Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
D ependable. Useful. Those were the words of affection Charlotte’s mother had used to describe her. Those meaningful expressions, though not depictions of beauty nor grace, had meant something to Charlotte. She worked to ensure she was worthy of those descriptions. She had depended on their truth and let the words seep into her entire being; though now she resented her obedience, for her dutiful nature had led her to her present position.
Charlotte pushed the kitchen door open with haste, immediately gaining the attention of Mrs Montgomery and Hayes. “Please, no dawdling. Our guests require sustenance after their journey from London, and we need the rooms prepared as soon as may be.”
Hayes hopped down from the table she had been sitting on, shoving the last bit of a biscuit in her mouth before responding, “Yes, ma’am, that is what—”
“No,” Charlotte interrupted her maid. “That is not what I found you doing. Please move along.” Hayes nodded, curtseyed, and made a hasty departure.
Charlotte turned her attention to Mrs Montgomery. “Shall we adjust the menu for dinner, or can you make do with three additional mouths to feed?”
“I can make do, ma’am.”
Charlotte left as quickly as she had come but stopped on the landing to take a breath. Why are they come? Why can no one leave me be here?
Despite her fondness for her father and sister, she could not bear to feign being a happy wife once again. How she would accomplish it, she had no idea. For indeed, another difficult month lay before her. And even harder with Lydia Bennet, no doubt! If Mr Collins thought Elizabeth was a challenge, it would be much worse with her youngest and most untamed sister.
Tears welled in her eyes, and she gripped her skirt in her fists. Nothing in her new life was easy. She just wanted to be left alone. Could not anyone comprehend that in her letters? Was she not allowed the privacy she desired?
“…I shall return forthwith,” she heard her husband say, and she could hear his nearing footsteps as he made his way towards her. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and stood up straighter before he rounded the corner and discovered her there.
“Mrs Collins, your guests are waiting on the tea cart, and I have just seen Hayes, who informed me that you are unhappy with her?”
“Pardon?”
“Have you no understanding for her position? Your father sprang this visit on the entire household. I am certain preparing three rooms with no notice shall take some time. ”
“I found her chatting in the kitchen and simply redirected her upstairs to prepare the necessary bedchambers.”
Mr Collins leaned towards her, so close that he forced her to tilt her head back in order to look up at him. “I should not have to remind you that Hayes comes from Rosings with only the highest of recommendations.”
Charlotte pressed back against the wall. Her husband’s malodourous smell made her flinch with reminders of his visit to her bed the night before. If only Lady Catherine would direct him to some regularity in his bathing rituals.
“Of course,” she replied and held her peace until he departed to return to their newly arrived guests.
Putting duty once again ahead of her own equanimity, Charlotte blinked away the wetness in her eyes, pinched her cheeks and turned her steps towards the parlour. Her practised smile was set in place just before she crossed the threshold of the room.
At length, the parsonage began to assume a new routine. Charlotte’s father enjoyed daily walks to the village, and fortunately, Maria and Lydia relished accompanying him. Her husband’s attempts at civility were greater with her father present and watching, but even so, she could feel his last thread of dignity was nearing its end as the days went on.
Lydia especially was wearing on him, and she watched as he painfully held his tongue. She had seen him approach his young cousin in the garden one day, his posture much the same as it was when he spoke a sermon, but Charlotte did not remain to see what Lydia’s response was. So far, the girl had been remarkably adept at brushing him aside.
One afternoon found Charlotte mending, attended by two young ladies who were sprawled out on a nearby settee complaining of boredom, when a knock on the parlour door set the room to rights quickly. “Come in,” Charlotte beckoned once the ladies were upright, and a footman from Rosings entered her parlour, offering her a note from Lady Catherine.
“Is it anything of interest, Charlotte? We could certainly do with some diversion,” Lydia said.
“Is it from Lady Catherine? Are we being invited to dine?” Maria asked.
“Girls, please,” Charlotte scolded them even while she read the note a second time. Lady Catherine requested an audience with her at Rosings Park, immediately, and she was to come alone with all haste. “You will have to excuse me. Lady Catherine has summoned me.”
