The Elizabeth Conspiracy

by Jennifer Joy

  In his excitement, Mr. Collins did not swallow all of his sausage before he added, "Her ladyship was so kind as to select the furnishings in our humble home. Her taste is as superior as Miss de Bourgh's countenance."

  Maria nodded in agreement where Elizabeth's youngest sister, Lydia, would have rolled her eyes. To be certain, Elizabeth felt like rolling her own eyes and was in great danger of doing so if Mr. Collins mentioned Miss de Bourgh's improved looks one more time.

  "My dear," said Charlotte, "you forget Lizzy was not present at the tea yesterday. She knows nothing of Lady Catherine's invitation nor your encouragement to accept it by complimenting the intricacies and efficiencies of the de Bourgh household and its residents." She spoke in a factual tone, with no hint of the sarcasm Elizabeth would have employed.

  It had not occurred to Elizabeth that Mr. Collins had a particular reason to praise all things de Bourgh. Elizabeth reached under the table and squeezed her friend's hand for saving them from a good hour's worth of discourse. There were times when Charlotte reminded Elizabeth so much of Jane with the way she selflessly looked out for everyone's interests ahead of her own comfort, it made her miss her sister all the more. What she would give to see to Jane happy and reunited with the gentleman she loved!

  "Of course. How sensible you are, my love," Mr. Collins said to his wife before turning his attention to Elizabeth, saying, "We have the best of news." He rubbed his hands together and tried not to look too pleased with himself.

  Elizabeth waited, wondering if she was expected to guess what the great news was when he delayed in its telling.

  Finally, he said in one breath, "You have been invited to stay as Miss de Bourgh's personal guest at Rosings! I am certain I do not have to tell you what an honor has been bestowed upon you."

  That was all? Elizabeth needed no time to think of a proper reply to the preposterous offer. "I will have to thank Miss de Bourgh for extending her hospitality to me, but I came here as Charlotte's guest. It would be ungrateful for me to accept another's invitation when the purpose of my visit is to spend time with my dear friend. Surely, Miss de Bourgh would not deny me of Charlotte's company."

  "You cannot refuse her!" Mr. Collins squealed.

  "Why ever not?" Elizabeth asked in astonishment. She would never agree to dwell under the same roof as him. She shivered at the thought.

  "Lady Catherine would take your refusal as a personal affront. She is not one to be refused."

  Like aunt, like nephew, Elizabeth thought. Mr. Darcy had survived, and she was certain Lady Catherine would too. Aloud, she said, "I find it odd that Miss de Bourgh would extend her friendship to me when only one more week remains of my stay in Kent before I must join Jane in London. As for Lady Catherine, I was under the impression her ladyship did not approve of me. Why should she agree to receive me as a guest in her home?"

  "Lady Catherine believes she can use her influence to improve you. She aims to take you under her wing and thus offer you all the advantages of a young lady in the first circles," Charlotte said with one eyebrow raised. She knew Elizabeth could not care less about the upper circles.

  Maria spoke. "I would love such an opportunity. You must promise to tell us all the details!" she said, masking her disappointment with an overly-eager smile.

  Lady Catherine's attentions would be of much more benefit to a young lady who wished to receive them. A lady like Maria. "Would not her ladyship prefer Maria? Surely, she stands to benefit far more than I do from Lady Catherine's patronage," Elizabeth argued.

  Mr. Collins said through pinched lips, "Miss de Bourgh requested your company specifically. We cannot go against her and her ladyship's wishes. I have asked the maid to pack your things so you are ready when her ladyship sends her carriage."

  Nothing could convince Elizabeth to go to Rosings willingly. She could manage Lady Catherine and her insipid daughter, but he was still there! "And if I refuse?"

  Charlotte sighed. "You would only provoke the two women who have the most influence over us at the parsonage. You would leave in a week and soon forget them, but we would be reminded of your cut against their household daily."

