Elizabeth was surprised that Caroline was admitting this aloud. She supposed she’d suspected it. There had been something in the letter that Caroline had sent to Jane when they all quit Netherfield, in fact, that had hinted at a connection between Mr. Bingley and Miss Darcy. “Well, no, I did not know that, but I suppose it is, er, well, not an entirely surprising revelation.”
“Yes, you did guess,” said Caroline, sighing. “And I must say, I cannot understand my brother at this juncture. He courts Miss Bennet for weeks in London and then invites her here, which must mean that he is quite interested, must it not? However, if he is so interested in her, why has he not asked for her hand? Then Miss Darcy appears here, and I confess I find it all very awkward.”
Elizabeth blinked at her. “Do you.”
“Yes, ever so awkward,” said Caroline. “I wonder if all of it has anything to really do with Miss Bennet or if it is all about my brother’s anger with Mr. Darcy, you see? He was livid that Mr. Darcy had lied to him. I think that may be what is keeping him from uniting with Miss Darcy, even now, but I have always thought they shared a special understanding.” She gave Elizabeth a guileless smile.
“A special understanding,” Elizabeth repeated.
“I do not mean to say anything that would cause pain or discomfort for dear Jane, of course. I adore her! I always have. She is all that is sweet and good, of course.”
Elizabeth glared at Caroline. Perhaps Caroline did not deserve to be liked, not at all. Anyone who could pretend to be kind whilst actually being cruel was not a good person, was she?
“So, I hesitate to bring it up at all, but I do think that Charles has that special understanding, you see? He and Miss Darcy have such a history, after all.”
“And you and Mr. Darcy?” said Elizabeth pointedly. “Have you two shared a ‘special understanding’ also?”
“Oh, I have known Mr. Darcy for years now,” said Caroline airily. “He is the sort of man who makes you feel as if you are the only woman in the room. He will focus entirely on you, and he will be so careful and serious, thoughtfully considering everything you say. You get ideas about what Mr. Darcy thinks about you. But then you realize he’s simply like that with everyone.”
Elizabeth could not resist laughing. “If you’re trying to convince me that Mr. Darcy doesn’t treat me differently than he treats other people, you’ll not succeed, I’m afraid, Miss Bingley. And I don’t mean to be cruel, but perhaps someone should simply say it to you plainly. I think the fascination between the two of you is one-sided.”
Caroline stopped walking.
Elizabeth shrugged. She might not be able to couch her barbs the way Caroline did, to make it seem as if they were not barbs at all, but she could lob her own barbs. “Apologies,” she said coolly.
Caroline turned on her, and Elizabeth read the expression on the woman’s face, and then she only felt ashamed of herself. Maybe she was reading it all wrong. Maybe Caroline wasn’t doing it on purpose?
Elizabeth began to speak, trying to dig herself out of it. “There was a better way to have put that, I’m sure. I have a bad habit of being too blunt at times. Mr. Darcy is obviously free and available, and perhaps, if you weren’t always so servile when you were with him, he might not think of you the way he does. I don’t think he is attracted to women who simply agree with him.”
Caroline swallowed, her face turning white.
Elizabeth sighed. “Apologies again,” she said. “That didn’t really help things, my saying that, did it?”
Caroline abruptly started walking. She spoke again, her voice high-pitched. “You seem to have come to know him rather well, then?”
“Mr. Darcy, you mean?”
“Yes, I suppose it all occurred whilst he was at his aunt’s house and you were staying nearby. I suppose you formed some kind of intimate friendship then, and he confessed to you the sorts of women he was attracted to.”
“No, no,” said Elizabeth, falling into step with her. “We have both heard the sorts of women he thinks he’s attracted to, have we not?” She thought about it. “Actually, it was you who described it, I think, and he simply agreed. The woman with the thorough knowledge of simply everything and who had something in the way she talked and walked?” She smirked. “Oh, he did say that a woman must read, I suppose.”
Caroline eyed her, confused.
“I’m only saying, he doesn’t know why he is attracted to women,” said Elizabeth. “But when he is, there is very little doubt of it on the part of the woman.”
“So… what? There is something between the two of you?”
“There is not,” said Elizabeth, shaking her head. “No, no, that is not it.”
“But he pursued you?”
“He proposed,” said Elizabeth. “But I said no.”
Caroline stopped walking again, aghast. “You said no?”
Elizabeth stopped walking, too, readying her defense of all of that, but realizing she wasn’t sure if she even had one anymore. “I know him better now, I suppose. Perhaps if I had known him then, I might have said something else. I don’t know. But it doesn’t matter now, because it’s all done and over with.”
“How is it done and over with?” Caroline was walking again, wringing out her hands. “He is still in love with you, then. Everyone saw him go to you like a shot when he saw you, and that little hushed conversation you conducted together, and then there is the fact that when the two of you are in the same room, he stares at you.”
