Page 60 of Miss Gardiner
Darcy kept his face blank, but he was dismayed to hear his friend spent funds without any hope of return on the investment. Richard’s face registered his disdain to hear a man dismiss laying out several thousand pounds for a lark; Bingley had played the part of a landowner for only three months.
“Rosings Park will require the attention of the master,” the colonel insisted to which Charles motioned toward Darcy and said that his friend had employed a proven steward to manage the estate.
“And the company in Hertfordshire? What was it like?” asked the colonel, changing the subject.
“The ‘company’?” Bingley asked. “I do not understandyour question.”
“The society; the families you met at gatherings,” Richard explained. “There were suppers and dances, were there not? I hear that you are a gregarious fellow.”
Bingley grinned and replied, “There were pleasant families and beautiful ladies. We danced and flirted. The gentlemen shot pheasant and hunted fox.”
“I understand you found one young lady particularly appealing; a Miss Jane Bennet,” Colonel Fitzwilliam said.
Bingley’s smile grew wider if possible as he said, “Ah…Jane is an angel. She is a beautiful woman who strolled everyday among the clouds and calmed my soul.”
“I believe everyone in the neighbourhood observed you court Miss Bennet.”
Now Bingley’s face grew less animated, and he replied, “We enjoyed each other’s company for many weeks. But I was not looking for a wife.”
He grimaced and added, “My sister Caroline made my life a misery when she thought I might offer for Miss Bennet.”
Darcy interrupted and declared, “Charles, you told me that you wanted to marry Miss Bennet!”
But Bingley waved away his friend’s statement with a single negligent wave.
“Mr Bingley, did you ask Miss Bennet to marry you?” asked Colonel Fitzwilliam.
“A gentleman says things in the heat of the moment that he does not mean,” Bingley replied, again waving away the question. “What is your meaning asking about Miss Bennet? I have not heard of her since leaving Hertfordshire.”
“Miss Bennet had expectation of marriage with you, Mr Bingley,” the colonel continued.
While Bingley said nothing and took a drink from his mug of ale. Colonel Fitzwilliam pulled out a folded sheet of paper and addressed their uncomfortable guest, “Bingley, I hold a letter that you wrote and gave to Miss Bennet in which you ask her…beg her to marry you. You state that the wedding would occur before Christmas.”
“Where…” Bingley asked as he held out his hand for the letter. When Richard would not hand over the paper, Charles rose and walked around the table to view the letter held in the soldier’s hand.
“Miss Bennet was in love with you, and she kept the letter.”
“It is just one letter,” Bingley said nervously, backing away andreturning to his seat to once again drink from his mug of ale.
“But earlier you threatened us with the courts based on a single letter from Lady Catherine de Bourgh,” Richard reminded the man. “Based on the letter you wrote and gave to Miss Bennet; I believe her father would have a case in court against you.”
“Against me?” Bingley rose and stalked about the room for a moment before spitting, “One letter…with the right lawyer I shall not be convicted.”
Then Richard Fitzwilliam pulled out the entire pack of letters and said, “Seventeen letters in all, each one swearing eternal love, and several promising marriage.”
“God’s teeth…” Charles swore. “What do you want? Must I marry the girl? She is lovely but her family is horrid.”
“Charles, Miss Bennet is dead,” Darcy stated bluntly, not caring if he caused the man any pain.
“Jane is dead?” Bingley asked and the horrible truth of the matter gave him pause.
Seeing the man thinking, Colonel Fitzwilliam added fuel to the fire saying, “Within a week of your departure from Hertfordshire, Miss Bennet was forced from the family home by her father. Can you imagine her life after that disgrace? Banished from her father’s house with despicable men preying on her? Her life would have been continual degradation and horror. You seduced Miss Bennet and ‘ruined’ her in the eyes of polite society, Mr Bingley. Her father certainly has a case against you…”
Darcy interrupted, saying, “Charles, you are despicable. You seduced a maiden with promises of marriage and then deserted her.”
“Your father did the same, Darcy,” Charles stated coldly.
“My father took a mistress,” Darcy admitted. “But the lady was not a maiden, and she understood the arrangement from the beginning. He supported her during his life and left a settlement for her support after his death.”
