Sorrow and Second Chances
Page 20
Lady Catherine looked highly indignant at Darcy’s vehement assertions, but he gave her no opportunity to interject with anything else, for he was not done. “And I will not have anything whatsoever said against Miss Bennet,” he declared adamantly. “I am a gentleman; she is a gentleman’s daughter – therefore we are equal. She is perfectly respectable; she is kind and intelligent, and she is exactly suited to be my wife –”
“But who are her relations?” Lady Catherine interrupted in a sneering tone. “Who was her mother? I hardly think they could be deemed respectable!” she snorted derisively. “Good God! Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?”
Darcy was mortified by his aunt’s words and was especially horrified by her blatant insult towards the late Mrs Bennet, but before he could interject in any way at all, Mr Bennet spoke up himself. Indeed, it was clear that Lady Catherine’s cruel words had finally pierced through Mr Bennet’s cavalier façade, for he suddenly looked furious.
“You may insult me as much as you wish to, madam,” he cried heatedly, “but I will not hear a word said against my daughter or my late wife! Mrs Bennet was the very best of women, and I will not stand to have her pulled down by someone such as you! I am very fond of your nephew and so I will be delighted to welcome him into my family as my son-in-law, but I cannot pretend that I will be happy to include you amongst my future relations! Indeed, after your behaviour today, your ladyship, I think it best that you leave my house at once and never return. I cannot pretend that I have any wish to further our acquaintance – and nor do I want to meet with you ever again in the future!”
Lady Catherine drew herself up to her full height in response; her fury and deep umbrage were obvious in every aspect of her bearing. In fact, she looked exactly like a disgruntled goose in that moment, her feathers ruffled and her head held high, almost as if she was poised to strike. “How dare you!” she exploded. “Do you know who I am? You would be entirely foolish to make an enemy of me! I have not been used to brooking disappointment! I am used to getting my own way and I have no intention of accepting defeat now! I will not tolerate this… this travesty of a marriage, nor will I put up with such disrespect!”
“Then you are going to be disappointed, your ladyship,” retorted Mr Bennet in a tone dripping with sarcasm.
Lady Catherine’s mouth dropped open in utter outrage, her furious response momentarily trapped in her throat as she stared wrathfully back at Mr Bennet, and for a moment it looked as if she could hardly believe what she had heard. Then, finding her voice, she turned to address her nephew. “Are you going to allow him to speak to me in that way?” she demanded of Darcy.
Darcy could not help but roll his eyes in response; it was so typical of his aunt’s arrogance to believe in her own absolute superiority and to expect everyone else to show her complete deference. “Mr Bennet knows very well who you are, Aunt,” he answered irritably, “but at this moment I have to say that I am heartily ashamed to own you as my relation! I already said everything that I wished to say in my letters to you; I told you that I was happy with Miss Bennet and that I would not be swayed from my choice – and yet you still chose to travel to my fiancée’s home to imposition her and her family!”
Lady Catherine looked absolutely flabbergasted by Darcy’s anger; indeed, she glared at him as though she could hardly believe that he was being so disrespectful towards her. It was obvious that she had believed that she had had the power to browbeat him into dutiful submission (just as she browbeat everyone else around her), and now that her plan had gone awry, she simply didn’t know what to do next. In contrast, Darcy didn’t waste any time; whilst his aunt was still reeling (and thankfully, temporarily silent), he turned for the first time to address Mr Bennet. “I am very sorry, Mr Bennet, that you have been bothered by my aunt in such a way. I had no idea that she would –”
“You apologise to him?” his aunt loudly interrupted, her face like thunder. “You should be apologising to me, you ungrateful boy!”
Tense as the situation was, and as offensive as Lady Catherine had been, it seemed that her patronising set-down had amused Mr Bennet, for he sent a roguish grin in Darcy’s direction. And as infuriated as Darcy felt in that moment, he could not help but see the humour of the situation when he saw Mr Bennet’s sardonic expression and saw the amusement twinkling in his eyes. He rolled his eyes heavenward in wry agreement with Mr Bennet’s unspoken opinion of the situation. Nevertheless, clearly oblivious to their grim amusement, Lady Catherine ploughed on with her condescending lecture.
