The words rang through the room.
Lady Anne sat perfectly still. Darcy did not move. Miss Bingley stared at her brother as though she did not recognize him.
“I warned you,” Bingley continued, his voice no longer raised but sharpened beyond comfort. “I told you plainly that I would not have the Bennet family disparaged beneath this roof. You chose to disregard me.”
“I am your sister,” she said, her voice rising. “I have every right to advise you—”
“You have every right to your opinion,” he cut in. “You do not have the right to wound those I esteem.”
She drew herself up. “If you persist in this folly, you will regret it.”
“I regret only that I did not act sooner. That I allowed you to have a second chance.”
When she made no move to comply, he crossed the room, took her firmly by the arm, and guided—indeed, compelled—her toward the door.
“You will prepare to leave at once,” he said. “You depart for Scarborough this afternoon.”
Her eyes widened in disbelief. “Scarborough? With Aunt Thistlewaite and her odious cats? I detest cats—they make me sneeze!”
“You should have considered that,” he replied coldly, “before disregarding my express warning.”
Her protests rose into something perilously near a tantrum. “Charles, this is absurd! You cannot banish me for speaking the truth!”
“As it is not truth, but merely opinion, I certainly can,” he said simply. “And I do.”
She began to protest again—loudly—but he did not release her.
Mrs. Hurst, who had been seated quietly near the hearth, rose at last and hurried after them as Bingley guided his sister from the room.
The door closed.
Silence followed.
Darcy exhaled slowly. He had barely registered Mrs. Hurst’s presence before her departure.
He certainly had not expected such steel from Bingley.
Lady Anne regarded the closed door for a moment, then turned her eyes upon Darcy. “Were you able to have your conversation with Miss Elizabeth?”
He nodded. “She… she asked for time.”
“That is something. She did not refuse.”
“No, she did not.” He hung his head. “She asked whether I would end the courtship if she declined.”
“And what did you answer?”
He hesitated. “That I hoped I should not be required to choose.”
Lady Anne studied him.
“And would you?”
He looked at the fire. “I do not know.”
She was silent a moment. “You ask her to accept more than distance,” she said gently. “You ask her to enter a life she has not lived.”
“I know.”
