Chapter 22

Miss Caroline Bingley went from feeling exceedingly pleased all Bennets had left her house, days before she thought she would be rid of them, to extreme anger that the man she intended to compromise that night had ridden with the rest of their male guests to the hovel the Bennets called an estate.

Adding to her vexation was the fact Charles was trying to renege on providing her the remuneration he had promised her for luring Miss Bennet to Netherfield Park! He claimed it was because Miss Bennet was already courting Mr. Fitzwilliam. She had let him know, in the most strenuous terms, of her disapprobation of his thinking he could go back on a promise to her. As vexed as she was at her brother, she was sure he would give her what she wanted in the end as he always did.

Thoughts of the courtship between Miss Bennet and the man she planned to compromise if for some unknown reason she failed to entrap Lord Hadlock, did not improve her mood. Then again, a small detail like a courtship would not inhibit her, if she was forced to use Mr. Fitzwilliam to satisfy her marital aspirations. He was not titled and a second son, but he was the son of an earl and owned a great estate. From what she had heard he had a house on Berkeley Square and a rather large fortune as well. Yes, he would do well as a consolation if needs be.

The note from the men announcing they were remaining at the Bennet estate for dinner did nothing to placate her anger. In the end she decided it would be immaterial as she would be engaged to be married by the morning and then she would make sure whichever man it was would never know anyone named Bennet again.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

After dinner there had been no separation of the sexes given the meal had been an informal family affair, so everyone retired to the largest drawing room where hot beverages were ready for them. By mutual agreement the subject of the switched babes was not directly discussed, neither at dinner nor afterwards. Until the other parents involved arrived, it did not make sense to cause stress to the three whose lives were about to be turned upside down. The tacit agreement did not stop Fanny and to a lesser extent Beth, asking many questions about Saul’s and Philip’s childhoods, and their likes and dislikes as far as food was concerned.

After dinner Jamey challenged Bennet to a game of chess and William finally got to sit across a board from Miss Elizabeth. Both games were hard fought with the two Bennets the victors. Jamey and William were replaced by Saul and Philip respectively. It did not take long for Bennet and Elizabeth to come to the conclusion that both were extremely proficient at the game. In the end Saul barely lost to his birthfather while Philip managed to overcome Elizabeth’s attack and eventually was victorious.

It was then Richard shared that by the time they graduated, it was expected the two would finally challenge some of Bennet’s records in chess at Cambridge. Bennet was satisfied his sons were Cambridge men and had not been sent to that other university. Also, he was well pleased it would still be a Bennet holding the chess records.

The tenor of the evening did much to reduce the anxiety of the three who were the most directly affected by the coming upheaval to the lives of all in the various families. Once they finished playing chess, Elizabeth made sure that wherever she sat, she had a sister on either side of her. She felt a need to know they were physically close to her and that calmed her last remaining trepidation regarding the unknown future.

Jane and Richard took the time to sit off to one side and speak about everything and nothing. The more they spoke to one another, the more each came to see how well suited they were for each other. Richard was determined not to rush Jane, but he also did not want to wait too long to pay his addresses to her. He decided to hold off until there was a resolution of the perfidy connected to the switching of the babes eighteen years in the past. He was almost certain Jane would not want to think of her future until everything was settled with Elizabeth, Saul, and Philip.

By the time the men from Netherfield Park took their leave, there was no formality remaining between them and the Bennets.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Jane was not at all surprised when Lizzy slipped into her bedchamber as she prepared to climb into her bed that night. At first, her sister—she would always think of Lizzy that way regardless of what her family name was—just needed to be held. Jane simultaneously gently rocked Lizzy back and forth and rubbed her back soothingly.

“How will I survive without you as my sister?” Elizabeth wailed as a fresh set of tears rolled down her cheek. “What a watering pot I have become!”

“Firstly Lizzy, do you really think that blood and a name is all that binds us together? And secondly had I been told what you learnt today, I would not have been able to hold my composure as you have done since things started to be puzzled out,” Jane replied.

“But what if my birthparents do not want me to associate with the Bennets for being too far below them in society?” Elizabeth enquired plaintively.

“Lizzy, that is stuff and nonsense, and your rational mind knows it. What evidence of holding themselves above us have you seen from any of the Netherfield Park party, except for Miss Bingley who is, in fact, below us? There is nothing in the way Jamey, who is a viscount after all, Saul, or Philip behave to suggest what your insecurities are saying is even close to the truth. Mama and Papa would no sooner bar Saul and Philip from seeing the families they were raised by, than your birth family would do the same to you.” Jane paused and turned Elizabeth so they were face to face. “You are one of the most rational people I know. Use your logic and tell me you are not able to see that your fears are baseless.”

