“Boney is a despicable grotesque parvenu. He disordered everything. I can stand anything but disorder.”
“When Napoleon came back and faced the army of Marshal Ney sent to execute him, do you know you what he did? He opened his shirt to display his naked breast to the army and said, if any of you shall shoot your emperor, do it now. That is a man. A true man. Not some coward hiding behind a woman’s rights.”
Anne said softly, “But it is the place of a woman to be a woman.”
Darcy pushed his mind to remember Elizabeth’s soft hand on his shoulder. He would not let the anxiety set in once again. It would do none of them any good for him to feel miserable.
Richard spent the remainder of the dinner sharply disagreeing with every piece of advice Lady Catherine offered, which made his aunt sneer at him in a knowing way.
When dinner ended and they proceeded to the drawing room, Darcy looked at the piano and the window through which the reddish dying sun shone. He looked at the thick red rug on the carpet. He looked at the empty fireplace. He looked at the painting of Lady Catherine and Sir Lewis above the mantelpiece.
Anne sat quietly at Lady Catherine’s side, while Richard sat next to her. He and Lady Catherine started to argue about policy once more. Lady Catherine said, “Come here, Darcy. You are to be my son. Explain to your cousin why he is wrong.”
“I quite would prefer not to.”
“You should be more obedient.”
Darcy’s face hardened. “I am no dog you can call to heel.”
“Hahahaha.” Richard slapped his leg. “Here is some of the Darcy spirit. You are not yet a dog for our aunt to play with. But do not worry. You will come around to obeying in good time.”
He needed some way to change the tone of this evening. “I wish some entertainment. Miss Bennet is present in the house, and I recall she has a fine skill with the piano. I would also like to see Emma again. She is a sweet girl who I’ve taken to. Do have them called in from the nursery.”
Lady Catherine shrugged. “As you wish. Your memory deceives you as to Miss Bennet’s talents, they are poor, but I have not quizzed that child on her studies for some days. She is entirely recalcitrant. But it would be improper for her to have too great accomplishments. She should not outshine a noble girl such as my Anne, even if Anne is limited by her ill health.”
Anne looked pale and grey now. But when she smiled at Richard while Lady Catherine turned away from them to pull the bell and call the servant, there was a little of a glow in Anne.
Rather than wearing her hair down in the pretty curls she’d worn on Sunday, Elizabeth had pulled her hair into a tight severe knot, which pulled her skin back and made her look strained and unhappy. Darcy frowned a little at her. It was the look of a shrewish governess, not the beautiful young woman she was.
“Well, Miss Bennet!” Lady Catherine’s thundering voice brought Elizabeth and Emma to her side. “What have you been doing with your charge of late?”
“We have been working on the standard accomplishments. Emma drew a pretty picture for you, and I am teaching her to net a screen, and we have worked on the piano a great deal.” Elizabeth gestured towards the instrument. “If you wish us to demonstrate.”
“The kings of England, in order.”
Emma blinked at Lady Catherine’s order. “Start. This is the sort of matter I consider of more importance than any other for her. She will never be a true gentlewoman, but through the study of history she may gain some moral grounding. It would be wrong if by acquiring false accomplishments — for without distinguished breeding she shall never have true taste in drawing or music — she might appear to outshine a lady such as my Anne by a facile facility. However the moral lessons of history are true. Recite the kings of England in order.”
Darcy felt acid burning up his stomach as Emma gnawed on her lip, while Elizabeth fidgeted nervously, looking every direction but at him. She wrung her hands together.
Emma at last said, “Alfred the Great was the first king.”
Lady Catherine put her hands in her lap and leaned forward, watching Emma’s face like a hawk closing in upon a mouse.
“Very good,” she cooed in a sugared voice, full of menace. “And the second king?”
“His son Edward the Elder. And then his son Aethelstan. And then…” Emma paused and swallowed. She paused for a long time.
