The dessert course had just been served in the great dining room at Rosings Park, and Mrs. Collins could feel a slight chill in the air. She was keenly aware that even in October the weather was changing and sitting across from the great fireplace she looked towards her host as the source of the chill.
Lady Catherine sat at the head of the imposing table heavily scrutinizing her dinner guests.
"Mr. Collins I do believe that I have already mentioned to you several times the benefits of thyme. It has been said that including thyme in your diet will increase your vigour." Lady Catherine spoke all the while looking annoyingly towards the clergyman. "I do believe that if you had taken my advice to grow and use thyme you would not have been late to arrive tonight for dinner. I am renowned as an exceptional herbalist."
And with a "humph" the great Lady ended her analysis and returned to her plate.
Mr. Collins looked anxiously at his wife from across the table and back to his great and advantageous benefactor.
Bowing his head slightly in contrition Mr. Collins began to plead to be forgiven.
"Lady Catherine, I do beseech your absolution, for you are too correct, thyme is a most necessary part of a healthy regime. I will have Mrs. Collins plant some this coming week." Hesitantly looking up and towards her, he continued. "I again apologize for being late this evening, I do hope we did not inconvenience you or Miss De Bourgh."
At the mention of her name Anne looked up slightly from her plate and offered Mr. Collins a slight hint of a smile.
Marginally satisfied with Mr. Collins' repentant reply, Lady Catherine grudgingly resumed, in her mind, pleasant conversation.
"Well Mr. and Mrs. Collins I have heard that Charles Bingley has married your cousin this morning. Jane Bennet, I do believe?"
"Yes Lady Catherine, Mr. Bingley and Miss Jane Bennet were wed this morning in Hertfordshire. I do wish we could have witnessed the wedding, but Mr. Collins could not be parted from his post at the parsonage." Charlotte gloomily replied, hoping that soon her and her husband could end this dinner invitation and return home.
"Too right Mr. Collins was to not accept an invitation to that wedding! A most unsuitable match indeed, and to be privy to such a union would besmirch any guest's status in society. I am glad you took my advice Mr. Collins and declined the invitation."
Mr. Collins nodded in agreement, while Charlotte sat stewing in silent anger.
Lady Catherine continued on her tirade. "Those Bennet daughters are fortune seekers, and I for one will be glad to never hear their names again!"
Bang!
Charlotte let out a shriek as the large doors to the dining room were thrown open, and rudely collided into the walls behind them.
Mr. Collins had spilled his glass of port all over the front of himself, frantically turning to see the source of this interruption, while Anne De Bourgh sat stunned holding her handkerchief up to her face.
The cause of the loud disruption and uproar was no other than Mr. Darcy!
Standing in the entry way to the magnificent room, still in his traveling clothes, Mr. Darcy stood glaring at the mistress of the grand house.
Servants began flooding the room, hastening to attend to the honoured guest.
Mr. Darcy, with a flick of his hand, sent them away and still standing in the doorway bowed slightly to the table.
Without altering her statuesque decorum and superiority, Lady Catherine without shifting her view, beckoned her nephew to come closer.
"Darcy, come and sit. I was not expecting you."
Darcy did not move from his position in the doorway, but instead demanded his own audience.
"No! I have come to speak with you concerning an urgent matter, and I request to speak with you in private!"
Charlotte could sense the tension in the air and looked towards her husband, who was transfixed by the scene.
"An urgent matter you say?" Continuing to finish her dessert Lady Catherine replied to her nephew never shifting her view from her plate. "Is it Georgiana, Darcy? Is she not well? I did tell you to hire another governess to look after her Darcy, I was just telling Mrs. Collins today that…"
Darcy cut her off mid-sentence refusing to entertain his aunt a minute longer.
"It is not Georgiana that I have come to speak about, but another young lady! Again I ask your audience alone!"
A scowl began to form on Mr. Darcy's face as Charlotte watched the scene unfold in front of her. She thought tonight was going to be a bore, but now she was quite pleased she did not feign a headache and stay home.
"Another young lady you say, how curious Darcy!" Lady Catherine now looked up towards the doorway to stare at her sister's son, and with a glance the butlers began to clear the table and usher Mr. and Mrs. Collins out of the room.
Anne stood from her seat, handkerchief in hand, and left the room, looking back at her cousin as he began to approach the grand lady who had yet to stir in her chair.
Ignoring her request for him to sit, Darcy circled the large table till he came to rest in front of the fireplace.
