Can Caroline find another chance for an happily ever after?

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Part 6

“Caroline! Caroline!” Charles called from just outside her chamber door. “We will be late.”

If she did not respond, he would be pounding on it in just a moment. She heaved a heavy breath and dragged herself to the doorway, opening the door a fraction. “Go without me. I have no taste for entertainments tonight.”

“Absolutely not. I will not accept that for an answer. You insisted we see this performance. I bought the tickets solely for you. Neither Hurst nor I are interested in the singer or the music. You must attend.” Botheration, why did he have to have that particular look on his face, the one that said he would not be moved?

“I do not feel well. I am not going.”

“I know when you are truly ill, sister, and when you are using it as an excuse to get out of something. Were this evening not at your insistence, I might excuse you, but not tonight. You have a quarter of an hour, and you will be downstairs waiting for us.”

She balled her fists and stomped. How dare he talk to her that way. “And If I am not?”

His eyes narrowed and his voice deepened into something like a snarl. “I am in town because of you when I was far happier in the country. Push me and I shall return to Netherfield.”

“You would not dare. What is there for you in the country that you cannot find in town?” She jumped back. The look he cast her way was entirely unlike himself. Such a mood he was in! What had brought him to such a disagreeable point? “I will be downstairs in a quarter of an hour.”

Perhaps though, she should desist. He would be happier at Netherfield and she would not have to face the judgements of certain acquaintances.

Exactly as the clock rang the quarter hour, she descended the main stairs, slowly, and unwillingly. But if he thought for a moment that he could force her back to that horrid country place, he was entirely wrong. She would do what it took to keep that from happening.

A night at the theater was hardly a bad thing under normal circumstances, even if she simply wanted to be alone. But these were not normal circumstance. Still though, it was important to remember that Mrs. Bircham had tickets for a play this evening and they had had to turn down Mrs. Engleworth’s card party because of their concert tickets tonight. So she would not have to face either of them. Small consolation, but it was something.

The carriage came to a stop some distance from the concert hall. Oh, how she hated that crush, but there was little to be done for it. She steeled herself and descended from the coach into the cool night air lit by street lights all around. Were she in better spirits, she might have found a way to enjoy the scene. But not tonight. Charles took her arm and escorted her to the concert theater.

Once inside she could finally breathe again. The theater was crowded to be sure, but she was not pressed on all sides. Better still, she could identify a number of people milling about. Friends and acquaintance from as far back as school day and as recent as their last stay in town. She drew in and released a deep breath. She was among those she knew. Safe, that was what she felt now, safe. Even if there were gossip bandied about her, there were enough here who would take up for her, that she need not fear it. At least for a few hours.

Thankfully, Charles had acquired a box for them and they made their way up to where they could look out upon the crowd below, as well as the performers. Somehow that felt much more secure than being in the midst of the crowd.

Caroline and Louisa sat between Mr. Hurst and Charles, leaving several additional open seats in the box. Caroline winced. She had forgotten that their party was not large enough to fill the box on their own.

“Why do you keep looking over your shoulder?” Louisa glanced behind them. “You look nervous, like a bird about to take flight.”

“I just wonder who will be sitting in the box with us.”

“I do not know, but you do not need to worry. Someone like the Bennets could not afford the tickets.” Louisa fluttered her fan in front of her face.

“That is ever so comforting.” She tried not to sneer, but sometimes Louisa could be so maddening. It would have been a relief to tell her the truth about what she had learned at Mrs. Bircham’s, but Louisa did not react well to such things and it would only lead to more discomfort for them all. Some things were really just best kept to oneself.

“There now, you see, nothing to worry about. Look, it is the Godwins—the very people you have been hoping to see!” Lousia jerked her head toward the empty seats.

Just as she said, Mr. and Mrs. Godwin and Mr. Westmoreland sidled in to take the remaining seats in the box. They caught her gaze and nodded briefly, just as the opening notes of the concert sounded.

Caroline’s face and hands went cold and the world spun around her. Had she not been sitting already, she would have swooned. No! No! No! This was simply not possible. How was it they should be sitting in the same box?

Oh the shame of it! She snuck a glance at Mrs. Godwin, but her eyes remained steadfastly on the performance below them. At least she was not gawking and her brother’s hanger-on from the ball. That was something to be grateful for. Mr. Westmoreland though caught her eye just briefly, but his expression was impossible to interpret.

She snapped her focus back to the stage as the singer walked on. Whatever she did, she must not change her gaze again, not for the entire performance. What was worse, wondering if they were looking at her or being caught looking at them? Both were nigh on intolerable.  How much longer could she possibly tolerate this?

At last, an intermission in the performance. She sprang to her feet. “Charles, I am unwell, I must get some air,” she sputtered as she dashed out of the box and to the stairs.

How had so many people already made it to the staircase, and why would they not make way for someone who was truly desperate? She clung to the banister and plunged down the stairs as fast as the crush allowed.

