Page 35 of The Vanished Bennet Sister

Mrs Bingley held his gaze without apparent discomfort. "You have always been a man who understands the importance of certain decisions."

"I do not approve, nor do I share your reasoning in this." He kept his voice level, because anger was a trait he preferred not to show. "What you are describing as though it is a topic of disgrace, is, in practice, a child who was given a home and raised by people who loved her, and who has done nothing to deserve what you intend. Gossip deployed as a strategic instrument against people who cannot easily defend themselves is deplorable. If the ton were just and true, the only conduct in this affair that would merit true censure, Mrs Bingley, isn't Mary Bennet's origins. It would be how you had connived to hurt and ruin a young lady’s life."

A flicker of emotion crossed her face. Not shame but a recalibration, the adjustment of a woman who had received a different response than she anticipated.

"I had only assumed…" she tried to say.

"You thought that I would be a willing associate in this. You were mistaken. Have a good day."

She held his gaze for one moment longer than was comfortable for either of them, and then she left. It was obvious beyond argument that she had miscalculated, yet would not concede it publicly. She had been wrong about him, and she would not make the same assessment error twice. In addition, she was likely revising her plans as she went through the door.

Darcy stood at the window and watched her carriage depart.

Next came a clarity of thought regarding what Mrs Bingley had said and how she was going to carry out her plan. She had come to him first, having assessed him as likely to share her views and perhaps even proffer encouragement.

By the next day, if she was expeditious, the information would be in circulation.

The unfortunate victim, Mary Bennet did not know this was coming. Neither, as a matter of fact, did Elizabeth Bennet and the rest of the family.

The more he deliberated about Mary Bennet, whom he had come to know as serious and self-contained, the more he felt an influx of pity. What would this scandal cost her once it was released? And what would it mean for Mr Thwaite, her suitor? Moreover, a great deal could occur once the news entered the circulation of the people whose opinions structured the season.

He was certain such a disclosure would largely affect Mrs Bennet, who had apparently trusted the same person who had set out to gather such details for precisely this purpose.

Then there was Bingley, whose feeling for Jane Bennet was pure and whose mother was now deploying that fact as a lesser variable in her own calculations.

And he thought about Elizabeth, whose protectiveness of her family was obvious. It seemed unfair that all those attempts were now rendered useless due to the premeditated use of a secret her mother had divulged in an unguarded moment.

Whatever ingenious construction Elizabeth had maintained to keep the family respectable and in contention, Mrs Bingley was about to attempt to dismantle it.

He was not going to permit that to happen without giving them the opportunity to prepare.

Georgiana emerged shortly, excited about the new gowns she had been fitted for and prepared to discuss them at some length.

She spoke of her experience in the dressing areas as they left the dressmaker’s. He agreed that the purple hat she'd also purchased was the correct choice, and that he had paid what was asked because the pricing was excellent.

In the carriage, he gave the driver two addresses. Georgiana looked at him upon hearing the second one.

"Portman Square?"

"I have a call to make." He kept his eyes on the street. "It will not take long."

She did not ask further. He was grateful for it and used the remaining minutes of the journey to assemble what he intended to say. Not a speech, nothing so formal; simply the facts, in the order that would be most useful, with enough clarity for them to act on before Mrs Bingley's version arrived through other channels.

It was not going to be a comfortable errand. He did not suppose Elizabeth would receive it easily.

But she would receive it honestly, and she would do what was necessary.

Chapter Sixteen

Elizabeth

When Mr Bingley arrived at the Bennet townhouse, Jane had received him in the drawing room with more composure than she had shown during his previous visits. Jane was often anxious about meetings of such nature, and her recent lack of nervousness revealed a growing comfort with the aforementioned gentleman.

Elizabeth was chaperoning in place of their mother, whose bedroom door had remained closed since breakfast and showed no signs of opening. What had passed through Mrs Bennet's mind as she left the breakfast table yesterday and what specific confidence she had given Mrs Bingley, were necessary details Elizabeth did not yet know.

Thus far, she had relayed word of Mary's wish for quiet to the household and enforced it, informed the housekeeper that Mrs Bennet was not to be disturbed, and had then positioned herself in the drawing room.

Mary was still upstairs. She had asked to have her dinner brought up the previous day, said little and had only emerged once to retrieve a book whose title Elizabeth had not caught. She had sent word this morning that she was quite well and needed time to herself, and Elizabeth was not too worried because Mary's requests for privacy were usually accurate accounts of what she required. Moreover, there was enough happening in the household to manage without adding to Mary's difficulties.