As soon as she had Mr Darcy’s attention, as she was certain she would, she planned to suggest what a poor influence the Bennets were on his sister. Of course, she would hold herself out as the perfect example from whom his sister should learn how to act. As soon as he saw that, she was assured that Mr Darcy would then turn his attention to her. At the same time, she would promote the match she planned between dear Georgiana and Charles. She could not fail; of that she was supremely confident.
She glided down the stairs, her nose in the air, but she was somewhat surprised that there was no sound of conversation emanating from the drawing room door. Miss Bingley told herself that Mr Darcy was reading and had demanded silence. She remembered Charles saying something about his friend being a great reader.
Just before she entered the drawing room, Caroline stopped and pinched her cheeks so that they would be a nice hue of red and even more attractive to Mr Darcy.
With that done, again with her nose high in the air—as she imagined high society ladies walked—she glided intothe drawing room and waited to hear the exclamations of admiration, which after all were nothing but her due. After waiting for a few minutes and hearing no reaction to her ensemble, which was, after all, the height of fashion, she lowered her eyes. No one! Not one of them was present. She discounted them calling anywhere because she knew that the time for calls was between one and four o’clock. Had she paid attention to her lessons in Scarborough, she would have known that country visiting hours were earlier than the time for calls in London.
She cared not where Louisa and Mrs Hurst were, but she was sure that the men were ensconced in the study. As her temper began to fray, Miss Bingley did not think to ask the butler where everyone was. She marched to the study and, without knocking, threw the door open. The room was empty! Next, although she did not think it was a room her brother would frequent, but with his reading habits Mr Darcy might, she made for the library.
The door to the room was open, but it too contained not a soul aside from herself. By this stage, the anger and frustration had built to the point that it was boiling over. She stomped down the hall, back to the stairs and down to the ground level, where she found the butler at his post near the front doors.
“Where is my Mr Darcy?” Miss Bingley screamed in an annoying high-pitched, shrill tone.
The master and mistress had warned Nichols that Miss Bingley may react badly if she descended from her bedchamber and found no one at home. “Mr Darcy is out, Miss Bingley,” the butler replied stoically.
In her anger, Caroline pulled her arm back to slap the butler. Her hand never connected as the man caught her wrist in his hand. When she attempted to use the other hand, the resultwas the same. “How dare you touch me? You are sacked without a character! Leave my house now!” she shrieked shrilly.
“The master informed us that you may attempt to do some physical harm to some of us who are employed here. He gave all of us permission to defend ourselves in that case, as long as we do not harm you,” Nichols responded calmly, still holding the shrew’s wrists. “With all due respect, as I am employed by the owner of this estate and you are neither the temporary master nor the temporary mistress here, you have not the authority to sack or employ anyone.” He released her wrists and stepped back out of range.
Miss Bingley felt pure, white-hot rage. She wanted to slap the man, but she was aware that he would just catch her hand again. How dare this peasant disrespect her so? And worse, that her brother dared to permit the nothings to defend themselves against her. It was her right to do what she chose to do to those so far below her.
“Then have a carriage readied and take me to the others, now,” Miss Bingley commanded. “We will see what my brother says about you assaulting me!”
“The master did not tell me where he went. However, even had he, both Messrs Hurst and Darcy instructed that no one is to use any of their conveyances without their direct say-so,” Nichols responded politely.
Although Miss Bingley knew there were riding horses in the stables, she had refused to learn to ride, so that was not an option, not to mention the fact that she knew not where the others were. She suspected but was not sure. Then, something else struck her. The butler would report this to Charles and Louisa, causing her to be sent away. As bitter a taste as it left in her mouth, she needed to apologise to the nobody butler.
“Please pardon me, Mr Nackle, I was overwrought. I will return to my bedchamber.” With that, Miss Bingley turned on her heel and stomped her way upstairs to her chambers. She decided that she could not even take her frustration out on her lady’s maid, as she suspected that too would reach Charles’s ears.
Nichols was not at all surprised that Miss Bingley did not remember his name. He supposed thatNacklewas at least reasonably close to it.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The Hursts, Darcy, and Bingley were welcomed warmly at Longbourn. Fanny, Elizabeth, Mary, and Gigi were waiting for them in the drawing room. After the arrivals were welcomed and greetings exchanged, they were informed that Catherine, Lydia, and Tommy were completing the morning’s lessons with Miss Firth and would join the family in about a half hour.
As she had planned to, Louisa sent the children and Nurse up to the nursery where Arthur would be able to join Tommy in his lesson. The wetnurse, with Ignatius in her arms, followed the others upstairs.
It surprised no one that Darcy went to sit next to Elizabeth as soon as the pleasantries had been exchanged. What was something new was that Bingley approached Miss Mary and requested her permission to share the settee with her. After a slight delay, she invited him to sit.
Leticia and Louisa joined Fanny and Hurst took himself to the study to visit with Bennet. The latter had been busy with plans for spring planting so he had not heard the coach arrive.
“If I am disturbing you, I can return to the drawing room,” Hurst offered when he saw Bennet was busy.
“No, please remain. It will be good to speak to someone while not having to watch Darcy making love to Lizzy,” Bennet stated sardonically. “Do not look at me so; you will understand my sentiments when Tisha reaches this stage in her life.”
“I was wondering if it was because you do not approve of Darcy,” Hurst admitted.
“No, if that was the case, I would not have granted the courtship. It is not easy to watch the girls become adults and then leave home. That is why I said you will understand all too soon.”
“I suppose there is some truth in that.” Hurst paused as he cogitated. “Bennet, now that you have an heir, why have you not annexed the land you purchased from the previous owner of Netherfield Park to Longbourn? I thought I heard you tell my late father that it was your plan to do so.”
“You are no Lizzy, but in this case, your memory is true. I am waiting until Tommy is eighteen and we first break the entail. If, heaven forfend, Tommy does not reach that age, I want to be certain there can be no challenge to the ownership of the land and dwelling I built on it. The contact I have had with the Collins branch has shown them to be grasping and avaricious, so I will not give them reason to attempt to claim back the land the first Collins lost.”
“Surely the entail is clear about items not covered by it?”
“It is,” Bennet agreed. “That would not stop a Collins from trying to take more than he was due.”
As Hurst listened to Bennet, he had an epiphany. He had known since he and his late father first met Bennet how the spectre of the entail hung over the Bennets’ heads. Something Bennet had once said about it being obscene that the family who caused the need for the entail could possibly benefit from it was dead right.
