Page 21 of The Gossip War
“Are you willing to call both Darcy and Elizabeth liars to their faces?” I said emphatically with my best hard stare.
Miss Bingley looked like she would, but her brother had just barely enough sense to realise he was in some danger, and calling Lizzy a liar may well get him a thrashing.
“I shall not go that far, but their engagement seems… conveniently timed.”
“In the unlikely event you ever meet the right woman, you will know how to act when the time comes.”
“What if I already have?”
“Then you should not be here. Travel to wherever she is in the world and woo her. I can assure you, in the strongest possible terms—she is not in Meryton.”
I wondered if the man was addlepated. Perhaps he thought to trade my Jane for his silence, or thought to threaten her with publicly breaking and spreading rumours about her stay at Netherfield, or who knew what? No man with a sister like his could be depended on to act rationally.
“I will—”
I was tired of his insolence, so spoke over him before he did his case any more damage.
“Mr and Miss Bingley!We are at cross purposes. Lizzy and Darcy’s engagement is an established fact. Another fact is that you and your sister attempted the vilest of crimes.”
“I dispute—”
“Do not dare!” Darcy said with a far more menacing tone than I could muster.
It is hard to say what would have happened with three men with their dander up, had Lizzy not entered the fray.
“Before you men start talking about breakfast for one, shall we get back to the purpose of this little meeting.”
That doused our flames a bit, and we all settled down.
Elizabeth said, “If you will, may we face facts.”
We were getting to the heart of things, so I took over with my planned speech. There was no need to make her doallmy work.
“The inescapable fact is that things happened in this house that could damage all our reputations. I have the most daughters at risk, but also the most powerful ally. I suppose you can hurt me, but Darcy can crush you. We are at an impasse.”
“My sister is still compromised,” Bingley said with mulish determination.
“I think not, and if she is, it is by her own hand… and yours!” Lizzy snapped, seemingly feeling left out. “That said, I very much expect you spread some money around for silence as William asked.”
“I did,” he replied mulishly, looking like he recognised her name for William as something he had not counted on.Good!
I leaned forward and gave him a stern look. “You should understand this. We can absolutely destroy you socially. My wife could do it by herself, without Darcy or me lifting a finger. That said, you cannot get a pig out of the mud without getting dirty.”
“What do you mean?” Miss Bingley screeched.
“Reputations are funny things, Miss Bingley. I suspect you are a practitioner of the dark art of spreading unfounded rumours. Such an action would kill you but injure us in the process. I will not allow that threat to stand.”
“What do you mean, allow?” the pup asked, and I thought we were getting somewhere.
I leaned back, removed my spectacles, and cleaned them with my handkerchief, not because they needed it, mind you, I just wanted to build tension.
“We had a war council this morning to decide whether to destroy you completely and utterly… or come to some accommodation. You could start rumours that would harm us… and neither Darcy nor I will allow that.
“I will not allow you to rush to town, marry some blunderbuss so you are more or less protected, then start your campaign.”
Jane let it be known that we were speaking for her. “We do not plan to live with the Sword of Damocles over our heads.”
Darcy finished, “We need to come to a binding agreement here and now. If we do not, we will unleash the dogs of Jane Bennet, and you have no idea how badly that will go.”
