The dinner at Rosings.
Chapter 6: Dinner fight
"My Ladies, what a great pleasure seeing you again, and on so short a notice!"
D'Arcy, as the host, came to the door and, as was the French custom, bowed overs their hands and touch them with his lips.
He stayed a little more than was necessary with Jane.
"I'm rejoicing that you could come. I was fearing you'd want to stay alone to find the answers you needed."
"Some answer can only be found by confronting the problem."
He looked in her eyes and smiled.
"How perfectly true. I used the same words while convincing Napoleon that the only way to beat the British was to go and fight them on their own island..."
"You'll forgive me if I regret that you were able to lure the Corsican out of his hesitations..."
"You're forgiven, Miss Bennet, but don't be too rude with Napoleon, I'm a man who has lots of experience getting what he wants."
She looked at him and squared her shoulders.
"There are those things that can never be had by coercion."
"Then I'll try conviction, Miss Bennet. I'm quite skilled in defending my cause if the fight is worth it."
"Not all fights are worth it..."
"This precise one is worth more for me than you could believe..."
"Some times even great generals are wrong and chose to fight a battle lost even before the fight began."
"The only battle lost before the fight begins is the battle one choses not to fight."
"You're worshiping war and death, monsieur, even when your words should speak of peace and harmony, you mention fights and battles..."
"Than take the time to learn me the proper ways. I'd be elated to have you as a teacher..."
Charlotte listened to the exchange.
Of course he was right. Jane would not have come. She had had to insist.
He had the power to get her William out of jail and not seeing Jane would have lessened her chances.
She was sure Jane's presence was a warrant to her success.
Of course, dear Jane could, in the end, be convinced; and there she was, quarreling with the Frenchman as nobody has ever seen her doing it before.
Charlotte could only smile. The Jane born this afternoon was at her best when facing this man.
Without him she slided back to her old self. Soft and agreeable and boring Jane. With him she became another Jane. Witty, combative and straightforward.
Even strong willed it seems.
The words were barbed but the glances they shared spoke of other feelings.
There was a man in love and confronting him was a woman in doubt...
And to get her William back she would use his longings for Jane Bennet to the bitter end.
A knocking at the door brought the two opponents out of their duel. They had been so lost in their clash of wills that they had forgotten the other persons surrounding them.
The door was opened and Anne de Bourgh came in.
D'Arcy recovered and was immediately in front of her, bowing to her and kissing her hand .
"Miss de Bourgh, what a pleasure you could come even without your mother. Sorry if I didn't invite her but I like to have my say ad I know that with her at the table other people can only listen and shut up..."
"My mother has her moods, monsieur. Nevertheless she is my mother and I must insist that you show her the respect due to a Lady."
"Would she act as a Lady, she would get her due, even from me. Since she act as a lowly narrow minded Bully, I'm very much induced to treat her like one. Were she a man, I would not have been so kind with her. Family or not..."
Anne made a movement as if she would leave.
"If you're..."
He got hold of her arm.
"Pardon me, I didn't want to be rude. You're my guest and you shall have what you want. Please forgive me if I hurt you by using unkind words in relation with your mother. I very much regret using them."
Jane could only admire the way he was begging for forgiveness while making no effort to hide his contempt for Lady Catherine. Trying to hide their feelings was apparently not a skill of the French d'Arcy strain.
But Anne de Bourgh could not not acknowledge his apologies.
Even if he went on with his unsympathetic message about her mother, he had begged for forgiveness and she could only grant it to him.
So she did.
"You're forgiven" said Anne. "And I hope that some day you will also acknowledge that you're unkind to my mother."
But wanting to have the last word was, in all appearance, a real d'Arcy strain.
"No doubt," said he. "As soon as she acknowledges that she is unkind to the rest of the world, I will grovel at her feet asking for her forgiveness..."
He was taking no risk there and he knew it.
He got hold of Anne's hand and showed her to the table. He put her at his left and invited Jane to take the seat at his right.
With a kind gesture he invited Charlotte to take a seat in front of him and Mary and Maria to seat themselves at her right and left. The two middle chairs were remaining.
"We are awaiting two more guests who should arrive within the next hour. Please, Mrs. Collins forgive me the seating arrangement but this is the only acceptable arrangement I could accept."