Lady Catherine’s eyes seemed to slowly light up as the last rays of the dimming sunlight shone on her.
Emma burst out, “Edward the Martyr.”
Crack. Before Darcy could move Lady Catherine had slapped Emma hard across the face. She then looked at Elizabeth. “Miss Bennet, you have been remiss in the teaching of history. I shall expect next time I speak with your charge that she have all our noble monarchs memorized. She also ought to have the line of the Roman Emperors memorized. Mr. Darcy wished for you entertain him. Music, I believe.”
Lady Catherine waved her hand absently.
Darcy stood angrily. Even as Elizabeth curtsied to his aunt he bit out, “This is unacceptable. I will not accept this. Madam, any agreement between us — I will end any agreement if I ever see any indication of you behaving in such an unacceptable manner again. A child! You struck a child.”
“My dear nephew, I hope when you have children—”
“You shall never see any children I have. You shall be my inveterate enemy if you behave in this manner. I can accept much, but this, this I will not accept. Without delay speak to your lawyer and transfer the guardianship of this girl to Anne and I. If you do not, I shall not…I swear I shall not accept your other demands — to slap a child over such a matter. That is too far.”
Lady Catherine snarled, “You do not give me orders. Not about children. Not about any matter. You are to serve me! I am the one to give orders to you. I know how you raise children. I know what comes when a child is in your care.”
“Madam! We are in company.”
“So you wish me to remain silent. Miss Bennet has no one she can tell. Everyone else here is family. If you wish silence, you will obey me. Obey, and be silent.”
“I will do the thing you asked. I will submit so far. I am not your dog. If you ask more, if you refuse me this…I will not accept it. If you harm this child further…” Darcy swallowed. Something his cousin had said earlier in the day rose to his mind. “Push a man too far and he will snap. When you slapped this girl… Give me protection of the girl, or I shall refuse everything. When Anne and I marry, Emma shall come to live with us. You are no fit guardian for a child.”
Lady Catherine and Darcy glared at each other.
Darcy’s heart beat fast. His chest was tight with rage and resentment. His muscles were tight with the repressed desire to fight.
Darcy watched Elizabeth’s pale face as she observed the confrontation. It possibly was wrong, but he would throw even his sister’s reputation away to protect Emma because Elizabeth loved her.
Lady Catherine rose with a disgusted grunt. “Enough. Emma is a filthy girl. Ignorant and savage. I am done with you all tonight. Done. Nephew, you are a fool. You shall end what slender hope I had for reforming this filthy girl’s character. She will be a sinner. She will be filthy like her filthy whore mother. But I’ll give the filthy creature to you. I hope you learn to beat her.”
The old woman haltingly stepped her way out of the room while everyone watched in silence. She slammed the door behind her.
Anne snorted. “I have no interest in the brat. Why do you want her — Oh! Very clever. I had thought better of you, but very clever. You have arranged a mistress right under my nose. Miss Bennet, I also thought better of you. Your sister is in the same profession. I should not be surprised that you turn to it as well.”
“I do not—” Darcy began.
Anne rose. “I do not care to hear your denial. It is obvious you like her vastly more than me. I wish you would not flaunt it.”
She left the room.
Richard looked at Elizabeth with a spec
ulative frown.
Elizabeth looked away from the three of them and studied the painting over the fireplace. She had deep red spots in her cheeks.
He now could protect Emma and Elizabeth from Lady Catherine, but Darcy was not sure if this evening was a disaster or a victory. He pulled in a deep breath. “Miss Bennet, I assure you; I would never act in a dishonorable manner.”
Elizabeth nodded coldly and did not look at him.
“What’s a mistress?” Emma asked in her high-pitched child’s voice.
There was a long moment of silence and Darcy winced, fearing that Elizabeth would never speak to him again.
She laughed. “Dear, it is time for you to go to bed. Goodnight, Mr. Darcy, Colonel Fitzwilliam. Goodnight.”
