"I publish the banns of marriage between Fitzwilliam Darcy, bachelor of Kympton Parish in Derbyshire, and Elizabeth Bennet, spinster of Meryton Parish. If any man can show just cause why they may not lawfully be married, let him now speak, or else hereafter forever hold his peace."
"Oooohhh, how wonderful," the future bride heard from her mother, but since it was said breathlessly, barely audible from a few feet away, she simply smiled and reached over to squeeze the matron's hand.
Elizabeth had revised her feelings for Mrs Bennet substantially since their heartfelt conversation the previous week. Learning the uncomfortable truth that her mother considered herself a failure at five and twenty due to the entail, and becoming increasingly aware she would face the same responsibilities herself in a few months; left her feeling surprisingly charitable. Oddly enough, she was far more in charity with her mother than her father, thus reversing the usual course of her life.
For the past week, she had devoted considerable time reflecting on her mother's life. It seemed that, against all odds, Mrs Bennet produced five daughters worthy of respect. It was true a fortnight earlier Elizabeth would have put the number at two or three out of five, but after Lydia's harrowing experience at the ball, her younger sisters were rapidly becoming less irritable, less ignorant, and less insipid. She imagined that soon enough, she would be raising her own children, and it was probably harder than it looked. Perhaps… just perhaps… her mother might offer sound advice.
She held Mrs Bennet's hand tightly, smiled at her beau, and looked towards Reverend Turner, who abandoned the pulpit to read the banns in the exact spot her William had delivered his apology from a lifetime earlier.
She glanced to her sisters, wondering how things would change for them as sisters of Fitzwilliam Darcy, and trying to picture possible futures—which looked quite bright indeed.
She was in no way prepared for the loud exclamation of, "I OBJECT!" thundering from the back—followed by a massive thump on the flagstones. She joined the parishioners in a startled gasp, and even more startled wrenching around of necks to look back seeking the disturbance.
She was only half-surprised to find Darcy stalking down the aisle, seemingly considering going back for the colonel's sword. She saw the colonel watching the scene in apparent amusement. Elizabeth surmised he believed his cousin had things well in hand, but Georgiana was looking frightened, so he stayed to relieve her anxiety. Of course, it was also possible the colonel and the loud woman did not get on well and he simply did not want to deal with her.
Before he arrived, the 'lady' in question continued with the same thrill demands.
"He is engaged to my daughter, so he cannot be engaged to this …"
She was not especially surprised when Darcy interrupted the lady angrily.
"LADY CATHERINE—Let me be rightly understood! I recommend in the strongest possible terms, that you reconsider what you are about to say regarding the future Mrs Darcy. My forbearance has been extensive, but it is not unbounded. Disrespecting my bride will not be tolerated! It is long past time to abandon this ridiculous fantasy."
He finished the last sentence with a bellow fit for a bull. She wondered if he was truly as angry as he sounded or he simply understood his aunt's intractability required strong measures. She was not especially worried. To the contrary, she was surprisingly enjoying herself. It was thrilling in a way to see the man defending her as a gentleman ought.
The lady started to speak, but Darcy somewhat rudely interrupted her. "I am not engaged to Anne. I have never been engaged to Anne. I will never be engaged to Anne. It is past time to put this idea behind you."
By that time, Elizabeth had strolled leisurely to join Darcy, and she saw the colonel do the same, leaving Georgiana in the care of Mary and the two youngest Bennet sisters. Elizabeth considered that akin to engaging a fox to guard the chickens, but who was she to quibble.
The colonel spoke as if he was in a drawing room on a lazy afternoon, "Good morning, Aunt. How were the roads and the weather?"
The lady blustered, apparently caught off guard by the incongruous bit of civility.
She answered angrily. "The roads are savage in this county. I assure you they are far superior in Kent and the weather is atrocious."
Elizabeth saw the colonel give a small smirk and could not determine if he was working gallantly to defuse the situation, or poking fun at his aunt for amusement. Since Darcy looked ready to chew rocks, she hoped for the former, but expected the latter.
"Well, at least you spared Anne this ridiculous exercise," Darcy said emphatically.
"Of course not! She is in the coach. I did not want to expose her to …" the lady said menacingly.