“I am nearly your closest relation,” she cried angrily, “and I have a right to know what is going on in your life and to give my opinion when I feel that you are acting erroneously – as you are, Fitzwilliam!”
“Yes, you are my relation, Lady Catherine,” Darcy replied wearily, “but that doesn’t give you any right whatsoever to interfere with my life. Nor – as much as you might argue to the contrary – does it give you any right to order me about! Thankfully, my father left me in a position where I am completely independent and therefore I do not need to seek the approval of my relations as to my choice of wife. Nevertheless, I would have liked you to have welcomed Miss Bennet to the family as my future wife – as the rest of our relations are eager to do. However, since I see that you are quite opposed to her as my choice and would likely only be discourteous to her, I will not run the risk of her being exposed to your incivility and so I will not bring her into your company unless I can be certain that you will treat her with respect. I shall marry Miss Bennet, with or without your approval, Aunt, and there is nothing you can do to stop me.”
Having made his point abundantly clear and seeing that Lady Catherine had at last understood his determination, Darcy moved to open the study door. Gesturing towards the open doorway and decisively offering his arm, he looked over towards his aunt. “I have said everything that I am going to say on this subject,” he continued, “and now, as Mr Bennet has already said, I believe it is time for you to leave. Will you allow me to escort you outside to your carriage?”
Disdaining to make any sort of reply to her nephew, Lady Catherine instead glared imperiously down her nose at Mr Bennet. “And you, sir, what do you have to say?” she addressed him haughtily. “Have I at last managed to persuade you to separate your unruly daughter from my nephew, or are you, like him, still resolved on this folly of a match?”
“I think that, like all young people, they should be allowed their own amount of folly if it makes them both happy,” Mr Bennet answered dryly.
“Hummpff!” Lady Catherine huffed, clearly displeased by Mr Bennet’s flippant response. “And this is your final resolve?”
“It is, madam,” he responded with a serious nod. “For it looks as though your nephew has every intention of marrying my daughter, and so I would guess that nothing you can say, and no amount of your anger or disapproval is going to stop him from pursuing his own happiness. Indeed, I have no intention of dissuading either of them from their plans to marry, since I could not imagine a better matched couple, and nor could I find a man who I would approve of more as a son-in-law than Fitzwilliam.”
Mr Bennet’s sincere words took Darcy by surprise and he glanced across at the older man with gratitude. He liked and respected his future father-in-law, but to know that he was held equally high in the older man’s estimation was extremely flattering. Indeed, it seemed that Mr Bennet’s resolute words had finally convinced Lady Catherine of the futility of her aim to separate Darcy from Elizabeth, for without a further word of objection, she simply threw the two men a look of utter contempt and then stalked out of the study. Darcy could hardly believe that she had given up the battle after quarrelling so fiercely with the two of them, but mercifully it seemed that she had at last understood that she had lost the argument. Even so, as relieved as he was to see his aunt depart, a feeling of dutiful obligation made Darcy follow after her, if only to offer her assistance to board her carriage. However, Lady Catherine was clearly
in a foul mood and brusquely shook him off when he put out his hand to assist her.
“I make no farewells, Fitzwilliam,” she snarled angrily; “you deserve no such attention. And nor do I send any compliments to the Bennet family; they are utterly beneath my notice. You are far too wilful, nephew, and mark my words, if you persist with this foolish notion to wed the Bennet girl, then you will come to regret it!”
Darcy had no wish to reignite their argument and so he simply rolled his eyes heavenward and bowed his head in farewell. “Farewell, Aunt; please send my regards to Anne. I hope your journey back to Kent is a safe one.”