Elizabeth cogitated for a while and soon enough came to accept Jane had the right of it. “I suppose it was the fear of the unknown which was driving my illogical thoughts to the worst possible scenarios. If Papa…Mr. Bennet heard me now he would be able to call me one of the silliest girls in England.” Elizabeth gave a half smile as her humour attempted to reassert itself.

“You well know Papa will never admonish you for using that appellation when referring to him,” Jane admonished playfully, “and he knows you are one of the most intelligent creatures in the realm.”

Elizabeth hugged Jane with all of her might. “Thank you, Janey. Your cool head was exactly what I needed right now.”

“No need to squeeze all of the breath from my body,” Jane teased. Elizabeth had a sheepish look as she released Jane from the hug.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

The brothers, who had until this very day believed they were cousins, sat in the shared sitting room between their bedchambers at Netherfield Park.

On arriving back at the estate, Saul and Philip had cried off entering the drawing room to hear Miss Bingley’s latest nonsense and, after excusing themselves retired upstairs. First they had stopped to speak to Giana to let her know that after meeting the Bennets there was no doubt they were the sons of Fanny and Thomas Bennet. As soon as they had imparted a description of what had occurred at their birthparents’ estate, the two had wished Giana a good night and made for their own suite.

Saul poured himself a glass of port from one of the decanters on the sideboard, and looked to his newly acknowledged brother who nodded. He repeated the action pouring a second glass then took his own and his brother’s and handed one to Philip.

“If Lizzy is Aunt Rose’s daughter then it means that my mother…” Philip stopped talking as he was not sure what to refer to the woman he had believed was his mother for the whole of his life until a few hours earlier.

“Then it means Aunt Cilla’s babe was lost,” Saul completed his brother’s thought. As he thought back over the years, he realised just how much he and Philip were able to communicate in a way no others in the family could. Completing one another’s thoughts was something they had done many times over the years, when one would seem to know what the other was about to say.

“Do you think we will ever know the truth of who or what was responsible for us being stolen from the Bennets?” Philip mused.

“One thing I am certain of, those we called parents had nought to do with what occurred. They are as much victims of this crime as you, Lizzy, and me,” Saul stated unequivocally. “Do you think the Bennets will change our familiar names?”

“I do not believe so,” Philip opined. “My feeling is they will do all within their power to ease the transition to their home and, I would wager my life on it, they will never expect us to sever the connection with those we believed were our family.”

“I think you have the right of it, Brother.” Saul cogitated. Then he grinned widely, and added, “I wonder which of us was born first. I have always been older than you and would prefer to remain such.”

The brothers decided it was not productive to speculate about what would be until everything was revealed, so they did not.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

“How you must have suffered in the degradation of having to enter such an inferior house as I am sure the Bennets have,” Miss Bingley sneered.

Richard decided it was time to put the pretentious shrew in her place. “Actually Miss Bingley, Longbourn is about the same size as this house, and from what we could see, the Bennet estate is far more profitable than rumoured. Then again there are those who are simpletons and accept rumour as fact.”

“Additionally, Miss Bingley, you have seen one of the Bennets’ estates,” Jamey drawled.

“What do you mean one of their estates?” Miss Bingley screeched.

“In case you missed that lesson on the meaning of the word ‘one’ at that seminary you are always on about, the Bennets own two estates,” William stated.

“I am sure the other one is not more than a plot of land those country mushrooms call an estate,” Miss Bingley asserted. “I heard their daughters are practically dowerless while I have twenty thousand pounds. If they cannot afford to dower their daughters, the so called estate could not be more than one field.”

“Firstly Miss Bingley, unlike you, the Bennets are not vulgar. Hence they do not boast of their estates’ incomes or their daughters’ dowries. I suppose as you are the crass daughter of a tradesman you think the only way to impress others is to flout the amount of your dowry,” Richard barked back. “And you have most certainly seen their estate you call a field. In fact, you have visited, no more than that, resided in one of their homes.”

“I would never lower myself to live in one of their hovels!” Miss Bingley screeched as she lost her composure.

While the Hursts looked on in amusement, Bingley was cringing, positive his sister’s fury was about to erupt in the worst way. He was thinking of a way to distract his sister, but he could not think of anything before Hadlock spoke.

“You most certainly have, in fact, you are in their house now, on their estate, as we speak,” Jamey delivered with a deadpan expression.

