“Though I do long to be in Town, Caroline,” said Mrs. Hurst distractedly as she examined the elegant gold bangles adorning her wrists, “I hardly think it would be prudent to travel there now, when our brother is planning to hold a ball within a matter of a few weeks. Surely you must realize he will require all our assistance, and Christmas shall be upon us soon after. No doubt the local gentry will expect him to do some measure of entertaining, you know, if he wishes to establish himself well in the neighborhood. It shall not be all that bad, I suppose. Hertfordshire, I do hear, is uniformly charming once it snows, even if the society itself leaves something to be desired. A sleigh ride through the countryside might be quite pleasant, you know, Sister.”

“My dear Louisa,” Miss Bingley said with disdain, “we could enjoy a sleigh ride just as well in London, but that is hardly the point. I was thinking only of poor Charles when I devised this plan. Do you honestly think it wise to permit him to stay on here in this savage society and carry on as he has with Jane Bennet? He has all but proposed to her, and I am convinced it is only a matter of time before all hope will be lost for us.”

“Certainly you do not think Jane Bennet would refuse our brother?”

Miss Bingley was incensed. “Refuse him? I should say not!”

“Well, then I do not understand what you can be about, Caroline. Though you are well aware I, too, had my reservations in the beginning, I confess I do not remember ever having seen Charles so much in love. Certainly her connections are not what one would have hoped for—Ugh! Her mother!—but Jane Bennet is a sweet girl; not even you can deny it, Sister, and I believe she will make him very happy. He could do far worse, as you well know.”

“Louisa, all that is immaterial!” Miss Bingley hissed as she clenched her fists upon her lap. “He is our brother! What will our acquaintance in Town say should they hear of this infatuation of his? No. It is not to be borne. His judgment has obviously been impaired by Jane Bennet’s figure and her serene smile. Charles needs our protection from these scheming country people. They are not so artless and simple as they would have us believe.”

She was fuming. This was not at all going to her liking. “And what about poor Mr. Darcy, Louisa? Since we have arrived in this odious part of the country, he has not been at all himself. Surely he can no longer be in his right mind, for if he was, you must know he would never have approved of Charles’s forming such an unsuitable connection. It would be a punishment for him. He is used to only the very best and most refined society, and I strongly believe the savagery here has managed, in some grievous way, to unhinge him. Why, you must have seen Elizabeth Bennet tonight, Sister! She all but threw herself at him. It was most shocking. She is attempting to ensnare him with her arts and allurements. Her behavior is almost scandalous!”

Mrs. Hurst, whose attention was now focused on her rings, merely shrugged. “Mmm…”

Miss Bingley threw back her head in frustration and exhaled loudly. Her gaze soon came to rest upon Mr. Hurst, and she decided to try another approach. “Come, Mr. Hurst,” she cooed in what she perceived was a persuasive tone, “certainly we must hear your opinion of this wretched business, sir!”

Mr. Hurst’s eyes suddenly flew open, and he expelled a loud grunt of surprise. If Miss Bingley had been more astute in her observation, she would have recognized that her brother-in-law had no opinion prepared for her to hear; he had been dozing upon the settee for the last half hour, at least. “What was that?” he grumbled in irritation. Upon seeing Miss Bingley smirking at him, he rolled his eyes and muttered, “Damn tedious waste,” before promptly shutting them again.

Miss Bingley turned to her sister with a smug look of triumph. “Oh, I quite agree! You see, Louisa, Mr. Hurst and I are of exactly the same opinion. We cannot allow the dear man to be placed in such a compromising position—to be further subjected to the machinations of such a penniless and impertinent little upstart who behaves in the most reprehensible and unfashionable manner I have ever seen. It is deplorable.”

Mr. Hurst blinked at her in confusion and struggled to pull himself to a sitting position. “What the blazes are you prattling on about now?” he asked gruffly as he reached past her and began to refill his empty glass with wine.

“As I was saying, Mr. Hurst, we must do everything in our power to protect our Mr. Darcy from that mercenary little chit, Elizabeth Bennet.”

“Our Mr. Darcy, eh? You think he needs your protection, do you? Huh!” he snorted. “That is rich, indeed! If you want my opinion, you should leave the pair of them to themselves. In case you have not noticed, Caroline, the man has been hiding himself away in bloody misery for the last week, and tonight he finally snapped out of it. It can hardly be construed as a coincidence that it was after Elizabeth Bennet came to call. I say, if it took a few smiles from a little country lass to do… whatever it is she did to him, then let Darcy have her, and be done with it. There can be no harm in a man indulging in a little sport every now and then.”

