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“Lady Catherine, I have nothing further to say. You know my sentiments.”
“You are then resolved to have him?” she demanded.
“I have said no such thing. I am only resolved to act in that manner, which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness, without reference to you, or to any person so wholly unconnected with me.”
“You refuse to obey the claims of duty, honour, and gratitude!”
“I will follow the claims of happiness only,” Elliot said.
“And this is your real opinion! This is your final resolve! Very well. I shall now know how to act. Do not imagine, Mr. Bennet, that your ambition will ever be gratified. I came to try you. I hoped to find you reasonable but depend upon it, I will carry my point.” In this manner Lady Catherine talked on, till they were at the door of the carriage, when, turning hastily round, she added, “I take no leave of you, Mr. Bennet. I send no compliments to your mother. You deserve no such attention. I am most seriously displeased.”
Elliot made no answer for there was none to make. Lady Catherine would care for nothing else that Elliot would have to say but he had little care for her either. All he cared for now was Darcy.
Sixty
Lady Catherine arrived at Netherfield not half an hour later. Rarely in her life had she ever been so outraged, and she made the point over and over again to her poor companion who could only nod in agreement. She was an impoverished, distant relative who, in a rare moment of kindness, Lady Catherine had taken pity on and taken into her household. Sometimes, the companion wondered whether a life of genteel poverty might not have been an easier option.
The party in Netherfield were just finishing up their breakfast as Lady Catherine stormed inside. She did not wait for the butler to announce her, and her outrage reached a fever pitch when she entered the breakfast room to find her two favourite nephews and niece, along with the rascally Bingley, deep in conversation with the housekeeper who was busy partaking of an apricot. She had been regaling them with the local gossip from Meryton, but the familiarity of such a scene was beyond anything Lady Catherine had ever experienced and she was quick to make her feelings known!
“Aunt, Netherfield is simply an informal household,” Georgiana said the moment Lady Catherine paused for breath.
“Informal indeed,” she snapped. “Though my brief time in Hertfordshire has convinced me that I should expect no less! To think my dear Mr. Collins hails from here, it is not to be borne!”
“Aunt, to what do we owe the honour of your presence?” Darcy asked quickly as her visit was extremely unexpected. Fitzwilliam had not indicated that she planned a jaunt to Hertfordshire, and in her latest letter Anne had made no reference to any such plan either.
“I have come to speak with you, Darcy,” she said, and then looking around the room. “Alone!”
Darcy’s closest relatives and closet friend needed no other urging than those words. They departed immediately, though in truth Darcy would have liked Georgiana to have stayed given she was well able to ease Lady Catherine’s temper. He stifled a sigh as he indicated the chairs nearest to the window with the impressive view.
“Please be seated, aunt, and tell me what brings you to such an interview.”
“Then you are also going to deny your knowledge of my visit?” she demanded as she sat down.
Darcy was at a loss entirely to explain her presence and said as much. “Perhaps you would be so good as so explain?”
“I have come directly from Longbourn House,” she said, and his heart gave a stutter.
“For what purpose? The Bennets…”
She gave him a nod. “Indeed.”
“Why?” Darcy demanded.
“Your most recent letter to Anne, not to mention Fitzwilliam’s comments earlier in the week, were enough to convince me thus,” she said, and Darcy started at her words.
“Aunt, I do not believe Anne shares our letters with you. Indeed, she has told me more than once that she does not.”
Lady Catherine glared at that. “Anne does not know what is best for her.”
“Have you been reading our correspondence these last years without her knowledge?” Darcy demanded.
“I have been keeping myself abreast with the news and developments within mine own family! As am I quite correct to do so!”
“I told Anne of my plans for Elliot…” Darcy began for he had indeed done so, and she had sent her approval and love back in response.
“Plans which are in direct contradiction of the plans your mother and I made many years ago,” Lady Catherine said.
Darcy sighed for he was well aware of this nonsense, had been for years, and he had made it clear more than once that he would not mate and marry Anne, the very idea was ridiculous. Darcy felt nothing but brotherly affection for his cousin and knew that her affection for him was of a sisterly kind.
