Chapter 15. Lady Catherine’s Horses
Spring arrived quickly after winter and during the days when the farmers were in the fields sewing grain, Mrs Bennet found the time of her confinement upon her.
A boy from the stable was sent into fields to locate Mr Bennet and the coachman was sent to Meryton to bring the midwife to Longbourn.
Kissing her daughters, Mrs Bennet sent them out the door to walk to Netherfield to visit with Georgie and Nanny Brice while their mother was delivered of her sixth child.
Jane and Elizabeth led their sisters across the fields and meadows for the long walk between the manor houses, but they paused to pick flowers, laugh at the antics of lambs playing in the pasture and watch birds so that they arrived without the youngest being exhausted.
Upon reaching the great house, the five sisters went above stairs to the music room where Georgiana practiced a new song on the pianoforte.
Mary and Kitty immediately joined her on the bench while Jane saw to Lydia, and Elizabeth explained their presence to Nanny Brice.
“Forgive us Nanny,” Elizabeth explained. “Mother sent the carriage to fetch the midwife, and our father is in the fields with the tenants.”
“There is nothing of concern Miss Elizabeth. Mr Darcy and your father spoke to me, and I know you are to remain here until the babe is born.”
While Nanny went to speak to Mr Nichols to prepare for five additional young ladies for luncheon, Mary and Georgiana went to the library for the new book with the tales of Robin Hood. Kitty continued playing the pianoforte and Lydia stood next to the instrument singing with Jane.
Elizabeth spent a few moments at the window looking out over an expanse of fields forming a patchwork quilt. Patient horses pulled small carts of seeds as men and boys walked back and forth, scattering seeds with each movement of their arms.
Her thoughts were with her mother, and she hated being too young to be of assistance today. Someone needed to be there to wash and swaddle the baby. And she worried about her mother even though Mrs Bennet assured her repeatedly that she would be well.
“Lizzy, I have had five confinements, and each one has been easier that the last. This baby will arrive with no trouble, I am certain.”
**++**
Interrupting her thoughts, a commotion in the hallway brought Elizabeth to the door where she found Mrs Hobbes standing at the top of the stairs attempting to block someone from coming up the stairs.
“Madam, the master is in the fields. You will wait in the parlour while he is summoned to attend you!”
“I shall do no such thing! I am Lady Catherine de Bourgh, almost Mr Darcy’s closest relation. I shall see my niece Georgiana now!”
“Mr Darcy was most explicit madam after your last visit. You are not to have run of the...”
Elizabeth saw the tall older woman push Mrs Hobbes aside and gain the top of the stairs. Only a single footman followed the woman though shouts from below stairs led Elizabeth to think the second footman was dealing with the Netherfield footmen.
“Where is my niece?” Lady Catherine demanded of Mrs Hobbes.
To distract the woman, Elizabeth slammed the door to the music room and turned to her sisters. “Do you remember...?”
But before she could say more, the door opened and the footman entered the chamber, followed by Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
**++**
“Georgiana! Come and greet me properly,” Lady Catherine announced as she stared at Kitty. Frozen in her place, Kitty’s eyes grew large as the tall, grey-haired lady approached the pianoforte. Lydia looked fearfully at the lady and her footman while Jane moved to intercept the woman.
“Madam, you are mistaken. This is my sister, Catherine Bennet. Your niece...”
“Is with her brother in the fields,” Elizabeth interjected. “She wished to ride with him this morning.”
“Nonsense,” the woman insisted. “This is my niece. I am her mother’s sister and would know her in any crowd of the proper folk.”
Lady Catherine paused to glance at the other children in the room and asked, “Who are you and why are you in my niece’s classroom?”
“Lady Catherine, my sisters and I are friends with Miss Darcy,” Jane explained.
“Nonsense I tell you!” the irate woman stepped closer to the pianoforte and grabbed Kitty’s arm. “This is my niece. She will come away with me...”
Catherine Bennet took only a moment to draw breath before she screamed; a petrifying cry filled with fear that angered Lady Catherine.
“Georgiana, stop this caterwauling this instant!” the woman commanded as she jerked on Kitty’s arm distressing the confused child even more. Jane and Elizabeth both sprang forward to protect their sister while Nanny Brice ran into the room with Mrs Hobbes.
