Caroline nodded. “I understand. And I thank you for your kindness.” But Caroline still wondered if it might be best for all concerned if she encouraged Mr. Lindsay. Many people married without love. Was she not supposed to make the best possible match in this Marriage Game? And what about the Colonel? Jane seemed to think the Colonel had an interest in Caroline. Oh, how she wished she could speak to a disinterested person, someone with nothing to gain or lose in encouraging her one way or another. Surely there was someone…
***
That afternoon, Caroline went alone to Darcy House. When Taggart began to lead her to the drawing room, she said, very quietly, “I am here to see Mrs. Annesley.”
The butler nodded. The drawing room was full of Miss Darcy’s friends; if Miss Bingley wished to speak with Mrs. Annesley, they would have to meet elsewhere. “Would you wait just a moment, Miss Bingley?” he asked.
“Yes, of course.”
He disappeared, and Caroline waited, fidgeting with her reticule. He returned with Mrs. Annesley, who curtsied quickly. “I understand you wish to speak with me?” she enquired politely.
“Yes, I have questions about the – the Marriage Game.”
“Come with me.” She led the way to the Darcy House library, where a small fire was already burning. Caroline felt unaccountably cold, so she chose a small armchair near the fire.
Mrs. Annesley sat near her. “Tell me how I may be of help to you, Miss Bingley.”
Now that Caroline was here, she knew not how to begin. She stared into the fire for a long minute before saying, “I am so confused, Mrs. Annesley.”
“About what, specifically?”
“The impression I have is that one wins the Marriage Game by making the best possible match, to a gentleman who is kind, well-mannered, socially acceptable, and able to support a wife and children.”
Mrs. Annesley nodded.
Caroline went on. “But – just hypothetically – what if one’s heart is inclined toward a particular gentleman, but that gentleman is unlikely to make one an offer, and there is another gentleman, one who meets all the criteria of the Marriage Game and is likely to make an offer, but one’s heart is not so inclined?”
Mrs. Annesley considered the question carefully. Finally, she said, “This is a difficult position to find oneself in. It then becomes a question of priorities. If the young lady in questionmustmarry, for whatever reason, she might need to reconcile herself to accepting the second gentleman. If the young lady has the option to wait, however, she had best do so, for to marry one gentleman while loving another is a less than ideal situation in many ways, not the least of which is the plight of that second gentleman who, all unknowing, is marrying a woman whose heart is not open to him.” She stopped and waited.
Caroline realised that she had not considered how unfair this might be to Mr. Lindsay, who would believe that her heart was free and open to him! But was it fair to Jane and Charles to continue living with them? Despite Jane’s kindness, Caroline did not want to become the maiden aunt who never found a match. Finally, she said, “Mrs. Annesley, I thank you for your wisdom.”
Mrs. Annesley replied, her voice filled with kindness, “Is the young lady in question certain that the first gentleman will not make her an offer?”
Caroline laughed, weakly, “The gentleman might be inclined to do so, but there are obstacles.”
“There are always obstacles. I would tell that young lady to drop a hint to that first gentleman that he is about to lose her to another. If he takes no action, then the young lady is correct in believing that he is unlikely to offer for her. However, gentlemen are nothing if not competitive, and the notion that he might lose this lady to another man might spur him to immediate action.”
Caroline stared at Mrs. Annesley. “I suspect you know all the players in my hypothetical situation,” she said.
“Yourself, Colonel Fitzwilliam and Mr. Lindsay,” Mrs. Annesley replied promptly. “But you need not fear for my discretion.”
“Servant’s grapevine?”
“Merely my own observations. Miss Bingley, I believe the Colonel to be far from indifferent to you, but he is fighting his inclination with all his strength.”
“But why?”
“I am not certain, but I would guess that he knows you are not suited to be an Army wife, and he has no concept of a life outside it.”
“And the Countess?”
“I do not believe she would oppose the match.”
“That is difficult to believe; she could not possibly want her son married to someone one generation away from trade.”
Mrs. Annesley thought for a moment, wondering how much of her knowledge she should reveal. Finally, she said, “The Countess’ first son, the Viscount Hentonfield, married as he was directed to. His wife, the Viscountess, was one of the diamonds of her Season. She is the daughter of an earl, lovely and accomplished, with a dowry of forty thousand pounds. But there was little affection between the two to start with, and that small amount has long since dried up. The Viscountess has birthed an heir and a spare, and she now lives quite a separate life from her husband.”
Caroline began, “But that is not such an unusual –“
