Page 90 of To Go Against Her Heart
“I shall look forward to tomorrow,” he said, and as much as he was, Elizabeth was impatient to be united with Darcy for life.
***
That night, Miss Bingley paced her room in evident rage, unable to understand what had gone wrong in her scheme.
According to her account, everything had been executed with meticulous planning. She had posted the letters to Darcy and Lady Matlock, skillfully altering her handwriting to preserve their anonymity, but now she doubted whether the letters reached them. In a fit of anger, she summoned her maid.
“Did you post the letter I asked you to send to town?” she demanded.
“I did, though Mrs. Hurst looks over your correspondence, I concealed it from her and posted it the same day, Miss Bingley, please do not doubt…”
“Enough! Leave!” she ordered.
From the moment Miss Bingley learnt that Elizabeth and Darcy had renewed their acquaintance in town and met frequently, she resolved to find some means of tarnishing Elizabeth’s reputation. She immediately perceived that any knowledge of Elizabeth’s former suitor might serve to her advantage.
With the help of a few friends who had connections with the same circle as the Gardiner family, she discovered who had courted Elizabeth the previous year. Though she knew nothing beyond the gentleman’s identity, Miss Bingley was confident she might turn the knowledge to her advantage. When she overheard her brother speak of the ball at the Ashfords and that Elizabeth was to attend as Lady Matlock’s guest, she was livid. As luck would have it, her closest friend—a woman much like herself in both age and disposition—was to be present at the ball that very day. Miss Bingley instructed her to watch andgain every possible detail about Elizabeth. She was astonished to learn that Elizabeth had encountered her former lover there, and in Darcy’s very presence. From her friend’s account, it appeared that Elizabeth had conducted herself as though she did not recognize the gentleman. At once, Miss Bingley perceived that, if ever she were to find a true advantage, this was it. After cherishing the knowledge for many weeks, she finally put it to use—writing letters, maliciously injecting falsehoods with scanty truths she knew in her account.
Unfortunately, she now doubted whether the letters reached Darcy and Lady Matlock at all, for in their faces there was not even a faint sense of worry or anxiety, as she had observed them the entire day.
She had expected the letters to have an immediate effect, resulting in the calling off of Darcy’s engagement.
How could my calculations have gone wrong? With the status and respect Lady Matlock commands in society, she would never allow her family to associate with someone like Elizabeth, and the contents of my letter should have enraged her. I don’t know why they are here, without any reaction? What could this mean?
Just then, her maid arrived with a message.
“What? Why would Lady Matlock wish to speak with me?” Miss Bingley asked, perplexed.
“I am not aware, Miss Bingley, she requests your presence in her room, and her maid informed me that it is something important.”
Miss Bingley suddenly felt a chill run through her veins, and a feeling of numbness overtook her.
It was a quarter past nine when Miss Bingley made her way to the guest wing; the faint clatter of servants at work on the lower floor, preparing for the party, reached her ears. As she reached Lady Matlock’s room, she tried hard to think of a reason for sucha request. She knocked upon the door and entered. She found Lady Matlock seated with a book in her hand, looking calm and she motioned Miss Bingley to take the seat opposite hers.
As nervous as she had been, Lady Matlock’s unaffected manner gave Miss Bingley some confidence.
This cannot be regarding the letters,Miss Bingley reassured herself.
“Miss Bingley, I thank you for meeting me at this hour. I hope you are aware of the need for this discussion,” Lady Matlock finally spoke.
“I do not, and quite honestly, I am perplexed.”
“Is that so? Surely, when you wrote to me, you must have understood that I should wish to discuss the contents of your letter with you,” she said and calmly closed her book, watching Miss Bingley’s face turn white.
“Madam, I do not know… Pardon me, which letter are you referring to?” she asked in horror, and Lady Matlock casually drew the letter and placed it on the table before.
“You are a courageous woman after all, and I do not understand why you did not have the strength to own up to it, and yes, if you must know, my nephew received a similar one, and he brought it to me, convinced that it was pure falsehood. He is in love with her and will not choose to believe the facts you have laid out. But I am not like him; our family’s reputation is at stake here.”
“So, you believe me?” she asked, instantly regretting the admission, and glanced about the room to see if anyone else was present.
Lady Matlock laughed.
“There is no one here, my dear; to put you at ease, only Fitzwilliam and I are aware of these letters, and I have not disclosed to him, as yet, that I know the sender’s identity.”
“By what means did you discover that I had written them?”
“I knew it came from Hertfordshire by the stamp, and it was plain to see that you have always favored my nephew. And there is your motive to prevent this wedding—and I do not doubt your sincerity in claiming to be my well-wisher. Had it not been for you, I should never have suspected anything.”
“Then why did you not stop the engagement? Surely, Mr. Darcy cannot doubt her past and everything she has done to deceive him,” she asked with a sudden burst of irritation.
