Chapter 20 #2
The next day, Darcy sat across from his aunt in the parlor at Rosings with one long leg crossed over the other.
He declined his aunt’s offer of refreshments.
He further advised her that she should spare the servants the task of preparing his usual apartment, for he did not intend to be in Kent very long.
“What do you mean you do not intend to stay in Kent very long? Why come here at all if your plan is simply to pass through?”
“You can have no surprise as to the purpose of my being here. Your heart, your own conscience must tell you why—that is supposing you even have a heart. As you are living and breathing, I’m obliged to say you do, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have no sense of right and wrong.”
“I shall not abide your impertinence, Nephew! What is the meaning of all this?”
“Trust me, Lady Catherine; I am far more generous towards you than I ought to be.”
“I see your association with Miss Elizabeth Bennet has made you forget what is owed to me as your elder, your aunt, your late mother’s only sister, and your future mother-in-law.”
“And that is the point, is it not? That is truly the only thing that matters to you. And you would destroy anything or anyone who stands in your way.”
“I shall not deny your assertion,” Lady Catherine proudly declared. “I am not in the habit of brooking disappointment.”
“But to destroy an innocent family. To subject them to misery and the ridicule of those who would be their friends and neighbors. Have you no shame?”
“I shall not defend myself against unspoken charges, Nephew. What is it that you are accusing me of?”
“Do you deny that you crafted a scheme to ruin the Bennet family’s good name?”
Lady Catherine huffed in disdain. “Good name? The Bennet family? I am sure they do not deserve the words. What is so good about a family that is so far beneath our own in consequence? A family that would see its youngest off to chase after grown men in the militia? Another who would presume to rise above her station in life and entertain the hope of one day being included in a family as noble and as honorable as ours?”
“If you think for one instance that what you have done will be the means of destroying my good opinion of the only woman I have ever loved, you are sadly mistaken.”
“You are free to love her all you wish, but she will never have what ought to be my daughter’s.
The Bennet family is ruined. Were you to align yourself with such disgraceful people, you too would be ruined.
You would be censured, slighted, and despised by everyone connected with you.
Your alliance would be a disgrace; your name would never again be mentioned by any of us. ”
“Those would be heavy misfortunes indeed, but with the woman that I love as my wife, the mistress of my home and the mother of my children, on the whole, I would have no cause to repine.”
“That young woman will never be your wife!” Lady Catherine exclaimed with energy.
“If you are so much in love with her as you suggest, then take her as your mistress. Set her up in her own establishment in town. Beget a household of bastards whose mother’s family shame will far outweigh the stain of their illegitimacy.
Surely Anne will look askance to such an arrangement. That is the way of our world.”
“It is not my way! Nor will it ever be.”
“I wager time will tell another story. You may, in a moment of weakness, have been drawn in by that woman’s arts and allurements. In time, you will wake up from your lust-fueled infatuation and remember what you are about. You will then thank me for what I have done.”
“Regardless of the outcome of all this, I will never thank you. You can be assured of that.”
“Your marriage to my daughter shall be all the thanks I need.”
“I will marry Miss Elizabeth Bennet or I will not marry at all.”
“Then you are determined to have her! You are determined to marry a woman whose youngest sister patrols the London streets at night in search of the highest bidder. You cannot be serious!” Lady Catherine cried.
The proud aristocrat continued, “If you will not think of what such shame-ridden connections would mean for yourself then think of the great harm to your own unmarried sister. Have you no concerns for Georgiana’s marital prospects?
Why, with the Fitzwilliam family’s noble name and the Darcy fortune, she might have her choice of any eligible young man in England—a young lord, an earl, even a duke.
Such promising prospects would mean nothing were she in any way connected to that Bennet family, and you know it. ”
“Georgiana’s future is none of your concern. That said, I would not be congratulating myself so soon if I were you. Your plan was not so well thought out as you supposed, regardless of how much money you settled on that wretched George Wickham.”
Her ladyship’s astonishment was evident, but she said nothing.
Darcy continued, “Wickham and young Miss Lydia Bennet have been discovered. They are married, rendering moot the circumstances that led them to the altar. In other words, the scandal is averted.”
“That is impossible! That girl is ruined by virtue of having lived in sin with a man who was not her husband. There was no reason in the world that he should have married her. What could possibly have tempted him?”
“I shall leave it to you to ferret out the details of your failed scheme. I will only say this. Now that this matter is settled, I shall go to Miss Elizabeth. I will court her, I will win her heart, and I will ask her to be my wife. God willing, she will accept my hand, even if it does mean a familial connection with the likes of you.” Darcy stood in preparation to quit the room.
“I will leave you with this, Aunt: Heaven help you should you do anything at all to stand in my way.”
The elderly aristocrat was highly incensed. “How dare you threaten me, Darcy! What is it that you think you can do?”
“Trust me, Lady Catherine; you do not want to find out.”