Chapter 19

Nineteen

Having traveled all the way to Hertfordshire upon receiving irrefutable proof of her nephew Darcy's recent maneuvers and supposing it could only mean one thing, Lady Catherine de Bourgh broke every rule of decent civility and proper etiquette with the sole desire of preventing further injury to her lifelong ambition.

After commandeering a private audience with Elizabeth in a prettyish little wilderness on one side of the Bennet family's lawn, her ladyship wasted no time carrying her point.

"You can be at no loss, Miss Bennet, to understand the reason of my journey hither. Your own heart, your own conscience, must tell you why I come."

Elizabeth looked at the uninvited guest with unaffected astonishment. "Indeed, you are mistaken, your ladyship. I have not been at all able to account for the honor of seeing you here."

"My character has ever been celebrated for its sincerity and frankness, and in a cause of such a moment as this, I shall certainly not depart from it. From all that I have discerned regarding my nephew Darcy's behavior of late, I have concluded that he suffers more than a casual interest in the Bennets of Longbourn—particularly you. I fear that as confused and misguided as he no doubt must be after his harrowing ordeal in Kent during the spring, he has completely forgotten what he is about. I fear he has gone as far as to offer his hand to you. While I wish more than anything that my suspicions will prove false, I came all this way, just the same, in search of the truth."

"Your ladyship, if you indeed are in want of confirmation of that sort, why did you not go straight to Mr. Darcy? Why have you wasted your time coming here to confront me?"

"You ought to know from having spent time in my home, I am not one to be trifled with. I would hardly describe my coming here as a confrontation but rather a conversation between two women—one seeking answers and the other with no need to withhold the truth. Now, tell me at once, has my ill-advised nephew made you an offer of marriage? Are you engaged to be married to him?"

Elizabeth wanted nothing more than to say, ‘Yes,' that Mr. Darcy did indeed offer her his hand, but foolishly courting ignorance and prepossession, she refused him. That it had been her greatest mistake, and that, if given the chance, she would accept a renewal of his proposal in a heartbeat.

Alas, she was forced to say the one thing that Lady Catherine wished to hear.

"No, I am not."

Lady Catherine seemed more skeptical than pleased by this reply. "That is exactly what I expected you to say, fearing the consequences of my wrath were you to suggest otherwise. But knowing as I do the lengths my nephew went to shield your family from scandal, I have no reason to suppose he acted merely out of the kindness of his heart."

"First, Lady Catherine, I am not afraid of you. Second, your ascribing motives to your nephew's behavior can have nothing to do with me."

"I posit his behavior has everything to do with you! I know he has visited you here in Hertfordshire since your return, and I know the two of you spent time alone, just as you two were wont to do in Kent."

When Elizabeth asked Lady Catherine how she could possibly know of what she was speaking, her ladyship declared, "Nothing that involves my family escapes my notice. I know it all.

"I know it was my own nephew who assumed the burden of protecting the Bennet family from ruin after your youngest sister's scandalous affair, taking it upon himself to become your fallen sister's benefactor—going so far as arranging for her to reside at one of his homes in Scotland, satisfying her foolish vanity in believing she is the mistress of a grand estate, providing her with a generous allowance of more or less than three or four hundred pounds a year by my account, enabling her to maintain a comfortable lifestyle, and hiring a companion to keep her from falling back into her usual unseemly ways and wreaking further havoc.

"Do you pretend to be ignorant of all this?"

In a manner of speaking, Elizabeth was indeed ignorant of much of what her ladyship had espoused. She had a vague knowledge of the accommodations he had made for her sister, but certainly not to the extent Lady Catherine had exposed. Lydia's letters hinting of the privileges she enjoyed in Scotland were such a jumbled mixture of boasting and self-pity that Elizabeth dismissed it all as utter nonsense. This act of selflessness on Mr. Darcy's part cast his sense of honor and integrity in a new light, deepening her regard for him.

Elizabeth did not intend to let Lady Catherine know her sentiments on the matter. She said, "How could I know the extents that you speak of? It is not as though I am in the habit of spying on people as you, no doubt, are."

"As I said, there is nothing of consequence that I do not know about my own family!

