The Matters at Mansfield

by Carrie Bebris

  Why his aunt had embarked upon the present subject eluded him. To Darcy’s knowledge, Miss de Bourgh had no current marriage prospects, and at the age of eight-and-twenty stood in considerable danger of entering permanent spinsterhood. But he could devote no more thought to the matter if he wanted to win the hand, which he fully intended to do.

  “My late wife never appreciated Hawthorn Manor,” said Lord Sennex. “She was too attached to the home of her birth.”

  “Anne will not have that problem.”

  That, Darcy believed. He had always found Rosings to reflect the character of its mistress—all pomp and grandeur, with little warmth to solicit nostalgia or any other tender sentiment.

  Darcy evaluated his remaining cards. He had taken the first six tricks and now faced a decision: whether to end the hand at this point and collect only the original pool, or attempt to take them all. If he continued the hand and succeeded, he would win a substantial bonus pool, but if he failed, his opponents would split the side stake.

  He mentally reviewed the cards that had been used and who had played them. His opponents were out of trump, but two high cards remained unaccounted for. He believed Lady Catherine held them, though heaven only knew whether the viscount had been following suit throughout the hand. Continuing would require Darcy’s full concentration.

  He led a seventh card.

  A noisy discussion erupted at Neville’s table. Darcy did his best to bar it from his mind, but it soon reached a level that made it impossible to ignore. Neville addressed Sir John Trauth, one of his whist opponents, in a hot tone.

  “You scratched your chin!” Neville’s small eyes narrowed still more as his flaccid countenance distorted in resentment.

  “It itches.”

  Neville rose to his feet. Short of stature, he gained the intimidation of height only when confronting a seated adversary, as Sir John remained. “You have scratched it twice whilst holding an ace.”

  Sir John, for fifty years known throughout the neighborhood as a forthright man, remained calm under Neville’s ire. “Have I done so, I assure you the reflex was entirely coincidental. If losing the rubber disappoints you, examine your own play.”

  “At least I played an honest hand.”

  “Do you accuse me of cheating, Sennex?”

  Silence claimed the room as all waited to hear Neville’s response. To accuse a gentleman of dishonesty at cards was a grave matter: Settling the issue via pistols at dawn was not unheard of. Dueling might be illegal, but that did not prevent its practice.

  “Eh, what was that?” Although the question had been directed to Mr. Sennex, it caught the attention of his father. The viscount, seated with his back to Neville’s table, turned round in his chair. “Is that Neville? What is this commotion?”

  No one, including Neville, ventured to answer him. Though his mind might have begun to fail him, the viscount still commanded the respect due a peer of the realm, and nobody wanted to disillusion a father about the poor sportsmanship of his son.

  Lord Sennex gripped the table’s edge and slowly pushed himself to his feet. “It sounds as if there is some sort of dispute. Neville, what is transpiring?”

  “A minor disagreement, that is all.”

  “With Sir John? Why, he has been our friend since—since I do not know when. What can you possibly be arguing about with Sir John?”

  Neville stared at Sir John a long time, his pique still evident. Finally, he said, “Nothing. It is over.”

  “Is it, Sir John?”

  “Yes, my lord.”

  “Well, I am glad it is settled, whatever it was. What is everybody looking at? Have you not your own games to attend to?”

  The silence was broken by the riffle of cards and clacking of fish as all returned to their games. All the players, that is, except those at two tables.

  Sir John rose from his seat. “I believe I have done with cards for the night. I am returning to the ballroom.” His partner made a similarly quick exit.

  In the wake of their departure, Neville addressed his own partner, who was also leaving. “Surely you observed the same behavior as I?”

  “Regrettably, I cannot say that I did.”

  Lord Sennex and his son both remained standing. Elder regarded younger with resignation; son regarded father with indignation.

  “How dare Sir John humiliate me? He a mere knight? And you—you abetted him with your interference.”

  “A gentleman’s honor is his most sacred possession. It should not be challenged lightly.”

  “I have had enough of your preaching about honor for a lifetime. And enough of your directing my affairs.”