However, Lady Catherine deigned not to make any sort of reply to Darcy’s parting words and instead she issued a sharp command to her coachman to drive on. With mixed feelings of relief and resignation, Darcy watched his aunt’s carriage as it sped off away from Longbourn, wondering as he did how much he should tell Elizabeth about the altercation that had occurred between his aunt, her father and himself that afternoon. Ironically, no sooner had such a thought passed through his mind than Elizabeth herself appeared in sight. She looked quizzically after Lady Catherine’s carriage, and then, after recognising the de Bourgh insignia on the carriage doors, she turned with a questioning look towards Darcy.
“I wasn’t expecting to see you today!” she exclaimed to Darcy as she approached. “Was that your aunt’s carriage?” she asked, as she watched it speeding away. “Has Lady Catherine been visiting?”
“Yes, my love,” Darcy replied with a weary sigh, “but I am heartily glad that you missed her. At least you were spared from her temper.”
For a moment, Elizabeth looked alarmed and it appeared as though she was about to ask further questions, but then she paused and briefly grimaced to herself as she evidently came to a quick understanding of the situation. “She came here to object to our engagement,” she stated flatly. “Your aunt is not happy that you have chosen me as your future wife.”
Since there was no point in denying what Elizabeth had so easily guessed, Darcy didn’t attempt to disguise the truth or think to patronise her with false platitudes. Instead, he simply gave her a shrug and a wry smile and reached out to take her hand in his. “You are always far too astute,” he smiled; “there is nothing I can hide from you or protect you from!”
“I am going to be your wife, Fitzwilliam,” Elizabeth chided him gently, “so you should not attempt to hide anything from me. It is my right to be your confidante and helpmate; and soon I will be by your side every day, listening to your troubles and teaching you to laugh at all of life’s foibles. Besides, if you actually think that you will be able to hide anything from me, then you are very much mistaken!”
“I wouldn’t be foolish enough to attempt it,” replied Darcy dryly, before raising Elizabeth’s hand to his lips to bestow a kiss on her knuckles. “But I would rather not dwell on my aunt, if you don’t mind,” he continued, “since she has seriously tried my patience this afternoon. Besides,” he added with an eloquent smile, “now that you are here, I have much more agreeable things to occupy myself with!”
“Flatterer!” Elizabeth laughed. “There was a time, in the not-too-distant past, when I would have seriously doubted that the very sombre Mr Darcy would have even known how to flatter a woman – but now I find I am very happy to be the recipient of his attentions!”
“You will always be the recipient of my attentions, Miss Bennet,” Darcy replied with a roguish grin. “Now,” he continued, as he playfully moved to wrap his arm around her waist, “let me escort you inside. I find that my recent and very frank exchange with my aunt has made me rather keen to hurry our wedding plans!”
Chapter 15
“You never properly told me what happened with your aunt yesterday,” Elizabeth commented casually to Darcy the next morning.
Mr Bennet had granted the two of them the freedom of an unchaperoned walk together, and no sooner had they set out along the road than Elizabeth started quizzing Darcy about the particulars of Lady Catherine’s visit.
“That’s because there is nothing much to tell you,” Darcy replied with a shrug.
“Far be it for me to call my future husband a liar, but I don’t believe you, Fitzwilliam,” Elizabeth persisted with a teasing look. “You have been far too keen to avoid the subject, which tells me without any doubt that there is more to tell. Besides, I asked my father about Lady Catherine’s visit and he told me how difficult she was – and he also told me how stern you had been in stopping her in her tracks.”
“If you already know so much about it all, I wonder that you continue to plague me on the subject,” retorted Darcy in a wry tone.
“Because it is my job to plague you, my dear,” replied Elizabeth cheerfully. “Did no one tell you about the joys of marriage? I assure you that my mother used to badger my father to the very limits of his tolerance, and so he, in turn, would tease her to the very edge of her patience!”
