Chapter 6 #2
Louisa and Harold stood back respectfully, allowing the family members to greet one another first. Hilldale was the first to approach them.
“Harry, Mrs Hurst. It is good to see you so soon again, but I would have rather it had not been under such circumstances,” Hilldale said in greeting. “At least, Uncle Robert is no longer suffering, and he is with his beloved wife once again.”
“It is sad that it took the end of his life to take his pain away,” Louisa responded.
“When Harold and I saw him before we came to see you, it was not hard to see that the end was not far off. However, I am sure that regardless of how expected his passing was, it is not easier on his son and daughter. How is Miss Darcy doing?”
“Gigi is understandably devastated. My mother is caring for her,” Hilldale replied.
“Has the funeral been held yet? I know your brother was hoping he would arrive before the interment,” Harold commented. “At least at this time of the year, it is cold enough not to need a quick burial.”
“The cold weather is why William waited for Richard to arrive. The only family members who are not here are the de Bourgh ladies; no one will repine if our Aunt Catherine does not arrive. With Richard here, William will have the interment and funeral services held on the morrow,” Hilldale opined.
“Fortunately, Lady Catherine does not like leaving Rosings Park at the best of times, never mind when the weather is the way it is now.” Hilldale stepped aside as his cousin and father approached the Hursts.
“I thank you both for coming to condole with us,” Darcy said after a formal bow. “Mrs Reynolds will show you to the same suite you used when you called on us in September.”
Harold did not see any of Darcy’s aloofness present, just the look of one who was very sorrowful.
“Very good of you to bring my younger son,” Matlock added.
“It was our pleasure, Lord Matlock,” Harold returned with a bow, while next to him Louisa curtsied. “Besides, his company enlivened the journey for us.”
“Yes, my younger son can be rather jovial when he wants to be.” Matlock did not add that he and his Elaine gave daily thanks to God for the fact that their son’s duties kept him from the war the damned Corsican had begun in May of the current year.
If they ever discovered who or what caused Richard to change his mind and be willing to work as a liaison to the navy, they would owe that person a debt of gratitude, one a lifetime would not suffice to repay.
Those in the courtyard climbed the stone staircase leading to the single door, which led into the house.
“Mr and Mrs Hurst, please follow me,” Mrs Reynolds—Pemberley’s housekeeper, in her post for over seventeen years—requested. “You are in the same suite on the first guest floor, as you were for your previous visit.”
Louisa and Harold appreciated the housekeeper’s assistance.
The house was so large neither was confident they would have located the correct suite on their own.
They followed the woman up to the first floor and then to the staircase which bypassed the family floor leading directly up to the third floor, the first one of three floors for guests.
Unsurprisingly, by the time they entered the suite, Kinford and Holcomb were unpacking their clothing.
“I am very pleased I have a few dark dresses to wear while we are here,” Louisa stated. “Even though we are not family, we are being hosted in a house of mourning.”
“You are a very astute woman, one of the many reasons I was determined you would be mine. I will wear a black armband until we depart Pemberley.”
“Harold, would we break mourning protocol if we repeat the activities we performed the previous time we were in this suite?”
“I have never seen that activity listed as one to forgo when mourning. Add to that you are correct when you spoke about the fact that we are guests and not members of the family. Perhaps the best time would be after we dismiss your maid and my valet this evening once we are ready for bed,” Harold suggested.
There was no disagreement from Louisa about the timing for their marital activities.
After dinner—which was attended by Lady Matlock, who had left her niece in the care of her governess and a nurse for the evening—there was no separation of the sexes given how small the party was.
It was where Darcy told everyone that the funeral service would begin at half after eight in the morning on the morrow.
He reported that he had sent messages to the estates closest to Pemberley whose masters had a connection to his late father, some to Lambton, and another rider to notify the tenants.
“I do not know if I will ever get used to sitting in my father’s chair, behind his desk, and working in his study,” Darcy commented absent mindedly to no one in particular.
“Like it did for me after my father, your Grandfather Fitzwilliam, passed away, it will take you some time, William. Never forget that all of us are here to support you. As I am the executor of your father’s Last Will and Testament, I will have the solicitor read it after we all return from the funeral on the morrow,” Matlock responded.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Pemberley’s church was full to capacity, and beyond.
Estate owners, some of them titled, rubbed shoulders with tradesmen from Lambton and Kympton, not to mention male servants and tenants from Pemberley.
The rectors of Lambton and Kympton shared the duties, as both of them were under Pemberley’s advowson.
When he looked around, one man was conspicuous by his absence; the parasite was nowhere to be seen. Harold had not heard anything about him since the late Mr Darcy had seen him for what he was, so he thought no more about it.
When the mortal remains of Robert Darcy were entombed in the Darcy crypt below the church, next to the body of his beloved Anne, only family and close friends had been in attendance. Harold, like a few others, waited in the church for those who descended into the cellar below the church to return.
While the men were at the church, the public rooms at the mansion were filled with ladies who had come to condole with the Darcys.