"Furthermore, I have always considered myself my Fitzwilliam family's staunchest protector, save this one occasion of letting my guard down with you. I should have thought better before embracing one of your kind. I ought to have known it was a mistake to allow myself to be persuaded by Anne to allow you to stay at Rosings Park as her guest. But as there is nothing on earth that I would not do for a most beloved child, I went against my better judgment. Poor Anne, while supposing you to have genuine concern for her cousin and betrothed Darcy during his period of convalescence and all along you had your own agenda ... stealthily using your feminine arts and allurements to draw him in.

"Why my Anne, being the gently bred young lady that she is, never stood a chance against the likes of you!"

Her speech brought to Elizabeth's mind a matter that suggested Lady Catherine was not so aware of everything in her family as she claimed.

Since leaving Kent, Elizabeth enjoyed frequent correspondence with Miss de Bourgh. Anne had informed her of the colonel's proposal and Anne's acceptance, as well as Lady Catherine's staunch opposition to the scheme. Per Anne's intelligence, secure in the knowledge that Darcy would soon do what he longed to do and thus deal the final blow to her ladyship's ambitions, for the sake of familial harmony, she and her cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam were contented to bide their time. An estrangement between mother and daughter was the last thing Anne wished for, and she would avoid its occurrence for so long as her betrothed would allow it.

Elizabeth said, "Need I remind you that even your own nephew does not subscribe to such nonsense? I know your daughter openly declared her love for Colonel Fitzwilliam, and likewise, he professed his love for her. Yet, you stand here as if your own daughter's feelings mean nothing, as though your wishing it were otherwise makes it so."

"Such affairs are none of your concern, you impudent young woman!"

Elizabeth readily conceded. "Just as your refusal to face the truth that your favorite wish will never unfold can have nothing at all to do with me, either."

"Why, you!" Lady Catherine shouted. "Were I to accept that my nephew Darcy will never marry my Anne, it does not mean I would abdicate my role, nay my obligation to my late sister to see that her only son makes the most advantageous match possible, one that will elevate our family's proud legacy not tarnish it with the stain of tradesmen. Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?"

It was one thing for Lady Catherine to spew nonsense and venom directed at Elizabeth and even Lydia, after all the trouble the latter had caused. But to disdain and disparage her entire family! Why the audacity! Elizabeth had endured the haughty aristocrat long enough. "You can now have nothing further to say," she resentfully answered. "You have insulted me in every conceivable way. I must beg to be rid of your presence."

"Not so hastily, young woman. You deny you are engaged to my nephew, and I will allow it to be true so long as you promise me never to enter such an engagement?"

"I will make no promise of the kind."

"Miss Bennet, I am shocked and astonished. I expected to find a more reasonable young woman. But do not deceive yourself into a belief that I will ever recede. I shall not go away until you have given me the assurance I require."

"And I certainly never shall give it," Elizabeth declared, rising as she spoke.

Lady Catherine rose also, and they turned back. Her ladyship was highly incensed.

"You have no regard, then, for the honor and credit of my nephew! Unfeeling, selfish girl! Do you not consider that a connection with you must disgrace him in the eyes of everybody?"

"Lady Catherine, I have nothing further to say. You know my sentiments."

"You are then resolved to have him?"

"I have said no such thing. I am only resolved to act in that manner, which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness, without reference to you, or to any person so wholly unconnected with me."

"You refuse, then, to oblige me. You refuse to obey the claims of duty, honor, and gratitude. You are determined to ruin him in the opinion of all his friends and make him the contempt of the world."

"Neither duty, nor honor, nor gratitude have any claim on me, in the present instance. No principle of either would be violated by my marriage to Mr. Darcy. And regarding the resentment of his family, or the indignation of the world, if the former were excited by his marrying me, it would not give me one moment's concern—and the world in general would have too much sense to join in the scorn."

"And this is your real opinion! This is your final resolve! Very well. I shall now know how to act. Do not imagine, Miss Bennet, that your ambition will ever be gratified. I came to try you. I hoped to find you reasonable, which you clearly are not. But depend upon it, I will carry my point."

In this manner, Lady Catherine talked on until they reached the awaiting carriage. Then, turning sharply, she added, "I take no leave of you, Miss Bennet. I send no compliments to your mother. You deserve no such attention. I am most seriously displeased."

Good riddance, Elizabeth fumed silently, her heart pounding as the carriage rolled away. Yet, beneath her momentary relief, a deeper unease settled in. The audacity of Lady Catherine's visit had left her reeling. Elizabeth could not help but worry, and the tumult in her mind only worsened as she fretted over how Mr. Darcy might think or feel if he ever heard of it.