Darcy nearly choked when Elizabeth referred so blithely to the ‘joys of marriage’, but she had made her comment so innocently that he assumed at first that she had not realised the double-entendre of her words. That was until he glanced in her direction and beheld her mischievous smile. Suddenly, he wondered if she had deliberately used such words to throw him off his balance and to enjoy seeing him look flustered. Indeed, with such a suspicion in mind, he narrowed his eyes at her and with a sly smile of his own, he deftly changed the subject.
“Indeed, my love, your question has just reminded me of something that I wanted to speak to you about yesterday,” he said, “but in all the furore I quite forgot to bring it up.”
“Oh, yes, and what might that be?”
“It is only that I thought I had cautioned you in the past not to walk out on your own,” Darcy said, as he adopted a pretend expression of sternness, “and yet yesterday when we met outside on the drive, I understand that you had just returned from a long walk on your own?”
“And I thought I told you at the time that I had no intention whatsoever of paying any attention to you on that score!” retorted Elizabeth with an upwards roll of her eyes and a fond look of exasperation.
“Ah, yes, but you later apologised for your rashness and told me that you could appreciate the sense of my advice.”
“Well, perhaps I did,” conceded Elizabeth. “But my father asked me to run the errand to visit one of our tenants – and you can hardly expect me to disobey my own father! Such conduct would hardly be befitting of a young lady, now would it?” she argued with a teasing smile. “Besides, I considered it my duty to go. Mr Jenkins is getting rather old now and I wanted to be sure that he has enough help to manage his farm through the winter months. It is as I told you before; I have always taken an interest in my father’s estate and have long helped him with such tasks. Indeed, since I have no talent for riding, I have walked that way many times before – and nothing bad has ever happened. Truly, I think you worry too much, Fitzwilliam.”
“Well, perhaps I do,” Darcy conceded with a shrug, “and there is no doubt that you are an asset to your father. It is quite clear that he relies on you a great deal and that he trusts your judgement.”
“And so then, since you can see that my father trusts me, do you think that my future husband could learn to trust my judgement a little more as well?” cajoled Elizabeth.
“I do trust your judgement, Elizabeth, you know I do,” Darcy stressed. “It is just that I cannot help but worry for your welfare. It was a long way to go on your own to that farm, and if anything were to have happened to you, it would have been a long time before you were discovered. I know you say that you have no talent for riding, but I would feel much happier about you making such long journeys if I knew you were at least on horseback. Would you not allow me to teach you a little in order to improve your confidence? You may even find that you like riding once you have started – and there are plenty of places that I would like to show you in Derbyshire which are not always very accessible by carriage.”
“It does not matter,” smiled Darcy. “I will enjoy teaching you, and it will have the added benefit of putting my mind at rest whenever you go out and about in the future, because I have no doubt that I will not be able to keep you inside once you are Mistress of Pemberley!”
“I am glad to hear that you understand what a difficult woman you are taking on as your wife!” Elizabeth retorted with a laugh.
Just then they passed a road marker at a crossroads, and upon glancing down one of the lanes leading away from them, they happened to spot Lydia quickly scurrying in the opposite direction.
“Now where is Lydia going?” Elizabeth mused aloud.
“I don’t know,” answered Darcy, feeling equally puzzled. Although Lydia was in the habit of walking out, as were all the Bennet ladies, she was usually accompanied by one of her sisters and she typically only walked in the direction of the Meryton shops. “Perhaps your father has sent her out on an errand today,” he suggested.
“Lydia? Run an errand?” snorted Elizabeth. “She would not take up such a task unless it involved visiting the local shops and spending money, or unless it gave her an opportunity to flirt with some handsome young men in uniform!”
“Well then, I can only say that it is a good thing that the regiment are no longer stationed here,” remarked Darcy. Nevertheless, the unusual sight of Lydia hurrying away on her own was still enough to puzzle him and to cause his brow to crease with concern.
*****
With so much going on in his life and so many preparations to undertake for the forthcoming wedding day, Darcy did not think about Lydia again, except to notice that she sometimes appeared rather distracted whenever he and Charles were together with the Bennet family. That was, however, until she happened to make a rather pointed comment whilst they were all gathered together one afternoon.