Page 103 of The Secret Diary of Anne de Bourgh

James has been here, and I wish very much that he had stayed away.

He found us in the drawing-room after luncheon. Elizabeth remained upstairs resting, and Georgiana and Kitty had gone to visit Jane, but Darcy and Richard were with me. I had been hoping Richard might read to me, and had the book ready beside my chair.

James did not sit down, but stood in the middle of the room frowning at us all.

“I met Mr Byerly at my club yesterday,” he said, in a rather pompous tone. “He gave me some rather surprising news.”

I knew at once what was coming, and tensed, my fingers gripping convulsively in the fabric of my skirts.

“He told me that you have declined his attentions, Anne! I should have preferred to hear of it from my own family.”

“I did not know that you expected to be informed,” I said.

“Surely you cannot suppose that your future is a matter of indifference to me?”

I could think of no comfortable answer. James turned to Darcy and asked whether he had known of my intentions. Darcy said that I had consulted him, and that he respected my decision.

This appeared to annoy James almost as much as the decision itself. He turned to scowl at me again. “Do you know how rich the man is, Anne?”

“Yes,” I said. “But his wealth was not a factor in my considerations when I decided I did not wish to marry him.”

“An agreeable, educated young man, with a vast fortune! The one man who would not have wanted you for Rosings, and you send him away?”

I was suddenly very angry, a hot flush of fury beginning to creep up my cheeks.

“Nobody is going to marry me for Rosings,” I snapped. “It is to be sold.”

James stared at me, then looked from Richard to Darcy.

“What does she mean?”

“Precisely what she has said,” Darcy answered. “We have agreed to pursue a sale.”

What followed was exceedingly unpleasant. James spoke as though we had all been detected in some dreadful act of folly, which only his arrival had prevented us from completing. He told Darcy that he had expected better judgement from him, then turned to Richard.

“You must forbid it! You are her trustee.”

“So is Darcy,” Richard said, quite calmly, sitting back with his hands resting upon his knee. “And we are agreed.”

“Then you ought not to be, for you are not acting in her best interests!”

I tried to explain that I had considered the matter for some time, but James did not allow me to finish.

“You are a silly girl, Anne. You have no notion of what you are giving up.”

“Enough,” Darcy said, before I could find the words to say that I knew exactly what I was giving up, and I was glad of it. “Anne is not obliged to defend her wishes to you.”

James’s face had grown quite red.

“Lady Catherine would never permit this. I have a very good mind to fetch her myself, if that is what is required to make you all listen to sense.”

I cannot remember whether he said anything more immediately afterwards. I had been angry, but the anger seemed to leave me all at once. I could only think of Lady Catherine coming through the door, and being told that I must go with her. A great sickness welled up in my stomach, and black spots swam in front of my eyes.

Richard had risen from his chair.

“You will do nothing of the kind,” he said, his voice cold, and he stepped in front of me as though to make himself a shield between me and James.

“This visit is over, James,” Darcy said, speaking no less coldly than Richard had, and he rang the bell.