Chapter 18 #3
“What do you mean? I was only joking,” he explained, but the moment his gaze rested on Anne, he frowned. Her eyes were tearful and her expression pale; her hands were trembling in her lap, and the colonel suddenly embraced his cousin tightly.
“Anne dearest, I did not mean to upset you! I was only joking; I wanted to make you forget about this ridiculous fight and… Please forgive me,” he said as he tenderly caressed her hair.
“Darcy is right; it is entirely our fault—his and mine. We come every year to Rosings, and we should have observed that Aunt is too severe with you. Please do not cry; we will take care of you now. I will take care of you! Will you forgive me?”
He was still holding her tightly, her head leaning against his shoulder, and she tried to hide her sobbing as she whispered, “There is nothing to forgive.”
A few minutes passed in silence until Darcy intervened.
“Anne, we must discuss what you wish to do, and I must be sure of your safety. I planned to go to Netherfield tomorrow; Georgiana has decided to remain in Town. She wished to stay with you, and I encouraged her in this decision. But I can change my plans if necessary. I shall be away for a fortnight.”
“There is no need to change your plans,” said the colonel. “We shall take care of Anne.”
“I shall be fine.” Anne forced a tearful smile. “Forgive me for worrying you so. Please do not change your plans for me… I shall be fine. And I thank you… I would love to come to Pemberley if it is no trouble. I have not seen Pemberley in years.”
“It will be interesting to see how Aunt Catherine takes this news.” The colonel laughed again, his amusement impossible to conceal.
“She will go distracted, I dare say. Perhaps I should move here for the time being to protect Anne. Better said, I should move into Anne’s room, to be certain Aunt will not hire someone to kidnap her. ”
“Robert!” Darcy sharply interrupted him, but the colonel dismissed him with a gesture.
“Oh, you are so serious, Darcy. Go to Hertfordshire and take care of your business; we shall be fine here. We shall take care of Anne, and Father—poor fellow—will take care of Lady Catherine. We must calm her as soon as possible; she will become wild again when she receives certain news from Hertfordshire.”
He glanced at Darcy then continued to laugh. “Forgive my indiscretion, Cousin, but really you cannot hope that your news is still a secret from anyone in our family.”
“Did you propose to Miss Bennet? That is wonderful news,” said Anne shyly, and the colonel and Selina burst out in laughter. After a first moment of shock, Darcy had no other choice than to join them.
“It appears not to be much of a secret any longer. I wonder what betrayed us; Elizabeth and I tried to be discreet about the engagement,” Darcy inquired seriously, which only increased the others’ amusement. Even Anne could not stem her laughter.
That very moment the library door opened, and the earl and viscount entered. They remained motionless in the doorway, staring at the happy group.
“Well, this is unexpected. We walked around town, looking for Darcy, and you seem to have a jovial party here. May I ask what is so amusing?”
“Welcome, Papa,” Selina greeted him with a gentle kiss on his cheeks. “We have made plans for the summer; I will tell you immediately. And Darcy informed us of his plan to go to Hertfordshire tomorrow.”
“Oh, good. You will finally speak to Mr Bennet. I think we should put the announcement in the papers as soon as possible.,” The earl spoke with perfect calmness, as though it were a matter long discussed and agreed to; the others began to laugh again while Darcy stared at them sheepishly.
Lord Matlock and the viscount watched the laughing group in bewilderment and then concluded that the argument with Lady Catherine had affected the family’s sanity.
As he enjoyed a drink at the end of that distressing day, the earl was informed of the plans regarding Anne.
He approved but expressed his concern that Catherine would be difficult to convince, and though Anne was of age and could make her own decisions, staying away from her mother was not easy to accomplish.
His main goal was to avoid a scandal, which would surely hurt their family’s reputation.
Lady Catherine could not be expected to behave in a reasonable manner when she was upset.
“Well, we shall see. We must find a way to settle this eventually, although I expect Catherine’s reaction on hearing a specific news item from Darcy to be quite violent.”
“Mother will be so angry if she finds that… You must be careful, Cousin,” Anne said, emotional and tearful.
“If mother meets Miss Elizabeth, she will be very harsh with her. If I can do anything to protect you from all this trouble… If I could convince Mama that our marriage was never a possibility—”
“Anne dear, you must not worry about me—or about Miss Elizabeth Bennet. Neither of us is afraid of Aunt Catherine.” Darcy smiled.