  “Neville, rein in your anger. This is a night for celebration, after all.” The viscount gestured toward Lady Catherine. “Join our table. Perhaps you would like to take my place at quadrille?”

  “Perhaps not.”

  “Neville—”

  Mr. Sennex clenched his jaw, struggling to check his ire. After a moment, he addressed Lady Catherine. “I beg your ladyship’s pardon, but as you can see, I am in no mood for celebration at present. Tomorrow, however, I shall place myself at your disposal for quadrille or any other diversion in which you or Miss de Bourgh care to indulge.”

  “Very well, Mr. Sennex. I shall hold you to that promise.”

  He bowed. To his father, he said, “I am going home. I will send the carriage back to collect you.”

  The viscount watched him leave, then sank into his chair. He picked up his cards and played on Darcy’s long-forgotten lead. “Lady Catherine, I apologize for my son’s behavior. He is not generally ill-humored. You need have no misgivings about our earlier business.”

  Lady Catherine snapped down her card with such force she nearly bent it. “I hope not. Else I shall be sending an express to my solicitor countermanding this morning’s documents—”

  Miss Jenkinson having played, Darcy collected the trick and glanced at his cards, trying to recall what he had intended to lead next. After such an extended disruption, he could no longer remember with certainty which cards remained in play.

  “—and another to Mr. Collins canceling the banns.”

  Darcy’s head jerked up. His gaze shifted between his aunt and the viscount as if he watched a game of shuttlecock.

  “I assure you,” Lord Sennex said, “that is not necessary.”

  “All the same, perhaps we ought to postpone the date.”

  “There is no sense in postponing happiness. Besides, one month from today will have Neville home in time for the opening of foxhunting season, which will put him in especially good temper.”

  “Miss de Bourgh is the granddaughter of an earl. Her wedding will not be scheduled around the pursuit of vermin.”

  “Of course not.”

  “Mr. Darcy, are you ever going to lead the next trick?”

  Darcy stared at his aunt. Miss de Bourgh and Neville Sennex? He had never suspected such a partnership was forming. Lady Catherine was a craftier strategist than even he had realized.

  “It seems that you and his lordship have effected an alliance that goes well beyond this game.”

  “Yes. Your cousin has just become engaged to Mr. Sennex.”

  “I shall be sure to wish her joy when I return to the ballroom.” He withdrew the queen of spades from his hand.

  “Kindly defer your congratulations until the morrow.”

  He dropped the card onto the table. “May I ask why?”

  “Anne does not yet know.”

  With a triumphant flourish, Lady Catherine played the king of spades, overriding Darcy’s queen and defeating his attempt at the vole.

  “You should have called my king, Mr. Darcy. Have you not yet come to understand that you are far better off with me as an ally than as an opponent?” She collected the trick and placed it in front of her.

  “That is, if you want to win.”

  Five

  There certainly are not so many men of large fortune in the world as there are pretty wom
en to deserve them.

  —Mansfield Park

  You lost how much in a single hand?”

  “Never mind. I was distracted.”

  Elizabeth nodded in passing to an acquaintance as Darcy adroitly maneuvered her away from Lady Catherine, who had been only too happy to declare her winnings when Elizabeth at last delivered Anne’s message. “Was not the entire purpose for you to distract her? Whatever turned things round?”

  “News you will no doubt find quite diverting.” Darcy glanced back at the card table from which he had just escaped. Though the room was clearing, Lady Catherine and Lord Sennex remained, deep in conversation. “This, however, is not an appropriate venue in which to reveal it.”

  “Apparently we are fortunate that the summons to supper terminated your game, or you might have lost Pemberley by evening’s end. Lady Catherine’s fondest dreams would have been realized as she ousted me from its premises.”

  “My aunt has other matters on her mind this week.”

  “Oh, more cryptic talk! You know how it delights me when you speak mysteriously. I suppose I shall have to wait until we are safely alone in our chamber before you explain further?”

  “I am afraid so.”

  “Very well. I can spend supper regaling you with Miss de Bourgh’s adventures in the ballroom.”

