‘Miss Bennet is to marry Lord James Deveril,’ Caroline said through gritted teeth as she looked up at her brother.
‘I know. She will make a wonderful duchess,’ said Bingley in a resigned tone of voice. On his way from Gardiner House, he had thought of everything the ladies had said and come to realise that they had valid points. While it would take him some time to completely come to grips with their opinion of him, he had already accepted that he had lost Miss Bennet… to a better man.
‘How can Miss Bennet become a duchess. Lord Deveril is the second son,’ Caroline corrected him.
‘True, but his older brother has no children, making Deveril the heir presumptive.’
Caroline made sound somewhere between a huff and a mirthless chuckle. ‘What is it about that woman that everything I want comes to her without effort?’
‘Perhaps because she is a better person than you.’
‘If only Mr Darcy –‘
She was interrupted by her brother, ‘Give up any ideas you still harbour about Darcy. From what I have seen, he has made his choice, and it is not you. It is Miss Elizabeth Bennet.’
‘How can that be?’ Caroline wailed. While she had suspected that might be the case last night, she did not want Bingley to confirm her suspicion. ‘He said that she was only tolerable.’
‘He said that because he was in a foul mood because I insisted that he should dance at that assembly which he only attended because he would not risk being in a house alone with you.’
‘But I would have been perfect for him!’
‘No, you would not. I would not wish you on my worst enemy,’ he said in a tired voice.
‘How dare you,’ cried Miss Bingley and would have berated her brother but when he held up his hand she stopped in surprise.
‘Caroline, for once you will listen and pay attention.’ That forceful tone stopped the incipient tantrum. ‘I would like to say that your abysmal behaviour has cost me the good opinion of my friends and society, but that would be giving you too much credit because much of what happened was my own fault. I should have made you behave with consideration. I should never have allowed you to abuse everyone around you.’
He grimaced with distaste and resignation. ‘I hate confrontations and I allowed you to rule the roost because I did not want to deal with your tantrums. But that is finished. Neither of us is welcome in polite societyanymore. I have made mistakes with which I must live, and you must live with the consequences ofyouractions.’
Caroline opened her mouth as if to object, but Bingley only gave her a hard stare as he continued. ‘Tomorrow I will see my solicitor and release your dowry to you. I concur with Lady Matlock’s advice that you should find a different town to live in. Pick a town and I will help to get you settled. After that you are on your own. Then whatever you do, I will not be around to watch you do it. I am going back to Scarborough and do what I am good at… help Uncle Arthur run the business.’
Bingley sighed again and with a final comment, ‘I suggest that you start packing,’ left the room.
~T~
When Caroline Bingley entered the dining room that evening, a most peculiar sight greeted her.
In her usual place at the table, a plate had already been placed and on it resided her newest bonnet.
Ranged in the centre of the table were half a dozen sauce boats, each containing a different sauce.
Bingley was leaning back in his chair and gestured for her to take her place.
‘What is all this? What is going on here?’
‘I asked the cook to make several sauces since I am not familiar with which sauce is the best accompaniment for a bonnet.’
‘Why would I wish to eat a bonnet?’ Caroline asked although with this prompt, her memory replayed a conversation she had had with Charles weeks earlier.
‘Because Miss Bennet’s uncle, Mr Edward Gardiner is forty years of age, and you swore he could not be a day over five and thirty.’
He gestured towards the bonnet. ‘Bon appetite.’
That was the last straw. All the pent-up frustration of the last day found an outlet at last. Caroline picked up a sauce boat and threw it at her brother before dashing out of the dining room and up to herbedroom where she threw herself onto her bed and cried like she had not done since she was a child.
~T~
31Honour
