“Is that so?” Mr. Bennet returned his gesture, though his grin was more akin to what a wolf might wear as it stalked prey. “Then the lady proved even more obstinate than I anticipated.”
Colonel Fitzwilliam turned a lazy eye to Mr. Darcy. “Well, Darcy?This is more properly your tale than mine.”
“Then Lady Catherine directs the marriage prospects of all her family?” chortled Mr. Bennet. “That is admirable, gentlemen, for even with all my cousin’s tales of her, I had not thought she wasthismeddling.”
“It is worse than you know, Mr. Bennet,” replied Mr. Darcy. “Lady Catherine’s opposition to my cousin’s activities was not unexpected, but we had not supposed she would make a day’s journey to share her sentiments. Forme, however, she would journey ten times as far.”
“Now you must share, Darcy, for I am afire with curiosity.”
Mr. Darcy nodded and addressed them all, but as he spoke, it was Elizabeth’s distinct impression that he was speaking to her.
“As you all must already know, Lady Catherine has a daughter, Anne de Bourgh.”
“Mr. Collins spoke of her when he visited,” said Mrs. Bennet.
“Though not so much as he spoke of his patroness,” added Elizabeth.
The comment provoked a measure of exasperated laughter—everyone in the room had experienced Mr. Collins’s particular foibles.
“That is no surprise, Miss Elizabeth,” said Mr. Darcy, the soft smile he directed at her evidence of his regard. “Lady Catherine surrounds herself with those who will not dare contradict her. There are a few like Collins who toady to her, but Lady Catherine’s primary concern is that they do what she instructs.”
“This is admirable, Darcy,” said Mr. Bennet. “As you invoked her ladyship’s daughter, I must suppose Lady Catherine’s interest in your amorous activities means she has some expectations of you.”
“It springs from when I was a boy,” said Mr. Darcy with a nod. “Lady Catherine claims she discussed and agreed with her sister—my mother—that Anne and I would join the two estates in matrimony. The curious part of all this is that my mother never spoke to my father or me on the subject, and Lady Catherine did not begin to push the scheme until after my father’s passing.”
“Then Lady Catherine is perpetrating a falsehood? I might never have suspected that such an august woman was capable of such duplicity.”
“How dare you accuse my aunt of lying, Mr. Bennet!” exclaimed Colonel Fitzwilliam, feigning outrage. “Do you not know that she is the foremost, the most upright, the most honest lady in all of England? Why, she owns it herself!”
Had Lady Catherine not descended on them all that day, theBennets might not have understood the full measure of the jest. Since they had suffered a fraction of what Lady Catherine could unleash, they could all laugh at her absurdity, though Elizabeth noted that her mother was more than a little astonished at it all.
“Do you have some other explanation?” was Mr. Bennet’s mild query.
“As it happens, I do,” replied Mr. Darcy. “My mother was a quiet woman, though firm when the occasion demanded it. As Lady Catherine is a force of nature, my mother was not in the habit of contradicting her, knowing that it would lead to an argument—it was for that reason I declined to acquaint Lady Catherine with my feelings on the subject.
“I suspect therewasa conversation between them. My mother did not oppose Lady Catherine’s designs, and the lady took it as an agreement. By now, more than twenty years later, Lady Catherine only remembers the event from her perspective, convincing herself that my mother agreed with her.”
“Yes, I can see how that would make sense—Lady Catherine appears the sort of woman who believes whatever she wishes to believe.”
“You havenoidea, Mr. Bennet,” said Colonel Fitzwilliam.
Mr. Bennet nodded, then addressed Mr. Darcy again. “With all this, I must suppose that your tardiness is because the lady learned of a threat to her designs.”
“You are not incorrect,” replied Mr. Darcy. The gentleman appeared uncomfortable, but he did not hesitate to speak. “Seeing Lady Catherine enraged aboutmy cousin’sintention to defy her, I knew that her anger at my ‘betrayal’ would eclipse it tenfold. Thus, I decided to declaim all interest in her daughter when she was already furious rather than waiting to provoke her again.”
“You sought to achieve two aims at once,” said Mr. Bennet. He appeared almost gleeful at the absurdity of it all. “You might have considered better—if she was in a worse state than she was when she left Longbourn, she might have suffered apoplexy.”
“The thought had occurred to me, too,” said Colonel Fitzwilliam. “Though I would not wish harm on my aunt, her silence would be welcome.”
“Aye, it would at that.”
“What do you suppose she will do now?” ventured Mrs. Bennet.
“She declared her intention to approach my father,” said Colonel Fitzwilliam. “Unfortunately, he is in Derbyshire, so if she means tohold to her purpose, we shall not see her for the next four or five days.”
“Do you suppose she will find a sympathetic ear?”
“I do not suppose it.” Colonel Fitzwilliam’s tone was firm and allowed for no uncertainty. “Father has no control over Darcy, and he knows it. While he could exert control over me, he would not, and my mother would not endure it if he tried. The most Lady Catherine will receive from him is a warning not to insert herself into our affairs and perhaps a private conversation between us to ensure we know what we want.”