He made a gesture and a flock of soldiers came in with wine bottles.
"Let us begin with a toast upon with we can all agree."
He waited till all glasses were filled before lifting his own.
"To England!"
"To England!"
"Why are you here, monsieur d'Arcy?"
He gave her an astonished look.
"Why I am here, Miss Bennet? I would have thought the reason of my presence here is quite clear, is it not?"
"I shall be more accurate, monsieur d'Arcy. Why are you here in Kent? At Rosings, to be even more specific."
"Two reasons, Miss Bennet. It's on my way to London and it's a family holding. I try not to intrude too much on foreign property. It's never welcomed when invading troops occupy buildings belonging to private persons. I try to use only family or crown property."
He put a paper out of his pocket.
"Next stop Hallberlain. A crown owned estate."
He put the sheet of paper back where it belonged.
"You plan to stop here for a few days if I have correctly understood what is going on on Lady Catherine's estate."
"Quite true, Miss Bennet. My men must rest a day or two. And the size of Rosings gives me the possibility to encamp everybody without putting men everywhere in the vicinity. More so, the surrounding walls give us a defensive position and a hiding possibility. For my purpose, Rosings is perfect and, within certain rules, it's mine..."
Anne looked at him with a certain surprise.
"Yours, monsieur d'Arcy? Would it be that some information did not arrive to me..."
"That, Lady Anne, would be much astonishing, informed as you are. But as a matter of fact it could be possible that this particular bit of information has eluded you, so I'll inform you immediately. Before Leaving France I took a certain number of legal precautions. In particular, I gave to the administration of the Domains a list of a certain number of realms, estates and properties that belong to members of our extended families and had them inscribed as d'Arcy properties."
Anne looked at him through half closed lids.
He went on.
"So as to ensure that nobody else can ever take them without following the legal procedures. I know that two of the Consuls are quite skilled in acquiring foreign property without paying the real price. This will never happen to a property listed under my name..."
He set his jaw in a very bellicose manner.
"If they want to take it they will, first of all, have to get through me. And I'm not an easy target to remove..."
Jane could not stay put.
"But, in a certain manner, these properties have already been stolen."
He looked at her and a small smile blossomed on his lips.
"By you," said she. "Am I not right?"
There was a quite obvious silence in the room.
"One could see it this way, dear Miss Bennet. But be assured that, as soon as Great Britain is legally included to the French Republic, I'll do everything to insure the family members of their rights. Private property is a constitutional right included in the "Déclaration des Droits de l'Homme et du Citoyen". They'll get everything back!"
"If they behave..."
The smile disappeared and flint came into d'Arcy's eyes.
"As we are all sure they will" said Charlotte from the oter side of the table. "Who would not?"
The smile came back, more charming than ever.
"You are trying to lure me into a confrontation, Miss Bennet? Why?"
She smiled back.
"As we said earlier, there are problems which must be confronted... Sooner or later."
"And calling me a thief is part of your strategy?"
"Calling you a thief, no. But confronting you as one, perhaps..."
They sparred a certain time and nobody knows were that confrontation would have ended when a knock at the door brought them to put an end to it.
The door opened and d'Arcy's aide came in in company of William Collins.
Charlotte was immediately up and, good manner in the wind, was soon in the arms of her husband.
"Ah, reverend Collins, be welcome at my table. I hope the haste with which I ordered you back has caused no problems."
He looked at his aide.
"No problems, I hope, Benevento."
"None at all, monsieur" came the answer. "I had the luck to catch up with the column before their arrival. It was a simple question of smoothly extracting the reverend. Nobody really knew what was happening before it was done and forgotten. Since we were in a hurry, the reverend had to ride and I fear the incomforts of the journey will take their toll later in the evening."
D'Arcy turned toward William Collins.
"If, because of weariness you should want to interrupt the dinner, do not hesitate, an escort will be ready and at your disposal the moment you want to quit..."
William Collins bowed toward d'Arcy and his smile was uncommonly shy and restrained.
He said only a very subdued " You're too good, Sir!" really not in agreement with his otherwise chatty self.
A soldier came and lead him to the remaining free seat in the middle of the right part of the table.
"Well, reverend, since you were with your fellow clerics and with quite a few members of the Gentry, could you please give our young ladies news from the deportees?"
