A Most Civil Proposal (28 page)

Elizabeth thought about Darcy confronting his angry aunt, and she suddenly knew where her place was — where she
had
to be. She rose and excused herself, though it was unlikely that anyone heard her. By that time, Bingley had come around the table and had knelt by Jane’s chair, talking quietly, and everyone else was still too embarrassed to note her departure.

As she approached the study, she could hear the loud voices inside well before she reached the door. She did not knock; she simply opened the door and stepped inside. Lady Catherine was standing beside Darcy’s desk, glaring at him as he addressed her, his words clipped and cold, “ . . . most disgraceful episode it has ever been my displeasure to witness. In my own house and by my own aunt! Can you give me
one
reason, madam, why I should not ask you to leave my home immediately?”

At that moment, Lady Catherine became aware of Elizabeth as she closed the door. Pointing at her with her walking stick, she shrilled, “Her! Get her out of this house, Darcy! I will not have her in my presence!”

Darcy gave a quick glance at Elizabeth but his attention never left his aunt. “It is infinitely more likely that it will be you who departs my house rather than Elizabeth,” he said icily.

Elizabeth came up beside Darcy and threaded her arm through his. He almost jumped at the touch. “You should not be here, Elizabeth,” he said urgently. “This is between my aunt and me.”

“No, William,” she said calmly, “I am where I belong.” She looked up at him firmly. “By your side.”

Darcy felt a thrilling tingle down his spine at her firm declaration then nodded in agreement and turned back to his aunt. “Now, we were discussing why you should not be asked to leave my house after forcing your way past my butler and most impolitely disrupting my dinner party?”

“She knows,” Lady Catherine said in fury, pointing again at Elizabeth. “She knows why I came!”

“Indeed, you are mistaken, madam,” said Elizabeth coolly. “I cannot account for how I could have been the cause for such an appalling breach of good manners.”

“Miss Bennet,” responded her ladyship in a furious voice, “you ought to know that I am not to be trifled with! You may be as impudent as you please, but I shall be completely sober and frank. After your departure from Hunsford, I thought that I should never have to encounter your shameless behaviour again, but today I learned from this disgraceful announcement in the
Times
that you have not desisted from your nefarious plots!” She pulled a scrap of paper out of her reticule and waved it at Elizabeth. “I can only assume that you published these lies for the purpose of furthering your plan to connect yourself with my nephew! But it will not work, Miss Bennet! It will not work! I immediately resolved on visiting my nephew so that he could instantly contradict this infamous proclamation!”

“The announcement is perfectly true,” replied Darcy in a controlled voice. “Indeed, I myself placed the announcement and wrote to inform you of this on Sunday.”

Lady Catherine gaped in astonishment then turned her blazing eyes toward Elizabeth. “Then you
have
succeeded in your scheme to entrap my nephew! You are determined to ruin him! But it will not happen! I demand that you immediately and publicly contradict this report!”

“I will do nothing of the kind, your ladyship. Mr. Darcy made his proposal, I accepted him, and my father’s consent has been given. We are engaged, and it was announced.”

Lady Catherine rounded on Darcy. “How could you?” she shrilled. “How could you do this to your cousin Anne? Have you lost the use of your reason? I came here thinking that this shameless lady-bird had placed that announcement herself, trying to entrap you, but now I see that she is playing a deeper game! She has used her arts and allurements to catch you in a web of infatuation! Break free of it, Darcy! Break the engagement immediately! You are already engaged to Anne! Remember what you owe to yourself and all your family!”

“I am not and never have been engaged to Anne,” Darcy said heatedly. “That has been your own delusion all these years. Though we love each other as cousins, Anne and I have never desired marriage. I know that this is her opinion, because we have spoken of it several times. We thought it best to avoid the subject, rather than to confront you openly in the matter. But that was an error; I see that now. I should have flatly laughed in your face years ago.”

Lady Catherine recoiled in horror. “This is not to be borne! From your infancy, you two have been intended for each other! Is this union to be prevented by a young woman of inferior birth, of no importance in the world, and wholly unallied to the family? It was the favourite wish of your mother! Will you deny the wishes your own mother, my sister, planned when you were in your cradle?”

“My mother never spoke to me of such an arrangement, madam,” Darcy said in a low, angry voice. “Pray leave her out of any further argument, or this conversation will be at an end.”

“Miss Bennet, you forget your place!” her ladyship cried, rounding on Elizabeth in fury, but the younger woman refused to be intimidated. Darcy started to step forward, but Elizabeth placed her hand on his arm, and he stayed back and stood silent. “Be warned! Even if you manage to succeed in attaching yourself to my nephew, do not think to benefit from it! You will be ignored by his family and friends, 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!”

Darcy was surprised at Elizabeth’s sudden, impudent smile. “These are heavy misfortunes, madam,” she replied cheerfully, “but even if all you foretold came to pass, I believe that Mr. Darcy and I will be quite happy and will, on the whole, have no cause to repine.”

Lady Catherine erupted in fury at being mocked by the younger girl. “Obstinate, headstrong girl!” she shrieked. “I am ashamed of you! Is this your gratitude for my attentions to you last spring? Is nothing due to me on that score?”

“Your ladyship’s behaviour,” Elizabeth relied coldly, “has been such that I feel relieved from any obligations of gratitude that might have been warranted had you behaved in the manner of a true lady.”

Lady Catherine recoiled as if she had been slapped, but Elizabeth continued coolly. “Allow me to say, Lady Catherine, that the arguments with which you have supported this extraordinary application have been as frivolous as the application was ill judged. You have widely mistaken my character if you think I can be worked on by such persuasions as these. And I cannot understand why you think you have the right to interfere in your nephew’s life, nor do I think forcing your way into his home in such an unseemly manner will enable you to carry your point.”

