“This business has arisen because of my actions,” replied Elizabeth. “I shall not wait at Longbourn for you to return with news—I must have my part in it.”
This time, he chuckled at her insistence, and Elizabeth, thinking back on Lady Catherine, reflected on how much she had echoed the lady’s confident declarations. She pushed the thought to the side, not bothered by it. Elizabeth was not at all impressed by Lady Catherine, but the ladywasa forthright, active sort of person. In that respect, Elizabeth did not think she was at all different from the great Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
John, Longbourn’s footman, soon arrived, and when Mr. Bennet gave his instruction, he returned with a small cot, placing it near Lydia’s door and settling in for what remained of the night. Elizabeth returned to her room, hoping, rather than expecting, that she could again fall asleep.
PERHAPS DARCY SHOULDhave expected it. Miss Caroline Bingley was not the sort of woman to allow anything contrary to her designs to pass without comment. Confronted not only with the failure of her plan to separate her brother from Miss Bennet, but also her failure to lure Darcy into her web—this would not go unchallenged.
When the Darcy carriage arrived at Bingley’s townhouse the following morning, he found not only his friend waiting for him, but Miss Bingley nearby, her face set like marble. As Darcy knew her preference for town hours and her custom of never appearing before ten o’clock, there could only be one reason for her presence. Bingley, curiously, wore an expressioncloser to sardonic amusement than his typical cheer, though the eagerness with which he regarded everything was not absent.
“Darcy!” greeted Bingley when he stepped from the carriage. “You are punctual to the minute, as usual.”
“Of course, I am,” replied Darcy, avoiding Miss Bingley’s displeasure for the moment. “There is some reason for haste, after all.”
Miss Bingley’s scoff was not unexpected. “Returning to Hertfordshire demands haste? That is curious, Mr. Darcy, for I am reliably informed that your opinion ofthatneighborhood is as mean as my own.”
“Good morning, Miss Bingley,” said Darcy, unwilling to engage with her. Miss Bingley, however, was determined.
“What is good about it, I cannot say,” said she. “Were we not in agreement about the inadvisability of returning to Hertfordshire?”
“Whatever agreement we had was in your mind alone,” responded Darcy, his tone cool.
“Caroline,” said Bingley, a hint of warning in his tone, “as I informed you last night, the time for discussion is at an end. You would have done better to stay in bed. Darcy and I have decided—there is nothing you can do to alter that decision now.”
“If you persist in this mad endeavor, you will ruin us in society.”
The siblings glared at each other, neither willing to give an inch. When the response came, it was low and measured, unwilling to accept defiance.
“Let me be clear, Caroline. I am returning to Hertfordshire, and you arenotto follow. The decision is mine, and I mean to have it—I shall not recant, regardless of your ambitions in society or all your arguments to the contrary.”
Darcy had never seen his friend like this before, and it was clear that Miss Bingley had not either. Though she glared at him,Bingley remained immovable and unwilling to listen. After she had stared at him for a time, she sniffed with disdain, threw Darcy a furious glare, and disappeared into the house. As the footmen had already loaded Bingley’s luggage onto the roof, there was nothing to do but enter and be off.
“Thank you for your insistence and your honesty, Darcy,” said Bingley when the carriage was in motion. “I can never repay you for that.”
Curious, Darcy said: “It is nothing, Bingley, but I will offer a caution. I have no notion what we will find in Hertfordshire, or even if Miss Bennet will receive you.”
“That is true,” acknowledged Bingley, “but at least you have given me the chance. Before you informed me of Miss Bennet’s visit to town, I was not aware of the full extent of my sister’s scheming nature. I shall not be so naïve as to trust her again.”
“Then she confessed?”
Bingley’s snort spoke eloquently to his feelings. “If you accept my demands to know the truth as confession, then I suppose she did. I am not so foolish as to believe that she told me all, but I believe that I have the important points.”
At Darcy’s request, Bingley related the specifics of what he had learned from Miss Bingley. When he completed his explanation, the intelligence filled some gaps of what Darcy knew, but left other parts open.
“I was aware of her three-week delay,” said Darcy. “When she informed me of it, I told her it was poorly done, but she did not listen to me at all.”
“If I might beg your pardon,” said Mrs. Annesley, who had been listening but not commenting, “even avowed enemies will hesitate to make such an open statement of contempt.”
“Which is exactly what I told Caroline,” said Bingley with a decisive nod. “Her oft-stated claims of friendship for Miss Bennet made her calculated condescension even moreegregious. Caroline is not under any illusions about how ashamed I am of her conduct.”
“Miss Bingley could not have liked that,” said Darcy, enjoying his friend's actions to take his sister in hand. Darcy had warned him of the necessity often enough—that Bingley had acted would only assist his friend, not only in society, but also to take control of his house.
Bingley bared his teeth in a grin. “You will find that I care little for my sister’s opinion at present.”
“Then you mean to pursue Miss Bennet?”
“I do,” said Bingley with nary a trace of hesitation. “At present, I do not know if I wish to marry her, but I wish to discover the extent of my feelings and learn her sentiments. If they are aligned, I shall offer for her.”
“Then I congratulate you, my friend,” said Darcy. “Should you persuade her, you will be a fortunate man, indeed.”