William Collins looked up ad there was fear in his eyes.
"They were quite in good health, Sir. I witnessed neither maltreatments nor harassments. No complaint there. The food was not as we were accustomed to, but it was eligible. No complaint neither on that part." He looked at Darcy. "But there was quite an amount of fear in the little group we formed. Nobody knew what would happen next..."
D'Arcy nodded and looked around the table.
"I supposed," said d'Arcy, "it's time for a few explanations about the why of these deportations..."
He glanced at Jane who was still wearing her warrior outfit and who was, clearly, waiting to get an excuse to plunge again into the fray.
He liked what he saw. The others were afraid of him. Even young Anne could not look him in the eyes. They were present but no one of them, not even Mrs. Collins who had shown a trace of fighting spirit, had the courage to stand up against him.
Jane Bennet had no such qualms.
She was ready for another fight.
So was he.
"It's an old Chinese receipt to quench further uproar. Take the leaders and the priests away. Don't let them stir the people into revolting... The first emperor did it and now, two thousand years later, his race is still dominating the Empire. It is a winning strategy and I want to use it..."
Jane frowned.
"What do you mean by taking leaders away?"
He looked back at her with all the strength of his will.
"As I mean it... They are arrested, jailed and later deported. Louisiana needs lots of settlers. All those high and mighty are going to be reminded that what they eat is what others grew in their own gardens and fields. Now it's their turn to work in the fields. It will be an excellent lesson. It will teach them their right place and their real importance in society..."
Jane looked at him and felt that her feelings were in uproar. She could not believe what she just heard. This man who, this afternoon, has been all charm and witt was showing her a side she would have preferred never to know.
And it hurt.
Why should it hurt?
He was nothing than a stranger, an enemy, an invader who must be expelled from her country as soon as possible.
"And what's your right place in society, monsieur d'Arcy?"
"At the top, Miss Bennet. Where I have shown myself worthy of being and staying..."
Such an arrogance! How could a human being really believe such words? How could he believe, after saying such words that she could even consider to...
"Your speech is the speech of a tyrant, monsieur d'Arcy. France had already one, now it seems that the womb of this monster has given life to another one. Let's hope you and your fellow tyrant Napoleon will destroy each other. The world could breath again."
"No such hope, sorry, Miss Bennet. If we are both tyrants, we are both clever tyrants, since we have clearly defined our areas of tyranny. He in Europe and I abroad. We were wise enough not to take the risk to clash one against the other..."
"There is no wisdom in tyranny, you will push the people of England toward an insurrection and they will stand up and fight you..."
"Why should they? What's your Kingdom if not a Tyranny? What's your King if not a despot? Your Gentry lives on the back of the peasants and lives better than them by stealing from them. That is going to change! I will give them a better life with more possibilities to feed their families. They will not want to see the old rulers come back. They will have seen that with us, with the Republic, life is better. A better, easier life, that, they will accept!"
"You won't get everybody. Some will flee!"
"The more the better, Miss Bennet. Let them show their cowardice and their unrestrained greed. Let them show to the people that those who had all the advantages are also those who think only of themselves, abandoning their people behind them..."
"Some will stay ad fight you!"
"Even better, Miss Bennet! These are those I lust to find. The true leaders and those with fighting spirit. Let them stay behind, let them try to fight me and my veterans. They'll be defeated and fall into my hands. And they'll be the core of my Louisiana settlers. They are the ones I want, they are the ones I need. Whatever the choice of your countrymen, I'll win!"
"No" spat she. "In the end you'll be defeated! I'm sure of it. And if our men are unable to send you home, than we women will have to rise, take arms and put you where you belong..."
He looked at her and his eyes spoke of a yearning she could not acknowledge. He could not really believe that she would... That she could...
"Miss Bennet, I know I'm not above failures, I could listen to voices of reason..."
He didn't say it but there was an adjunct to his sentence. She read it in his eyes. He would listen to words of reason uttered by her.
He smiled and while smiling his eyes became those of another man. No more an invader, an enemy or a stranger. The eyes of a man begging to be hers.
"As I said before, if you would consider it, Miss Bennet, I'm impatient to have you show me the right way. As everybody else, you have now a choice in front of you. What are you going to choose? The flight or the fight?"