Minutes later Charlotte presented herself at Rosings, having delayed only long enough to change into a more elegant day gown. Though it was an old muslin, it was newly trimmed at the bodice with lace from a discarded gown Maria had carried from home for Charlotte’s use.
At the butler’s announcement, she entered the morning room to find Lady Catherine sitting with a fierce scowl upon her face. She did not rise to welcome her and simply waved her hand in the direction of a nearby seat, saying only, “Mrs Collins.”
To her surprise, Hayes was in the room. Charlotte shot her an uncertain glance as she took a seat and folded her hands primly in her lap; Hayes avoided her gaze.
This was not a social call. Her mind raced at the implications, wondering what this visit could be regarding.
“Hayes, please repeat to Mrs Collins what you have told me,” Lady Catherine ordered in her familiar strident tone.
“Yes, your ladyship,” Hayes said with a reverence unfamiliar to Charlotte. “As I said before, I witnessed Miss Bennet and Mr Darcy taking private walks together in the mornings.”
“Unchaperoned, yes?” Lady Catherine interrupted with theatrical astonishment.
“Yes, your ladyship. They met with regularity, just after sunrise. She would meet him in the woods a far distance from the parsonage, I would say.”
Lady Catherine gave Charlotte an accusing glance before returning her attention to Hayes. “Tell me again about their last assignation.”
Hayes nodded. “I believe she accepted an indecent proposal of sorts, if you take my meaning. At first she was very upset with him, and they argued. He made her cry, but then she was in his arms, and they were very affectionate. I s’pose his offer was a generous one.”
Charlotte gasped, her body instinctively heating in response to her humiliation.
“That will be all, Hayes.”
Hayes curtseyed and left the room. When she had gone, Lady Catherine looked to Charlotte with raised eyebrows and a question in her expression. “And what do you know of this matter, Mrs Collins?”
Careful to appear composed, Charlotte said, “My apologies, your ladyship, that Hayes has come to you with such gossip and nearly two weeks after Elizabeth has gone home. I cannot imagine why she did not bring her concerns first to me or my husband. It was terribly inappropriate, and it will never happen again. You have my word.”
“I cannot but agree with your notion that this information should have been brought to my attention sooner,” Lady Catherine responded. “Something of this nature could ruin my dear Anne. What do you have to say for yourself? How could you allow such a woman to reside under your roof while my unsuspecting nephews were visiting?”
“I have to believe that Hayes misunderstood what she saw. I cannot imagine Elizabeth should participate in such a scheme.”
“Are you suggesting it would be at the direction of my nephew?”
“Of course not, your ladyship.” Charlotte could no longer meet her eyes. How was she back here grovelling to Lady Catherine for another transgression she had not herself committed? In her anxiousness, she felt the balls of her feet begin to tap against the floor and was recalled to her mother’s constant oversight of her fidgeting as a young girl. Calm yourself . She willed her body to behave.
“What do you know of your friend’s arrangement with my nephew?”
“There is no arrangement, madam, of this I am certain.” But that was not wholly true, was it? She did know of Elizabeth’s affection and of a kiss. But that is not at all the same as agreeing to be a gentleman’s mistress! Elizabeth would never consent to that! She had no reason to degrade herself in such a way.
Her anger rose, however, that Elizabeth had engaged in any of this sort of behaviour at all. What an embarrassment! To have her own guest meeting Mr Darcy in the woods in secret and being spotted kissing him! This was even worse than she had imagined. Her fingernails dug into the palm of her hand.
She did not know what bore better for her—truth or deception. Would Lady Catherine prefer to know Mr Darcy and Elizabeth held each other in affection or would she rather believe Hayes’ story? Which version would best benefit Miss de Bourgh?
She supposed it mattered not. Regardless of how she explained herself, it was likely she and her husband would be held responsible for Eliza’s transgressions. But surely her efforts to separate them would be welcome knowledge?
“Do not pretend you know nothing of this,” Lady Catherine said, interrupting her thoughts. “You are not witless. Tell me what you know. Now.”