“I cannot do otherwise,” Jane replied, simply.
And Caroline poured out everything that had happened to her at Almack’s, and how she had been so wrong about her schoolmates, and wrong about Mr. Darcy, and wrong about Jane, and wrong about how to dress and how to behave, wrong about everything – everything! – in her entire life! “I know not how you have been able to live with me, Jane!” she concluded, hiccupping.
“You have not made it easy, Caroline. But I could see that under it all, you were so very unhappy.”
“I was, oh, Jane, I was!”
“Perhaps now you have a chance to be a different Caroline Bingley, and so find happiness,” Jane said. “Lie down now, dear sister, and try to sleep. You have had a very trying evening.”
Caroline lay back down, drained and empty, but somehow lighter than she could ever recall feeling before. And, as Jane stroked her hair, she fell deeply asleep.
Chapter Thirty-Two
The next morning, Elizabeth watched Georgiana push the eggs from one side of her plate to the other, taking no more than one bite. It was time to say something. Elizabeth waited until Mr. Darcy had left the family breakfast room for his study; she dismissed the two footmen with a nod, and said, gently, “What is it, dearest?”
“Nothing whatever; I am simply not hungry,” Georgiana replied, eyes focused on her teacup.
“I have never before seen you so morose at breakfast, sister; please talk to me!”
Georgiana lifted her eyes to Elizabeth’s. “Lizzy, what is it like to be in love?”
Elizabeth took a minute to gather her thoughts. “Well, I can only speak for myself, you know. And, I suppose, for Jane as well, as I was her confidante when she fell in love with Mr. Bingley. But I guess…” Elizabeth trailed off. How to describe that most mysterious of states, when the greatest poets in the English language had tried their best? She took a deep breath and continued. “It is as if you are under some sort of magic spell, and that one person is everything to you! The earth, the moon, the stars! And you cannot stop thinking about him, and when he looks at you, your heart stops, and when he looks away, your heart stops again! Does this not sound entirely mad, Georgiana?” Elizabeth ended on a half-laugh.
Georgiana buried her face in her hands.
“Oh, my dear, is it Lord Fane?”
“I know we can never – but I – and he – and it is so very unfair!”
By now, Elizabeth had risen from her chair to run to Georgiana and hold her close. “It is very unfair indeed,” she whispered.
Georgiana raised her tear-stained face. “But Lizzy, this is what I do not understand. This is how I felt about George Wickham, and now I loathe the very thought of him! So might these feelings for Lord Fane not also vanish?”
“It is possible to love more than once in a lifetime, of course. Though I have to wonder if what you felt for George Wickham was not truly love, but simply a young woman’s very natural response to flattery. In any case, yes, people do survive love and move on to love others. But are you truly certain that there is no hope for you and Lord Fane?”
“I could not bear to be the cause of shaming his family,” Georgiana whispered.
***
Richard Fitzwilliam stared moodily at the eggs on his plate, but made no move to touch them with his fork. His mother watched him in some surprise. His appetite was normally quite healthy, so this lack of interest in perfectly scrambled eggs was cause for concern.
The Colonel felt his mother’s gaze and lifted his eyes to meet hers.
“What is it, Richard?” she asked, gently. “Something is clearly disturbing you.”
He sighed. “You recall that I attended Almack’s last night?”
“To make amends to Miss Bingley, yes. You have not spoken of it, so I assume you were successful in doing so?”
He scowled. “Tis well that I was there, Mother, as a so-called gentleman attempted to compromise her.”
“What?! Who? Why?”
“As to ‘what,’ he forced her behind a drapery and disheveled her hair and clothing in order to give the appearance of shameful behaviour. ‘Who’ is Lord Russell, Baron de Clifford, and as to ‘why,’ it is simply that he is embarrassed for funds and must marry an heiress as soon as possible. Miss Bingley has twenty thousand pounds.”
The Countess’ brows rose high. “Good heavens, that poor girl! But you said it was well that you were there, so you were able to prevent him from achieving his aim?”
“I saw the drama unfolding and was able to extricate her in time.”
