Chapter 21

Drawing Room

Longbourn

Two Days Later

9 th November, 1811

"Oh, I want this one, please!" Mary exclaimed, handing over a piece of paper, and Elizabeth began copying the recipe onto the foolscap. It was sensible of Mary to obtain reproductions of Cook's easiest recipes from the kitchen. Mr. Collins had a sufficient income that Mary would have several servants, but Elizabeth knew that her sister would not wish to leave everything to her underlings. No, she would doubtless prepare some of the meals and teas for her husband.

Over in the corner, Jane and Mrs. Bennet were laboring over a list of various practical items which Longbourn would provide for the new bride, including a set of china which had belonged to Mrs. Bennet's aunt. All of the sisters had agreed that Mary ought to take the china, especially as it would eventually return to Longbourn.

The door opened abruptly, and Lydia bounced in with Kitty and Mrs. Montgomery at her heels.

"Mary!" the youngest Miss Bennet enthused, "We have such a marvelous idea. Kitty and I can work on your hats. You look much better in greens and blues, and we have a basket of bows and ribbons, so we could freshen them all up."

"That is kind of you," Mary said, "but I would not wish to interrupt your studies."

Lydia looked at Mrs. Montgomery who said, "My dear Miss Mary, I believe I speak for us all that we are very pleased for you, and there is no harm in spending a few days assisting you in preparing for your new life."

"And besides, trimming hats is quite educational," Lydia said, her tone solemn but her eyes dancing.

"Do let us," Kitty pleaded, and Mary could not help but smile with pleasure.

"Thank you," she said genuinely.

"May we go into your bedchamber and fetch your hats?" Lydia asked brightly.

Mary gave the necessary permission, and the younger girls raced off with their governess in their frenetic wake.

The older ladies went back to their work until Elizabeth happened to look up from her copying in time to observe a chaise and four rolling up the gravel driveway. She frowned and, setting aside her pen, walked over to stare outside in bewilderment. The horses were post, and neither the carriage, nor the livery of the servant who preceded it, were familiar to them.

"I wonder who that could be?" her mother's voice said from behind her, and Elizabeth shook her head.

"I have no idea," she replied, glancing around the room with a critical eye. It was a trifle untidy due to the copying of recipes and the writing of lists, but within a minute, the three ladies had swept the papers into a neat stack and hidden them in a handy drawer in the escritoire.

The Bennets' elderly butler entered the drawing room with his usual stately step, followed by a tall, large, middle-aged lady, dressed in expensive traveling attire, with strongly marked features, who might once have been handsome.

"Lady Catherine de Bourgh," the butler announced, which provoked murmurs of astonishment from Mrs. Bennet and her daughters.

The lady managed to both tilt her head skyward and glare at the Bennets, which Elizabeth thought quite a remarkable accomplishment.

"Who are you?" the visitor snapped.

Mrs. Bennet cast a quelling look at Elizabeth, who was, not unnaturally, angry at this rude demand, and said, "I am Mrs. Bennet, this is my eldest daughter Jane, and my next daughter Elizabeth."

The ladies curtsied to their noble visitor, who took a few steps forward and glared at Jane.

"Are you engaged to my rector, Mr. Collins?" Lady Catherine asked, eying her prey with a gimlet eye.

Jane blinked in confusion and then shook her head. "No, Madame. My sis..."

"Then I must speak with you alone," the lady interposed with a further lift of her chin. "Come along, girl; I presume there is a sitting room somewhere where I can speak to you in privacy."

"Absolutely not," Mrs. Bennet stated, her eyes narrowed. "I am Jane's mother, and I have no intention of allowing you to interview my daughter until I understand your purpose in calling here."

Lady Catherine rounded on her hostess with a deep scowl. "Do you know who I am? I am mistress of Rosings in Kent, and the aunt of Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, and I will not allow an upstart girl from Hertfordshire to sway my nephew away from his duty to wed my daughter!"

The Bennet ladies gasped in unison at this statement, and Elizabeth asked, "Madame, am I correct that you are Miss de Bourgh's mother?"

"I am!"

"And you think that Mr. Darcy is interested in Jane ?"

The incredulity in Elizabeth's voice apparently penetrated their guest's consciousness because, for a moment, Lady Catherine's expression was uncertain.

Within seconds, she had recovered herself sufficiently to say, in the haughtiest tone possible, "I know that he is! Mr. Collins informed me in a letter, and speaking of my parson, where is he?"

The Bennet ladies exchanged bewildered glances, and Elizabeth said, "He began his journey back to Kent only this morning, but we do not understand; Mr. Collins told you that Mr. Darcy is pursuing Jane?"

"He did," their guest declared.

Elizabeth heard a peculiar sound, which she realized after a few seconds was her own teeth grinding. She had no great opinion of Mr. Collins's intellect, but for him to tell such lies to his patroness was both stupid and immoral.

"It is not true," Jane said firmly. "I am confident that Mr. Darcy has no interest in me at all, nor I in him."

