Page 5 of A Different Impression

“Let us start by taking her back to Netherfield this evening before she does something we will regret,” Hurst suggested. “Perhaps you could feign a headache and insist that she join us?”

“If you could let Charles know our plans,” Louisa said. “I will collect Caroline. Let him know we will send the carriage back for him and Mr Darcy.”

Hurst moved closer to the dancers and caught Charles’s attention, motioning him over as soon as the figures of the dance allowed. Behind him, Louisa shifted a few steps nearer to Caroline, yet she remained close enough for Hurst to hear her when she spoke.

As he took a moment to speak to his brother, he did not attempt to overhear the conversation behind him. He knew his wife well enough to guess the substance of it, and Caroline’s stiffening posture suggested it was not being well received.

“I am not feeling well. Mr Hurst and I are returning to Netherfield, and I need you to accompany me,” he heard Louisa say.

“I am not leaving until Mr Darcy asks me to dance,” Caroline said, and Hurst did not have to imagine the look on her face. He had seen it often enough and her tone was decidedly put out. “This is his second dance of the night with one of these provincial nobodies—it would be rude for him not to dance with me as his hostess.”

“He told you in the carriage, after your many hints, that he had no intention of dancing with you tonight,” Louisa advised. “If you are waiting for him to ask, you will be here long after the assembly has ended.”

“He said he would not dance at all,” Caroline insisted. “He is dancing, therefore he ought to ask me.”

From where Hurst stood, he could still observe where his wife and sister were speaking, and he had to restrain a chuckle from escaping as he watched her stamp her foot like a petulant child. He had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing outright.

“I will not leave this early in the evening. There are still plenty of dances left.” Caroline lifted her chin in defiance.

Louisa, far more calmly than Hurst thought he could have managed, replied, “If I leave, you will stand or sit here alone for the rest of the evening.”

Caroline’s chin lifted, but Louisa gave her no opportunity to interrupt.

“You will not bother speaking to anyone to whom you have been introduced, and they will continue to avoid you due to the scowl on your face. Do you truly think that will be better than returning to Netherfield early?”

Caroline’s eyes strayed once more towards Darcy. Hurst doubted she realised she had done it, or how transparent her attempts to attract him had become.

“Besides,” Louisa continued, following the direction of her gaze, “Charles wishes to establish himself in this area as the master of his estate. Your behaviour tonight will do him no favours, and I do not think you want Mr Darcy to hear that you made yourself ridiculous after he declined to dance with you.”

“I do not want to step foot in that awful place ever again,” Caroline complained. “I am returning to London tomorrow, and you will all have to join me there. Charles cannot possibly stay here without me, so the impression he leaves on these people will hardly be worth considering! They are of no importance whatsoever.”

“Well, then, let us go ahead and return so we may begin packing,” Louisa said, and Hurst noticed that those words seemed to finally earn her compliance.

Both women headed towards the front of the building. Hurst followed, requesting that their carriage be brought around whilst the ladies retrieved their wraps.

As Hurst joined them, he told his wife, “I told Charles we would send the carriage back for him and Darcy once we had arrived at Netherfield.”

At those words, a smile crossed Caroline’s face—not satisfaction, but calculation. Hurst wondered, not for the first time, whether she ever realised how transparent she became whenever she imagined herself particularly clever.

Hurst decided against alarming Louisa. If he was mistaken, there was no sense in worrying her. However, if he was right...

Upon their arrival, Hurst descended from the carriage first and handed out his wife. Caroline refused his hand when offered and followed behind them slowly. Partway to the house, she claimed to have dropped something and paused to retrieve it, calling for them to go on ahead.

Hurst continued towards the house but slowed his pace just enough to keep Caroline within the corner of his eye. Once she believed they were inside, she spoke to the coachman, who appeared momentarily taken aback. A moment later, the coachman turned the carriage towards the stables rather than back towards town.

Hurst exchanged a glance with Louisa.

She gave the smallest nod. She had seen it too.

Neither of them spoke until Caroline had entered the house.

A moment later, Caroline came inside, looking very pleased with herself. The three separated; the ladies to their rooms and Hurst to the library, claiming he needed a drink before bed.

So much for hoping he had been mistaken.

He sneaked out a different door and went to the stables. There, he saw the horses being unharnessed and the carriage put away.

Suppressing a sigh, Hurst asked a groom to saddle three horses, directing him to ride one and lead the other two to the assembly rooms for Bingley and Darcy. He hoped neither gentleman would object to riding home; it was infinitely preferable to the walk Caroline had so clearly intended.