Page 40 of Elizabeth and Caroline
Caroline decided not to mention the fact that she had purposefully gotten on her brother’s nerves in order to force him to send her here to London. Certainly, Elizabeth would have come up with a more elegant solution than all that. She was much better at influencing people.
“Well, a title or someone connected to a title,” said Elizabeth. “Like Mr. Hurst, who had a baroness grandmother.”
“Better than Mr. Hurst,” said Caroline. “I can do much better than that.”
“Indeed,” said Elizabeth, tapping her lower lip thoughtfully. “All right, well, what sort of men might fulfill this? Who are the titled men out there in need of your dowry, Caroline?”
Caroline mused over this. “Well, there’s the Duke of Everlie, but he’s a bit on the old side, I suppose, and I would be his third wife.”
“How old?” said Elizabeth.
“Late sixties, I think,” said Caroline with a shrug.
“Absolutely not,” said Elizabeth, shaking her head. “Caroline, I promised you would know what it was to fall in love, to be cherished and desired, and I cannot think someone old enough to be your father, who is still in need of money after going through the dowries of two wives, is going to do that for you. Indeed, he sounds like a very awful choice.”
“He’s a duke,” said Caroline.
“Oh, please,” said Elizabeth.
“Yes, but I would be a duchess,” said Caroline. “That is a balance against a host of other things.”
Elizabeth only blinked at her.
Caroline sighed. “He does already have an heir and a spare, of course, so… it wouldn’t be ideal. If I had children, they would not matter to him in quite the same way, so I suppose I wouldn’t put him at the top of the list.”
Elizabeth eyed her, shaking her head. “Come now, Caroline, there must be someone who you want for some other reason besides his status.”
“I have told you before that this is what I want from a marriage,” said Caroline, feeling a little miffed that her friend was harping on it in this way.
“I suppose you have.” Elizabeth was resigned. “Is there no one else, then?”
Caroline listed other titled men, but it became clear that Elizabeth was looking for something else, some romantic interest, and she finally exploded that “you, yourself, Eliza, did not even feel that for Mr. Darcy until after you were married!”
Elizabeth looked stunned. “W-well… I suppose it seemed that way—”
“Itwasthat way,” said Caroline heatedly. “I spoke to you the night before your marriage, if you remember.”
“Of course I remember. That is when we made our vow,” said Elizabeth.
“Yes,” said Caroline. “It was different, your attachment to him then and your attachment afterward.”
“True,” said Elizabeth, “but it wasn’t because I didn’t feel things for him before—well, I suppose it was, actually. But I didn’t feel as if I could feel those things for him. I didn’t feel as if I was permitted to feel those things. I didn’t think I deserved it. I didn’t think anyone could love me. But he does.”
“Well, that’s you,” said Caroline with a shrug. No one loved her. Perhaps her father had, long ago, but everyone was loved by their parents, after all.
“OH, HEAVENS,” SAIDMr. Darcy that night at dinner. “We cannot go to a ball yet. You haven’t even met my sister.”
“I know I have not met your sister,” said Elizabeth.
“And I should present you to the Matlocks first, I think,” said Mr. Darcy. “However, they are not in town currently, so it may not matter.”
Elizabeth was nervous, twisting her hands together under the table, waiting for his response.
“I thought we were happy enough just on our own,” said Mr. Darcy. “Do you have a hankering for society events now, Elizabeth?”
“I have told you before that I have plans to make a match for Caroline,” said Elizabeth.
He lifted his gaze to hers from across the dinner table. “This again.”
