Chapter 11 #2
Lady Catherine’s discourse was momentarily halted when Mr. Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam entered the room.
Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief for the reprieve.
Surely her ladyship must relish the prospect of lavishing her attentions upon her favourite nephew, Mr. Darcy.
It is not often she has the opportunity to see him.
“Good you have joined us, nephews, although I cannot imagine what kept you. I have been getting better acquainted with Miss Bennet.” She turned to Elizabeth.
“After dinner, I must insist that you play something for us, Miss Bennet, for music is my delight. There are few people in England, I suppose, who have more true enjoyment of music than myself, or a better natural taste. If I had ever learnt, I should have been a great proficient. And so would Anne, if her health had allowed her to apply. I am confident she would have performed delightfully.”
Elizabeth cast a glance in Miss de Bourgh’s direction to see how she bore her mother’s commendations.
She saw for herself that Mr. Collins had given a fair assessment of the young heiress when describing her as sickly.
Elizabeth also looked at Mr. Darcy to see how cordially he assented to his cousin’s praise only to discern no symptom of love.
I suppose he might have been just as likely to marry Miss Caroline Bingley, were she a wealthy relation.
“I understand you do not play very well, Miss Bennet, but one can hardly expect a great deal of competence from a young woman raised in a household of five daughters with no governess. I understand you did not have the benefit of the London masters either. What a shame it is to be reared under such disadvantageous circumstances.”
Benevolence mixed with omnipotence lit her ladyship’s expression. “You shall come to Rosings every day during your stay and play on the pianoforte in Mrs. Jenkinson’s room. You would be in nobody’s way in that part of the house.”
Elizabeth felt her temper rising. Fighting to maintain her composure, she looked across the room and feigned admiration of her ladyship’s garish mantel clock. How much more of this must I endure before dinner?
Later that evening, when Lady Catherine, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Miss de Bourgh, and Mrs. Jenkinson were waiting for the gentleman to join them after dinner, her ladyship said to Elizabeth, “I am well aware that you rejected Mr. Collins’s hand in marriage.
I assure you he would have been a fine husband, but in such cases as this, your imprudence has been the means of Mrs. Collins’s good fortune.
” She curled her lips. “I believe people should not venture beyond their sphere. Do not suppose for one instant I have not seen the manner in which my nephews look at you. Although you are a very pretty young woman, you would be well advised to accept the offer of marriage from the young man your father has chosen for you when the time comes.”
Just as she was finishing her speech, the gentlemen walked into the room.
“There the two of you are. I was just counselling Miss Bennet of the advantages of staying in one’s own sphere when seeking to make a good match.
But I do not have to remind either of you of that, for I am certain both of you know what is expected of you. ”
Elizabeth leisurely ambled along, agreeably engaged as she perused Jane’s last letter and dwelt on those passages that proved Jane and Bingley’s engagement was fulfilling her sister’s every notion of blissfulness.
She could not have been happier, for if anyone deserved such contentment it was her eldest sister.
Jane, who was all that was good and who possessed the temperament of an angel, was a great source of pride for Elizabeth.
She counted upon Jane’s righteousness as devoutly as she depended upon the sun rising each day.
Nearly every morning since they arrived in Kent, Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth had the uncanny knack of meeting in her favourite lane.
That particular day, instead of being again surprised by Mr. Darcy, she saw on looking up that Colonel Fitzwilliam was meeting her.
Immediately putting her letter away and bestowing a warm smile, she said, “I did not know before that you ever walked this way.”
“I have been making the tour of the park. I intend to close it with a call at the Parsonage. Are you going much farther?”
“No, I should have turned in a moment.” Accordingly, she did turn, and they walked towards the Parsonage together.
“Darcy informed me that you are not planning to return to town with us. I was quite saddened to hear that.”
“Indeed. My plans have always called for a longer stay, and I dare not disappoint my dear friend Charlotte by cutting our visit short.” Even though owing to her foolish husband, I would like nothing more than to leave earlier than I had planned.
“I suspect you shall leave Kent very soon.” Taking with you, my last best hope of escaping my father’s scheme.
“Yes—if Darcy does not put it off. I suspect he might, based upon something he said in passing. I, however, am at his disposal. He arranges the business just as he pleases.”
“And if not able to please himself in the arrangement, he has at least pleasure in the great power of choice. I do not know anybody who seems more to enjoy the power of doing what he likes than Mr. Darcy,” said Elizabeth.
“He likes to have his own way very well, but who among us does not? It is only that he has better means of having it than many others. He is rich, and many others are poor. I speak from experience. A younger son, you know, must be inured to self-denial and dependence.”
“In my opinion, the younger son of an earl can know very little of either. Now seriously, what have you ever known of self-denial and dependence? When have you been prevented by want of money from going wherever you chose, or procuring anything you had a fancy for?”
“These are home questions—and perhaps I cannot say I have experienced many hardships of that nature. But in matters of greater weight, I may suffer from want of money. Younger sons cannot marry where they like.”
Smiling, Elizabeth remarked, “Unless where they like women of fortune, which I think they very often do.”
“Our habits of expense make us too dependent, and there are not many in my rank of life who can afford to marry without some attention to money.”
Does he mean his declaration for my benefit? Having been caught completely unprepared for his avowal, even a bit disappointed, she immediately considered his words in a light conducive to her resolve to have as little to do with Lady Catherine as possible.
Were the colonel to fancy me, I might forever be forced to endure the officious aristocrat with regularity.
She did not intend to regret him. Elizabeth’s spirits rose to playfulness.
“And pray, what is the usual price of an earl’s younger son?
Unless the elder brother is very sickly, I suppose you would not ask above fifty thousand pounds. ”
He answered her in the same style, and the subject dropped.
Elizabeth did not mean for him to mistake her silence as a sign of her disappointed hopes, for she was anything but dismayed by now, such was the strength of her distaste for Lady Catherine.
However, she did like the colonel and was satisfied they should always be amicable towards each other.
Endeavouring to enjoy a bit of levity, she said, “I imagine your cousin brought you down with him chiefly for the sake of having someone at his disposal. I wonder he does not marry to secure a lasting convenience of that kind.”
“Were Darcy inclined to marry, the woman of his choice would be most fortunate. However, I do not know that he ever intends to marry; at least not any time soon, and certainly not to any of the young women of his acquaintance whom I have had the privilege of meeting.”
“Then, he does not mean to marry his cousin, Miss de Bourgh?”
The colonel chuckled. “I suppose you have been listening to my aunt. I know of no one else who postulates such a ridiculous notion. Surely Darcy does not. When he marries, he will no doubt choose his bride from the highest circles, but it certainly will not be Anne.”
A man of Mr. Darcy’s temperament and wealth in want of a wife of great fortune—this knowledge came as no surprise to her. She had supposed it to be Anne largely on Mr. Wickham’s testimony. How could he have been mistaken?
What does it matter? Mr. Darcy’s name has never graced my list and for good reason.
She had removed Mr. Wickham’s name from her list soon after her arrival in Kent when she had been informed by Charlotte that the gentleman had shown a preference for a young woman in Hertfordshire, a Miss Mary King, almost immediately after she received an inheritance of ten thousand pounds.
Now she was compelled to remove the colonel’s name as well, leaving one choice—Mr. Justin Caseman.
An uninterrupted silence ensued between Elizabeth and her walking companion. It was just as well for Elizabeth had much to consider. I am mere weeks from returning to Longbourn with no prospects other than the gentleman whom my parents have ordained as my future husband. What am I going to do?