Chapter 9 – Confronting Lady Catherine
Elizabeth and the Bennets had been anxiously awaiting Lydia and Wickham's visit. Her mother had been extolling the merits of her new son-in-law, much to Elizabeth's frustration. This visit was bound to be a most horrible experience. She hoped it would be of short duration and that they would be off to his new regiment in the north quickly. This seemed highly unlikely as her mother seemed determined to keep her beloved Lydia at Longbourn as long as possible.
Elizabeth was surprised that Lady Catherine had yet to make an appearance. Anne had been so certain that her mother was determined to confront Elizabeth at her home. She hadn't mentioned it to Darcy in her letter, as she didn't want to worry him. He had enough to concern himself with and almost certainly already knew about it from his cousin. She decided to take her book in to the garden to pass the time and escape her mother for a spell. As she entered, she noticed Jane and Mr. Bingley walking together in happy conversation. She was glad to know that they were well on their way to coming to an understanding. Suddenly, Kitty came running up to her in great haste.
"Elizabeth!" Kitty said, breathlessly. "You must come, for you will never guess! Lady Catherine is here, and she is insistent to speak with you directly. Make haste!"
She and Kitty hurried back to the drawing room, where Elizabeth found Lady Catherine and her mother engaged in a conversation of sorts.
"You have a very small park here" she heard Lady Catherine say. "And this must be a most inconvenient sitting room in the summer. Why, the windows face full west!"
"Indeed they do, your ladyship. But we never sit in here after dinner" her mother informed her.
"Ah, Miss Bennett! There you are, at last. I was beginning to think your sister had gotten lost" her ladyship said, as Elizabeth came in.
"You wished to see me, your ladyship? How may I be of assistance?" Elizabeth said, coyly.
"You will please leave us, Mrs. Bennett. I wish to speak to your daughter alone, as a matter of urgency" Lady Catherine commanded.
"Of course, your ladyship. Come, Mary! Kitty!" she said, to Elizabeth's astonishment. How could she allow herself to be dictated to in her own home? Yet, she quickly escorted Mary and Kitty out of the room.
"You can be at no lost to understand the reason for my visit, Miss Bennett?" Lady Catherine began.
"Indeed you are mistaken, your ladyship. I cannot think what has prompted this visit" Elizabeth replied.
"Insincerity is a most unattractive quality, miss, and it doesn't suit you at all. However insincere you choose to be, you shall not find me so. I received a report of alarming nature two days ago, that not only was your youngest sister to be married after a most scandalous elopement, and your father died leaving you penniless, but that you, Miss Elizabeth Bennett, were to be united with my own nephew, Mr. Darcy! Of course, I know this could be nothing more than a scandalous falsehood. Not wishing to injure him, by supposing it possible, I set off for this place to insist upon such a report being universally contradicted!" Lady Catherine said, obviously assuming that Elizabeth would comply.
"I am afraid I must disappoint you, Lady Catherine, for it is all quite true. He proposed a few days ago, and I have accepted him" Elizabeth informed her, resolutely.
"Impossible. You must have drawn him in! I must tell you frankly that this match that you have the presumption to aspire can never take place. Mr. Darcy is engaged to my daughter, now what have you to say!?" her ladyship demanded.
"If he were engaged to Miss De Bourgh, he would never have made an offer to me. Both he and your daughter have informed me of the facts of this matter; that they never were engaged and that neither ever desired to be engaged" Elizabeth responded.
"Selfish girl! The engagement between them is of a peculiar kind. From their infancy they have been intended for each other. It was the favorite wish of his mother as well as hers! While she was in her cradle we planed the union! And now is this to prevented by the upstart pretensions of a young woman with out family connection or fortune!? Is this to be endured!? It shall not be. Heaven and earth, are the shades of Pemberly to be thus polluted? If you were sensible of your own good, you would not wish to quit this sphere in which you've been brought up" Lady Catherine railed.
"In marrying your nephew, I do not consider myself as quitting that sphere. He is a gentleman, I am a gentleman's daughter. Are we not equal?" Elizabeth demanded.
"But who is your mother? Who are your uncles and aunts? Do not imagine me ignorant of their condition! Your alliance would be a disgrace!"
"Nevertheless, in so much as he is bound neither by honor nor inclination to your daughter or any other young woman, he is free to make his own choice. And if I am that choice, and our feelings being of a mutual understanding, why may I not accept him?" Elizabeth felt tears threatening to well up, and commanded them back with every fiber of her being. "How your nephew may feel about your interfering in his affairs, I cannot say, but you certainly have no right to interfere in mine! You have insulted me in every possible way, and can now have nothing further to say. I must ask you to leave!"
Elizabeth turned towards the door to open it, but before she could the door then opened and she nearly ran into the very person she most wanted at that moment. Darcy reached out to steady her and looked to ensure that she was well. She wanted to throw her arms around his neck and embrace him but she knew she could not.
"Are you alright, Elizabeth?" he asked her.
She couldn't seem to form the words, shocked as she was to see him, but she shook her head yes.
"How long were you there?" she managed to ask him.
