I don't own Pride and Prejudice.
"Thank you for coming doctor, I don't know what I was thinking when I sent you away." Lady Catherine played the part of the concerned mother very well indeed. "My nephew says it is just a trifling cold, but I know my daughter. He and his wife absolutely forbid me bringing you here, but they are out with the rest of the young girls they have collected, so they won't even have to know you're here."
"I would have removed her from this house days ago, but our townhouse is having renovations done, and now she is much too ill to move."
"It was wise of you to send for me, it has been so long since she was last bled that we shall have to take a more extreme course of bleeding than we ever have before. Perhaps it would be wise to move her to your brother's home..." He spoke as they opened the door to Anne's sitting room.
"I believe you will recall my aunt just said she is too ill to be moved." William spoke from across the room. Standing tall, he looked the most formidable anyone had ever seen him. In the chair next to him sat Anne, looking healthier than she ever had, her skin glowing, her hair starting to become thicker and more vibrant in color. She was wearing one of Mme Bellamy's creations, and if fit her perfectly, making her look even more alive.
"I find it interesting sir, that you were already speaking of bleeding my daughter, before even laying eyes on her. For all you knew it could have been a trifling cold." Lady Catherine spoke, a fire in her eyes.
"If you'll excuse us, I believe Anne and I have no need to hear this conversation." Elizabeth spoke, standing to escort a shaken Anne from the room.
Vincent Lucas was about to follow, but Lady Catherine stopped him, "Not so hasty if you please Mr Lucas," all three persons leaving stopped to see what she had to say. "Your marked interest in my daughter, and her obvious return of your feelings, entitles you to hear what he has to say." Every single person looked shocked, but Anne recovered quickest, the brightest smile any of them had ever seen bloomed across her face. "I expect to be approached for permission for a courtship or betrothal later this afternoon young man, once you have spoken with my daughter."
"Yes...of course your ladyship." Poor Vincent looked flabbergasted, but the excitement soon took over when he realized what she was telling him.
"There, now you can stop with this infernal distancing yourself from her." Vincent had been pulling back, and they all knew it was because his feelings had been engaged and he was trying to save himself as well as her the heartbreak of not being allowed to marry after the engagement of said feelings. He had expressed all of this to Charlotte, telling her that he hoped he hadn't waited too long, and that Anne felt nothing more than friendship for him. He said it would have destroyed him to break her heart.
"Good, now off with you two, let us clear up these dealings with the good doctor." She motioned for Elizabeth and Anne to continue out the door, before turning a predatory look on the doctor.
"As I'm sure you are well aware, my daughter is in no way ill. Rather, she is thriving outside your "tender care". She is healthier than she has been since my brother introduced you to us, and I have to say, that does not speak well for your skills as a doctor." Lady Catherine was pleased to see the man almost shaking in his seat.
"The question I have is, why?" Darcy asked, "Why is it a doctor, with a seemingly good reputation, would jeopardize everything by trying to murder the heiress of an estate." He cut off the man off when he started bumbling excuses. "We have documentation, from respected physicians, stating that my cousin is as healthy as any young woman her age. That any weakness was the result if having been bled far too often."
"I'm sorry sir...madam..." The man broke out into tears, before telling his story of how he met the Earl of Matlock. The doctor had a bit of a gambling problem when he was young, that the Earl had fostered throughout the years. The Earl would invite him to all be best clubs, buy his way into high stakes games, then cover his losses when he inevitably lost, never asking for a penny of it back. This had gone in for a few years, until the doctor met his wife, and he gave the lifestyle up so he could support her and any children they would have.
Then one day the Earl came to him, asking him to save his nieces life. He felt like this was the perfect way to pay the Earl back for everything he'd done over the years, so he had happily agreed. He had been happy to send along every report on how the child was slowly improving, waiting for his friend to respond with his relief or gratitude. However the response that came was neither one of relief or gratitude.
Instead, the Earl wrote to him, telling him to keep the girl as sickly as possible without actually killing her. He wrote that if he refused to do so he would demand the amounts owed to him paid in full. Not only that, but he would spread word of his vice around the ton, starting with his wife. He felt he had no choice but to do as the man asked, he couldn't allow his wife and young daughter to suffer for his past mistakes, and no way could he pay the amounts owed, so he continued to bleed the young heiress, doing as her uncle requested.
"The Earl never told me why he wanted her to be kept weak, just that the weaker she was, the better." The doctor cried.
"And you didn't think to ask?" Came a thunderous voice from the doorway. "A man wants a child to suffer for the entirety of her life, and you don't think to ask why." Mr Bennet's rage was unlike anything any of them had ever seen.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't call you out right now." The man demanded, and Darcy winced, making Lady Catherine wonder if there was something more to the bookish man in front of her than she had ever expected.
"Please sir...I kept the letters...all of them." The doctor hiccuped in between his sobbing.
"That'll be a start." In all honesty, that was all she and Darcy had been searching for, she couldn't help what more the man would demand of the sniveling doctor.
"What was that look about when Mr Bennet mentioned calling out the doctor?" She asked her nephew later that night.
"I've been hunting with Mr Bennet once..." Fitzwilliam spoke, "A better marksman I have never seen."
"Even Richard?" Richard was by far the best shot in their family, and amongst almost all of their friends.
"He put Richard to shame." He chuckled at the look of shock on her face.
Not for the first time, she found herself intrigued by the man. She knew she was in no way in love with him, she felt herself far above such things. She was much too old and pragmatic for such notions. She just liked that he spoke to her as a woman with a fair amount of intelligence, and wasn't intimidated by it. Though, she wasn't surprised by it, as his own daughters were all intelligent.
She felt for the man, as unhappy as his marriage was, and found herself wondering if she could talk her nephew into helping her pay to help the man divorce his wife. She told herself, it was just her desire to see a good man get out of the bad situation he had landed himself in and nothing more.
She also wondered if the man would accept their help. Men were such fickle creatures, always worrying about if something would be seen as charity, rather than a friend helping another one out.
Coming from his son in law, he may be willing to take the help, and she could just tell Fitzwilliam not to inform the man of her part in it.
Steeling herself, she decided she would talk to her nephew while the two of them were alone, but then thought better of it. Mr Bennet seemed in no hurry to return home to his wife, but he might if she wasn't going to be there waiting for him.
Instead she would put it off till the end of the season, and just enjoy his company while she had it.