"Oh no Fanny, a ragout would be more fitting for an event such as this. We could also have salmon instead of the beef, it would be perfect, and be more fitting for the elegance of the affair." Aunt Susan spoke a few days later as the women were discussing the menu for the wedding breakfast. Though why they were calling it a breakfast was beyond him, for it was more of an all day affair. Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam, who had accompanied his mother to Longbourn, were currently sat across the room with Elizabeth and Miss Mary, watching on impressed as the two ladies hashed out battle...wedding plans.
"Curse Bingley for offering up Netherfield as an option to host the wedding breakfast." Darcy spoke under his breath, knowing the other three likely heard him. He had been adamant that if the breakfast were just held at Longbourn, then it would have been just that, a breakfast. However, since they now had a much larger space to host it, and Darcy's pocket book to pay for it, the ladies had decided to make it the event of the season so to speak.
"Nothing says you can't elope, seeing this, that will be my plan when my time comes." The colonel spoke with a laugh, causing the young lady sitting next to Elizabeth to blush. Many of them had noticed the looks the two would give the other when said other wasn't looking. They had also been found, on more than one occasion, in deep discussion on a number of different topics. Darcy had also heard his aunt and future mother in law discussing the possibility of joining their families a second time, and shared grandchildren.
It was for these reasons that Darcy had sat his cousin down the night before and told him to get on with it and just ask the lady for a courtship. Fitzwilliam tried to use the argument that his parents would never approve of the match, to which Darcy called him a fool, pointing out some of his aunt's less subtle attempts to pair the couple up. Fitzwilliam then tried to point out that he had not the means to support a wife on his salary, and again Darcy pointed out that his parents had been promising him an estate for years if he would just retire. He then pointed out that said estate had an income slightly higher than what his lady was raised with, so she would likely know how to economize in a way that would allow them to live comfortably. Finally, as the icing on the cake, Darcy told his cousin that if he would sell his commission in the army and finally settle down, he would invest the capital the man needed to achieve his dream of breeding horses, allowing him to keep all the money he had saved through his life and career to use on his new estate and family. He would have offered to just give the man the money, but knew his cousin would never accept "charity".
"While I appreciate your input on all things with the wedding, for indeed you have been indispensable, on this I must stand firm. My Lizzy prefers a lighter fair, and the beef is William's favorite." He couldn't help but startle at this, not that she had called him William, as the whole family had taken to doing so as not to confuse him with his cousin. No, it was that she had noticed his preference for the beef she had served him. Indeed, he had secretly been hoping Elizabeth would be bringing the recipe with her when she came to Pemberley. Indeed, it was quite possible it was his favorite of all foods.
"No, as it is their wedding, and meant to celebrate them, I shall have to insist we have all their favorite foods. Indeed you will even be able to try the beef tonight, as it is on the menu." He couldn't help but perk up at hearing this, and it dos not go unnoticed.
His aunt gave him an indulgent smile, "Well, it is not how things are done in the ton, but I happen to prefer your way of things." His aunt spoke to Mrs Bennet."
No more was said, for at that moment a commotion broke out in the entry hall of the home silenced all conversation in the sitting room. "Out of my way this instant." Came the voice of his aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, bringing both Darcy and the Colonel to their feet, as though ready to do battle to protect the ladies present.
It was but a moment before the doors were thrown open and the lady herself stormed in, followed by a harried housekeeper, and the ladies own sickly daughter. "Hill, please go have a room prepared for our young guest here. Until it is ready have her put in my room to rest." Elizabeth took control of the situation, and Darcy could see Mrs Bennet's face contorted in fear, which was understandable given how closely Lady Catherine's mannerisms mirrored those of the ton.
"Lydia, Georgiana, please assist the young lady to my chambers, and remain with her while she gets situated. Kitty, please send one of the footmen for Mr Jones, and then retrieve a book from Papa's study, and join the younger girls in caring for our guest." It was these instructions that had Darcy studying his cousin more closely, and seeing how truly frightful she looked.
"How dare you act so presumptuously, as to order my daughter about." Lady Catherine started, but Elizabeth was not one to be cowed.
"Your daughter was not one of the ones I issued orders to. As for the ones I did issue orders to, it was all done to see to your daughter's health and comfort." Elizabeth spoke with a steady voice and a raised eyebrow. "Now, if you don't mind, what business do you have here?"
"The business I have here is of no matter to you. I have come to talk sense into my nephew and remind him of his duty to his family." Lady Catherine spoke as she pushed past Elizabeth and approached him. "How dare you set aside my daughter for some unknown penniless country girl. To think that you would shirk the responsibility owed to your family and dear mother's memory shall not be borne. I demand you come with me and Anne this instance. We will have the two of you married post haste. If you insist on keeping the country girl you seem so set upon you can set her up on one of the cabins on Pemberley's lands and visit her as you see fit..."