  Elizabeth's heart sank to the floorboards. "Then, I have no choice in the matter," she mumbled.

  Mr. Collins beamed, the ambitious glint returning to his eye now that he saw she would not defy his patroness. "You must think of the advantages to be enjoyed by your family in accepting the friendship of a lady so highly respected in society."

  No doubt, he had meant his comment to include her sisters, but it was plain with the way he rubbed his hands together that he planned to gain from the arrangement as well.

  Elizabeth left the laudanum bottle on the table. If she was to spend the rest of the day in the same household as Mr. Darcy, she would need to keep her wits about her.

  Chapter 9

  Darcy watched his aunt's carriage roll up the drive from his bedchamber window. He had not thought she would come. Aunt Catherine made it difficult for anyone to refuse her, but he knew her capable of refusing an offer most young ladies would go to great lengths to secure. She must have another reason for complying with the invitation to Rosings.

  Footsteps and scuffles up the stairs paused at the top of the landing before continuing down the hall in the opposite direction to Darcy's room. He was grateful they would not be close. She had robbed him of too many nights of sleep as it was.

  He sighed deeply. It was only one day. If he was careful, he need not see her until it was time to dine.

  He reached into his pocket and felt the smooth paper of his letter protected inside the lining. He had not been able to burn it, but his doubts about her character prevented him from marching down the hall and presenting it to her without further delay.

  Why had she agreed to come to Rosings if not to make him suffer on purpose or out of interest in her own personal gain? He had been wrong to expect a favorable reply to his offer of marriage … had he been wrong about her character too? Was she no better than the money-grubbing, social-aspiring prominence-seekers in the ton?

  Richard barged into his room. "Aunt is in the drawing room. You should go to her," he said, adding an urgency to his words by blurting them out before pausing for breath.

  "What could she possibly want with me? She ought to be receiving her guest." Only Aunt Catherine would make a recipient of her hospitality feel the weight of privilege of having been invited to Rosings by making her wait to be received in her room.

  Richard shrugged his shoulders. Really, he could be quite useless.

  Annoyed, Darcy brushed past him in an ill-humor on his way to see how his aunt further wished to impose on him in the one day remaining of his stay in her home.

  Darcy trudged down the stairs, the pounding of his boots echoing through the entrance hall before he entered the dark antechamber leading to Aunt's most opulent (and thus, favorite) room. He froze in place and his breath stuck in his throat at the sight before him. It was too late to turn on his heel and make a retreat. She was here.

  Miss Elizabeth stood in the center of the Turkish rug while Aunt Catherine walked in a circle around her, her cane in one hand and an eyeglass inspecting her quarry in the other.

  Turning her eyeglass on him, Aunt Catherine said, "Darcy, what are you doing here?"

  He clenched his fists, instantly angry at his cousin. "You did not send for me?"

  How had Richard phrased it? Darcy could not remember the exact words, only the impression Richard had meant for him to understand.

  Aunt Catherine raised her eyebrows. "Why should I when I am receiving a guest? However, since you are here, you can welcome Miss Bennet to Rosings with me."

  Miss Elizabeth turned to face him, and he bowed. Her chin was set at a defiant angle and her cheeks had the same high color he had last seen during his ill-fated call at the parsonage. She chewed on the corner of her plump lips. As he rose, his eyes tangled with hers. She was angry and … embarrassed.

  Darcy wanted to double over, feel
ing as if he had been kicked in the stomach. Why was she here? Why was his aunt determined to treat her so poorly?

  One thing was crystal clear: Miss Elizabeth did not wish for him to remain in the room any more than he wished to stay. But his legs refused to budge. He could not depart in good conscience. He would be the gentleman, and then he would take his leave. "I am certain you have much to discuss. Would you not be more comfortable in your chair, Aunt Catherine?"

  Seeing Aunt Catherine settled on her high-backed throne, he waited for her to signal for Elizabeth to sit. But she did not, leaving Darcy with no other option but to return to Miss Elizabeth and hold out his arm, ashamed at his aunt's indecorous conduct toward her "guest".

