Elizabeth folded her hands into her lap and stiffly squared her shoulders for combat. Lady Catherine, however, did not seem inclined to carry the battle. Her gaze had drifted about the room once more, glancing over the framed portraits, the gilded accents on the ceiling, the bed and the lamp stand, and then returning to Elizabeth.
“Did you know, Miss Bennet, that this was my sister’s room when we would visit Pemberley, after we had our coming out?”
Elizabeth blinked. “No, your ladyship, I did not.”
“It was also given to George Darcy’s mother—my aunt, Miss Bennet—when she first toured the estate with her betrothed.”
“That… is an interesting coincidence, my lady.”
“Indeed.” Lady Catherine thinned her lips and appeared to heavily contemplate her next words. “Miss Bennet, I would be dishonest if I told you that I was pleased by your presence here. That much I believe you know, so let us not belabour it. It is unfortunate, then, that I find myself in the position of asking your assistance.”
Elizabeth draped one hand gently over the other to prevent herself from fidgeting. “Oh?”
“In four and sixty years, I have never been spoken to as my nephew did last night, and again this morning! Had I known him less well than I do, I should have taken him for a madman or an impostor.”
Elizabeth released a breath. “I believe these last months have been a severe trial for him, my lady.”
Lady Catherine tucked her chin, almost hating to agree while looking Elizabeth in the eye. “He places no credit in my assurances, Miss Bennet. In fact, he seems determined to sever every tie with his family. He thinks, perhaps, to wall himself in here and shut out all his relations. Miss Bennet, that would be the most grievous error he could commit.”
“I think you are not entirely wrong,” Elizabeth answered cautiously. Lady Catherine’s gaze became hawkish at the perceived slight, so she hastened to explain. “Mr Darcy has reason to doubt at least some member of his family, but he does not know which, nor even if it is more than one person.”
“Am I to be accused with the guilty? I, a lady by birth and an old woman by nature? Miss Bennet, my nephew is a stubborn man! This much ought not to surprise you, for it is no secret that I have prevailed upon him since his majority to do his duty by Anne.” She sniffed and picked the lace of the skirt in her lap in annoyance. “He refused me for years, then he was dead to us all, and my disappointment had no relief. I have almost despaired now of ever seeing him acquiesce to the wishes of his mother, but he is my nephew still, Miss Bennet. It is foolish—nay, wicked of him to cast off his entire family as a lot of villains!”
“My lady, was there some way in particular that I might be of service?”
The woman’s scowl deepened, and Elizabeth thought for certain that she was tasting bile. “Darcy seems to listen to you,” she replied with a sour expression. “What foolishness may come of it, I shall forever abhor, but you are not a stupid woman, after all.”
Elizabeth’s brow lifted. “Thank you.”
“You must not permit him to listen to false advisers who would separate him from the influences and support of the Fitzwilliam family. We have the means to aid him, but Darcy has ever been headstrong in the management of his own affairs. He is quite blinded by anger, and I fear he may now grow to be foolhardy. If my nephew and niece possess an enemy, Miss Bennet, he would be unwise to forego all his noble connections and try to manage on his own.”
“Lady Catherine, I appreciate your concern, but Mr Darcy will do precisely as he determines. As you have said, he has long taken his own affairs in hand, and I do not expect him to heed my advice.”
One silver brow quirked. “Miss Bennet, I had nearly accustomed myself to think of you as disinterested, perhaps even sincere. Have you, as you claim, any true regard for my niece and nephew? For if you do, you would do well to persuade Darcy to heed the advice of his relations. If, on the other hand, you do not, and you allow or even encourage him to isolate himself,” she put out her cane and rose unsteadily to her feet, “I shall view you with the same suspicion with which you claim to view me.”
Elizabeth bristled. So, now she was to control Darcy at Lady Catherine’s pleasure, else fall under the glass of scepticism herself? As if shecouldsway Darcy from his determined course! Was that not one of the qualities she had first noticed about his character?
“Lady Catherine,” she replied crisply, “I shall certainly relay your concerns to Mr Darcy, if he should ask my opinion. Naturally, I wish for him to learn the truth, but if he judges it best to set aside certain associations for the present, it would not be my place to dispute him.”
The lady fixed Elizabeth with a long, withering look, as if trying to decide whether she might obtain a more certain promise from the woman whom she expected Darcy to make his wife. Elizabeth met the grey eyes with a defiant look of her own, and when they at last broke contact, it was Lady Catherine who looked down. She sighed, and the hand on her cane trembled just a little. She gave a stately nod, and began to turn away, when she seemed to be taken aback.
“Miss Bennet, is that journal from Pemberley’s library?”
Elizabeth glanced at the book on her bed. “Yes, your ladyship. I have found it a most diverting read.”
Lady Catherine’s eyes glazed in an expression Elizabeth could not read. “I ordered that book burned. It is not fit for a maiden’s eyes, Miss Bennet. I am surprised at you.”
“I have read many things that you might find alarming, my lady. I assure you, I am still a faithful churchgoer and a loyal Englishwoman, despite the scandalous nature of my reading material.”
Lady Catherine looked aghast, but only briefly. “I ought to have expected little better from a woman brought up with no governess! I advise you, Miss Bennet, to give little credence to my aunt’s assertions as set forth in her journal. Some were, undoubtedly, utter fabrications.”
Elizabeth smiled. If they were fabrications, they were rather entertaining ones. “And the rest?”
“Outright scandal.” Lady Catherine flicked a dismissive hand as she turned away in finality. “And if some of it leaked out to the parties involved, even two generations later, the Fitzwilliam and Darcy families might never recover.”
Elizabeth was staring at the journal now, wondering what shocking entries she had yet to read. Curiosity burned at her, making her fingers itch to reach for its worn leather cover, when Lady Catherine spoke again from the outer hall.
“Think on what I have said, Miss Bennet. My influence with my nephew has come to an end, and more is the pity. You may find it difficult to believe, but I am fond of my sister’s children, and would not see them come to ruin. Counsel him, if you will, that he may yet depend upon the Fitzwilliam family… and burn that journal, Miss Bennet.”
