Page 145 of A Most Unwelcome Acquaintance

“No one has humiliated you.”

“Everyone saw him choose her.”

“Then do not make them watch you refuse to see it.”

Caroline faced her sister. “You have become cruel.”

“I am trying to prevent cruelty.”

“To whom?”

“To you, to Darcy, and to anyone you draw into this.”

Caroline looked through the window toward the summerhouse. After a moment, she crossed to the writing desk.

“I will not help you.”

“Help me? With what? I have said nothing about help.”

“No. You have not.”

Caroline’s restraint broke. “Then stop treating me as though I have confessed to something.”

Louisa held her gaze. “I am asking you to let this end.”

“You ask too much.”

“I am asking you to preserve what remains.”

The door opened before Caroline could answer. Hurst entered, looked from one woman to the other, and chose a chair with the care of a person who had walked into weather he did not intend to cross.

“Have I interrupted?”

“Yes,” Caroline said.

“No,” Louisa said.

Hurst sat. “Then I shall trust the answer that requires less movement.”

Dinner confirmed what the afternoon had suggested. Georgiana sat beside Anne and spoke without waiting for Caroline to draw her into conversation, while Darcy listened to his sister with an attention he reserved for matters he considered serious. Bingley described the return from Longbourn, taking care to omit Lady Catherine’s worst remarks, and Hurst supplied dry observations on what he heard.

“Lady Catherine found the dog objectionable,” he said after Bingley praised Sarah’s conduct.

“She found the whole county objectionable,” Anne replied.

“Did Miss Elizabeth encourage Georgiana to defy her?” Caroline asked.

Darcy set down his glass. “Georgiana made her own choice.”

“I meant no criticism. Miss Eliza has a talent for making independence look like virtue.”

“Independence requires no disguise,” Anne said.

Caroline turned to Georgiana. “You must have found Longbourn strange after Rosings and Pemberley.”

“I found it kind.”

“Kindness can conceal many deficiencies.”