"That is quite enough Madam." Came the thundering voice of Mr Bennet. "You dare to enter my home without permission, force your presence on my wife and daughters, and then make such crass and disgusting comments about one of said daughters. I shall not have it, and insist you remove yourself from my property immediately." The man spoke, advancing on Darcy's aunt with a determined stride.
"You dare to speak to me thus, do you know who I am?" His aunt thundered back.
"If I had to venture a guess, I would say you are someone of little consequence, for it is my experience that men and women of worth have little use of that question." Mr Bennet fired back at his aunt.
"Why I never..."
"Then this was long overdue" Mr Bennet spoke as Mr Collins gasped in shock and outrage on behalf of his patroness. "Now, I believe I have told you to vacate my property." Mr Bennet spoke with a raised eyebrow reminiscent of Elizabeth's. As an afterthought he added, "And please, take your oaf of a clergyman, he has long since worn out his welcome."
"Not so hasty if you please, I will not leave till I have been satisfied." Darcy caught movement out of the corner of his eye, but was too focused on the battle before him to register what it was, and in all honesty thought very little of it.
"Lizzy, something isn't right with Cousin Anne." Lydia whispered, and Elizabeth knew she was talking about the young lady the younger girls had escorted upstairs. Having adopted Georgiana as one of them, they had also taken on the habit of claiming her cousins as theirs as well, first with Colonel Fitzwilliam and now it seems with Miss de Bourgh. "Her companion spilled her tonic as she went to give it to her, and I mopped it up with one of your old handkerchiefs, but I noticed a funny smell that I couldn't place. It made me very uneasy, but also brought to mind a time when I was a little girl, and I was pretending to make a potion. Well, one of the plants I went to use was poisonous..."
Elizabeth instantly remembered what her sister was talking about, and snatched the handkerchief from the girls hands. She remembered scolding the five year old Lydia rather harshly after finding out the girl had planned on drinking her "potion", the fear of losing her sister so great that she couldn't stop herself. She then spent weeks teaching her sister about deadly plants so so that she may avoid them in the future. She was impressed and pleased to see something of these lessons were remembered even today, as she held the handkerchief to her nose and inhaled. There she smelled it, faint, but recognizable.
Moving quickly she exited the room, Lydia hot on her heals. Climbing the stairs quickly she entered the room, and looked at Kitty and Georgiana, "Did Miss de Bourgh swallow any tonic?" She asked with a stern tone, her furious eyes then bearing down on the suddenly nervous companion.
"She did, is there something wrong Miss?" The companion fidgeted.
"Lydia, quickly, go to Hill and get the bottle of Ipecac." She ordered and her sister sprinter from the room. "Where did you get this tonic and who told you to administer it?" She asked then asked the quaking woman as Elizabeth herself moved about the room, collecting the items she was sure they would need.
"The Lady's doctor prescribed it Miss, said if the lady were to ever take a long journey I was to give her this entire bottle, as it would help her regain her strength." The woman was crying now, obviously afraid she had done something wrong.
As it was clear to Elizabeth that the woman was only acting on orders and not malicious intent she asked her to take her the younger girls from the room while she saw to Miss de Bourgh. Lydia returned then, but was firm in her intent on staying to help Elizabeth, and her help was welcomed. The two ladies helped Miss de Bourgh swallow the Ipecac, then held her up and comforted her as she cast up her accounts. They both breathed a sigh of relief when Mr Jones was shown into the room, and Elizabeth was able to relay their suspicions and fears.
"Well?" It was her father that spoke when the apothecary entered the now quiet sitting room.
"Which of you is the girl's mother?" The man asked the two women now huddled together on the settee with Mrs Bennet. It was almost terrifying to see the changes in Lady Catherine from the woman who had barged into the sitting room, to the now almost shell of a woman, fearful for her daughter's life.
"I am." She could barely get the words out, and Mrs Bennet reached for her hand, grasping it comfortingly in her own.
"Is it alright if I speak to the room, or would you rather it just be us." When the lady indicated he could speak he did not hesitate. "It was Hemlock as Miss Elizabeth and Miss Lydia suspected, but thanks to their quick thinking I don't think her system had time to absorb much of it. However, after examining the rest of her tonics, ones her companion tells me are used on a regular basis I detected trace amounts in then as well. Not enough to kill mind, just enough to keep her very ill. No, if I had to wager a guess, the tonic she was administered upon arrival was meant to kill, as then the death could be blamed on the stresses of the journey and her weak health. That being said, I do think it best a doctor from London be brought in to monitor her, just incase the prolonged exposure to the poison causes any problems as it works it's way out of her system."
"I shall send the express directly." Her father spoke, and would not hear of anyone else sending for their doctor. Mary's godfather would be more adept than any London doctor anyways.