“What objection could any raise, if you are in the company of your betrothed? And pray, think nothing of your attire, for Lady Catherine is ever sensitive to the limitations of those of lesser station and is quite content to see the distinction of rank preserved by modest attire in other young ladies. As to going now, Mr and Mrs Gardiner, in their eminent wisdom, will think it nothing less than proper that you be presented at a time which My Lady decrees. Even your Mrs Jennings could not help but concur, naturally, if she knew all. I am quite certain on this point.
“You must know, my dear cousin, that another claimed your company this evening; a man whose notice of you could only be of a disreputable inclination, and this
fact distresses me, my dear cousin, a great deal more than I am capable of expressing. My dear Elizabeth, pray assure me that you were not, in fact, in the company of a single gentleman for the whole of the day! For if true, this accusation betrays a temper disposed to manipulation and artifice of the most serious kind!”
“You may rest easy, for I was accompanied on my outing by a footman who came with me this morning from my uncle’s house, sir.” She crossed her arms and glared over the water. “Your information was inaccurate, for he was no gentleman.”
“Your assurances give me the greatest comfort! Although it is very strange, rather shocking that any young lady should venture out all day in town, it was at
least fitting that your safety should be secured by a proper attendant. But could Miss Catherine not have attended you as well? And where is this erstwhile manservant?”
“No doubt he has gone with his fellows,” was her sour reply.
“But how is it then that my great lady’s information named a young lady whose appellation bears a striking resemblance to your own and who was known to have
issued from Mr Gardiner’s house?”
“Where did your lady obtain her information? It sounds to me like hearsay. I did not conceal my face about town, and any number of persons might have seen me.”
“Well,” he nearly sputtered, “you may be assured that only the most reputable sources would have been consulted. But perhaps you are right, for, after all, I searched for you myself when I became concerned for your whereabouts, and perhaps not all witnesses are so exacting in the details as is proper. I am excessively attentive to matters such as these, for the safety of any young lady, be she relative or otherwise, must, of course, be the highest concern of any gentleman of her acquaintance.
“My dear cousin, pray, do not concern yourself that I shall condemn you harshly for a simple day of pleasure and enjoyment, for the amusement was innocent, and
certainly the day fine enough to take the air. My good patroness, Lady Catherine De Bourgh, has more than once observed that young ladies who take pleasure in day outings are frequently possessed of the most flattering vitality and quite often are the soonest to bless their husbands with a little olive branch with which to bestow happiness on all her family. Rest assured—”
Elizabeth had ceased listening long ago. Strange, how easy it was to ignore Mr Collins when all her energies focused instead upon her humiliation at the hands of
another. And what had she done to merit any better than a lumpy, sweating, ignorant beef-wit who liked nothing better than the sound of his own voice? She
would receive precisely what she had earned, and she might as well become adept at neglecting one William Collins.
Chapter twenty-nine
“Darcy, what in Heaven’s name have you been doing? You came to me this morning proclaiming the vilest accusations against your aunt, and then you spent the day trading clandestine messages with one of your servants and traipsing about Creation? Have you gone mad? I am given to understand that you have been secretly gathering information against your very own relation! And what the devil have you been doing here without telling anyone of your whereabouts? Egad, Darcy, I never thought I should have to scoldyou.Stand upand face your duties like a man!”
Darcy clenched his fist and stared out the window of the carriage, refusing to look the Earl of Matlock in the eye. “I have no objections to asserting my manhood, but I do object rather violently to manipulation and deceit.”
“Deceit? Deceit! Do I hear you properly? What are these clothes you are wearing, what foolishness have you been masquerading about all day? Preposterous! If your father could have seen you in this—this—”
“I must insist that you do not invoke my father’s name! You are the head of the Fitzwilliam family, but for years you have done nothing to discourage Lady Catherine’s abuse of her position.”
The earl’s eyes flickered in rage. “Have a care, my boy! Do you presume to dictatemyduties tome?”
“I am not afraid to demonstrate to you your failings. I have deferred for years, out of regard for my mother’s family, but Lady Catherine has trespassed against my goodwill in every conceivableway. Yet, when her actions are so blatant that none could consider her under the regulation of sense and decorum, you do not protest! You would hold me accountable for my aunt’s desires despite their ruinous nature, see me perform her pleasure regardless of my own interests, and when I am delayed in seeking the proof of her falsehood that you demanded, I am accused of not performing my duty. Is it not you who ought to have borne the burden of checking her? Yet you claim the right to tell me that my father would be ashamed of my actions!”
“I have no need to tell you that, for your own conscience must inform you of it!” his lordship bellowed. “George Darcy would have done his duty, just as he did by my sister. By Jove! You did not see him disappear for a day like a spoilt child when he was given a bride.”
“My mother did not force his hand with an intoxicated compromise.”
“She did not have to. George knew what was expected of him and fell in love with my sister just as his father instructed. Anne did the same, and they were quite happy. There was not this weakling foolishness about the choosing of a marriage partner in our day! Why could you not do your duty? You are a selfish boy, Fitzwilliam Darcy, and I have nearly had enough of your objections.”
Darcy scowled and turned back to the window. “That will suit me as well, for I too have grown weary of the conflict.”
“And another thing… what the devil? You what?”
His stomach roiled in protest and his entire being recoiled, but he forced himself to spit out the words. “I will speak to my aunt about wedding my cousin.” There was nothing worth fighting for anyway, since he had found the woman he sought, and she despised him.
“However,” he interjected before his uncle could offer his congratulations that he had come to his senses, “I do believe I am owed some sort of explanation.”
