“Novelty,” Louisa repeated. “Is that what we are calling Miss Elizabeth?”
Caroline’s eyes cooled. “Miss Elizabeth possesses liveliness. I grant her that. It appears to amuse him.”
“And you do not?”
Caroline gave a short, controlled laugh. “I do not perform for amusement.”
“No,” Louisa said calmly. “You perform for position.”
Caroline met her sister’s eyes in the mirror. “And you think I miscalculated?”
“I think,” Louisa said, returning to the chaise and lifting the darker gown, “that Hertfordshire has afforded Mr. Darcy more leisure than is beneficial. He observes too much.”
Caroline’s fingers resumed their work, though more briskly now.
“There is something about Eliza that irritates me – the way she smiles, the way she must have an opinion on everything.”
Louisa considered her sister. Mr. Darcy showed no signs of having any plans regarding her sister. It was a difficult topic to discuss with Caroline. As if to confirm her fears, Caroline continued.
“He will tire of her.”
“Will he?”
“He must.”
Louisa considered her sister, though she did not immediately reply. It was not a subject she chose to press. “Charles, at least, shows no sign of fatigue.”
Caroline’s expression hardened. “Charles is in danger of something far more permanent.”
“You believe him attached?”
“I believe him infatuated,” Caroline replied crisply. “Which, in his case, may amount to the same thing.”
Louisa began folding one of the discarded gowns with methodical care. “Jane Bennet is harmless,” she said. “But she is precisely the sort of girl who will never encourage him to think beyond his first inclination.”
Caroline’s voice dropped. “And he has never had much practice in resisting inclination.” There was no bitterness in the remark. Only assessment.
Louisa glanced toward the door before speaking again. “The ball tomorrow will be decisive.”
Caroline’s eyes flickered. “In what sense?”
“If matters continue as they are, Charles will consider himself obliged to remain here indefinitely.”
“That will not answer.”
“No.”
A longer silence.
“You propose London,” Louisa said finally.
Caroline did not hesitate. “Naturally. Business, engagements, society. Reminders of who we are. Charles will leave for London…”
“And Mr. Darcy?”
Caroline paused. “He will return to town with us.” Though even as she said it, she was conscious that certainty had begun to require effort.
“And if he does not?”
