Page 79 of Master of Netherfield
“What happened with Hargrove? I offered him an additional thousand to marry you this summer.”
“You offered him money to marry me?” she gasped, unbelieving to hear of the arrangement. “My dowry is sufficient!”
Charles nodded. “He was interested after the Musgrove party, but I found he needed an additional incentive to take you to wife. What did you do to cool his interest?”
Caroline frowned before finally explaining, “His sister came to town to visit, and I did not care for her gowns. They were last season’s fashions, and she grew offended at my comments.”
Shaking his head, Charles rose from his seat. “Sister, I cannot find a suitable man to marry you. None with titles or wealth care for your sharp tongue and none who need your dowry would treat you well enough.”
“If only Mr Darcy...”
“No! Do not even hint at that, Caroline!” Charles ordered. “He said plainly that he has no interest in you as a wife.”
The brother and sister exchanged cold looks for a moment before he continued, “Remain here and I shall beg lodging until Saturday when we return to London.”
At the door he paused and asked, “Will I hear a very different story from Hurst or Hargrove when I see them, Caroline? It would be better for you now if I know all.”
Caroline did not answer, and Charles feared there was more to the story than what his sister had revealed.
**++**
Elizabeth sat in the parlour with her sisters and Georgie, listening to Mrs Annesley’s instruction on playing the duet. When the door opened, and a maid entered with a note on a silver tray; she approached Miss Darcy and curtseyed as she presented to parchment with her name in her brother’s handwriting.
“What can William need to tell me so urgently when he will be here for dinner in another hour?” she asked as she broke the seal and then read the note. Her eyes grew wide as she read and once done, she passed the note first to Mrs Annesley to read and then to the Bennet sisters. When it came to Elizabeth’s hands, she read it quickly and then read it a second time to try and understand what Mr Darcy had written.
**++**
I shall be a few moments late this evening for supper Georgiana. Do not worry but please inform Mrs Bennet that I am uncertain if Mr Bingley will attend us tonight. Bingley’s sister, Miss Caroline, appeared at Netherfield this afternoon in a rented coach followed by a wagon of trunks and hat boxes. It appears she came expecting a long visit. I shall not allow more than three nights and Mr Bingley will leave with her to find her a suitable situation in town. I do not know more than that and wish to know less. All will be well. William
**++**
Elizabeth looked up as Georgiana began giggling and could not stop. Mrs Annesley caught Miss Darcy’s eye but rather than cease giggling, Georgiana explained her gaiety.
“Do you remember the day Miss Bingley brought her brother to call in London, Mrs Annesley? I told my brother then that she was determined to be my best friend and would certainly show up for tea someday accompanied by her trunks.”
Kitty, Lydia and Mary joined Georgiana with giggling while Jane and Elizabeth tried very hard not to laugh aloud. Mrs Annesley shook her head and stifled a few laughs before covering her mouth with both hands.
“Did she really invite herself to stay at Netherfield?” asked Kitty. “I did not think even gentlemen were allowed to do that.”
“It is very wrong, Kitty,” Elizabeth agreed. “She should have written her brother for assistance and waited for him to come to her.”
“There must be something that we do not know,” Jane tried to say. “Something that has driven her from her home in London to seek her brother’s aid.”
Elizabeth knew that her eldest sister had a growing regard for Mr Bingley, but his younger sister was becoming a concern. She glanced ather own sisters and wondered how she would act if Kitty or Lydia had turned out wild and unladylike as Caroline Bingley.
“Thank Providence we had the Darcy’s in our lives to bring us higher.”
**++**
Charles Bingley approached the Netherfield library with some hesitancy–not that he feared Darcy’s wrath but rather his own shame in addressing with his sister’s impropriety in the home of his friend. A footman guarded the library door, an unusual sight, but the man opened the door as Bingley approached. Inside Darcy and his secretary were reviewing a letter from another estate and speaking quietly. Bingley walked to the window and stared at the gardens where a pair of men gathered limbs fallen in the last rain. The rose garden still offered a few blooms in the autumn sunshine.
“Bingley,” said Darcy from his side. Startled just a bit, Charles blushed then turned back toward the view from the window.
“I hope someday to have as pleasant a view from my own window,” he told his friend. “It must strengthen you to see such order around your home.”
“Indeed, it does.” Darcy hesitated for a moment but then asked, “And how does your sister fare? I thought she was to become engaged to Douglas Hargrove.”
“Caroline wanted a husband with money and a family history. Hargrove was interested and willing to marry her this summer, but I fear she put him off by insulting his sister or some other unnecessary thing. And I wonder what she said to our sister and her new husband. Hurst is a calm, level-headed fellow; for Caroline to appear with all her trunks, he would have closed my house and left town. But I have received no letter from him with complaint.”
