Bingley said, “I am once again so grateful for all ofyourdiligence, Darcy. I owe you so much.”
“I am happy to help.”
“I was wondering why Mr Robertson did not erase the incorrect numbers. I have seen him do so before, with a little scraping tool and some powder—I am sure you know more about this than I…. But this time he just added a line at the bottom. Why did he do it that way, now?”
Darcy nodded. “That is a good question. When writing financial records, if a clerk or steward makes a mistake but immediately catches his own mistake, he uses his tools to erase and rewrite the correct number. However, you as master audited his books and discovered a mistake he had not caught and corrected. Do you see how erasure at this point might look suspicious, or might seem to be claiming that no mistake had been made? Whereas, adding an adjustment line specifically points to the mistake made but makes the correction mathematically, thus keeping the books balanced.”
Bingley nodded; the answer was logical and consistent with his own values of integrity and clarity.
At that moment, Mr Conrad knocked on the study door. Asked to come in, the butler apologised for the interruption and presented an express. Bingley opened the note, read it, and sighed. He thrust the note towards Darcy and rang for Mrs Nicholls. He was going to need some rooms prepared.
The note was a terse statement from his brother-in-law, Gerald Hurst, who had discovered that his wife, Louisa,and their sister Caroline had hired a coach to take them to Netherfield. He was hurrying to ready himself to follow with his carriage. “If you need to send your sisters packing, I will be on hand to take them back to London. If you wish for another solution, we can discuss that. Again, my apologies on behalf of my wife.”
Bingley saw Darcy’s frown, but a second later, Darcy looked up from the note with an admirably neutral expression. “From what the servants told Hurst about their time of departure,” he said, “your sisters could be arriving any minute now.”
Of course—of course!—at that very moment clamour broke out, with a very strident woman’s voice rising from several other sounds. “Where is my brother?”
Bingley’s lips formed the nameCaroline!He did not bother to voice what was, in his mind, both a complaint and a prayer for patience.
Seven
As arranged the day before, Darcy had sent his carriage to pick up, and bring back to Netherfield, Miss Bennet, Miss Elizabeth, and Miss Mary. The day's riding lesson had been scheduled after luncheon.
The moment he heard the carriage wheels on the gravel drive, Bingley hurried out to meet them, wishing to give them a warning about his sisters’ arrival before they entered the house. Darcy followed.
Bingley waited until all three ladies had been handed out of the carriage. Then, instead of offering his arm to escort Miss Bennet, he lifted one hand as if to pause everyone’s forward movement. “I must beg your pardon in advance of any injury to feelings that might occur inside. I came to Netherfield without my sisters, because I could not count on them to be friendly or even well-mannered to neighbours. As you know, I sent for my aunt once I wished to entertain here.”
“I remember you mentioned your sisters. One is your elder and married; one younger and unmarried,” Miss Bennet said.
“Yes. Today they arrived, uninvited, on my doorstep not half an hour ago. Pray, allow me to speak plainly: my dearly departed parents tried to be good people, and in my opinionthey succeeded for the most part, but somehow my sisters emerged from their seminary school as ridiculously status-minded snobs. I will attempt, if they level insults at you, to mitigate them, but I wished to explain my disapproval of their manners before they reveal themselves.”
He watched Miss Bennet’s face, and he saw that she had lost her usual serene expression. A quick glance at her sisters revealed that they seemed unsurprised and undismayed.
Miss Bennet opened her mouth but then hesitantly closed it again. Miss Elizabeth said, “Thank you for your frankness and the warning. I feel we are well-girded, now, to face whatever comes. Lead on, sir.”
Once they achieved the drawing room, Bingley made the introductions. Darcy had made his wishes known ahead of time, so when he was finished presenting the ladies to one another, and they all made their curtseys and said theirpleased to meet you’s, he said, “Miss Elizabeth has recently become betrothed to Darcy, so I should have introduced her as “Miss Elizabeth Bennet, about to become Mrs Darcy.”
He was impressed that Caroline only made the slightest gasp of surprise. For the duration of his friendship with Darcy, she had sought to recommend herself to him. If flattery of his person, agreement with his every utterance, and cutting remarks about every other single woman in England could have won Darcy’s regard, they might have been married years ago, but none of that appealed to Darcy. Though Darcy unambiguously showed his complete lack of romantic interest in her, and as directed, Bingley had privately told her that Darcy wouldneveroffer for her, she had continued to act as if her failing strategy would eventually win him over.
Looking from Darcy to Caroline, and then to Miss Elizabeth, Bingley nervously waited for his younger sister’s response.
“Mr Darcy, you naughty thing, you,” Caroline practically purred. “Every lady in London at your feet, and you run off to the wilds to find a bride. How very amusing.”
As usual, Louisa followed their younger sister’s lead; in this case, she giggled as if she too were amused.
Darcy replied, “As delighted as I am to divert you, that was not the motivation for my choice. Miss Elizabeth is the daughter of a gentleman, from a family that has owned their estate for several centuries. Apart from her respectable family, she has a unique blend of talents that will enable her to be one of the best mistresses of Pemberley inmyfamily’s long history.”
Bingley almost swallowed his tongue. His friend’s words were more like knife thrusts than he had expected. Caroline had no reason to put on the airs she had adopted, especially given the fact that she was not even the daughter of a landed gentleman—and thus his mention of the Bennets being landed gentry for centuries could be seen as an insult directed towards her.
Caroline’s wide smile seemed to ignore Darcy’s words, however, and she said to Miss Elizabeth, “I so look forward to getting to know you, Miss Elizabeth. Since Darcy is a dear friend of mine, I certainly hope thatwecan be friends.”
“Me as well,” Louisa said.
Even if Bingley had not known how negative his sisters would feel towards Darcy’s chosen lady, and even if he had not anticipated that they would look down at the Bennets, despite their higher status, because they had neither wealth nor connexions—even without this knowledge, Bingley would have heard the insincerity, and he imagined that Elizabeth had, too.
“I do enjoy meeting new friends,” Elizabeth said. Bingley decided that her smile seemed open and friendly, but her eyes seemed to hold a laugh, and he assumed that the laugh was at his sisters’ expense.
Just as his aunt entered the drawing room, Mr Conrad announced the meal was ready. Bingley offered his arm to Miss Bennet, but he was stunned to see Caroline swishing quickly past all the guests to take the hostess’s place at the end of the table. He frowned at Caroline and was about to manhandle her out of Aunt Abbott’s rightful place, but the latter, who was being guided to another seat by Darcy, placed a placating hand on Bingley’s arm and shook her head.
