Darcy glanced up from his letter when the door of his study swung open and in marched his aunt Lady Catherine de Bourgh. He put his pen aside, rose from his richly appointed leather chair, and strode over to greet her properly. “Lady Catherine,” he said, bowing, “to what do I owe the honor of your company?”
“You can have no doubt of my reason for being here,” she said, not taking the trouble of the usual civilities and claiming a seat in an inviting chair by the fireplace.
With a slight roll of his eye, Darcy took the opposite chair. “I am afraid I do not know to what I must credit this visit, but by your tone, this is not a social call.” Indeed, his noble relation had afforded him a measure of rudeness and disagreeableness she normally reserved for those outside her family. He could not imagine what he had done to deserve it, but no doubt he was about to find out. “How may I be of service?”
“I have learned from Mr. Collins and his wife that your friend Charles Bingley is soon to be married to a Miss Jane Bennet—Miss Elizabeth Bennet’s eldest sister.”
“Indeed, he is. Pray what can any of that have to do with you?”
“It is my ardent wish that you might be swayed to follow your friend’s example. You must be mindful of your duty. You will need to beget an heir. My Anne is of an age where she ought to be bearing children. She must do it now while her health will allow.”
Darcy stood, and then strolled across the room to pour himself a drink. “Pray you did not come all this way to resurrect those ill-fated sentiments.”
“I will not abide your insolence, young man. You more than anyone have a duty to marry in order to protect your family’s legacy and to marry well. What is more, you have a duty to honor your obligation to your Fitzwilliam family. It was the favorite wish of your mother—my beloved sister Lady Anne—as well as my own that you should marry your cousin Anne. I will not be dissuaded, young man. You will do as you are expected. Nothing short of you marrying another will detract me from my purposes.”
Darcy was beginning to suspect his aunt was speaking the truth. He had put her off for more than six years and counting since he reached the age of majority. Nothing he could say could convince her to give up on her foolish wish.
Nothing short of you marrying another, he silently deliberated. He then considered the irony of his predicament with Miss Elizabeth Bennet. If only there was another woman for me.
“Pray what on Earth are you waiting for?” Lady Catherine demanded, punctuating his musings. “Your friend has wasted no time in securing a wife, albeit one with no connections and no fortune—a foolish prospect indeed, but I suppose such an alliance is safe enough for him in the face of his own family’s history. I contend the time has come for you to marry as well.”
“I must confess to having given the matter a great deal of consideration of late,” Darcy replied. “Although you will not be pleased to know the direction my thoughts have tended.”
“How might I not be contented to realize you are finally ready to fulfill my fondest wish? That is unless you merely mean to suspend my pleasure with a lengthy courtship period before making Anne your bride.”
“It is not Anne who has me thinking of marriage. I speak of another young woman.”
“This cannot be! Who is this young lady who would dare to entertain an offer of marriage from you? Who among our circle does not know of your engagement to my daughter?”
“She is not from among our circle.”
“Then who on Earth is she? Who is her father? How long have you known her? Do I know her?”
“I can safely say you have established the young woman’s acquaintance. I will not say more at this time. Soon enough, you will know all there is to know as I will shortly be in company with her again.”
Though disguise of such sort was Darcy’s abhorrence, he did not suppose he had committed such a great offense. He had entertained the idea of marrying Elizabeth, and he would indeed be in company with her soon. As much as it pained him still to know that she did not hold him in as high esteem as he held her, he really did not plan to be in company with her for very long.
As soon as Charles and his new wife set off for their wedding journey, I shall take my leave of Hertfordshire as well, he silently resolved. In the meantime, his purposes in persuading his aunt to give up her foolish idea of a union between Anne and him would be carried out for a bit longer.
Drawing her head back, Lady Catherine declared, “I demand to know more about this young woman.”
“I have said all I intend to say for now. You will know more when the time is appropriate.”
Rising up from her chair, her ladyship prepared to quit the room.
“Where are you going?” Darcy asked. “Will you not take tea before leaving?”
“I have no intention of staying and feigning polite conversation in light of your secrecy. You have sadly mistaken my character if you suppose for one instance I will not do all that is in my power to discover the identity of this mystery woman whom you intend to marry.”
Lady Catherine nearly lost her footing in her haste to quit her nephew’s townhouse. Her mind querying itself at a frenzied pace, for a moment or two it occurred to her ladyship that the young woman of whom her nephew spoke might be no one other than the Collinses’ pretty guest from Hertfordshire, Miss Elizabeth Bennet. Her nephew had gone out of his way to be civil to her, Lady Catherine recalled. She knew he had called on her along with her nephew Colonel Fitzwilliam at the Parsonage House soon after their arrival in Kent. She had also paid attention to the manner in which her nephews were drawn to that young lady at Rosings when she exhibited rather unremarkably on the pianoforte.
