt something from this,’ the Earl allowed.
‘Yes, sir. Richard has a very heavy hand.’
~T~
The gentlemen re-joined the ladies and were served tea or coffee according to their preference.
The Earl nodded at his wife and said, ‘We have cleared the air.’
‘Thank you.’ The lady nodded and smiled before addressing the company. ‘As I mentioned earlier, an article appeared in the paper telling a story of bad behaviour and its consequences. Not only that, but this morning Lady Sefton came to warn me that this story was already being bandied about amongst her acquaintances.’
Darcy grimaced and sighed, but before he could say anything, Lady Matlock continued. ‘I suppose some people will call me arrogant or selfish or something similar, but I wish to protect our family name from being dragged through the mud. I would even prefer if my nephew would not become a laughingstock… although it would be well deserved. Consequently, I was hoping for your assistance to mitigate that rumour and return it to the person who I believe was primarily responsible for distributing it.’
‘How do you plan to do that?’ asked Mrs Gardiner. She had stayed out of most of the discussion, but she was concerned if Lady Matlock’s plan was going to negatively impact her nieces.
‘By all of us being seen in public and Miss Elizabeth pretending to be on amiable terms with my nephew.’
Elizabeth turned a pitying look on Darcy.
‘I am exceedingly sorry to have caused such an uproar,’ said a very contrite gentleman.
Now that Darcy seemed to be genuinely sorry, Elizabeth thought it time to enlighten him and the rest of his family. ‘Mr Darcy, you flatter yourself if you think that you are important enough that one rude comment from you would cause a whole community to come together to evict your friends from the neighbourhood. Your insult was simply the last straw which broke the camel’s back.’
‘I beg your pardon?’
Jane added with a rueful smile, ‘We had been subjected to Miss Bingley’s brand of fashionable manners for weeks. The… ah… lady appears to be under the impression that the daughter of a wealthy tradesman ranks above a member of the gentry and as a consequence managed to irritate every single person with whom she had contact.’
‘And some without having contact,’ quipped Elizabeth.
‘Surely, your neighbours could not object to Bingley! He is the most amiable man I know.’
This time it was Mary who answered. ‘Yes, Mr Bingley was amiable, but he became fixated on my sister, and he would not take a hint and leave her alone. Gentlemen do not make pests of themselves.’
Elizabeth grimaced as she took up the narrative. ‘And of course, there was the matter of the estate. Mr Bingley claimed that he was leasing Netherfield to learn about estate management and to see if the life of a landed gentleman would suit him. Yet he never became involved in any decisions. He ignored the harvest. He ignored everything to do with the estate and the tenants. Several of our neighbours offered to assist with advice, including our father who despite not being the most assiduous landowner himself was offended by Mr Bingley’s lack of attention, but he had not the slightest interest.’
A humourless laugh escaped Elizabeth. ‘Mr Bingley cited you as the perfect example of a conscientious landowner. Unfortunately, it never seemed to occur to him to emulate his role model.’
‘Then you at last arrived, but instead of turning his attention to the estate, the gentleman was still more interested in socialising. That was the point at which our uncle requested Mr Bingley to give up the lease.’
‘So, as you can see, your part in this fiasco was really quite minor, although the timing made it appear more important than it was in reality.’
Lady Matlock started to chuckle. ‘It seems that when I spoke to Lady Sefton, I inadvertently told the truth. That should make things easier, at least if the Misses Bennet are willing to be seen with us?’