"Then how do you explain this?" Lady Catherine demanded, pulling a letter out of her reticule and holding it out with a flourish toward Jane, who took it hesitantly and held it to the light from the window, while Elizabeth crowded in behind her to read the words. Mrs. Bennet, her lips thinned, took this opportunity to walk over and speak softly to Mr. Stewart, the butler, who was waiting with majestic calm by the now closed door.

Elizabeth, who was a fast reader, scanned the entire letter before Jane had time to read the first half, shook her head, and then read aloud, " I wish to assure you that Mr. Darcy is not paying undue attention to any of the other young ladies in the neighborhood. I was startled when he asked my eldest cousin, Miss Jane Bennet, for both the opening and supper sets for an upcoming ball, but my cousin declined the supper set, and assured me that Mr. Darcy is merely assisting his friend Bingley who, I think, may have some interest in my eldest cousin."

She took a step away from Jane and glowered at their noble guest. "Lady Catherine, Mr. Collins most definitely said in this letter that your nephew is not pursuing my sister!"

The lady waved an airy hand and said, "Yes, but Mr. Collins, while a good parson, does not know Darcy as I do. My nephew would never ask a lady for two sets unless he was pursuing her, and I will not have it! My daughter and nephew are destined for one another, and now that they are residing as guests in the same mansion, I have no doubt they will come to realize the wisdom of the plan of both me and his dear mother, who was taken from us too soon! Now Miss Bennet, I insist on being satisfied. Tell me, once and for all, are you engaged to my nephew Darcy?"

"No," Jane replied, looking exasperated.

Lady Catherine's expression relaxed, and she nodded in approval. "And will you promise me never to enter into such an engagement?"

"I do," Jane replied promptly.

Their unwanted visitor stared into Jane's angelic countenance and said, "Very well. I trust in your honor, Miss Bennet. If I find that you have deceived me..."

"That is quite enough," Mrs. Bennet declared, taking an angry step towards Lady Catherine. "You have no right to demand anything from my daughter and certainly not to impugn her honor! I will thank you to leave the house immediately!"

"No," the lady replied, casting a disdainful look around her. "I require more information about my daughter and nephew. I cannot understand why they would bury themselves here of all places. Perhaps it is not Miss Bennet, but one of her younger sisters..."

"Lady Catherine," Mrs. Bennet snapped, and then took a deep breath in an obvious attempt to calm herself.

"Lady Catherine," she repeated in a more sedate tone, "I assure you that Mr. Darcy has no interest in a lady of this house. I understand that Mr. Darcy has been assisting his friend Mr. Bingley in learning how to administer an estate, and it is always advantageous for newcomers to be friendly with the other members of the gentry in the area. It is courteous of your nephew to dance occasionally with local ladies, and I am confident there is nothing more to the situation. Now if you have further questions or concerns, perhaps you could ask your nephew at Netherfield? It is only a few miles away."

Lady Catherine glared haughtily at her reluctant hostess for a full thirty seconds and then nodded briskly. "Very well. I will indeed call on Darcy and remind him of his duty to his name. Good day."

She turned on her heel and sailed regally out of the room, with Mr. Stewart behind her, determined to make certain that the lady did, truly, leave the house.

Elizabeth waited a minute until their visitor's heavy footsteps had faded away, and then said, "What an incredibly rude and irritating person!"

"She is," Mrs. Bennet said, shaking her head in exasperation. "I was initially inclined to have Steward and some of the servants escort her out of the house forcibly, but that would likely go hard on Mary, given that Mr. Collins is that woman's rector. May I see the letter, Jane?"

Jane was, indeed, still holding the letter which Collins had sent to his patroness, and she handed it over.

Mrs. Bennet bent a worried look on the paper, read it through twice, and then relaxed. "Yes, he was very explicit that Mr. Darcy was not pursuing you, Jane. I was afraid that this entire affair might be my fault, but it seems it was not."

"Your fault? Whatever do you mean?" Elizabeth demanded.

Mrs. Bennet wrinkled her nose. "I confess that when Mr. Collins spoke of his desire to wed either you or Jane, I discouraged him by calling you immature, and hinted that if Jane was engaged Mr. Collins, Mr. Darcy might possibly try his own luck in winning your hand because of your beauty. I probably ought not to have done it, but he is a foolish man, Mr. Collins, and you know your father..."

Elizabeth interrupted this tangle of sentences by stepping forward and embracing her mother. "We understand, Mamma."

"Thank you," Mrs. Bennet said with a sigh. "I do my best, but my best does not always seem good enough."

"It is good enough," Jane said stoutly, and all three turned as Lady Catherine's carriage made its hasty way down the driveway toward the road.

"I feel a little sorry for everyone at Netherfield Hall," she continued. "I suspect that Lady Catherine will be rather unpleasant to poor Mr. Darcy."

"Poor Mr. Darcy is quite capable of taking care of himself," Elizabeth said drily. "Moreover, it was his decision to ask you to dance a second time which caused this commotion."

"True," Jane agreed.