Then too, she detected that the young woman was far more amicable towards Fitzwilliam than towards Darcy, somewhat negating the possibility she might be the woman to whom her nephew was referring. What other young woman is a mutual acquaintance of the two of us? Lady Catherine silently questioned. Surely not that dreadful Miss Bingley. Her ladyship shuddered. He would not dare.
Accepting her coat from Darcy’s butler, she said, “I am determined to discover the truth, and I know precisely where to turn.”
“I beg your pardon, your ladyship,” the butler respectfully implored.
Lady Catherine gave the servant a look meant to quiver even the fiercest of men. “I suppose it is I who should beg your pardon. Now, move out of my way!”
Silently apologizing, the butler opened the door. Her ladyship brushed past him with barely a care. Her mind was diligently occupied devising a strategy to find out what she needed to know.
As luck would have it, Lady Catherine saw her nephew Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam descending from a carriage just as she was about to be handed into her own. Rejecting the attending footman’s offer to help her into the stately carriage, she responded, “I shall require a moment.” With the aid of her cane, she made her way to her nephew who stood waiting for her.
“Lady Catherine,” the colonel said, bowing a little, “it is a surprise to see you here in London so soon after leaving you in Kent—albeit a delightful one.”
“Nephew,” she began, “you are just the person I had hoped to see. I have received rather cryptic news from your cousin Darcy, and I am hoping you can shed light on the matter.”
An affable young man whose esteem as a nephew was second only to Darcy’s in Lady Catherine’s estimation, he retorted, “How can I help?”
“Come with me. I wish to have a word with you.”
The colonel glanced back at the townhouse. “Darcy is expecting me.”
“I am certain that whatever business you have with your cousin can wait. Join me in my carriage.”
“Is it so urgent?”
“Indeed, it is a matter of utmost importance. I am not in the habit of brooking disappointment. You will join me.”
She spun round to proceed to the awaiting carriage. Sensing she was alone in doing so, she glanced over her shoulder. There the colonel stood looking uncertain of what he should do.
“Do it now!” Lady Catherine commanded.
The colonel, not wishing to cause a spectacle of opposing his aunt on the street, did as he was told. Besides, he meant to do all he could to remain in Lady Catherine’s good graces. In his mind, his future livelihood might one day depend on it. A second son of an earl in need of a wife of means, he had not ruled out the possibility he might be the nephew to know his aunt as his mother-in-law someday.
When the two of them were settled in the carriage, sitting opposite each other, Lady Catherine signaled to the driver to be on his way. Immediately thereafter, turning her attention to her nephew, she announced, “I have just had a most disturbing conversation with your cousin Darcy. He tried to persuade me that he has met a young woman of our mutual acquaintance to whom he is planning to extend his hand in marriage.”
“What can any of that have to do with me?”
Keeping secrets was never one of her nephew’s strong points. Everyone who knew him best would attest to that. “Come now, Nephew. You better than anyone would know whether there is a young woman who has managed to turn your cousin’s head. You also know that he is engaged to marry my Anne. I will not have my hopes disappointed.”
“I assure you, Lady Catherine, that my cousin does not tell me everything. He has informed me, however, that he has no intention of marrying Anne.”
“You and I know that is utter nonsense! Darcy shall, and he will marry my daughter. Honor and family duty demand it.”
“If you are so convinced of that, what difference does it make if his head has been turned by another? By your account, honor and obligation to family overrule the heart, do they not?”
“I shall leave nothing to chance where the uniting of Pemberley and Rosings Park is concerned. Darcy must have given you some hint of whom this woman is. Did he not mention anything at all about her when you were together in Kent?”
“I suppose he did spend an inordinate amount of time with your vicar’s lovely guest, Miss Elizabeth Bennet.”
“What do you mean—an inordinate amount of time? When did Darcy have occasion to see that young woman, other than when she called at Rosings by my own invitation?”
“The two of them were known to wander about in the lanes for lengthy stretches of time. Surely you must have observed them—they made no secret of it.”
“I most assuredly did not know. What could have been his purpose in wasting his time with a young woman of inferior birth and circumstances?” Lady Catherine declared, a little disturbed by this intelligence. Her confidence promptly revived, she said, “No doubt, she is the one who placed herself in his path.”
“As for his purpose, I cannot say. I will add, however, that he and I both enjoyed the young lady’s company. She is quite comely to say nothing of her wit and her charm. Moreover, she did not seem to be the sort of female who might put herself in anyone’s path.”
Her ladyship meant to dismiss her suspicion that Miss Elizabeth Bennet was the woman whom her nephew spoke of in his study. Not supposing such a thing truly credible, she decided she would be terribly remiss were she to be put off so easily as this. Besides, it was as good a place to start as any in her hunt for the truth. She would leave not one stone unturned—not even the slightest most unlikely pebble of uncertainty. Now having heard all she needed to hear from the colonel, she knew exactly how to act.