Chapter Ten
It was such a beautiful day.
The breeze fluttered through the curtains, cooling Elizabeth and Emma, and bringing the scent of green. An adventurous bee rose to the second floor window. It flew into the room and hovered in front of the window before turning round and descending again, to Elizabeth’s relief and Emma’s disappointment. In the distance men shouted at each other as they worked, and birds shouted to each other with their caws and songs as they went about their day.
Unfortunately, Elizabeth and her charge were trapped in the hot house.
Lady Catherine might visit at any time, and she would dislike it if Elizabeth tried to explain that she gave the lesson outdoors due to the weather. Lessons were supposed to be indoors, and that was that.
Elizabeth did not want to make Emma study. It was too beautiful a day. She should be running around outside happily. Emma could barely concentrate on her book or listening to Elizabeth’s advice. Elizabeth could barely concentrate on teaching her and forcing her to attend to the task. She’d spent nearly as much time dreamily staring out the window at the green grass as her pupil.
It would be so nice if she could walk again with Mr. Darcy.
Even if it was wrong to feel as she did for a man who was engaged to another woman — Anne had made the wrongness of her desires clear to her — Mr. Darcy was so kind, and so capable, and so determined, and his face looked so…perfectly proportioned. When he walked in his tightly tailored riding jacket her heart thumped…and there was the way his buckskin breeches clung around his thighs.
So long as it was just her imagination…
Elizabeth shook herself and poked Emma. “Have you finished reading that passage from the Chronicles of the Kings of England?”
“It is so boring! I’ll never memorize them all. They are too boring! We are going to live with Mr. Darcy. He won’t hurt me. So I shouldn’t need to memorize them.”
“History should be amusing — you were reading about Edward I and his children. There is a story about his son that Lady Catherine would not approve of, that may help you remember him. Did you read about his wife? Isabella?”
“She was from France, and the daughter of the king of France. It was a good marriage for England.”
“It wasn’t a good marriage for Edward II, though. She wasn’t very nice. It is not in this book, because this is the one Lady Catherine picked. She thinks you should only hear the most moral parts of history.”
Emma nodded. “Lady Catherine would select the boring version.”
Elizabeth had her audience now. Emma expected a good story.
“Isabella hated her husband. In fact she raised a rebellion against him and encouraged all the other nobles to side against him.”
Emma nodded eagerly. “That is a good wifely behavior. I must memorize it for when it comes time for me to marry.”
“You must. Furthermore, she won. As you should know from your book, Edward was deposed.”
“Deposed? Such a big word. What does it mean?”
“It means removed from power.”
“Oh. I should have known that. But he died right after, didn’t he? So he didn’t miss the power for very long.”
“Yes.” Elizabeth lowered her voice. “Isabella was so unhappy by how he’d treated her that she had him killed.”
“But the book said he died in an accident.”
Elizabeth whispered, “That is what Isabella told everyone. But she lied. There is more—”
“More! But what more could there be if she killed him!”
Elizabeth blushed. The story her father told her when she was Emma’s age was not appropriate for the ears of a young girl. But it would ensure that Emma remembered Edward II. “Do not tell Lady Catherine I told you this story.”
Emma rolled her eyes.
“Isabella had Edward II stuck in one of her castles. Then she had the castellan heat up an iron rod very, very hot. And then…they stuck it up his bum and kept shoving until he died.”
The girl shivered with horrified glee.
“The screams echoed in the rafters for years. In fact if you go to that castle now, and stand in exactly the right spot, you can still faintly hear them.”
Emma’s eyes were wide and eager.
“Remember, that is what happened to the king after Longshanks, who fought the Scots, and before Edward III, who fought the French.”
“What happened to the queen? Did she continue to rule?”
“For a time. But when her son took full power, he stuck her in a castle and forced her to live the rest of her life there. Twenty years. What moral lesson should be drawn from this story?”
