Chapter 17 #2
Her ladyship approached her dearest nephew and stopped short of tearing Elizabeth’s hand from his.
Her voice brokered a measure of outrage tempered by desperation.
“What of your engagement to Anne? From your infancy, you have been intended for each other. It was the favourite wish of your mother as well as mine. What has become of you, Nephew? Have you not heard me say you were destined for my daughter?”
“I have heard it repeatedly. But what is that to me? The two of you exercised the full extent of your power in conjecturing the marriage. Its completion depended on others. I am neither by honour nor inclination confined to my cousin. I have made my choice. I have asked Miss Elizabeth to be my bride, and she has agreed. You must learn to accept it.”
“I shall never accept it! Honour, decorum, prudence, nay, interest, forbids it.” She glared at Elizabeth.
“Do not expect to be noticed by his family or friends if you wilfully act against the inclinations of all. You will be 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.”
Elizabeth shrugged. “These are heavy misfortunes, but the wife of Mr. Darcy must have such extraordinary sources of happiness necessarily attached to her situation that she could, upon the whole, have no cause to repine.”
“Obstinate, headstrong girl! I am ashamed of you! Is this your gratitude for my attentions to you in my home? Is nothing due to me on that score? Understand me, Miss Bennet; I came here with the determined resolution of carrying my purpose. I will not be dissuaded from it. I am not in the habit of brooking disappointment.”
“That will make your ladyship’s present situation more pitiable, but it will have no effect on me.”
“Silence! I will not be interrupted. My daughter and my nephew are formed for each other.
They are of the same sphere—descended, on the maternal side, from the same noble line.
Their fathers are from respectable, honourable, and ancient—though untitled—families.
Their fortune on both sides is splendid.
“Are they to be divided by the upstart pretensions of a young woman without family, connections, or fortune? Is this to be endured?” Her ladyship drew a sharp breath.
“Do you not recall that I mentioned to you at Rosings, Miss Bennet, that you would be well advised not to quit the sphere in which you have been brought up? You know nothing of my nephew’s world. ”
Elizabeth jutted her chin. “In marrying your nephew, I am not quitting my sphere. He is a gentleman; I am a gentleman’s daughter.”
“True. You are a gentleman’s daughter. But what of your mother—who are your uncles and aunts? Do not imagine I am ignorant of their condition.”
“Whatever my connections may be, if your nephew does not object to them, they can be nothing to you.”
Mr. Bennet tucked his hands behind his back and peered over his spectacles. “There you have it, your ladyship. There is to be a wedding uniting our families, and there is nothing to be done to prevent it. I beg to be importuned no longer on the subject.”
“Not so hasty, if you please. I am by no means done. To all the objections I have already urged, I have still another to add. I am no stranger to the particulars of your youngest daughter’s infamous elopement, sir.
I know it all; that the young man’s marrying her was a patched-up business at the expense of you and her uncles. ”
Darcy and Elizabeth exchanged furtive glances. He gently brushed his thumb against the back of her hand.
Lady Catherine rattled on. “Is such a girl to be my nephew’s sister? Is her husband—the son of a steward—to be my nephew’s brother? Heaven and earth! Of what are you people thinking? Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?”
Mr. Bennet cleared his throat. “You have said quite enough, your ladyship. You can now have nothing further to say.” He extended his hand towards the door.
“You have insulted my family in every possible way. I must beg you to leave my home. However, as we are all destined to be family, you are most welcome to return for the wedding.”
Her ladyship would not be waylaid. She glared at Elizabeth. “You are committing to a grave mistake, you foolish girl! Do you not consider that a connection with you must disgrace my nephew in the eyes of everyone of consequence?”
Elizabeth huffed. “Lady Catherine, you know my sentiments.”
“You are then resolved to have him?”
“I am resolved to act in that manner, which constitutes my happiness, without reference to you, or to any person so wholly unconnected with me.”
“You refuse, then, to obey the claims of duty, of honour. You are determined to ruin him in the opinion of all his friends, and make him the contempt of the world.”
“Neither duty, nor honour would be violated by my marriage with Mr. Darcy. And with regard to the resentment of his family, or the indignation of the world, if the former were excited by his marrying me, it would not give me one moment’s concern—and the world in general would have too much sense to join in the scorn. ”
Lady Catherine turned away from Elizabeth.
Her eyes fixed pleadingly on her nephew, she cried, “Darcy, I implore you to be reasonable. You have invited nothing but misery to your doorstep!” She cast a disparaging glance about the room.
“Look around you, Nephew. These people are nothing in comparison to us. What on earth leads you to suppose you will ever be contented with a woman the likes of that one. She is impertinent. She is wilful, and I have been made aware she suffers a grave inability to curb her sharp tongue. She would be an embarrassment to us all.”
Darcy said, “There will be no more of such talk, Lady Catherine! My future is settled. Desist your tirade at once; else I shall forever consider you a stranger.”
“You cannot be serious. I am your closest family—your own blood!”
“Miss Elizabeth and her family are my family now.”
“And this is your real opinion! This is your final resolve! Very well. I shall now know how to act.” She turned her back on her nephew and scowled at Elizabeth.
“Do not imagine, Miss Bennet, that this is the end of it. I am not without influence. You Bennets shall regret the day that you crossed me.”
In this manner, Lady Catherine talked on until she reached the door. Turning hastily round, she added, “I take no leave of you and your so-called family, Nephew. You deserve no such attention. I am most seriously displeased.”
Some minutes passed, and Mrs. Bennet still had not formed her thoughts in a manner suitable to the ears of her future son-in-law whom she now looked upon with approbation.
Heading for the quiet sanctuary of his library, Mr. Bennet paused. “Perhaps her ladyship will not be returning for the wedding after all. What a shame it is, for her liveliness will surely be missed.”
Now that her ladyship was gone and had taken with her the gravity of the situation, Elizabeth could not help smiling.
She was marrying a man whom she dearly esteemed.
This incredible man, standing by her side, had proved his love for her by his steadfastness and his devotion.
And ultimately, by his sacrifice on behalf of her family, he had demonstrated his love for her.
Nothing else matters.