Miss Bingley sat with her mouth hanging open in shock at his forgetting himself in such a vulgar manner.

“Oh, come now, Caroline,” her brother-in-law said with a smirk as he drained his glass and set it upon the table next to the settee, “the way Darcy’s eyes were devouring that woman tonight, I would not have been surprised if he had forgotten we were even in the room. If I did not know better, he looked as though he would have taken her right there in the middle of the first course had the opportunity presented itself.” And with that, he removed himself to join the other two gentlemen in the billiard room, chuckling over his sister-in-law’s pale complexion and her scandalized look of alarm.

“Hurst, come in and have a drink,” Darcy said with uncharacteristic cheerfulness. “I was just thrashing Bingley at billiards.”

Grateful for an opportunity to lay aside his cue, Bingley poured a healthy glass of port for his brother-in-law and refilled Darcy’s and his own. As Mr. Hurst accepted his drink, he fixed Bingley with a level look that belied his inebriated state, and said, “By God, Bingley, that sister of yours will be your ruin.” Then he raised his glass in Darcy’s direction. “And she won’t do you any favors either, I might add.” He took several satisfying gulps of the contents as Darcy stared at him with a furrowed brow.

“Come, Hurst,” said Bingley with his usual good humor, “I grant you that Caroline may be difficult, but I hardly think it will lead me to ruin. And as for Darcy”—he laughed—“well, I doubt there is any woman in all of England who is prepared to do more for him!”

Darcy shrugged his shoulders, simultaneously rolling his eyes with distaste.

“Bloody right about that one! If I were you, Darcy, I’d think twice before courting Elizabeth Bennet again in Caroline’s company. Damned jealous of that one, she is, and rightly so. Come now, man, you must know Caroline has been determined to get you since the day she laid her eyes on Pemberley, and she is pretty blasted angry right about now.” Mr. Hurst took another drink and laughed. “What the devil ever possessed you to stare at Elizabeth Bennet like that all night in decent company? Caroline would have sold herself to the devil for half a glance, never mind what went on between the two of you tonight. Now she wants to drag us all the way to Town just to be rid of her. She may as well remove us all to the Continent for all the good that would do her.”

Bingley sighed and shook his head in exasperation. “Yes, that does sound like our Caroline.”

Mr. Hurst noticed Darcy’s frown. “Now do not go and take offense, Darcy. Though he only manages to gawk at her like a lovesick puppy, I suspect my sister-in-law has similar plans to dispose of Bingley’s Miss Bennet as well.”

Bingley sputtered and choked on his port.

“If you have any thoughts of proposing, Bingley, I would get to it, if I were you. There is no telling what Caroline is capable of when she sets her mind to it.” He threw back the rest of his drink and bid them both a good night.

*   *   *

Earlier that evening, after Darcy and Elizabeth had abandoned the relative privacy of Netherfield’s library to rejoin the rest of their party, the couple had found very little opportunity to be alone. Toward the end of the night, however, they managed to steal a few moments of privacy, where they wasted no time orchestrating a plan that would enable them to meet discreetly.

It was quickly decided Darcy would ride out early each morning, as was his wont, to meet with Elizabeth at Oakham Mount. As she habitually indulged in early morning rambles, it seemed a logical plan, so long as the weather was conducive to exercise out-of-doors. From there, they would walk out together, spending at least an hour in each other’s company before parting and returning to their respective households. Darcy would have far preferred to visit with her at Longbourn and openly declare himself to her father, but she had requested he refrain from doing so for the time being. Though he did not like it, Darcy was hesitant to do anything that might cause Elizabeth to withdraw her acceptance of his courtship. He agreed to the scheme only to appease her.

Though Elizabeth was not completely at ease with the idea of keeping their courtship a secret from her father, she was determined to conceal it completely from her mother, whose rampant effusions and scheming, she well knew, had the potential to drive away even the most determined suitor. It would not do to subject either Darcy or herself to her mother’s high-handed machinations just yet. There was much she felt she needed to learn about Darcy, and she was determined to discover it away from the prying eyes and embarrassing scrutiny of her nearest relations.