Chapter 25

Longbourn

28th December

The surface of the table was strewn with bits of lace and ribbon and fabric flowers, their colors dazzling in the sunlight that poured through the window to caress each piece. There was pink satin, brilliant as any budding rose, and rich mahogany brown, and coquelicot, and stunning purple, and sunset orange, and emerald leaves stiff and lovely beneath fanciful silk flowers. The two youngest Misses Bennet sat drawn up to this table of textile knickknacks, each with a half-finished bonnet in her hands.

“I do not see why we each cannot have another new dress,” Lydia said petulantly.

“We can wear the same dress to Lizzy’s wedding as we did to Jane’s,” Kitty responded patiently.

Lydia blew out a breath and said, though reluctantly, “I suppose given how little time there is before Lizzy’s wedding, Mrs. Smythe would find it difficult to make new dresses for us all.”

“I expect that everyone will be looking at Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy at the wedding,” Kitty commented and then sighed dreamily. “I hope someday I am fortunate enough to win a gentleman who looks at me like Mr. Darcy does Lizzy. He obviously adores her.”

“I do not care if my husband loves me; the important thing is that he has money,” Lydia declared and then yelped as a needle entered her thumb. She looked down at the thumb, now bleeding slightly, and carefully set down the needle, found her handkerchief, and wrapped it around the offending appendage. The last thing she wanted was blood on her hat!

“You cannot be serious!” Kitty exclaimed. “You would marry a man you do not like only for his money?”

“I did not say that! I would not marry a man I despise or even dislike, but I do not need to love my husband. I want to respect him, and he needs to respect me, and we must have some interests in common, but I do not expect a great romance.”

Kitty frowned; the words were somewhat melancholy, but Lydia’s tone and expression were not. Perhaps her sister was merely being sensible?

The door to the drawing room opened, and the butler entered with a tall, older lady, dressed expensively in furs, with a rather large nose and a disagreeable countenance.

The two Bennets stood up simultaneously as the butler said, “Lady Catherine de Bourgh has called to speak to Miss Bennet. I informed her that Miss Bennet is away from home, along with Mr. and Mrs. Bennet and Miss Mary, and she wishes to wait.”

“Who are you?” the visitor challenged, glowering at the girls. Lydia, who instantly decided she disliked the woman, straightened her back a little more, which caused her to loom a full three inches over their guest – Lydia was tall for her age.

“I am Miss Kitty Bennet, and this is my sister Miss Lydia Bennet,” Kitty said quietly and then turned to the butler. “You may go, Ayles.”

“Yes, Miss,” the man replied and retreated.

“Miss Bennet is your eldest sister, then?” Lady Catherine demanded, stalking over to the wingbacked chair by the fire and sitting down without an invitation.

“No, Madame. Our sister Jane, who is newly married, is the eldest, Elizabeth is second, Mary is third, I am the fourth, and Lydia is the fifth daughter.”

“What was your mother thinking to have five daughters and no sons?” Lady Catherine said.

Kitty regarded her with wonder, while Lydia frowned indignantly and said, “Obviously Mother did not choose to have five daughters. She wanted a son, of course, to break the entail.”

“Yes, the entail,” the lady replied, and her eyes flashed. “I understand that my clergyman, Mr. Collins, is heir to this estate.”

“Yes,” Lydia admitted and took a seat on the settee, with Kitty settling down beside her.

Silence fell for a minute and then their unwanted visitor barked, “Where is Miss Bennet?”

“She is in Meryton with our mother and Mary; Elizabeth is being fitted for a new dress for her wedding.”

This provoked a low growl in the throat of Lady Catherine, and Lydia felt Kitty shrink back in fear. Her own emotions were far different; she knew of Lady Catherine, of course, from Mr. Collins’s wordy adulation of his patroness, but she had never met someone quite like this woman, who marched into Longbourn and looked around as if everyone was beneath her. It was terribly rude and a bit comical.

“I will, of course, be forced to explain this to Miss Bennet, but since she is not here, I will explain the matter to you. Mr. Darcy is not engaged to Miss Elizabeth Bennet.”

Lydia narrowed her eyes. “Yes, he is.”

“No,” Lady Catherine replied, her eyes bulging in indignation at this blunt response from a mere child. “He is not!”

“My father said that Mr. Darcy asked for her hand, and Father agreed, and Elizabeth accepted, so they are engaged,” Kitty said, though her voice was uncertain.

“My nephew cannot be engaged to your sister, because he is engaged to my daughter, Miss Anne de Bourgh. Now, what do you have to say?”

The sisters looked at one another in surprise and then turned back to their guest.

“I do not believe you,” Lydia said flatly.

“Indeed, no,” Kitty agreed.

“Mr. Darcy is such an honorable gentleman and so full of propriety,” Lydia said. “He would not ask Lizzy to marry him if he was already engaged to another.”

