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“At once to insist upon having such a report universally contradicted.”

“Your coming to Longbourn, to see me and my family,” said Elizabeth coolly, “will be rather a confirmation of it, if, indeed, such a report is in existence.”

“If! Do you then pretend to be ignorant of it? Has it not been industriously circulated by yourselves? Do you not know that such a report is spread abroad?”

“I never heard that it was.”

“And can you likewise declare, that there is no foundation for it?”

“I do not pretend to possess equal frankness with your ladyship. You may ask questions which I shall not choose to answer.”

“This is not to be borne. Miss Bennet, I insist on being satisfied. Has he, has my nephew, made you an offer of marriage?”

“Your ladyship has declared it to be impossible.”

“It ought to be so, if he maintains the use of his reason! Let me be rightly understood. This match, to which you have the presumption to aspire, can never take place. No, never. Mr. Darcy is engaged to my daughter. Now what have you to say?”

“That Mr. Darcy is a man of honour. If he believes himself to be promised elsewhere, you should have no reason to believe he will offer for me.”

Lady Catherine, although Elizabeth might have doubted it possible, became even more enraged. “The engagement between them is of a peculiar kind. From their infancy, they have been intended for each other. It was the favourite wish of his mother, as well as of hers. While in their cradles, we planned the union: and now, at the moment when the wishes of both sisters would be accomplished in their marriage, to be prevented by a young woman of inferior birth, of no importance in the world, and wholly unallied to the family! It is not to be borne.”

“And what is that to me? You are a stranger, come here without invitation. If there is no other objection to my marrying your nephew, I shall certainly not be kept from it by knowing that his mother and aunt wished him to marry elsewhere. You both did as much as you could in planning the marriage. Its completion depended on others. If Mr. Darcy is neither by honour nor inclination confined to his cousin, why is not he to make another choice? And if I am that choice, why may not I accept him?”

“Because honour, decorum, prudence, nay, interest, forbid it. Yes, Miss Bennet, interest; for do not expect to be noticed by his family or friends, if you wilfully act against the inclinations of all. You will be censured, slighted, and despised by everyone connected with him. Your alliance will be a disgrace; your name will never even be mentioned by any of us.”

“These are heavy misfortunes,” replied Elizabeth. “But the wife of Mr. Darcy must have such extraordinary sources of happiness necessarily attached to her situation, that she could, upon the whole, have no cause to repine.”

“Headstrong, obstinate girl!” Lady Catherine exclaimed. “I came here with the determined resolution of carrying my purpose; nor will I be dissuaded from it. I have not been used to submit to any person’s whims. I have not been in the habit of brooking disappointment.”

“That will make your ladyship’s situation at present more pitiable; but it will have no effect on me.” Elizabeth meant to say more, but they were interrupted by the entrance of two footmen, looking very cross at how their young mistress was being spoken to by the visitor.

“Mrs. Ellington has said it is time for your guest to depart,” said the first footman.

“I have no intention of departing until I have received a definitive answer from this unprincipled young woman!” Lady Catherine turned her icy gaze on the two servants, expecting them to flee and cower as the ones did at her own estate, but it had no effect. Instead, their expressions hardened further.

“Mrs. Ellington’s instructions were clear, your ladyship. She noted that, due to your age, if you required assistance in finding your carriage, we were to assist you,” said the other footman.

“And who is this Mrs. Ellington, that I must bow to her will?”

“She is my father’s cousin,” answered Elizabeth. “I believe her to be resting in the room next to this one, and the volume at which you converse must have disturbed her rest. I would have thought her more understanding, for she at times speaks loudly, assuming others’ hearing is as weak as her own.”

Lady Catherine looked as though she had been struck. “Insolence! Absolute insolence! I shall inform my nephew of the disgraceful treatment I have received here!”

“Pray, do tell him. Mrs. Ellington is a favourite of his. At balls, when he does not wish to dance, they often converse at length,” Elizabeth replied, as one of the footmen moved forward to take Lady Catherine by the arm.

“Unhand me!” Lady Catherine demanded, pounding her walking stick into the ground a hairsbreadth away from the footman’s shoe. “I can remove myself from this horrid household. Just know, Miss Elizabeth Bennet, that your ambition shall never be realised!”

Elizabeth did not feel the need to reply, offering only a curtsy as her ladyship left the room, followed by the two servants.

∞∞∞

Mrs. Bennet’s mind had been entirely taken up with the weddings of the two betrothed Bennets, so that she had not even considered the incredible amount of time that Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth were spending in the company of each other. Such a wealthy and handsome gentleman had been under her roof, and yet, consumed as she was by the mountainous tasks involved in planning a double wedding, she had paid him almost no heed.

Now, with the indignant lady departed, it was as if she was restored to sight after being blind. She went immediately to Elizabeth, who now was sitting with Mrs. Ellington and discussing what had just occurred.

“Oh, Lizzy!” she exclaimed. “I have been so blind! Mr. Darcy has been walking with you day after day, and I was so distracted with the extra chairs and white soup that I never once thought to throw you together properly! And now this awful, proud woman has found out about it! She will tell Mr. Darcy that you are a desperate, scheming girl, and he shall go back to Derbyshire without so much as taking our leave! Oh! My poor nerves! Two daughters to be married on the morrow, and now I shall be awake all night worrying that you shall be left abandoned by a gentleman of ten thousand a year!”

Mrs. Ellington, who listened to her cousin’s wife with growing amusement, now bade Mrs. Bennet to take up the seat next to her on the settee. “Mr. Darcy is a gentleman with his own estate, and need not consider anyone but himself and his sister when determining whom he would like to wed. He may listen to his aunt’s reasons if he chooses, but it is his mind and heart that must be convinced.”