Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE

O f all the nerve! To invite herself to Pemberley and throw herself in Mr Darcy's way again is absolutely…it is so…there are no words for such presumption! And yet, he seems ready to prostrate himself at her feet. Men are such simpletons.

A number of other invectives skittered across Caroline's mind as she witnessed her Mr Darcy, the man she fully intended to take as her husband, bend over Eliza Bennet's hand and wrest from the chit permission to call upon her at the local inn. Why he should want to venture into Lambton to visit the second-born daughter of a middling estate was beyond her comprehension; he had much better attend to the comfort of his more elevated houseguests.

Her only consolation was that Eliza could not have had long to beguile Mr Darcy with her ‘fine eyes' and so-called wit, given that their travelling party had arrived so soon after he had. It was a good thing that she had enlisted Warren, her lady's maid, to maintain a watchful eye on things below stairs so as to apprise Caroline of any possible movement of her prey. Dragging herself out of bed at that ungodly hour had not been pleasant but apparently necessary; with Eliza in the area, Caroline could not afford to leave Mr Darcy to his own devices lest his foolish infatuation lead him astray. If only Hurst had not been so difficult to rouse, they might have overtaken Mr Darcy on the road and prevented a private reunion with that hoyden!

At long last, Eliza and her lowborn relations—a tradesman, at Pemberley? Were the shades of this great estate to be so polluted?—could linger no longer and were shown out. The master lowered himself to see them off personally with a murmured apology to the rest of the room, which did not please Caroline at all, but at least the mushrooms were gone.

The instant that they were, Caroline exclaimed, "Can you believe the unmitigated audacity of that girl? Showing up here, uninvited, to thrust herself upon our notice? And just as muddy as before! I swear, Miss Eliza has never met a puddle that she did not wish to wade into."

Charles burst out with an aghast, "Caroline!"

Caroline disregarded him, her spleen as yet unrelieved. "I suppose we must be glad that it is not raining, else she would assuredly fall ill and expect to spend the night! I swear, she is as bad as her scheming mother."

"What an awful thing to say!" Charles cried.

Caroline sneered at her brother's apparent shock. "Do not be such a missish ninny. We are all thinking it. Those grasping Bennets are full of paltry tricks designed to ensnare a man. I am sure you remember her elder sister turning up at Netherfield last autumn, ready to be nursed."

"She was invited. By you , if memory serves."

"Yes, then she vastly overstayed her welcome. Who rides out on a day when rain is expected?" She rolled her eyes with an exasperated huff. Her brother could be so tediously na?ve. "And now, here comes Eliza, out of nowhere, to work her wiles upon Mr Darcy. I am utterly disgusted!"

" Sister ." Caroline looked to Louisa, who was giving her a wide-eyed expression of warning and leaning her head to the side. Following the motion, she saw a pale-faced Miss Darcy staring at the tangled fingers in her lap.

Oh, for heaven's sake. The girl is worse than Charles—trembling at any sort of discord. Repressing her annoyance, she rested a hand upon Miss Darcy's forearm. "Forgive me, dear friend, for speaking so candidly in your presence. You see, we have been acquainted with the Bennets for some months now, and they have proved to be artful fortune hunters. As you surely noticed yourself, they are apparently willing to go to extreme measures in order to put themselves forward to eligible men."

When Miss Darcy replied, she spoke to her knees. "Miss Bennet seemed a delightful young lady to me."

"She is exceedingly talented at appearing so," said Caroline, though it was a great deal of effort to afford Eliza any sort of compliment, even a backhanded one. "However, I would put you on your guard around her. She is a cunning, manipulative?—"

Charles's eyes bulged alarmingly. "Caroline, really!"

"—covetous girl who is out for everything she can get. You should have seen how she dangled after your brother at Netherfield! Why, she went so far as to walk three miles across muddy fields just to?—"

"Tend to her elder sister, who was quite ill at the time."

All heads in the room turned as one to the doorway, where Mr Darcy stood, his bearing rigid and his hands clasped behind his back. He looked every inch the master of Pemberley with his stern countenance, causing Caroline to involuntarily shrink back.

There was an awkward, palpable silence for several seconds before Caroline, after regaining her composure, said, "I was merely advising Miss Darcy to consider new acquaintances carefully before encouraging a friendship, that is all."

Mr Darcy did not move save to raise a single brow in her direction. "It sounded to me as if you were denigrating the character of one of my guests."

"No, not at all! It is only—and I am sure you will agree with me—that Eliza's sudden appearance at Pemberley is rather suspect. What can she mean by coming all this way from Hertfordshire?"

"She has been travelling with her aunt and uncle. Pemberley is merely one of the houses they have visited on their tour."

At times, Mr Darcy was as painfully unsophisticated as her brother. How she pitied him. "Oh yes, and how surprised Eliza must have been to find you here."

"I can assure you that Miss Bennet ," said Mr Darcy, fixing Caroline with a narrow-eyed stare as he leant into the emphasis, "was excessively startled by my appearance. Now, I have spoken to Mrs Reynolds, and she assures me that your rooms are ready for habitation. Perhaps we ought to repair to our chambers and meet in the drawing room at six?"

Caroline startled when Miss Darcy sprung to her feet and declared, "I should like to refresh myself," before scurrying towards the door. Uncouth little thing.

More gracefully, Caroline stood to follow their young hostess. She meant to grab hold of Mr Darcy's arm and coyly suggest that he escort her to her chambers, but she was forestalled by Louisa pulling her back. Unwilling to make an undignified scene, she had no choice but to watch Mr Darcy leave the room with the other gentlemen, putting him beyond her reach. Curse my meddlesome sister !

In a harsh whisper, Louisa scolded, "What can you be thinking, insulting Eliza Bennet in that manner? You will not win Mr Darcy's favour with such behaviour. You have better sense than to bandy about your unvarnished opinions in someone else's home."

Caroline attempted to tug her arm free of Louisa's clutches, but her sister held fast. "Oh, please. The Darcys ought to know what sort of adventuress they are dealing with. Imagine, pursuing Mr Darcy all the way to Pemberley!"

Fixing her with a flat look, Louisa drolly remarked, "Yes, how foolish. It is almost as if she does not know her place."

Caroline felt the sting of Louisa's implication but gave it no credence. Her brother and sister had always underestimated her chances of winning a man of Fitzwilliam Darcy's ilk, but she would not be cowed by their lack of faith. She had always been adept at getting her way, and there was no reason to suppose she could not have it now.

Jerking her arm free of her sister's grasp, Caroline extended herself to her full height and drew hauteur about her like a cloak. "Mark my words. Mr Darcy will offer for me before our visit is over."

A distinct chill raised the small hairs upon the back of Caroline's neck just then, and she shuddered, her bravado temporarily pierced. Where had that draught emanated from? A quick perusal of the saloon exposed no obvious culprits, such as an open window, yet a decided coldness lingered in the air. Perhaps it had flowed in through the chimney? She rubbed at the goose-flesh budding along the length of her arms and decided that a fire in her rooms might be in order, despite the summer warmth.

Heaving a world-weary sigh, Louisa shook her head. "If you will not listen to reason, at least promise me that you will behave with more decorum. Mr Darcy is not the sort of connexion we can afford to lose."

Refusing to dignify this provocation with a response, Caroline turned on her heel and stalked from the room. Mr Darcy would see her here, in his home, and realise that she belonged at Pemberley as its next mistress. No other outcome would do. And the moment I have secured his promise, I shall insist that he send Miss Eliza Bennet back to her father's pitiful estate where she belongs, wading about with the pigs.