“It is quite absurd,” Kitty added.

Lady Catherine was now plum-colored, and Lydia watched with interest. She had not previously known that someone’s skin could turn that shade of purple.

“The engagement between them is of a peculiar kind,” their noble visitor snarled. “From their infancy, they have been intended for each other. It was the favorite wish ofhismother, as well as mine. While in their cradles we planned the union…”

“Oh, a cradle engagement!” Lydia interrupted excitedly. “I have read of those, but only in novels. I did not think anyone would truly do such a thing.”

“In this case, the engagement is not real,” Kitty said practically, “or Mr. Darcy would not have offered for Elizabeth.”

Lydia, watching Lady Catherine, wondered if the lady would fall over in an apoplexy. That was another thing that she had read about but never seen.

A minute passed in silence before the lady calmed down enough to demand, “Do either of you have any influence over Miss Bennet?”

The girls exchanged bemused glances, and Lydia said, “Not very much, no. Why?”

“Why?” Lady Catherine repeated and carefully removed a nonexistent thread from her sleeve. “I understand that your monetary situation is a precarious one, with the estate passing onto Mr. Collins after your father’s death. I would be willing to pay you each a substantial amount if you were willing to break up my nephew’s engagement with your sister.”

Kitty stiffened and glared at the woman. “How can you say such a thing, Lady Catherine? Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy love each other!”

“Love? Love? Love is for peasants, Miss Kitty, not my nephew! Lady Anne, Darcy’s mother, was the daughter of an earl and his father was descended from a respectable, honorable, and ancient family. Darcy owes it to his name and his estate to marry my daughter!”

“I quite agree with you about love,” Lydia said cheerfully. “Love does not keep one in fine dresses and expensive jewelry, or even food for that matter. All the same, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy seem to think love matters, and Kitty and I certainly will not stand in their way.”

“Why not? I can pay you a great sum!”

“Not nearly as much as Mr. Darcy,” Lydia said complacently. “Besides, once Lizzy is Mrs. Darcy, she will be able to introduce us to a great many members of the haut ton, and Jane has already promised us a Season in Town. We now have a reasonable hope of marrying very well indeed!”

Lady Catherine stared at her, briefly speechless at these brazen words.

“But honor and decorum,” she blustered a moment later, only to be interrupted again by Lydia.

“I do not care about all that,” the girl said with a saucy grin. “I wish to have lots of money and go to wonderful parties and wear pretty dresses, and if Elizabeth gives up her engagement to Mr. Darcy, the chance of obtaining those things will diminish a great deal. Far from discouraging their engagement, it was our idea from the start, and I intend to do everything in my power to make sure that Darcy and Elizabeth are married as soon as possible!”

Before Lady Catherine could gather herself for more vituperation, the door to the drawing room opened, and Mrs. Bennet entered with Elizabeth and Mary at her heels.

/

Drawing Room

Longbourn

That Evening

“My dear Elizabeth, I do apologize most profusely,” Darcy said, his face taut with distress. “I should have guessed that Lady Catherine might come here. I do pray she was not too abusive.”

Elizabeth glanced around at the others in the room; the married Bingleys were standing near the largest window, speaking softly to one another, the younger three Misses Bennet were on the sofa, their heads together, and Mrs. Bennet was snoozing by the fire, no doubt exhausted by the day.

“The truth is that Lydia and Kitty more or less routed your aunt,” she whispered, and then, at the expression on her beloved’s face, chuckled.

“How could that be?” he demanded once he had recovered sufficiently.

She repeated what Lydia had told her of the conversation between the younger Misses Bennet and Lady Catherine, and Darcy found himself, to his incredulity, laughing aloud, and Elizabeth laughed with him.

“She did harangue me a bit, but the wind had left her sails,” Elizabeth said. “She threatened to go to Netherfield and speak with you. Did she?”

“She tried,” Darcy said, his voice brimming with laughter, “but I was out riding with Bingley at the time, checking on a damaged fence along the northern border. Mrs. Bingley was speaking with the housekeeper about some matter of importance and Georgiana was resting in her chamber. My aunt apparently found twenty minutes in the company of Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley to be as much as she could bear. She left for London before I returned.”

“Do you think she will cause trouble at our wedding?” Elizabeth asked, suddenly concerned.

Darcy frowned, suddenly serious too. “ If any of you can show just cause why they may not lawfully be married, speak now; or else for ever hold your peace. ”

“Precisely,” Elizabeth said with a sigh. “It would be most embarrassing if she spoke up at that point in the wedding service. If she claims that you are engaged to Miss de Bourgh, it will be awkward.”

They mulled this over for a minute, and then Darcy grinned and asked, “What would you think of being married even earlier than we had previously planned?”

Elizabeth looked up into her beloved’s handsome face and smiled. “I would like that very much.”