  Miss Elizabeth hesitated, but she hovered her hand over his forearm to make certain he understood she did not wish for his assistance as he led her to the settee perpendicularly placed by his aunt's chair. The hair on his arm stood on end with her fingers so near, reaching for her. If only she had not chosen to believe Wickham over him, she might have rested her hand against his arm. She might have looked up with her warm, brown eyes and brightened the room with her smile.

  He bowed, taking one step away from her and toward the door, saying, "I hope you enjoy your stay at Rosings, Miss Bennet. The grounds in the park are second to none."

  "You are not leaving," Aunt Catherine snapped, adding, "You must join us, unless you have something better to do."

  Darcy could think of nothing better to do than throttle his cousin for sending him here to witness his aunt's shameful lack of manners. Every glance Elizabeth gave him was full of a menace so strong, he could almost feel it striking his cheek.

  Even now, she challenged him, daring him to prove her wrong about her accusations of his character. Aunt Catherine was not helping. What she must think of his family!

  Aunt Catherine turned her attention to Miss Elizabeth when he sat opposite them. "Surely, you are aware of the great honor of being invited to my home. I have made no secret of my opinion of your faults, but I have decided to overlook the negligence of your parents. It is to be expected with a mother who married above her station that she be ignorant in the ways of the gentle class, raising her offspring without the advantages of a proper gentleman's daughter. However, I am not so unjust as to hold you to account for her error. You are handsome, and if you take my knowledgeable counsel to heart, you will benefit greatly and be in a better position to influence your poor sisters."

  Darcy gripped the side of his chair. He took no pleasure in his aunt's cutting, condescending remarks toward Miss Elizabeth's family and station.

  Miss Elizabeth was quick to rise to her mother's defense. "I assure you, your ladyship, my mother has always been attentive to my sisters and me. While our drawing or embroidery will never invoke praise, we have never felt neglected."

  Aunt Catherine replied, "How is it possible for your mother to be attentive if you have no accomplishments to recommend you?" She looked genuinely astonished, as did Darcy. How could a mother willingly bestow attention on a child who did nothing to earn it? He could call to memory every single approving look from his mother, so few were they.

  "Must love be dependent on one's accomplishments? I dread to think what a cold, meaningless existence such an upbringing would inspire. My mother has faults — as I may point out all people do — but she has always been affectionate," Elizabeth answered.

  Darcy felt hollow. He knew nothing of the affection of which Miss Elizabeth spoke with confident authority. He had earned high praise from his tutors, but he could not recall having ever earned an embrace from his mother.

  Aunt Catherine chuckled. "Affection? And how has that helped you become an accomplished young lady worthy of your station? You are undeniably a gentleman's daughter, and yet you have none of the basic talents common to a lady. You do not draw. You do not play the instrument very well. By your own admission, you have not benefited from a governess. As far as I have discerned, you have no accomplishments of which to speak at all."

  Miss Elizabeth smoothed her hands over her skirts, but Darcy saw the tremble in her fingers. She did not deserve this.

  Before he could regret speaking in her defense, he said, "Miss Bennet has dedicated her attention to an accomplishment of far greater value than the vain skills of the average lady. She has improved her mind through extensive reading, as encouraged by her own father. She can speak with authority on a variety of subjects, making her contribution to any conversation most valuable."

  Miss Elizabeth did not look at him, but she had not taken offense at his words. She stared at Aunt Catherine's cane, her lips parted and a furrow wrinkling her brow.

  Aunt Catherine scoffed. "She voices her opinions very decidedly for one so young. That is not an accomplishment, Darcy. What gentleman amongst our circles would want a wife who would embarrass him at the dinner table?"

  His heart stubbornly answered, I would.