Finally at the ground floor, she panted for breath for just a moment, then rushed for the doors. A gush of cool air caught her face as she flew through the doors and into the night. Yes, she could breathe; she could breathe once more. Was it possible that too many people could suck the air from a place? She had never read of such a thing, but surely it seemed quite possible.

Should she stay here, or go to the carriage? The carriage, definitely that. What direction had the driver gone with it?

“Miss Bingley?”

She turned sharply. “Mr. Westmoreland?”

He stood just a few feet away, tall, dark, and very serious in his perfectly tied cravat and fitted coat. “Pray forgive me. I know I have come upon you rather abruptly. I had hoped to talk to you, but you left so suddenly. Are you unwell? Is there some way in which I might assist?”

“No, no, I am find thank you. I just needed some air. The crowd can be rather overwhelming at times, I think. I had not been led to expect quite so large an audience tonight.” She edged back, stopped by the wall behind her.

“Indeed, sometimes the crush can be rather unpleasant. Might I offer you my arm for a moment?” He extended his arm to her.

She studied his face. What was he about?

“I see you are hesitant.” He pulled back half a step. “I do not blame you, I am sure I offended you. Pray allow me to apologize.”

“Excuse me?”

“You are very gracious, and I thank you for that. But you do not need to pretend upon my account. I am well able to own my own failings.”

“Forgive me sir, but I beg of you to speak more plainly.” Her throat burned as she forced the words through.

“Of course, you deserve no less” He looked up into the night sky as if gathering his thoughts. “After the most enjoyable ball which you held it was my duty, nay my privilege to call upon you the next day and not only did I fail to do so, I failed to pay any call to you at all.”

Her forehead furrowed a little ache beginning at her temples. When would he start making sense?

“No doubt you are aware that we left the area immediately after the ball, first thing the next morning as a matter of fact.”

“I … I was familiar with your departure.” Breath, she must breath. She could not swoon now.

“I would very much have liked to pay you a take leave, but my cousin deemed it imperative that we leave immediately. In retrospect, I hardly think a few more hours in the area would have hurt anything and it might have gone a long way in assuaging feelings that I had no intention of harming.”

She nodded and bit her tongue lest she should ask something too revealing.

“What could possibly have been so urgent as to supplant the demands of good manner?” He cocked his head just so, revealing an excellent profile.

“The thought had crossed my mind.” That was an understatement at best, but he did not need to know that.

“My cousin, Mrs. Godwin tries to take prodigious good care of me—ten years my elder, she still things of me as a young boy in need of minding. She was quite concerned with some of the company we kept at the ball.”

Caroline forced a neutral expression on her face even as the blood trickled away from it.

“Pray, do not be affronted, I do not mean to insult your very fine hospitality, but I think that we both can agree that not all the company in Meryton was of the same quality. I do believe we rather agreed at least upon one family’s disagreeable members.”

Her eyes widened and she squared her shoulders, her breath coming a little more easily. “Are you referring to a certain neighbor of ours with five daughters out all at the same time?”

He nodded slowly. “You might have noticed that the youngest daughter contrived to dance a second set with me.”

“I had not been aware.” How could she have missed such a thing? Which set was it? No, she did not need to know that now.

“Of course not, you had far more important matters to attend. But Mrs. Godwin did not overlook the significance of the second dance. She was concerned that the young lady in question might have assumed it meant something that it did not. And given that her behavior ran rather …”

“Wild?”

“That would be one way in which to describe it. She felt that there was a very great risk that the young lady might be trying to trap a gentlemen into a rather untenable situation. She was determined to remove me from the danger as soon as might be possible.”

Her head spun—was it possible? She was not the object of Mrs. Godwin’s derision?

“Miss Bingley? Are you ill? Pray, take my arm.”

She slipped her hand into the crook of his arm. “Thank you, I am, that is, I will be fine in just a moment. It seems I am still recovering from the press inside.”

“I pray you can forgive me for my rudeness in light of this new intelligence. I could not dissuade my cousin from her mission. Since you have a brother, I had hoped that, once you knew the full extent of the situation, you might understand and be willing to extend your forgiveness.”

“Certainly, of course, I completely understand.” The words all but gushed out. “We have had some anxiety with my brother bestowing affections upon less worthy recipients as well and have at times offered our opinions in hopes of protecting him.”

“Of course you have, that is what a caring family would do for their brother. I was certain you would understand.” He nodded several times, seeming deeply satisfied. “I see others returning to the theater. Might I escort you back inside?”

That would mean they would be seen together in public. Their association could not be denied. He knew that, he had to know that when he offered. “I would like that very well, thank you.”

“Might I ask another favor of you? May I have the privilege of calling upon you at your brother’s house, say tomorrow?”

“My calling card says that I am at home to guests tomorrow.” She glanced at him just a moment, allowing the hint of a smile to lift her lips.

“Then it would seem I have planned very well. I shall look forward to it.”

“And I too.” Perhaps it was a bit too forward, a bit too bold to agree so readily, but who could blame her. She could hardly take another chance on a misunderstanding, could she?

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Find earlier parts of this story HERE

Find additional short stories HERE

 

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