Her ladyship’s eyes glinted with hatred as she leaned forward. “Insolent, selfish girl,” she hissed, “if you were sensible of your own good, you would not wish to quit the sphere in which you have been brought up.”

Elizabeth’s chin rose in defiance. “In marrying Mr. Darcy, I shall not be quitting that sphere, madam. He is a gentleman. I am a gentleman’s daughter. So far, we are equal.”

“That may be, Miss Bennet, but who was your mother? Who are your uncles and aunts? Do not imagine me ignorant of their condition!”

“Whatever my connections may be,” said Elizabeth with an impish glance at Darcy, “your nephew has told me that he has deemed them of no significance. If he does not object to them, they can be nothing to you.”

“Correctly said, my dear,” growled Darcy. “My patience is near exhaustion, Lady Catherine. I am still of a mind to have you ejected from my house.”

“You would not dare,” the older woman hissed.

“Do not push me, madam. I have been greatly provoked tonight.”

“Provoked? Have I not been provoked by your taking this . . . this
fortune hunter
as your
Bird of Paradise
when you were visiting in my own household? In the same house as your cousin Anne? Will you pollute the shades of Pemberley with this scheming, selfish girl?”

Lady Catherine was shocked by Darcy’s sudden burst of derisive laughter. “Fortune hunter? Madame, you are as ill-informed as you are witless! Do you not know that your own household was the source of these baseless rumours?” At the shocked look on her face, he leaned forward and snarled, “Yes, your own household! Have I not informed you for years of how the mistreatment and ill management of your staff would one day lead to disaster? And now it has occurred!” he concluded with a cold smile that had no mirth in it.

Leaning toward his still speechless aunt, Darcy growled, “And fortune hunter? Silly, foolish, woman! Do you think I could give credence to any such charge when Elizabeth refused my proposal that night at the Parsonage?”

Lady Catherine gaped in disbelief.

“Yes, refused! Turned me down flat! Try to spin that into a ‘fortune hunter,’ madam! Just try!”

Darcy regained a measure of control, conscious of Elizabeth’s firm pressure on his arm, mindful of her courageous loyalty in the face of such hostility. “I had hopes that I might in time have persuaded her to accept me. But gossip from your dishonourable staff spread to London and even into the scandal sheets. So, to protect Miss Bennet’s reputation, which is of the highest, madam, I was forced to renew my proposal before it was time, and she was likewise compelled to accept it before she would have otherwise wished.” He smiled coldly at his aunt. “So you see, Lady Catherine, we would not be engaged at this moment if it were not for your inept management of your own household! Does it not console you to learn that you are the author of your own misfortune?”

Lady Catherine was staggered by this shocking information. “Darcy . . .” she began to plead.

“Silence!” he snapped. “I have had enough! I will not listen to any more foolish arguments, nor will I countenance any more lies about Elizabeth! You will leave this instant, or I will have you ejected!”

“Not just yet, if you please,” came a voice from the doorway.

Darcy whirled to find Lord Matlock, as well as his cousin Fitzwilliam, standing just inside the door. “How long have you been there?” asked Darcy.

“Long enough, Darcy, long enough,” said his lordship, as he and his son joined them in the study. He looked at Elizabeth with a twinkle in his eye. “I confess I would have made my presence known earlier, but I was enjoying the way your young lady faced down my much-feared sister.” He chuckled. “It has been too long since anyone stood up to her in such a manner.”

“James . . .” started Lady Catherine.

“Will you be quiet, Catherine?” Lord Matlock snapped. “Or do I let Darcy make good on his threat?”

Lady Catherine sagged back against the desk in dismay.

“Now let me tell you how it is going to be, Catherine. This is the most disgraceful exhibition you have ever displayed, and that covers some territory. It
will not
be repeated! Do I make myself clear?”

Lady Catherine could only nod, white-faced in shock and suppressed anger.

“I am the head of this family, and the instructions I am about to give you will be obeyed. Do you quite understand?”

Lady Catherine gave another jerky nod.

“Good. Now, Darcy did not ask for either my consent or my blessing on this marriage since he is head of his own house and did not need it. Nevertheless, as the head of this family, I hereby give both, unnecessary as they are. You will honour my wishes in every detail, or you will find every door in our family closed to
you
. Do you understand this?”

Lady Catherine moaned but nodded again.

“I do not know whether Darcy will ever again welcome you to his home, and I will not attempt to change his mind. Your daughter, Anne, may visit where she pleases, and you will not forbid her. She is of legal age and has her own income, even if she does not choose to use it. If you try to hinder her in any respect, my carriage will be at your door on the following day, and she will find sanctuary in my home.” Lady Catherine stared at her brother in horror. She could not believe that he had just addressed her in such a manner, but she had not yet realized that her actions that night had finally pushed him beyond the limits of his own considerable tolerance.

“Now, you will cease your petulant rage and leave this house immediately. I trust your coach is still outside? Good. Then I wish you a safe return to Rosings, and I suggest you stay there for some time. I do not believe you will be invited to the wedding, but I assure you that Lady Matlock and I will be in attendance. Good evening, sister.”

And Lady Catherine, white-faced in mortification and rage, had no choice but to exit the study. The tapping of her stick was heard until it was eclipsed by the solid slam of the front door.

Lord Matlock chuckled in good humour as he looked around at the others, who stood stunned by the manner in which the argument had been terminated. “Well, well, well. It is long past time that Catherine received her just deserts,” he said with a smile. “I am afraid that we tolerated her tantrums for too long, including you also, Darcy, and we all just had to pay the price for that. But it is over and done. Now, if you will allow me to escort your courageous young woman back to the dining room, I believe we might finish the evening with at least a measure of good humour!”