Mr Darcy's Christmas Carol

Part 13

The halls of Pemberley were colder than Darcy remembered, and it was not just a matter of temperature. Caroline Bingley - now Mrs Caroline Darcy - had terrified his staff into submission, so that there was no friendly banter between them, no whistling or murmured singing as a task was completed.

He was grateful for the solace of his study, yet lately, even that had felt less like a comfort and more like a prison cell to him. It was the one room he could call his own, for none but he would dare step inside, but the result of that was more and deeper isolation, rather than the sanctuary it had been in former times.

"Fitzwilliam!" He winced at the harsh tone of voice his wife applied to that name in particular. He had hoped, once married, that Caroline's edges would soften. If anything, they grated even more on his nerves, and he could not help but think of her with resentment.

"Fitzwilliam, darling!"

He gritted his teeth. As did her insistent use of his Christian name and any one of several endearments that were neither wanted nor encouraged. He had suggested that she might call him William, as Georgiana did, reminding her that Fitzwilliam was formal and rarely used by anyone with whom he shared any real intimacy. She had ignored the suggestion, insisting that Fitzwilliam was altogether more elegant and thus would be the name she used when they spoke to one another.

Realising he could hide no longer, unless he wished to continually be interrupted by her calling for him, he pulled the door of his study open and stepped into the corridor.

"Is something the matter?"

"Ah!" She beamed at him. "I wondered where you had got to. Do remember that my brother intends to call on us this afternoon. Why, is that what you intend on wearing?" She cast a critical eye over his clothing, and her lips turned down in disapproval.

"Must we wear our finery whenever friends call on us now?" he asked, irritated at the way she sought to control every element of his life, even that which had little importance.

"I am disappointed you do not think my brother worthy of the honour of a change of clothes." Caroline sniffed. "I know he is not quite so well-established as us -"

"Caroline -" Darcy held up a hand to stop her familiar tirade, and bowed, obediently. "If it is important to you then, of course, I will change." He could not bear to hear her hold forth yet again on the subject of their position in society, and how it compared or contrasted with the people they called friends. He had thought her obsession with rank would dissipate once they relocated from London to Pemberley, but, if anything, it had merely worsened.

"Is Georgiana at home?"

"Georgiana?" Caroline feigned ignorance, but Darcy was not deceived. He sighed.

"Tell me you two have not had another of your disagreements?" If he, himself, found Caroline difficult to manage, Georgiana found her barely tolerable, an opinion she was not shy about sharing. He felt the burden of unending battle settle over his shoulders like a weight. He had thought the two ladies well enough acquainted before the announcement of his marriage reached Georgiana's ears: in fact, he had even presumed them to be friends, or disposed to be so. Georgiana had seemed amiable to Caroline when they had met in the past, and Caroline claimed to find Georgiana utterly enchanting. In fact, she had gone out of her way to enquire after Darcy's sister in the weeks before their engagement, as if the two were fond friends and naturally curious about one another. Once the wedding had taken place, however, it was as if both ladies had undergone a complete transformation. Caroline strove always to come out on top in Darcy's affection, an effort which was largely fruitless, for he could not quite forgive her for the manner in which they became engaged in the first place, nor had she ever succeeded in truly winning his heart. She guarded her position as mistress of Pemberley jealously and used every opportunity afforded her to attack Georgiana, disguising her thrusts behind smiles and words of encouragement. Darcy knew she was counting the days until his sister was married off and out of their hair, and as such, continued to push Georgiana towards matches he, himself, despaired of. He was more than ever pitched on the side of his sister, determined that she would not be forced to make the same mistakes he had and would marry a good man whose chief concern was her happiness. He might have considered Bingley agreeable enough to the task, were it not for Charles' sudden and regrettable marriage to Annabelle Parker, one week after his and Caroline's own wedding. His friend's marriage at least appeared a little happier than Darcy's, although whether that was because Charles was better resigned to his fate than Darcy or his wife a little more agreeable than Caroline regularly made an effort to be, he could not say.

"Georgiana is out," Caroline said, with a shrug of her shoulders. "She would not say where she was going or when she would be back. I, at least, insisted upon her taking her companion with her."

This companion was a new initiative of Caroline's, instituted in an attempt to keep watch on Georgiana when companionship with Caroline directly seemed unpalatable to Darcy's sister. The maid was retained under Caroline's name, although she was despatched at Georgiana's bidding. Darcy knew, and fancied his sister was only too aware, that the maid reported back on her movements directly to Caroline, and as such, she had well practised the art of dodging her maid at any opportunity that she wanted a little privacy. Darcy frowned. Word that the two ladies had gone out together was of little comfort to him. Who knew what mischief Georgiana might fall into with such a companion? Caroline seemed to care little, in fact, she almost seemed to relish the thought of Georgiana suffering some catastrophe, and he wondered if her insistence on having Georgiana's every move observed was designed to push her into behaviour she would otherwise not have considered.

"She will be sorry to miss Charles, in any case," Darcy offered, as a parting shot before taking his leave to change. "She is very fond of your brother, and of Mrs Bingley."

Annabelle Bingley was an afterthought, for she was firmly Caroline's friend, and thus of little consequence to Georgiana. But Charles was a second brother to her, and someone she would turn to for advice more readily than she would to Darcy of late. The realisation hurt him, though he would not own it.

"Perhaps she will return before they leave. They are staying for dinner, are not they?"

Caroline's response was but a sniff, and Darcy took it as a dismissal, hurrying to change and return in good time for the arrival of their guests.