  “Did she enjoy her dances with Colonel Fitzwilliam?”

  “Dance—she stood up with him for only one before the fear of being caught by her mother forced her from the floor. But yes, from all appearances she enjoyed it very much. Another gentleman in their set afterwards invited her to dance with him, but having turned down Colonel Fitzwilliam’s offer of a second dance she declined his invitation, too. Which is a shame, for I believe she would have liked to accept them both.”

  “Was the gentleman someone we know?”

  “Colonel Fitzwilliam introduced us. He is Mr. Henry Crawford, a guest of Admiral Davidson.” She scanned the dining room, but could not readily locate Mr. Crawford. “I do not see him in this crowd or I would identify him to you. He seems an affable gentleman, with a friendly countenance and engaging manners. Too, merely the fact that he invited Miss de Bourgh to dance earns him a place in my esteem.”

  “You have suddenly developed an intense interest in my cousin’s social intercourse.”

  “We do have a stake in it.”

  “How so?”

  “I doubt the Miss de Bourgh we knew a twelvemonth ago would have defied her mother and danced tonight. For all the vexation Lady Catherine’s prolonged visit to Pemberley caused us, I daresay it benefited Anne. The separation from her mother allowed her to think for herself—and of herself—for what was undoubtedly the first time in her life. She needs more such opportunities.”

  “You are not suggesting that we invite my aunt for a return visit?”

  “I want her to stay for six months this time, and to bring Miss Jenkinson with her.”

  At Darcy’s horrified expression, she laughed.

  “Set your mind at ease—nothing could induce me to feel that charitable. Though now that I think on it, we should invite Miss de Bourgh to visit us at Pemberley for a while—without her mother or companion. Miss Jenkinson could use the hiatus to take an extended holiday. Surely she has family somewhere that she has not seen in a decade or two.”

  “Your plan assumes Lady Catherine would be willing to spare either of them.”

  “Provided she has someone to nod mutely at appropriate intervals in her soliloquies, the particular company she keeps is entirely interchangeable. There are others in the neighborhood, such as Mr. and Mrs. Collins, who can serve her purpose just as well. Mr. Collins, you know, is only too willing to drop everything whenever his patroness issues a summons to Rosings. I do scruple to subject Charlotte to an increase in her ladyship’s attention, but as a clergyman’s wife she understands the need to sacrifice for a good cause.”

  “Their party would number only three—how will Lady Catherine play quadrille?”

  “Oh, dear. I suppose Miss Jenkinson must stay behind after all. Well, we shall have to plot her liberation for a later date. I can allot attention to only one charitable enterprise at a time, and Miss de Bourgh inspires more of my sympathy.”

  They found their place cards. Although Lady Catherine had been assigned to a different table, the presence of others prevented Elizabeth and Darcy from continuing the discussion. They spent the meal engaged with their fellow diners in the sort of idle chatter that Elizabeth tolerated and Darcy abhorred.

  Afterward, they danced a set together, then mutually decided they had experienced enough of the ball. Elizabeth departed to look in on Lily-Anne while Darcy took leave of their host. She found the baby sleeping contentedly, a tiny sliver of white peeking through her lower gum, and walked to her chamber with a lighter heart. Passing Miss de Bourgh’s room, she considered looking in on her as well to enquire whether her headache had improved. No sounds came from within. As she did not wish to disturb her if Miss de Bourgh had indeed found rest, she continued without stopping, but a scheme began to form in her mind. She quickened her step, eager to share the idea with Darcy.

  Upon opening the door to her own chamber, she discovered that Darcy had not yet returned. A note, however, lay on the floor with her name written across the front. She picked it up and saw that it bore the de Bourgh seal. Before she had a chance to open it, Darcy entered.

  She momentarily set the letter aside on a small table near the door. Whatever Lady Catherine had to say could wait.