Elizabeth would never know what the great lady planned to say next because Darcy bellowed, "You hauled my very fragile cousin here, starting at the crack of dawn on SUNDAY… in DECEMBER!"
He spoke with sufficient anger that Elizabeth thought he might explode. It was the only explanation for allowing his personal business to be discussed at a roar in the presence of all her neighbours in the middle of the church. Of course, in her mind, all the best things in her life had happened with a public spectacle in the Meryton church, so she was not especially alarmed by the imbroglio. She did however want to keep her intended out of goal at least until the wedding, so she took his arm and squeezed it hard enough to get his attention.
She glanced at Jane who was standing in the aisle with Mr Bingley and subtly leaned her head toward the door. Jane and Mary quickly walked down the aisle gracefully with Jenny and Simon following, having apparently already transferred their loyalty to her. She squeezed again, and when Darcy saw Jane leaving out the back doors, he immediately became less obviously furious.
He looked to her to see how she was taking the altercation, so she gave him a smile to indicate she was not the least bit distressed.
Elizabeth noticed her father approaching close enough to observe the proceedings, but he seemed no more inclined to intervene than he did in in any other unpleasantness. She honestly did not know if she was disappointed in the man for yet another avoidance of a difficult encounter, or relieved he would not make a fraught situation worse. She was mainly happy that in less than a month, she would not especially care what her father thought or did.
Reverend Turner had also approached quietly. He cleared his throat loudly and looked at Darcy meaningfully. Elizabeth appreciated the man following proper decorum but was aware there was a limit to the amount of rudeness the good reverend would allow in his church—and the lady was pushing her luck.
Darcy introduced the reverend, Elizabeth, and Mr Bennet to his aunt using the proper forms.
Lady Catherine answered without much in the way of courtesy, but it was sufficient for the parson to ask questions.
"Lady Catherine, I just called the banns as is customary, and you objected. Can you elaborate on your objection… specifically?"
"He is engaged to my daughter."
Reverend Turner rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I presume you have a marriage contract?"
The lady blustered. "There is no contract as of yet."
"Ah… well then… I presume he has proposed?"
The reverend looked at the lady giving her a few seconds to reply. When none was forthcoming, he continued merrily along. "Has he asked for a courtship? Asked to call on her? Stated his intentions unequivocally?"
"He has done none of those things, but it is a long-understood arrangement."
"Understood by whom?" he asked innocently.
Lady Catherine looked slightly less certain of herself but steeled her spine and continued gamely with considerable bluster.
"The engagement between them is of a peculiar kind. From their infancy, they have been intended for each other. It was the favourite wish of his mother, as well as of hers. While in their cradles, we planned the union: and now, at the moment when the wishes of both sisters would be accomplished in their marriage, to be prevented by a young woman of inferior birth, of no importance in the world, and wholly unallied to the family! …"
Elizabeth nearly snapped in response, but Reverend Turner cleared his throat loudly and held up his hand to silence everyone. "Mr Darcy, your response?"
"My response is that my aunt is lucky I allow her to speak of my future wife in such a manner. Mothers and aunts dream of future happiness every day, but such dreams for babes in arms rarely work out. I have no idea why she will just not let the idea die… I really do not. I have repeatedly refuted the claim."
Lady Catherine started to snap angrily again, but the reverend stopped her cold.
"Lady Catherine, your nephew is calling the banns as is appropriate for his situation. My duty to the church and the law is to ensure the marriages I perform are proper. I see nothing in your application suggesting a legitimate conflict, so I reject your objection. If you truly have a binding and enforceable commitment, I suggest you take it to the courts expeditiously. I will abide no more disruptions in my church."
Lady Catherine gasped, sputtered, and to Elizabeth's eye, she seemed prepared to be disagreeable again.
The reverend's voice became brittle and hard.
"Am I rightly understood, madam? Regardless of what rank or status you possess in Kent—in Hertfordshire, you are in my church. Unless you can produce my bishop to contradict me, you will abide by my rules!"
She looked completely shocked by being dictated to, but Elizabeth could see the lady must choose between being graceful or making even more of an embarrassing spectacle. She had no idea which way it would go. She was reminded of Mrs Bennet in one of her more recalcitrant moods, which was not auspicious.