Louisa made sure she was always next to Miss Darcy, who was only eight, so she could shield her from most of the ladies and their platitudes.
Lady Matlock was acting as the hostess, so she was not always able to keep an eye on her niece.
Once the men returned, Miss Darcy was excused to return to the nursery with her governess and the nurse.
As soon as those not being hosted in the house departed, the three Fitzwilliams and Darcy joined the solicitor in the study for the reading of the will. With the callers gone, Miss Darcy, in her black bombazine gown, joined the ladies in the drawing room.
While the men were in the study one floor above the drawing room where the ladies were, there was a disturbance from the hall.
“Where is my nephew? I must see him, so I can put everything to rights,” was screeched from out in the hallway. The door was pushed open before the butler could open the doors and announce the shrieking creature.
“Catherine!” Lady Matlock said resignedly just before the double doors flew open.
“Elaine! I was told that the interment took place without me. I am seriously displeased,” Lady Catherine de Bourgh snarled. “Where is my nephew? He will do his duty and marry Anne as soon as may be, just like my sister and I planned when they were in their cradles.”
“I had heard Miss de Bourgh is eighteen. Darcy is one and twenty,” Harold drawled. “How were they in their cradles at the same time when there are three years between them?”
Lady Catherine stood sputtering before she recovered. “Do you know who I am? I am not in the habit of brooking disappointment.”
“Catherine, where is Anne?” Lady Matlock asked when she recovered her voice. “Please tell me you did not drag her from pillar to post in this weather on your fool’s errand.”
“She is resting in the coach,” Lady Catherine sniffed.
Lady Matlock jumped up but first turned to the governess. “Take Miss Darcy to the nursery.” Afterwards, she left the room at speed to go see to her sickly niece.
“You there, prepare my niece to travel; she will be leaving with me,” Lady Catherine demanded of the governess, who thankfully ignored the woman and led her now sobbing charge out of the drawing room, Nurse following closely behind.
Harold nodded to Louisa, who closed the door so only they and the termagant were in the room. “Lady Catherine, unless you would like to lose everything and end up in gaol, you will cease this caterwauling in a house of mourning and leave forthwith.”
“I am a peeress; you can do nothing to me…” Lady Catherine began to screech.
“You are no more a peer than I am. I know you paid the men on the hunt to prevaricate to hide Mr de Bourgh’s suicide.
Yes, I know that he was stripped of his title even though you hid that fact,” Harold related matter-of-factly.
“Do not test me, Madam; you know full well what the penalty for felo de se is, do you not?”
Lady Catherine de Bourgh, who took pleasure in cowing others turned white and began to shake. Who was this man and how did he know about her husband’s shame?
“I see I have your attention. We do not have much time before we are interrupted. You will leave this house without your daughter as soon as I say so. In addition, you will never again mention this phantom engagement, and you will behave like the lady you are supposed to be. Cross me, and I will make sure that a full investigation is conducted by others who know the truth, and your courtesy title will be the least of the things you will lose. Do I need to repeat myself?” Harold hissed threateningly.
The woman was a bully and needed to be treated as such.
As she did not trust herself to speak, Lady Catherine nodded her head weakly.
“Good. As soon as Lady Matlock returns with your daughter, you will leave. Until then, you will sit in silence and make no demands of anyone,” Harold commanded.
When Lady Matlock returned, she was ready to take her sister-in-law to task.
She halted before she let loose her tirade.
Instead of the bombastic, demanding, pretentious lady, she found a shell of the former Lady Catherine.
Her sister-in-law looked like she had aged decades in the time she had been out of the drawing room to see to Anne and before her was a meek kitten.
Seeing the man who held her future in his hand nod, Lady Catherine stood. “I must take my leave. Convey my regrets.” With that, she was gone.
Just then Lord Matlock entered with the other three younger men following him. “Did I hear the dulcet tones of my sister? Where is she?” He looked around the room and saw no one else.
“What happened while I was away?” Lady Matlock enquired. Had she not been such a well-bred lady, she would have scratched her head.
“Of what do you speak?” Matlock asked.
“Catherine barged in…” Lady Matlock told what had occurred which had led to her rescuing a very weak Anne from the de Bourgh coach. “When I returned, Catherine was not the same person. She simply left before making any more demands, so I repeat, what happened while I was away?”
“Nothing of note, your Ladyship,” Harold responded innocently. “I suppose she had a change of heart.”
Fitzwilliam had a very good idea what had caused the harridan’s withdrawal. He looked at Harry questioningly. The almost imperceptible nod told him all he needed to know; well, that and the look of pride Mrs Hurst was sending her husband.
“You may want to assure Miss Darcy that she is not leaving. Before your aunt changed her mind, she demanded that your sister accompany her,” Harold told Darcy.
Without another word, Darcy strode out of the drawing room to go see his sister. The three eldest Fitzwilliams looked about suspiciously. They were certain something had occurred in their absence, but they had no idea what. Someone had taken charge of Catherine, but who and how?