“Well,Fitzwilliam,” Caroline said, “since we are all speaking to each other with such familiarity, you might have thought about being the least bit polite when you spoke to me—”
“And you might have thought about the way you were treating my future wife and my unborn child when you locked her away and refused to feed her!”
“Have we not been over this?” exploded Caroline. “She has forgiven me. And anyway, that is not your child. That is Mr. Wickham’s child, as everyone knows and everyone will know.”
“You wouldnot,” said Miss Darcy, clearly horrified. “I see I have misjudged you, Miss Bingley. I had not realized how absolutely wicked you could be.”
Elizabeth spoke up. “Since Mr. Wickham is still alive, Miss Bingley, I do wonder if you might think to keep your counsel. Why would you let that be common knowledge? That man will use the information to terrorize everyone. And I do not wish the babe to be burdened with knowing such things about his or her origins, not until I feel the child is grown enough to understand.”
“Perhaps not even then,” said Mr. Darcy. “Ideally.”
“Why would I do anything to make things more comfortable for you?” said Caroline. “You have not taken such considerations for me.”
“In all truth, you have been far less considerate to me than I have been to you,” said Elizabeth.
“You said you forgave me.”
“Yes, well, since I said that, it’s all been erased,” said Elizabeth sarcastically.
“You did not forgive me, I see,” said Caroline. “And the truth is, Miss Bennet, that if I had not done all that I did for you here, you would have had no solution for that illegitimate babe in your belly. Even now, your own parents do not know, and that could have remained the case. Indeed, it still can. Convince Mr. Darcy to marry me and I shall keep my mouth shut.”
Louisa let out a guffaw. “You would marry him after he said all those things to you, Caroline? Are you quite, quite mad? Or are you simply stupid? He loathes you.”
Caroline glared at her sister. “And even you are not here to support me. I am truly all on my own.”
Louisa addressed the table. “This is not a proper dinner conversation.”
“Your sister started it,” said Miss Darcy primly.
“Granted,” said Louisa. She turned to Caroline. “There must be something else you want.”
Caroline furrowed her brow. “What are you saying?”
Louisa turned to Mr. Darcy. “There must be something else you can think to offer her. I know my sister quite well, and you will not frighten her off from her attempts to ruin you. Neither will you appeal to her good nature or to reason. If you give her something she wants, however, if she is sufficiently satisfied, she may retreat.”
“No,” said Miss Darcy. “She does not deserve our bribery.”
“I’ll find you another husband,” said Mr. Darcy. “How about that?”
“I don’t need you to find me a husband,” said Caroline.
“How could you do that?” said Louisa. “Caroline has chased off all her likely prospects. She is four and twenty, and she is not getting any younger—”
“For heaven’s sake, Louisa, I am but one and twenty,” said Caroline, her voice a squeak.
Louisa rolled her eyes. “I can’t think that you are an expert in finding women husbands, that is all, Mr. Darcy.”
Mr. Darcy considered. “Perhaps not. But I could make introductions, and I could put in a good word here and there, and I could—”
“Not enough,” said Caroline.
“What do you want, then?” said Mr. Darcy. “Do you want money?”
“I am not in dire financial circumstances!” Caroline was affronted.
“No,” said Mr. Darcy, “not money. It’s status you require, some connection to a respectable and sufficiently old family. That is what you cannot get on your own.”
“And you cannot provide it for me,” said Caroline.