“Oh, I am aware of that,” Anne replied. “I saw her when she was in Kent. I must say I never met anyone so courageous! She was not intimidated in the slightest by Mama. I can easily see her confronting Mother quite forcibly if needed!”
“Quite.” Darcy smiled again.
“Well, Anne, you could find someone to marry you just to escape Lady Catherine’s obsession. That would be quite a joke.” The colonel laughed once more, and again the others did not share his amusement. The colonel was puzzled.
“Robert, would you join me at the club?” Darcy said suddenly. “I have some last-minute business to attend to before I leave tomorrow.”
“Gladly. I shall see you all tomorrow as I have some fixed appointments for tonight.” He smiled mischievously as he took his farewell. “Anne, you must promise me you will rest and not worry about anything.”
“I promise,” she whispered with a forced smile.
“I shall see you tomorrow morning before I leave,” Darcy added warmly.
“Thank you, Cousin,” said Miss de Bourgh as her cousins closed the door behind them.
“Robert, what in the world is wrong with you? Damn it, man, how can you be so insensible? How can you make Anne so uncomfortable?” Darcy asked severely as soon as they entered the carriage.
“Pardon me? Pray tell me, how do I make Anne uncomfortable? What nonsense is this?”
“Why do you keep making fun of her timidity? You did the same when we were in Kent! And how could you joke about your moving into her room? And about someone marrying her just to foil Aunt Catherine? Can you not imagine how painful such jokes are for her—especially coming from you? You believe she has no feelings?”
“Darcy, I do not understand what you are talking about! I am quite fond of Anne; you know that. How could I make fun of her? They were just harmless jests!”
“You may be fond of her, but you have no compassion! You know she takes every word from you seriously. And on that subject: I do not want to sound hypocritical, nor do I pretend to be the master of proper behaviour, but you should be careful when you embrace Anne. She is very sensitive now—even more so than before—and she could easily misunderstand your care.”
“Misunderstand? What do you mean? Be careful when I embrace Anne—what silliness is this?” Darcy looked at his cousin, who seemed completely at a loss, and hesitated continuing the conversation.
Was he really so oblivious to Anne’s feelings—he, of all people, who was so accustomed to ladies’ company?
“Darcy, this is a very unfortunate moment to be silent! You must explain to me what is bothering you; it seems I am not smart enough to comprehend your meaning. Apparently, I do not even know how to behave with my cousin—”
“There is no need to be upset; it was not my intention to offend you. But I was certain that, by now, you were aware of Anne’s tender feelings for you. For heaven’s sake, I guess you and Aunt Catherine are the only ones who missed it.”
“Anne has tender feelings for me? You mean—” The colonel appeared so shocked by the revelation that it was Darcy’s turn to quell the temptation of laughing at him.
Eyes wide, face pale, speechless, and as nervous as a boy, Colonel Fitzwilliam looked nothing like the charming gentleman who was known as the ladies’ favourite.
“Anne has tender feelings for me? Are you certain, absolutely certain?”
“Yes, Cousin, I am absolutely certain. I cannot see how this could possibly have happened and what you did to deserve it, but I am certain.” Darcy attempted to lighten the tension.
The colonel looked at him sharply.
“If we begin a conversation about how deserving each of us might be, it would be difficult to understand how Miss Elizabeth possibly accepted your proposal. So let us not dwell upon the subject any longer. Better, tell me how you can be so certain? About Anne…do you believe she has hopes that…? Did I encourage her in any way? I would hate to know I made her suffer, even if it was most unwittingly.”
“Robert, Anne is a reasonable person—and very wise. She surely did not inherit this trait from the Fitzwilliam family.” Darcy smiled. “I do not think she had any particular hopes…but we both know how difficult is to command the heart. I only want you to be careful. Forgive me if I offended you.”
“No, no—you are right of course,” the colonel replied with no little worry. “I am grateful that you pointed out this particular situation to me. I shall be careful…”
For the rest of the ride, Robert said nothing. His preoccupation was impenetrable, and Darcy attempted unsuccessfully to raise his spirits until they reached the club.
∞∞∞
Elizabeth felt trapped inside the house while her mind travelled through London in search of Darcy, and her heart startled each time a door opened.