Darcy spoke more gently than she expected. "As I said earlier, Aunt, I am tired of this charade. Do you truly wish to cause a break in the family? I can assure you I will choose my bride over anyone else, including you. If I must break the connection, I will."
Elizabeth tried to say something but decided he probably knew his aunt better after twenty-eight years than she did after ten minutes and left him to his task.
He leaned over somewhat menacingly. "By the way if I break it will be with you alone. Do not be certain Anne or your brother will side with you. She will be welcome at Pemberley any time until her next birthday, at which time you might wish to concern yourself with whether you will be welcome at Rosings!"
The lady gasped and turned pale.
Darcy relented as Elizabeth knew he would.
"Let us not be at odds, Aunt. If you will but allow Anne to choose her own fate—as you would absolutely insist if you were in her place—all will be well. I can introduce you to my bride's family. While I cannot abide your methods, I do believe you have Anne's best interests at heart. Let us move forward to the next chapter together."
Pure silence reigned in the chapel as everyone awaited the lady's answer.
She finally sniffed, turned, and walked to the door looking resolute but defeated. She turned around twice, starting to speak each time with a blustering face, but apparently decided not to bother. Elizabeth had no idea if she had given up or decided to keep her powder dry.
When Lady Catherine arrived at the back door a couple village men opened it for her.
She looked outside and turned to have one last parting shot.
Elizabeth braced for whatever unpleasantness was likely to come and looked at Darcy to see him doing the same.
Lady Catherine looked at Elizabeth with something akin to resigned malice but spoke in confusion.
"Where is my coach?"
The entire congregation broke out into laughter and left it to Elizabeth to reply.
"I imagine my sisters took Miss de Bourgh to a nice blazing fire at Longbourn. May I have the privilege of escorting you to her? You are welcome to join us for luncheon."
She was trying to hopefully prevent any sort of break in the family, and to be honest, it was easy to be magnanimous in victory."
Elizabeth walked over to the lady, curtsied politely, and took hold of her arm to drag her out the door toward Darcy's coach, which was waiting to the side of the courtyard, probably thanks to Simon's quick thinking.
By the time Darcy's footman stepped up to smartly drop the step and bow to Lady Catherine, Darcy caught up while Colonel Fitzwilliam was guffawing with Sir William over some jest Elizabeth truly did not want to know about.
The lady's face still looked as if she would just as soon berate everyone in sight as look at them—but Elizabeth allowed her beau to hand her up, boldly sat down opposite Lady Catherine to claim her place (even though it was not quite proper), and for the next quarter-hour, tried her best to melt some of the ice around Lady Catherine's heart.
It seemed likely to be a long and difficult process.
An hour later, Mrs Bennet happily gave the seat of honour at the dinner table to Lady Catherine, while Mr Collins vacillated between blatantly showing his veneration for his patroness and trying his best to avoid Mr Darcy's brown books. Elizabeth thought the whole thing hilarious, especially since said gentleman was so happy to have what was probably the last obstacle to their marriage well in hand.
Miss de Bourgh appeared even shyer than Georgiana, so Elizabeth gave her the same treatment. After dinner, she spent some time with Jane trying to reduce the poor lady's nervousness, then eventually metaphorically locked her in the music room with Mary, Georgiana and the two youngest while she went for a long walk with her beau, chaperoned by Jane.
The weather was surprisingly amenable, so they walked all the way to Oakham Mount, the three of them chatting happily about anything and everything. Elizabeth occasionally observed pensive looks on Jane's face, but decided her sister would enlighten her when she found it appropriate.
On their return to Longbourn they found Lady Catherine in somewhat awkward conversation with Mrs Bennet, but the two seemed to be thawing slightly. Elizabeth hoped they might eventually get along, and the progress seemed better than she expected. Mrs Bennet was quite in awe of Lady Catherine's status, and Lady Catherine seemed happy to meet anyone who venerated said status. Elizabeth thought it might even last the next few weeks until the wedding. She ruefully reflected she would learn soon enough.
With their aunt in attendance, they could not quite break propriety long enough for a toe-curling kiss like they had experienced at the Netherfield ball, so they politely said good night somewhat early so Darcy could settle Lady Catherine and Miss de Bourgh in Netherfield.
Elizabeth stared at the coach until it rolled out of sigh, barely able to contain her feelings until its return.