“If Jamey proposes to me, then I will write to my parents,” Jane replied. “It is an advantage that both Lizzy and I are of age. We do not need anyone’s permission to marry.”
“It is still hard for me to believe that Lizzy is one and twenty. No one gets younger. Eddy is close to turning thirteen; Lilly and May will be eleven in June, barely two months from now. We cannot forget Peter, who will be eight in a few days! It seems like yesterday that you and Lizzy came to us for the first time, some years before Eddy was even conceived, and now look at both of you, ladies full-grown.”
“Although it was not what those who interfered between Mr Bingley and me intended by their meddling, had they not done what they did, I may have never met Jamey. As much as I thought at the time that Mr Bingley was for me, I know that my connection to Jamey is much deeper. It is built on bedrock, not fluffy clouds.”
“Has Lizzy replied to your last letter?”
“No, I do not expect one until Monday or Tuesday. You do not think I was too harsh with Lizzy, do you?”
“I do not. Lizzy needed to be woken up and face the factthat her opinions might, in fact, be wrong,” Maddie stated.
Jane picked up the book she was reading when Aunt Maddie left the room to confer with her housekeeper.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
From White’s, Bingley made directly for Hurst House. He had not been happy with Darcy for his part in misleading him. However, he had forgiven him before deciding he needed distance between them in order to take charge of his own life and not revert back to relying on others to make decisions for him. Bingley knew that until he, as Miss Bennet said, matured and became his own man, the temptation of looking to others would be too strong.
Bingley alighted upon arriving at the house on Curzon Street. This was not his home, yet he had been naïve enough to pay for everything, from the food and drink purchased to the salaries of the staff and servants. That stopped here and now. He had words he needed to have with his sister, but he also had to make it clear to the Hursts that he would no longer fund their lives.
“Where is Mr Darcy? Did I not tell you to invite him for dinner?” Miss Bingley demanded as soon as her brother entered the drawing room.
“You had better hold your tongue,Sister. Now sit, be quiet, and listen to me well.” Bingley also looked at the Hursts. “All of you.” He glared at his younger and then older sister. “When you told me that cock and bull story about Miss Bennet, did you not forget some salient facts? Like the fact that Miss Bennet called here in early January, and you waited a month or more to return her call? Did it also slip your mind to mention that you were rude to her and cut the acquaintance while telling her a fiction about me and Miss Darcy?”
“This is not the way you may speak to us!” Miss Bingley screeched. She prevaricated all the time, but she hated beingcaught in a lie.
“It is the only way I can speak to those who place their selfish needs and desires ahead of my happiness.” Bingley sighed. “I saw Miss Bennet before coming home; she is lost to me.”
“Did I not tell you she had acceptedcarte blanchefrom the Earl of Holder?” Miss Bingley crowed.
“That is so much folderol! Unlike you, who tells untruths as easily as you breathe, Miss Bennet does not have a dishonourable bone in her body! The day you saw her, she had accepted a courtship from Viscount Hadlock, and he was bringing her home, well chaperoned, mind you, to share the good news with his family,” Bingley revealed.
“I told you she was a fortune-hunting, social climber! She could not have you, so she sunk her claws into a much wealthier, titled man.” The truth was Miss Bingley was feeling deep-seated jealousy that the insipid Miss Bennet had somehow trapped a noble, especially one from a family even richer than the Darcys. She would not let this stand! As soon as may be, Miss Bingley intended to call at Holder House to warn the Carringtons all about the Bennets and their lack of wealth.
“Like everything else you say, you are wrong again. Miss Bennet was in love with me, or believed herself so, but after your performances and my cowardice in not going to discover her feelings for myself, she realised I did not love her enough to fight for her. From what I was told, she did not pursue Lord Hadlock; he pursued her!” Bingley looked at his younger sister with disdain. “It is very strange,Sister, that most men do not find your cloying and fawning attractive. I should have told you this when Darcy first told me, but I will tell you now! He willneveroffer for you, and if you compromise him, he will not honour the entrapment. You will ruin yourself more than you have already.”
“That is a lie! Mr Darcy would have offered for me in Hertfordshire if it had not been for that hoyden Elizabeth Bennet and herfine eyesdistracting him from his duty to me!” Miss Bingley insisted. “I will go to Darcy house, and you will see he will refute your vile words.”
“Firstly, you are delusional. How many years have you been chasing my friend? From the first time you met him until now, he has yet to look at you with affection, never mind offer for you,” Bingley refuted. “Do not waste your time going to Darcy House, as you will never again be admitted to any of Darcy’s homes. If you approach him in public, he will give you the cut direct. His patience with you has run out. Ignore me at your own peril.” Bingley knew he should tell his sister of the growing storm in which she would soon be the centre. As he had said to Darcy, she would not believe him in any case, and the only way she would learn was by feeling the wrath of those arrayed against her.
“Charles, that is rather harsh, is it not?” Mrs Hurst enquired. She would not look at her brother and was playing with her bracelets, as she did when she was nervous.
“I thought better of you, Louisa! You sat there while Caroline made those vile, untrue accusations about Miss Bennet, all the time prevaricating to my face. You said not a word; you never told me the truth,” Bingley accused. “All you did was sit there playing with your jewellery. Before you use the tired excuse of supporting Caroline to keep the peace, I know it well, and it is no more valid for you than it was for me.”
“I care not how you speak to Caroline, but it is not your place while you stand in my house to speak to my wife the way you are doing so,” Hurst stated after he had been woken by his sister-in-law’s screeching.
“I will not be here much longer, as I am about to make some much-needed changes in my life,” Bingley responded.
“And what would they be?” Miss Bingley asked derisively. She had always been able to control her brother, and she was sure as soon as this petulance was over, she would rule him once again.
“I will release your dowry to you, Caroline. But it will not be twenty thousand pounds; in fact, it will be closer to fifteen thousand pounds,” Bingley said calmly.
“My dowry is twenty thousand pounds, and you cannot reduce it!” Miss Bingley shrieked shrilly as she stamped her foot.
“As the head of the Bingley family, I may do so. The money you are losing covers all of your overspending and the replacement cost of various items I have had to pay to replace each time you have had one of your tantrums,” Bingley related. “If you want to read Father’s will, go and do so, but you will see that I do in fact have that power.”
“You cannot do that! What will Mr Darcy say?” Miss Bingley whinged.
“As he is not interested in you, he will say not one word, nor will he care.” Bingley looked at his older sister. “Louisa, have you ever seen one time that Darcy has encouraged Caroline in the smallest measure?”
