“Oh, yes, indeed, well, I hate to tell you, but your sister and I were quite set on each other without your intervention.”
“No, I can’t say we had much to do with your match,” said Elizabeth. “But certainly the Hursts, I think we can claim that to be our triumph. And you know of the marriages amongst your servants, surely.”
Mr. Bingley slowly chewed on a bite of meat and surveyed her. He swallowed. “You’re very serious, I see.”
Elizabeth felt herself flush. “Perhaps I should not be. I do not know rightly, I suppose, but I do think I have some skill with talking to people, with understanding them.”
“No, you do. You quite do.” He cut more meat. “Who is it again?”
“Darcy,” she said. “I can’t remember, but he had some estate. It started with a P, I think. Pennerly or Penningly or—”
“Mr. Darcy of Pemberley. Yes, I know him. We have traveled together, it’s true, he and I. We lost touch sometime after my wedding, I suppose. Caroline has her sights set on him?” He considered. “He’s sort of serious, really. Grave. A good chap in the end. Loyal. You can count on him, all of that. But do I really want to have him as a house guest? He isn’t a great deal of fun, truly.”
“Oh,” said Elizabeth. She supposed that did fit with the description Caroline had given. “Well, Caroline thinks they had that in common, a devotion to uprightness.”
“Uprightness?” Mr. Bingley snorted. “Caroline can be quite selfish, don’t you think?”
“Selfish, Mr. Bingley?” said Elizabeth, who did not wish to betray her close friend and refused to really consider thequestion. “You don’t wish to invite him, then?”
“I don’t,” said Mr. Bingley. “He would spend the whole time judging everything, you see, and likely finding all of it beneath him in some way. He would not sit here and dine at your parents’ table or pass the gravy boat. He’s just so very…”
“Proper?” Elizabeth shrugged. “Caroline said so.”
“Yes, he is,” said Mr. Bingley, “which is the real reason why I won’t write to him, not if we are intending to put your matchmaking ability to the test, because you would fail, whether you’re a good matchmaker or not. He would never marry her.”
“He would not?” Elizabeth sighed, wondering how she was going to break this to Caroline in a way that would not hurt her feelings.
“He would want a woman with either a very large dowry,verylarge, or else the daughter of someone with a title, I should think. Ideally, perhaps, both. A rich, well-connected woman. He could have nearly anyone, of course. There are people who are above him, but there are a lot more people above us, if you know what I mean.”
Elizabeth nodded, feeling disappointed for Caroline.
“He wouldn’t think her appropriate,” said Bingley. “She’s not the sort of woman for him.”
“I see,” said Elizabeth. “Well, say no more, then. I shall convince her to let this all go.”
HOWEVER, CAROLINE WASnot to be swayed from her purpose.
At first, Elizabeth tried to conceal what Mr. Bingley had said, because she thought to spare Caroline’s feelings.
But nothing Elizabeth said had any effect on the other woman’s determination to further the cause, so Elizabeth eventually had to come out with it.
“Your brother says he would not have a woman likeyou,” said Elizabeth. “He says that Mr. Darcy would view you as beneath him, and if he is as strict and proper as you say, Caroline, it seems likely your brother is right. At any rate, I have laid it all out for Mr. Bingley and he will not be moved. He has stated unequivocally that he will not write to Mr. Darcy.” She took a deep breath and braced herself for Caroline’s reaction to this, for it would certainly not be pleasant.
But Caroline only said, “Well, then, perhaps we shall write the letter for Charles.”
Elizabeth drew back in shock. “What? You cannot be serious.”
“I don’t know that they’ve corresponded enough that Mr. Darcy would recognize Charles’s handwriting or not, but did you not say that your sister Mary is good at copying other’s handwriting?”
Elizabeth sputtered. It was true that Mary did like to attempt to copy handwriting as a lark, but Mary would never be convinced to do anything in the service of subterfuge. Mary was not the sort of girl who did things that she considered wrong. She was quite concerned with uprightness as well.
And Caroline, for all her concern with propriety, was obviously not concerned with uprightness. Obviously, Caroline considered the rules of society something to be understood and then moved around, if necessary.
Elizabeth reached out and took one of Caroline’s hands in her own. “I fear you are not hearing the most important part of this. Mr. Darcy will not marry you, your brother says.”
Caroline turned her hand and squeezed Elizabeth’s fingers. “Yes, perhaps he would not under normal circumstances. But that is why you are here, Eliza. You understand people. You see what it is they want and what it is they despise, and if anyone can tell me what it will take to find my way into Mr. Darcy’s heart, it is you.”
Elizabeth let go of Caroline’s hand. Yes, well, wasn’t that the way it had been with the match between the Hursts, in the end? Trickery and manipulation?