  Chapter 10

  Elizabeth kept her eyes fixed on the top of Lady Catherine's cane, though she was more aware of the space he occupied beyond the gold ornamental nob topping the walking stick. Had Mr. Darcy just defended her — and not just defended her, but paid her one of the highest compliments he could have given of her character in front of his snobbish aunt? He had praised her mind.

  Unwilling as she was to think kindly of him, she avoided his gaze. One amiable comment could not undo the insults he had showered upon her only the day before. No, he had not apologized, and until he did she had no reason to extend him a favorable thought.

  Lady Catherine continued, "Unequal matches cannot lead to advantageous unions. Not only do they suffer, but their children suffer as well. Miss Bennet is proof of that."

  Elizabeth's body felt hollow, but she held herself erect. Mother would never be good enough for those born into their rank. She would forever be a tradesman's daughter who had married better than many believe she had deserved, and they made sure she knew it. They made sure her daughters knew it. They were the reason Elizabeth had cultivated her mind so she would always be one of the cleverest people in the room. She could defend herself skillfully and with dignity — something a watercolor painting, the keys of a pianoforte, or the stitches in an embroidery hoop could never do.

  Mr. Darcy surprised Elizabeth by speaking again. For a man of few words, he would soon exhaust his supply unless he took greater care. "I would never presume to speak authoritatively on what makes a union advantageous and happy, but I cannot believe a clever mind would be detrimental to it. If anything, it would give the possibility of establishing a common ground on which to base a long-lasting friendship and an eternity of meaningful conversations."

  Elizabeth held her breath and clamped her mouth shut. He had spoken the words she had long believed in her heart to be true. She was tempted to look at him, but she dared not pull her gaze from where it was fixed. His understanding of a matter so dear to her soul disturbed her greatly. That it was contrary to what she knew of his character made her doubt. And doubt was dangerous when he wielded the power to ruin her and her sisters' happiness — a power which he had already abused with his interference with Jane and Mr. Bingley.

  Lady Catherine harrumphed and jabbed her cane against the floor. "My daughter has taken an interest in you, and so I will undertake to educate you myself to please her. You stand to benefit greatly from our association."

  Was Elizabeth supposed to thank the great lady for her patronage? Elizabeth could not bring herself to do it, but for Charlotte's sake, she bit the retort on the tip of her tongue. She would endure Lady Catherine and Miss de Bourgh's superior company and forced education for the benefit of her friend. It was only for one week. She could endure anything for one week.

  Lady Catherine narrowed her eyes, no doubt displeased that her guest did not regale her with the compliments she expected to hear for her exemplary display of generosity on behalf of a poor, neglected lady.

  She said, "To benefit fully from your time here, I suggest you write
to your family to inform them you intend to extend your stay by another six weeks at the least."

  Elizabeth's cheeks burned.

  Mr. Darcy stood. "Aunt Catherine, Miss Bennet is a lady. If you invited her as your guest, I suggest you treat her like one instead of an object of your charity."

  Did he believe her incapable of speaking for herself? Elizabeth pursed her lips and breathed in sharply through her nose. She could handle Lady Catherine without Mr. Darcy's help, thank you very much!

  Crossing her arms and raising her chin, Elizabeth lowered her voice and looked evenly into the lady's steely-gray eyes. "I am to return to London in one week. My family expects me."

  "That is no time at all! Care you nothing for the wishes of a young lady so limited in company, she specifically requested you? Will you deny her?"

  Absolutely, thought Elizabeth. She doubted Miss de Bourgh rarely suffered from want or disappointment. After one week, she would tire of Elizabeth's company and wish her gone.

  Lady Catherine raised a trembling hand to her temple and shook her head. "Mrs. Collins spoke so highly of you before you accepted her invitation to stay at the parsonage. I am very disappointed."

  A little disappointment never harmed anybody. In fact, it was often referred to by her own father as "character-building".

  Lady Catherine peeked at her to see if her act was working. Elizabeth almost laughed. She had too many sisters and a contriving mother at home to fall for that pretty trick.