  “I have been thinking, Darcy. Let us suggest that your cousin Anne return with us to Pemberley from here. If she accompanies us, Lady Catherine cannot use the inconvenience or rigors of travel as an excuse to deny the invitation. Miss de Bourgh will conduct her journey under our protection, enabling you to personally ensure her every comfort, and Pemberley is closer than Rosings, so the length of the trip will prove less taxing on her ‘fragile constitution’ than returning to Kent. The scheme also provides the advantage of immediacy. If we plan the visit for some future date, once Anne is back at home her mother has leisure to devise any number of excuses to prevent its ever actually occurring.”

  “She cannot just as easily invent pretexts in person?”

  “Evasion and equivocation are more easily achieved from a distance.”

  Darcy removed his coat and folded it over the back of a chair. “While that may be true, it seems Miss de Bourgh has another engagement that will prevent her coming to us as you propose. Lady Catherine informed me this evening that my cousin is about to become affianced to Neville Sennex.”

  “Lord Sennex’s son?” Elizabeth allowed herself a few moments to absorb the information. She had observed no hint in Anne’s manners that a betrothal had been contracted, though hindsight now suggested that perhaps the engagement, not a headache, had caused her to decline Mr. Crawford’s invitation to dance. “I am all astonishment.”

  “Miss de Bourgh might be as well, when my aunt informs her of the marriage. Lady Catherine has been negotiating the entire agreement without her knowledge.”

  “But Anne is of age; she should have been consulted. After all, she does not have to give her consent.”

  “My aunt is confident she will acquiesce, as she has no other prospects at present.”

  Elizabeth pitied Miss de Bourgh. Ladies in society’s upper ranks often had little say in the selection of their own husbands; marriages amongst the ton were foremost business transactions designed to forge alliances, merge estates, build fortunes, and enhance pedigrees. Even among less exalted ranks, affection was often a secondary, negligible consideration, and Elizabeth was thankful anew that it governed her own marriage.

  “Knowing Lady Catherine, I am hardly surprised that Miss de Bourgh’s inclinations were not considered. The marriage is quite a coup for your aunt.”

  “Indeed, yes. It allies the de Bourghs with an old, established family and restores Lady Catherine’s line to the rank of peers after having married a
mere baronet herself. Miss de Bourgh will immediately become the Honorable Anne Sennex, and rise to still higher precedence when the viscount dies and his son inherits the title. As the present Lord Sennex is a widower, even while he lives Anne will be mistress of Hawthorn Manor, one of the finest estates in this part of the country, and enjoy greater wealth than she knew at Rosings.”

  “It sounds like a good establishment for your cousin, particularly as she has reached an age where many women must settle for less, if they marry at all. In exchange, Mr. Sennex acquires Lady Catherine as his mother-in-law. Miss de Bourgh certainly must have charmed him, for it would seem that most of the advantages of this bargain fall on her side.”

  “Mr. Sennex will be amply compensated for any pain and suffering he endures as a result of his relationship to my aunt. Anne brings a substantial portion—the settlement Lady Catherine brought to her own marriage—and eventually will inherit the entire estate of Rosings.” He paused. “It is, by all appearances, a good match for them both.”

  The hesitation, though so slight as to be almost imperceptible, suggested he had left something unsaid.

  “However advantageous the marriage may be in worldly considerations, I cannot help but hope that Anne and her husband might also share affection—if not immediately, at least over time,” she said. “I have not met Mr. Sennex. What sort of man is he?”

  “Unfortunately, I cannot say that I care for his society. Though my intercourse with him has been limited, in nearly every instance he has shown himself to be a man of short temper and unpleasant disposition. If fact, just this evening, rather than graciously accept defeat, he all but accused his whist opponent of cheating, though his own partner could not support the allegation. And despite invitations whenever I visit Riveton, I will not hunt with the gentleman, nor will Colonel Fitzwilliam.” Darcy went on to explain their aversion.

  Elizabeth was sorry to hear the character of Anne’s fiancé so described. “For Miss de Bourgh’s sake, I had wished him to be a more amenable gentleman, but one can hope he might improve under her influence. Too, your cousin is used to living with someone of difficult temperament. Perhaps as mistress of her own house she will be able to better manage Mr. Sennex than she can her own mother. Or at least minimize the time she spends in his company. At present, she is constantly at Lady Catherine’s command.”