"Long enough…long enough." He then turned towards his aunt with the most serious countenance she had ever seen him possess. "Aunt Catherine, this is a most unpleasant surprise. What can you mean by coming all this way, and accosting Miss Bennett in this manner? Have you taken leave of your senses?!" he demanded of his aunt.
"Nephew, thank goodness you are here. Now perhaps we can make sense of this mess" the lady said, with more sweetness and calmness than she probably intended, which amused Elizabeth. "Miss Bennett and I have been discussing this unfortunate misunderstanding that seems to have occurred. She is under the impression that you and she are engaged. I've told her that she must be mistaken, as you are engaged to marry Anne."
"There is no misunderstanding, aunt. Elizabeth and I are engaged. We intend to be married just as soon as may be socially acceptable after an appropriate mourning period for her father" he told her.
"But, this cannot be! What about Anne? You cannot disappoint her in this way, Darcy. She has been waiting for you to fix a date. Who will she marry? I will not have it!" Lady Catherine said, sternly.
"I am not sure what ever gave you the impression that you had a say in the matter. Anne has many fine qualities. You do her a great dishonor to assume that I am the only man in the world who could ever be prevailed upon to marry her" he told her, matter of factly. "I am sorry for whatever disappointment this gives you, but it is of your making. If you had ever bothered just once to ask me or your own daughter what we wanted, you might have avoided this."
"This is all your fault!" she rounded on Elizabeth. "You have made him forget himself, and what he owes to all his family. You have taken him in!"
"She has done no such thing! You will cease and desist this minute, or I will be forced to physically remove you to your carriage" Darcy said, angrily. "I love her, and she loves me, and there is an end to it. You can either accept that or be cut off from me and Georgiana forever."
"You wait until your uncle hears about this! He'll make you see reason" she told him.
"I am sorry to tell you that I have just come from Matlock house. I have a letter for you, in fact, Elizabeth. My uncle has given us his blessing. What's more, he congratulated us, and sends his most heartfelt desire that he should meet his new niece as soon as may be possible" Darcy said, handing Elizabeth her letter.
"He did? He does?" Elizabeth asked, in disbelief.
"He does, indeed" he smiled at her surprise. "I've told you, Elizabeth, Lady Catherine is not everyone."
"Yes, but I just never imagined…"Elizabeth began.
"And I thought we had given you a better impression of our family, Miss Bennett, my mother's ill behavior being the exception." Elizabeth beard a familiar voice come from the door behind her and turned to see Anne De Bourgh and Colonel Fitzwilliam now standing in the doorway.
"Miss De Bourgh! I am so pleased to see you again." Elizabeth said, astonished.
"And so am I" she said, then turning towards her mother. "Mother. You must stop this. I have tried again and again to explain to you that I have never wanted to marry William. He and Elizabeth are so well suited, I could not be happier for my cousin. Why can you not see that this is for the best?" she pleaded with her.
"But, my darling girl, you are almost five and twenty. You must marry! Who will you marry now?" her mother cried.
"She will marry me, of course" Richard said, pointedly. He looked as though he hadn't quite intended that exact moment to make such a declaration, but it seemed as good a moment as any. He took her hand in his and they all looked at Lady Catherine.
"I have been trying to find a way to make you understand, mother, but you may as well know that Richard and I engaged. We love each other. I have decided that when I inherit Rosings next month, according to father's will, you will move into the dowager house. I hope that we can exist peacefully, but that will depend entirely upon you" Anne said.
"Don't talk such nonsense, Anne. I raised you to marry someone who was titled and landed. Someone who could help you expand Rosings by uniting two great estates. I did not raise you to be the wife of a second son and a lowly soldier!" her mother said, indignantly.
"I shall be the wife of the second son of an Earl and a colonel in his majesty's service, and that will be good enough for me" she declared, looping her arm tighter through Richard's. He looked hurt at his aunt's rejection, but not surprised.
"You're fools! All of you! I have never been so insulted in all my life!" Lady Catherine exclaimed as she made to leave.
"Well, they say we are all fools in love, aunt" Darcy told her.
"Lady Catherine, wait. I beg you to see reason. I do not like to be the cause of any dispute. Can you not see what you are doing to your family? All your daughter and nephews want is your acceptance and to marry where they love. Do you want to be miserable and alone for the rest of your days?" Elizabeth made a last attempt at reasoning with her.
"I have never heard such nonsense! This is not how things should be. I am leaving, but I send no compliments to your mother, Miss Bennet, you deserve no such attention. I am most seriously displeased!" she declared as she stormed out of the room and out to her waiting carriage.
"She we go after her?" Richard asked, watching out the window as the carriage pulled away.
"Certainly not. She'll get over. She just needs some time to calm down" Anne told them, with more conviction than she actually felt.
"Well, cousin, at least you know your life at Rosings will never be boring?" Darcy joked, as he put his arm around Elizabeth.
They all laughed at this. Just then, Jane and Mr. Bingley walked in from the garden.
"Darcy! Good to see you. What is all this commotion? I thought I saw your aunt's carriage leaving" Bingley inquired.
"Indeed you did, Charles. But that is a story perhaps better left for another time. For now, I think we are all in need of a sherry" Darcy suggested.
The glasses were poured and they all toasted to love, to family, and to friendship.