Caroline Bingley: A Continuation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (2 page)

"Oh, Caro!" Mrs. Newton whispered as she wrapped her pudgy arms around her daughter and held her close. "How pleased I am to have you here."

Caroline was briefly inundated by feelings of so tender and unfamiliar a nature that she could not name them. She inhaled deeply of her mother's scent, and tears welled once more in her eyes. She closed them tightly and willed herself to keep her rampant emotions in check.

She was not generally prone to so many displays of feeling in such a short time. Nor was she often compelled to share every tribulation and fear she experienced, but she was tempted to do so now as she rested in the comforts of her mother's embrace.

Caroline steeled herself against these emotions, for she simply could not tell her mother the humiliating truth of what had occurred.

Two

On that dreadful October evening, Caroline had endured long in the company of her sister Louisa and her husband Mr. Hurst at the inn in Scarborough, where the three of them had come to tour. After some weeks of incessant shoreline walks, Caroline had become bored, and thoughts of her brother and Mr. Darcy had begun to assail her.

The course of her musings often returned to her last glimpse of Mr. Darcy on the morning she, Louisa, and Mr. Hurst had entered the carriage bound for the shore, while her brother and Mr. Darcy, who claimed some mysterious business in town, had stood on the stone staircase at Pemberley to see them off.

As Caroline turned to offer them a departing wave, a most overwhelming feeling of inevitable change had crashed over her. Her brother and Mr. Darcy stood at the foot of the immovable Pemberley, but it was as if the whole building had somehow shifted or perhaps the earth itself had changed position in the heavens. Yes, something indefinable--and yet somehow also tangible--had altered since Miss Elizabeth Bennet and her companions had visited Pemberley, and Caroline had known then, as the carriage carried her away, that her circumstances would never again be the same.

But what precisely was occurring? She must know.

So distracted was Caroline with thoughts of her former companions that she had taken up Mr. Hurst's custom and began ignoring Louisa, who was opining again on the virtues of the seaside for improving one's complexion, when there came a knock at the door of their private sitting room.

"Oh, why must they bother us in our private chamber after such a pleasant meal?" Mr. Hurst moaned from his chair in the corner where he had been feigning interest in a newspaper.

"It is quite damaging to the digestion and such an inconvenience for someone to knock at this hour," Louisa agreed. "It is rather a jarring sound indeed."

Caroline's only reply had been to bid the servant to enter, for he might possess a letter bearing news of what had occurred since she left Pemberley.

To her greatest delight, the servant said, "A letter, ma'am." He presented the missive on a silver tray, bowed, and exited the room as swiftly as he had entered.

"Oh bother!" Louisa said as she touched a hand to her forehead. "Is it from Charles?"

Caroline checked the handwriting on the direction and nodded as anticipation welled within her.

Louisa leaned back into the sofa cushions and sighed. "Charles never has anything of consequence to say, but now we are obligated to take the trouble of writing back."

"Do not trouble yourself," Caroline said as she broke the seal and unfolded the letter. "I shall make the necessary replies, for he likely has no interest in hearing of the seaside's improvements on your skin coloring."

Louisa regarded her with an icy expression. "You are in a fine temper tonight, Caroline. Perhaps you might take some fresh air...."

Louisa continued speaking, but Caroline did not hear a word of it, for as she began to decipher her brother's messy handwriting, the room around her fell away.

Several strategic words fairly leapt from the page: "pleased to announce my engagement to Miss Jane Bennet...other happy news of Mr. Darcy's proposal to Miss Elizabeth Bennet...double wedding in Hertfordshire."

No, it could not be, Caroline thought, as she reread the letter more slowly this time.

Each word stabbed at her heart and pricked at her soul. It was true. Mr. Darcy was to be married.

There, in that blasted inn at Scarborough as her sister's voice droned in the background, Caroline's heart had rent in two. All her dreams of Pemberley had been spoiled and all her hopes for her brother destroyed in one practically illegible epistle.

She quickly thrust the letter into her sister's hands and excused herself from the Hursts' company.

Behind her, she heard her sister say, "Ah, you take my advice after all and are seeking some night air. It will be a benefit surely...."

Caroline did not respond to her sister, but rushed to her chamber, determined to hide her feelings somewhere deep within her and do her duty. She would write to her brother immediately and assure him of her felicitations, for that was what a sister ought to do, even if she believed he had chosen to wed a fortune hunter.

And that is precisely what Caroline did, though she gripped the pen with such ferocity that it nearly shattered. She looked upon the paper with tears in her eyes, and the words came in fits and spurts as she struggled with her sentiments. She knew what she must say, but she certainly did not want to say it.

She must say how pleased she was to hear of both engagements, how eager she was to attend the double wedding, how everyone would surely be blissfully happy from now on. But she simply could not issue a statement of outright approval.

How could she?

It had been the brightest wish of her family, especially of her father, that Charles might marry a woman of standing, and to see him shackle himself to a lady of significantly lower rank was painful. Caroline could neither approve nor rejoice in his decision.

But truly, Charles did seem pleased with his choice. Of course, Charles was easily pleased by everything and everybody he met. This was precisely why Caroline had been forced to conspire with Mr. Darcy to remove him from Miss Bennet's sphere early in their acquaintance.

