Chapter 13 #3
His aunt paced the room, gathering angry energy like a building storm cloud.
“And the one thing that might have restored respectability to the Darcy name was your suitable marriage to my daughter. But you instead eloped scandalously with a young woman of inferior birth, of no importance in the world, and wholly unallied to the family!”
“She is a gentleman’s daughter, and I will thank you to not disparage Mrs Darcy. And she has thus far been received even better than I had expected.”
Elizabeth came to his side and said gently, “We met and married quickly, your ladyship, because we have a genuine regard for one another.”
It may not have been true when they married, but Darcy felt it was closer to the truth of their relationship now. He shared a look with Elizabeth and saw, from her faint smile and the soft look in her eyes, that she felt the same.
Her appeal had no effect, and Lady Catherine grew louder. “Darcy, you were allured into marriage by—”
“By the tenderest sentiments of mutual esteem,” he answered before she could say something vulgar.
“No, by a wish to be familiar with her person.”
Darcy winced as she finished her thought.
Elizabeth’s mouth hung open in stunned mortification.
Although he was attracted to her in Ramsgate, and even more so now, that he would tempt a virgin to transgress the laws of chastity and steal her away to Scotland for the purpose was insulting and appalling.
“What will she bring you in acres or coin?” Lady Catherine went on. “Nothing. The next quality a man looks for is beauty. You did not act according to reason in either case, but were governed by irregular appetites.”
His aunt gave Elizabeth a long look up and down.
“You are pretty enough for a man’s purpose, but you should be ashamed of yourself for making Mr Darcy forget what he owes to himself and to all his family.
You have shown such wilfulness of temper and every tendency to that independence of spirit, which prevails so much in modern days.
In such a young woman as you, it is offensive and disgusting beyond all common offence.
How dare you think you can raise yourself in the world by lowering Mr Darcy? ”
His wife was red with anger, but she took a long breath before saying, “We are equals, your ladyship, and we married for affection and esteem, not for lust or station.”
“I have not been accustomed to such language as this,” she retorted. “And you,” she said, turning to Darcy, “have now shewn yourself very, very different from anything that I had imagined.”
“You have said quite enough, your ladyship,” he said warningly. “What did you hope to accomplish by coming here in this manner?”
“To learn if either of you could be reasonable. Scottish marriages are not ecclesiastical services; they are easier dissolved, if adultery or desertion be the case. I expect a woman like her capable of both.”
Elizabeth gasped and immediately went to the window, turning from the disaster unfolding in their drawing room.
“Young lady, I am speaking to you,” Lady Catherine said to Elizabeth’s back. “How much will it cost me to pay you to conduct an affair so my nephew can divorce you?”
She was silent. He knew she would make no effort for conversation with a woman who was now insolent. If he did not remove his aunt, Darcy feared Elizabeth might leave and never come back.
“My marriage is a permanent union,” he said as calmly as he could manage. “And my acquaintances and friends have noticed Mrs Darcy. We have done a great deal of good in showing that she is a respectable woman. My union is far from a scandal.”
Lady Catherine gaped at him. “I am shocked and astonished, Darcy. I expected to find a more reasonable man. I shall not go away till you have given me the assurance that you will pay her to engage in an affair and divorce her for being unfaithful.”
“I am not to be intimidated into anything so wholly unreasonable,” he cried. “You have insulted us both in every manner imaginable. And now you may leave this house, or I will have my footmen remove you.”
His aunt gasped. She was entirely unaccustomed to having her demands challenged. “You are resolved to keep her? And this is your real opinion! This is your final resolve?”
Darcy’s jaw hurt. He realised he had been clenching his teeth. “My alliance is not the disgrace you think it is. And even if it was, I am not abandoning my wife or forsaking her. You have greatly underestimated my character and integrity if you think I would divorce my wife to marry your daughter.”
He rang the bell, and when the servant came, he said, “Call her ladyship’s carriage, and she is not to be admitted into the house again.
” To his aunt, he said, “All communication between us is now at an end. If you think I can be prevailed on to overlook this offence against my wife, you are gravely mistaken.”
Lady Catherine swept from the room, shouting a few more invectives on her way down the stairs, but Darcy simply shut the door.
Elizabeth still stood with her back to him, and he wondered how deeply his aunt’s insults had hurt her.
Darcy came up behind her and carefully placed both hands on her shoulders.
He felt the tension in them collapse, and as she turned round, he kept his hands in place.
She did not look like she was about to cry, but was deeply weary with a sadness in her eyes that made him feel ashamed.
“I am exceedingly sorry.”
She gave a drawn smile. “I promise when you meet my aunt Gardiner, she will wait until she is invited before coming upstairs, and not once will she suggest you married me in a fit of infatuation.”
She could not even joke about the demand that he obtain a divorce and rid himself of his unsuitable bride. “You did not deserve any of that, and I wish Georgiana knew what her actions have caused you to suffer.”
Elizabeth gave a careless shrug that he did not believe. “You cannot think me so affected by an angry, resentful woman. Bitter aunts or a friend’s jealous sister will not intimidate me. I am far too stubborn for that.”
“You are not weak to admit you are injured.”
She dropped her eyes and leant toward him, carefully resting only her forehead against his chest. Darcy brought his hands to her waist while she clasped hers around his back. She heaved an exhausted sigh and rested further into him, and he tucked her head under his chin.
“I will not allow Lady Catherine to insult you,” he said into her hair. “And I promise you that is the last offence you will endure by anyone who knows me. How much soever she may hate you in her heart, if she wishes to see either of us again, she will treat you with civility.”
“That reconciliation will be many years coming, if it comes at all. Lady Catherine seems to be a proud woman.”
“I wonder if I was once like her,” he murmured. “You called me proud, and all of her vitriol is based on angry pride and superiority.”
“You have rank and fortune, and an authoritative manner, but that is where the similarities end. You are not selfish. You are not cruel. You are not uncivil. You do not seek to control the people around you.” She tilted up her face. “Do not wound me by comparing yourself to that woman.”
He realised as much as he wanted to shield her from these indignities, she was equally offended on his behalf. It made a warm feeling spread across his chest.
“Between my parents and your aunt,” she went on, “I think Darcy family gatherings will be rather small.”
Unspoken was that his sister had run off with a syphilitic gamester who no one in London with an ounce of integrity could welcome into their home.
“Colonel Fitzwilliam will often be with us. He wrote to say that he leaves his father’s house soon and will squire you around town and raise your popularity. ”
Now she gave him a genuine smile. Elizabeth had a remarkably pretty mouth, and Darcy had to remember his resolution not to kiss her first. “And you will like my sister Jane and my aunt and uncle when you meet them.”
Elizabeth then pressed a quick kiss to his cheek and left his arms. “I have wedding visits to return, and I know anyone who expects to continue their acquaintance with you will be more civil than what we experienced today.”
He hardly knew how to react, or if he should even react at all. Had she kissed him in gratitude for championing her? Or was it a sign that she might be glad she had been forced into marrying him?
“Um, you are returning wedding visits today?” He had to focus on her words and not on remembering the feel of her lips. “I will be back to join you if you can wait until one?” His errand in Ludgate Hill at the jeweller’s would not take longer than that.
“Very well,” she agreed. “I have a few tasks to complete myself.”
She then left the room without realising what a state of emotion he was in.
He ought to be distressed over breaking with his aunt and all the indignities Elizabeth had endured.
But all he could think of was the sensation of her soft lips on his skin.
Did she want anything more, or did her gesture have only the same sort of feeling as she would kiss her sister or a friend in greeting?