“Yes.”
“Let us have another tea party; but this time, invite the girls you call the nobodies.”
Caroline sighed. “Very well, Jane. I will take your advice. But, Jane…” she trailed off.
“Yes, Caroline?”
“I think I need new clothes.”
“I agree. For some reason, you have always favored colours that do not suit your hair or complexion, and you insist on too much ornamentation.”
“But they are fashionable gowns!” Caroline bit out, unable to accept Jane’s criticism.
Jane was silent.
Caroline recovered herself. “But I know now that I must wear things that flatter me, whether they are fashionable or not.”
“Exactly so,” Jane replied.
Caroline waited for Jane to suggest that they go shopping and to promise that Charles would pay for more gowns, but Jane was silent, looking expectantly at Caroline. How was it that Jane kept missing the point? Caroline wondered briefly if her sister by marriage might be just a bit simple. But looking closer, she saw Jane’s eyes dancing. “You are toying with me,” she realised.
“Just a bit, Caroline. Come now, I deserve a little fun. I have been trying to tell you that you wear the wrong clothes for ages now; it took unkind comments by schoolmates to convince you that perhaps I, Alice and your dressmaker might actually know what we are talking about.”
“Alice and the dressmaker, yes.” Caroline said. “But I do not think ofyouas a fashion expert, Jane.” She could not keep the tiniest bit of a sneer from her voice.
Jane gave up trying to be kind. She retorted, sharply, “And yet I am married, despite my lack of a dowry, and you are not, despite your twenty thousand pounds.”
Caroline managed to remain silent, but her eyes were wide with outrage.
Jane went on. “And did you ever stop and think that it is mostly your own doing that Charles fell in love with me?”
Caroline’s outrage was visible. “What? I would never –“
“Oh, not deliberately, of course. I know quite well that you think he married beneath him, despite the fact that I am the daughter of a gentleman and he is the son of a tradesman. But he was so weary of the vitriol that he had experienced from his sister that he found my own preference for peace and kindness irresistible. He told me so himself, so you need not doubt me.”
Caroline’s mouth opened and then closed with a snap.
“You want to ask me if I will convince your brother to invest more money in your wardrobe, is that not right?”
Caroline, finally able to speak, was forced to admit that this was so.
“I will do so, of course, but I will insist that I accompany you to make certain that you follow your dressmaker’s advice.”
Caroline had no choice, and both ladies knew it, but Jane waited until Caroline grudgingly said, “I agree.”
***
The next day saw Caroline and Jane on Bond Street. They went into the shop that they both patronised, Madame Celeste, and waited until Madame finished with other customers and was able to attend to them. “Yes, Mrs. Bingley?” she asked Jane. She all but ignored Caroline, who quietly seethed.
“My sister needs new gowns,” Jane said. “And we will need your expertise in selecting colours and styles.”
Madame shook her head, and then said, “May I speak frankly, Mrs. Bingley?”
“Of course,” Jane replied.
“My advice has been unheeded so far. I would never have put Miss Bingley into anything of an orange, yellow or red tone, but she insists upon it. Having her look as she does in those colours is not a good advertisement for my services, if you will forgive me for alluding to things mercantile. She should be in blues, greens, creams to set off her hair and complexion.”
“As it happens, I am in agreement with you, Madame. I am here to make certain that your advice is taken,” Jane said, calmly.