Their party had stolen away to London, but Miss Jane Bennet could not be so easily thwarted. Under the encouragement of her sister Elizabeth no doubt, Jane had also gone to London to stay with her relations in Cheapside, causing Caroline and Mr. Darcy the trouble of concealing her presence from Charles for the duration of their stay. Caroline had not enjoyed her deceit, but she had believed herself to be acting only in the best interests of her family.

She had hoped that such a separation from Miss Bennet would remind Charles of his duty to his family and allow him to meet another young lady, albeit one who boasted a large dowry or who hailed from a titled family, with whom he might be equally pleased.

Unfortunately, his attachment to Miss Bennet was complete, and his feelings for her were much more deeply felt than Caroline and Mr. Darcy had imagined.

Yes, she had misjudged her brother and the force of his sentiments and had taken actions that injured him, but she had done so with the best of intentions. Indeed, both she and Mr. Darcy had nothing but the very best of intentions.

But now Mr. Darcy was to be married as well.

And to Miss Elizabeth Bennet!

One of the wealthiest, worthiest gentlemen in all of England was to wed a mere country miss of no fortune or standing.

Each time this thought entered her mind, Caroline was forced to lay aside her pen and paper for fear that her tears might cause the ink to run, leaving evidence of her brittle emotions for her brother to observe.

Caroline did not care for such displays of her own fragility. She did not care for the appearance of weakness in anyone, especially herself.

She must remain aloof and practical.

She must find a method of coexisting peacefully with the Bennet sisters, and the most expedient method for that was to scribe a letter to Jane, for she had a softer heart and more forgiving temperament than her sister Elizabeth. Besides, Caroline had no wish to throw herself upon the mercy of Miss Elizabeth Bennet, the woman who had been the source of her greatest sorrow: the loss of Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy's favor.

And so when she had finished her letter to Charles, she added a page to Jane:

My dearest Jane,

It is with true joy that I write to you this day, for I have just received my brother's letter, which informed me that I will soon be able to call you my sister. A happy thought indeed!

I hope you will not misinterpret my behavior to you in London, for I was acting based upon a misunderstanding of the true nature of my brother's fondness for you. Had I but comprehended the violence of his affection for you, my dearest friend, I would have never taken such pains to protect you from what I believed to be certain disappointment. My hesitancy to call upon you and your relations in Cheapside or to invite you to dine in Grosvenor Street issued from nothing more than my earnest desire to protect you from sorrow.

However, once I became aware of my brother's true feelings, which he had experienced from your first meeting at the Meryton assembly, I have been free to treat you in the manner in which I have always viewed you--as a most honored friend and, now, sister.

Please accept the most humble declarations of warmest emotion from

Your most devoted sister,

Caroline Bingley

Caroline remained determinedly practical until the moment she sealed the letter and rang for the servant, who came in short order with the promise that the missive would be posted on the morrow.

Then, upon the servant's departure, Caroline pushed away from the small escritoire, walked calmly to her bedchamber, and collapsed atop the bed linens as grief for the loss of her fondest dreams overwhelmed her. Pemberley, Georgiana, Mr. Darcy, a life of confidence and ease...they were all lost to her now.

Would Caroline never be able to exist without the fear that someone might discover her secret history? Would she always be forced to hide her lowly origins in trade? Would she be locked forever in an attempt to scrabble her way out of the middling classes toward the stability of polite society?

No matter how great her inheritance, society would always view her as a pariah, an unworthy outsider, unless she married well or managed to insinuate herself into the very best company. Now she had no hope of either.

It was utterly unfair that Miss Elizabeth Bennet had been chosen to rise in society while Caroline, who had worked to gain an education, to become well versed on any topic of conversation, and to excel at every worthy accomplishment, had been bypassed.

Caroline wept bitterly the night through, but in the morning she showed no hint of her true distress. If her eyes were a bit reddened, she would only claim that it must be the salty sea air that had irritated them.

• • •

Having been so certain of her victory in assuaging the feelings of the entire Bennet clan with one simple letter, Caroline had been quite surprised when, upon returning to Netherfield Park in November to prepare for her brother's wedding, she discovered that Charles had not been as mollified as his fiancee.

And what, pray, had been Charles's response?

He had begun thus: "Caroline, that letter was abominable."

Caroline had laid aside the book of history she had been pretending to read and looked into her brother's usually docile blue eyes. They flashed cold with anger, but she remained calm, saying, "Whatever can you mean, Charles? To what letter do you refer?"

His blue eyes flashed again. "You know very well to which letter I refer: the one you wrote Miss Bennet."

"Oh, that!" Caroline said with as much innocence as she could muster. "It was a letter of congratulations to your betrothed."

"Congratulations, indeed!" Charles clasped his hands behind his back and came off looking very regal, his head of light brown curls held high, as he continued, "Yes, you may have touched the heart of my dear, forgiving Miss Bennet, but from a brother's perspective, it will not do."

"Will not do?" Caroline repeated. "If Miss Bennet has seen fit to accept my felicitations and explanations, then I can see no reason why you may not."

"Do you not, Caroline?" He paused for a moment, clearly pondering his next words, and then he took on an air of determination. It was rare for such an expression to grace Charles's open features, but when he wore it, his desires must be respected, for he was the head of the Bingley family. "I am aware that you and Darcy conspired to separate Miss Bennet and me, and I am deeply ashamed at my own spiritless decision to believe you both when you proclaimed that she had no true feelings for me. Miss Bennet is so modest and reserved that I can well believe you both thought your interpretation of her behavior was accurate and that your actions were for my own good."