Above it hung a portrait of Darcy and Anne, painted while they will still children. So happy they were then, and lacking the worry and duty that maturity brings with it.
Children, thought Darcy, how he wished his own children could live without the pressures that were attached to money, nobility, and a family name.
Darcy's mind wandered on to the faces of his future children. He contemplated what they would look like; dark brown hair, like his, fine eyes, like their mother's. Their mother! Darcy could see her now, Elizabeth, holding his children, her children, their children. His heart burned to make her his own.
"Darcy. Darcy I am speaking to you!" Lady Catherine broke into his trance, and with a look of repugnance on her face, Darcy swore she was reading his mind.
Turning to face her, he began.
"Aunt, I believe you know why I am here."
"I do not, and in fact I am quite astonished at your presence and your abrupt entrance into my household. If you would have sent word of your coming I could have had the maids prepare your room. As it is you will have to wait to retire." Looking haughtily at him she wished to make it know that she was not amused.
"I believe I said I have come to talk, not to stay! In fact after I am finished I do not believe I will have cause to enter Kent again."
Straightening her back and lifting her noble face, Lady Catherine sat in stunned defiance waiting to hear what her nephew could possibly have to say.
"I believe that you travelled to Hertfordshire in the last weeks in an effort to secure your happiness. In fact I know you have visited the household of my dear friend Charles Bingley's new wife. I have come to find out from you, the reason why you have sought to separate Miss Elizabeth Bennet from my person." Moving closer to the table, Darcy was just feet away from his Aunt.
"Darcy you are correct. I did travel to Hertfordshire to speak with Miss Bennet. She is a most ungracious girl, and I aimed to express my sincere displeasure at a future union between her and my nephew." Lady Catherine began to turn red with anger. "You should not be surprised Darcy at my actions, I will do whatever I can to make certain that my sister's wishes will be upheld!"
Moving closer, Darcy stood adjacent to his aunt, his hands pressing on the table, in an effort to steady himself.
"I wish to make myself heard, and in doing so make certain that you understand my wishes! I will marry who I aim to marry, and I will not be stopped in my prospects, not by you or anyone else! I have come here to clarify to you exactly what will happen if you plan to place yourself in my business affairs ever again." Darcy looked directly at his aunt.
"Darcy I will not be spoken to in this manner!"
"I will speak to you however I wish to speak to you, since you do not honour me by your actions. I am the head of this family and I will do as I please!"
Lady Catherine was frozen, unsure of what her next move would be.
"Now what did you tell Elizabeth Bennet, since I must know the particulars if I am ever going to fix the mess you have created."
"How dare you Darcy! You are far above her in rank and family, how can you smear the memory of your mother and father and marry so far away from what you are due!"
"You are not answering my question. What did you say to her?"
Standing, Lady Catherine pushed her chair back in an effort to hold her position more fiercely.
"I told that girl that she did not deserve you that Anne was destined to be the mistress of Pemberley from her birth, and all she could hope for was to win your heart in the boudoir!"
As Darcy began his speech to his aunt his voice was raised silently, but now his voice had risen to a scream.
The entire household of Rosings was listening through the echoing halls to the scene that was transpiring in the dining room.
"I am astounded!" Darcy shouted. "Who gave you the right to interject in my affairs, the affairs of my heart? I love her and I will have her. I never agreed to marry Anne, and I doubt that my dear departed parents would wish for me to be unhappy in life."
Walking away from his aunt Darcy neared the door.
"Darcy you are a fool. How long can love last, when your name is tainted by that Bennet girl?"
With his hand on the door Darcy stopped and looked back to his aunt, a feeling of pity rushed on to him and for the first time in his life and he felt sorry for her, she who had everything.
Everything but love.
"Lady Catherine, I care nothing of the future if Miss Bennet is not by my side. If she accepts me I will make her mine before Christmas, and the whole of society can be dammed! That includes you! If you refuse to meet the new Mrs. Darcy and accept her into your circle I will make it my life's mission to slander your name and brand you as mentally unstable! I promise you that what I have said here is the truth. Good night!"
And with that Darcy turned and left the dining room, slamming the doors shut behind him.
Lady Catherine unsteadily returned to her seat at the head of the table, and there she sat refusing to move.
As she sat in her seat of honour well into the night the fire fizzled and burned out in the hearth, leaving her in darkness save for the few stars that were shining through the windows and littering the room with fragments of light.