Emma stuck her tongue out. “A true queen should murder her son in addition to her husband?”
Elizabeth giggled.
There was a knock on the door and Darcy entered. “Might I interrupt your and Miss Williams’s important studies for a period of time?”
He was smirking sunnily, as though he knew how little work he was interrupting.
Emma exclaimed, “Oh yes! I am quite dying of boredom.”
Elizabeth laughed and poked the child. “She only says that to be kind. In fact she is completely devoted to her work and devastated that your entry distracted her from it.”
“I can see that in Emma’s face. Perhaps I’d best go.” Darcy turned as though he were about to leave, and Emma’s face collapsed in disappointment and she looked at Elizabeth with such an expression of betrayal that Elizabeth could not keep her countenance and began laughing.
Darcy turned back with raised eyebrows. “May I imagine you have changed your mind, Emma?”
The girl pouted and stuck her tongue out at him as well as Elizabeth. “Do not tease me like that.”
“But you are such a darling goose when I fool you,” Elizabeth said, embracing the girl.
“As for me, I shall earn your forgiveness through bribery. I have a surprise for you.” Darcy smirked. “Follow me; it is much too pretty of a day to be stuck indoors. It is practically criminal.”
Emma took Darcy’s hand as he led them downstairs.
They went outdoors, the entire way Darcy teased Emma as she begged for some hint as to what he planned to show her. But he would regularly glance back at Elizabeth with that bright look in his eyes. Her stomach leaped.
They went out to a large field that had been cleared for exercising the horses. With a groom stood a lovely pied pony with a broad chest and a neatly clipped mane.
“Every girl needs a pony.” Darcy spoke firmly. “You are almost big enough for a horse, but that should wait another year or two.”
Emma’s eyes lit up. “I always, always, always wanted one! Mama said we would buy one, but we did not have the chance. Is it for me?”
“It is your pony.”
Darcy pulled from the deep pocket of his coat half of an apple. He handed it to Emma, who excitedly held the fruit out to the pony, who munched it and then licked Emma’s hand. She giggled with happiness.
Darcy lifted her up onto the handsome animal, and spent some minutes explaining how she should hold her legs and the reins as she rode. He was so serious and careful. He made sure the eager girl understood all his instructions and repeated them back before leading her aroun
d the field twice while he walked next to her pony. Then she was allowed to go around on her own, though the groom followed closely behind. In an easy movement, Darcy put his hand on the fence and leapt over the paddock to stand where Elizabeth leaned against the fence watching them.
“She is delighted. I confess horses frighten me a little.” Elizabeth’s eyes closely tracked Emma as she smoothly rode the pony in a neat circle.
“They do? That is a pity, for horses are the sweetest animals in the world.”
“Dogs are the sweetest animals in the world — especially puppies.” Elizabeth forced herself to stop watching Emma as though at any moment she would be thrown and crack her head. She looked at Darcy with a challenging smile.
He said, “I confess I have a few dogs I would miss greatly. And who have an even sweeter disposition than my horse. But since I was wrong, I must find something different to disagree with you upon. It is proving a harder task than I imagined, since you reason so persuasively.”
Emma rode up to the fence next to them and waved at Elizabeth. “Did you see me! Did you! I am so good!”
“You are the finest rider in the county.” Elizabeth touched the hand Emma held out to her. “Be careful.”
Emma laughed and set off around the park again.
Darcy touched Elizabeth’s shoulder. “There is little danger. I would not have let her, if—”
“I know. But…one cannot be brave in everything. I rise to most occasions.”
“I admire that about you. Greatly.” He spoke in a low serious voice. His voice vibrated in Elizabeth’s chest.
She quickly looked away, smiling. “Emma does not treat every adult in such a way. It speaks well of you — I never imagined you would be perfect with a child.”
“No! I can imagine you did not. You never allowed me any such virtue as liking children.”
The Trials: A Pride and Prejudice Story Page 8