It took Miss Bingley a few minutes to process the information. “Nooooooo!” She screamed. “The Bennets are not wealthier than we are! That would make them higher than me and that cannot be!”

“Caroline how many times have I attempted to correct your wrongheaded notions—wealth is not what determines your rank,” Mrs. Hurst reminded her younger sister. “You are the daughter of a tradesman, as I was until I married Harold, and so you will remain unless you marry one of higher rank than you. You are not now, nor have you ever been, above any landed gentleman and his family in rank, regardless of your own pretentions.”

“Mayhap this is not the time…” Bingley tried to interject.

“Not the time to do what, Bingley?” Richard demanded. “It seems for you it is never the time to tell your sister the truth as you would rather placate her and allow her to persist in her delusions. How many times have you been told your refusing to check Miss Bingley would come back and harm you?”

Miss Bingley stamped her foot, screamed in frustration and ran out of the drawing room, up the stairs, and into her chambers. The only thing which held her temper at bay was the knowledge of what she had planned for later that night. She would show them all. They would have to bow and scrape before her once she was Lady Hadlock and then eventually the Countess of Holder!

Bingley felt the burn of the chastening he had received from Fitzwilliam and with the barest of civility retired for the night. When the other three men stood, the Hursts indicated they needed to speak to them first.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Bingley was not surprised when Caroline burst into his sitting room without knocking, as was her wont. “Why did you not defend me?” Miss Bingley screeched.

“I did try…” Bingley attempted before his sister interjected.

“You will do your duty to me by keeping your promise, and be ready outside the Viscount’s chambers just past midnight tonight. I will be engaged to a viscount before the sun rises on a new day!” Miss Bingley commanded.

There was no denying the sinking feeling in his stomach when Bingley heard his sister’s words. He had hoped one of the men would offer for her and she would not need to resort to a compromise. ‘What if my friends meant what they said and refuse to offer for her like they have told me?’ Bingley asked himself silently. ‘Will whoever she compromises accept his fate if I insist on it?’ As he did not want to consider the alternative, Bingley told himself that all would work out and he would finally be rid of Caroline.

“I will be there,” Bingley averred resignedly.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

A few minutes before the clock struck midnight, Caroline Bingley was wearing nothing but a diaphanous orange nightgown made from a single layer of the thinnest gossamer she had been able to find. She was happy with the unambiguous statement she was making allowing the man she was to marry the ability to see all of her assets, which in her opinion were beyond attractive.

She looked both ways in the hallway and saw no one. She was pleased to see her orders that the footmen be allowed a night to rest from attending the hallways,had been obeyed. Her bare feet made no sound as she climbed the stairs to the guest floor. The only thing she carried was a master key which she had demanded from Mrs. Nichols, as was her due being the mistress of the estate.

When she arrived on the guest floor, Caroline again looked both directions and just as she expected, she saw no footmen on duty. What good luck that the enormous Carrington footman had been sent away somewhere. Seeing there was no one in the hallway, she made for the door which she knew led into Lord Hadlock’s bedchamber.

Very slowly so as to not make any noise, Caroline tried the handle. As expected the door was locked. She slid the master key in gingerly to make sure no sounds were made. The last thing she wanted was for her soon to be fiancé to be awake when she entered his bedchamber. She heard the soft but satisfying click indicating the door was unlocked. Still being cautious, she pushed the handle down and slowly pushed the door open.

With the little moonlight shining through the cracks in the curtains, she made out the bed and made her way to it. She lifted the coverlet and slid underneath. She extended her hand to pull the Viscount to herself, but no matter how far she reached, she found no one.

At that moment the door flew open as her brother in his nightshirt and carrying a candle had arrived. “Hadlock, how dare you take advantage of my younger sister in this infamous fashion,” he bellowed.

“Charles, CHARLES!” Miss Bingley shrieked. “He is not here; the bed is empty.”

Suddenly the hallway was filled with people holding candles. “As I was aware you would attempt to ruin yourself tonight, no, I was not in my room. My family members and I were in Saul and Philip’s sitting room speaking of what a fool you were about to make of yourself and how you were about to ruin yourself,” Jamey drawled. He was wearing a banyan and breeches, like the other men were.

“When I was told you would support your sister regardless of how many times you have been told none of us would ever offer for her, even if she lowered herself and attempted a compromise, I did not want to believe a man who was supposed to be my, our, friend would be so duplicitous. You are no friend of mine, Mr. Bingley,” William barked.

Louisa Hurst entered the bedchamber and wrapped her wayward sister in a blanket while Hurst led his reeling brother-in-law back to his bedchamber. The Hursts were in full agreement decisions would be taken in the morning.