The footman attempted to come around the pianoforte to assist his mistress, but Jane tripped him and then kicked him in that tender region that incapacitated men so completely. Elizabeth reached Kitty but before she could intervene, Kitty bit Lady Catherine’s arm.
“Oh!” exclaimed Lady Catherine as she released Kitty’s arm and stepped backwards where she fell against the pianoforte and lost her hat and her wig.
A Netherfield footman arrived in the room at that moment to deal with Lady Catherine’s footman properly while Nanny Brice and Mrs Hobbes pulled the older woman away from the sisters.
“Unhand me!” Lady Catherine demanded. “I am...”
“We know Your Ladyship!” Nanny Brice yelled.
A second footman arrived and the three of them forced the woman to a bedchamber and leaving her there, they returned to the hallway where upon Mrs Hobbes locked the door.
The angry woman inside the locked room pounded on the door but no one dared to open it again.
“Remain here and do not allow anyone inside until Mr Darcy arrives with direction,” Mrs Hobbes ordered the footman while Nanny Brice hurried back to the music room where Jane and Elizabeth were huddled together with Kitty and Lydia.
“Are you well child?” she asked while attempting to count heads. Then she asked, “Where is Miss Georgiana?”
Elizabeth looked up and rose, “Georgie and Mary went to the library for additional music.”
Running from the room, Elizabeth hurried down the stairs in a very unladylike manner with Nanny Brice not far behind while Mrs Hobbes escorted Jane, Lydia and Kitty down the stairs.
The footmen were missing from the foyer and Elizabeth did not give it a moment’s thought before running down the hallway to the library. Flinging open the door, she called, “Mary! Georgie! Where are you?”
Standing in a corner with a heavy candlestick in his hands, Mr Darcy’s secretary prepared to defend the two young girls huddled together behind him.
“Lizzy!” called both girls who ran around their defender to be engulfed in Elizabeth’s arms.
“Are you well?” Elizabeth asked as she examined both girls.
Nanny Brice arrived, and she also made certain that the girls were whole before she turned to collapse on the sofa for a moment.
Mrs Hobbes led the remaining girls into the room before shutting and locking the door.
All six girls gathered with Nanny Brice on the sofa and began to weep with relief.
“What happened?” asked Mary when she could speak.
“Georgie’s aunt Lady Catherine came to visit, and she thought Kitty was Georgiana. She grabbed Kitty’s arm and then Kitty screamed!” Elizabeth explained.
“She frightened me!” explained Kitty.
“And then Kitty was very brave...” Jane left the others in suspense for a moment before adding, “She bit Lady Catherine and made her release her grip on her arm.”
Elizabeth had to add a comment. “Kitty’s bite so affected Lady Catherine that she fell back on the pianoforte where she lost her hat and her wig. She looked very strange indeed.”
Georgiana was the first to giggle; an infectious sound that was soon duplicated by Jane, Mary, Elizabeth, Lydia and finally Kitty. Even Mrs Hobbes and Nanny Brice joined in the mirth that lasted for many minutes until they heard someone knocking on the library door.
Mr Lynton who had made certain the young ladies were left undisturbed now opened the door to allow the master of Netherfield into the room.
Upon seeing her brother, Georgiana broke into tears once more followed by Kitty, Lydia, Mary, and Mrs Hobbes.
Nanny Brice hiccupped and was most embarrassed while Elizabeth managed to hold back her tears though she moved to stand close to William.
When neither of the adult women could speak clearly and Mr Lynton explained he had no first-hand knowledge of the commotion above stairs, William turned to Elizabeth for an explanation of the events.
“Your aunt arrived and when she came into the music room, she mistook my sister Kitty for Georgiana. She laid hands on Kitty and said things that scared her. She wanted Kitty to ‘come with her’ and jerked her arm. Something no one at Longbourn would ever do.”
“Miss Catherine, are you well?” Mr Darcy inquired as he would of any child.
Kitty nodded but she said, “I would very much like to see my Papa and Mamma, please.”
“Mr Darcy, I am very proud to say that Kitty defended herself and bit Lady Catherine’s arm to make the lady release her hold,” Elizabeth told him.
“She bit Lady Catherine?” William asked in his most solemn and severe tone. Elizabeth moved to stand in front of her little sister–no one would chastise Kitty for defending herself.
Mr Darcy knelt on one knee before the sofa, took Kitty’s hand in his and asked, “Miss Kitty, how did Lady Catherine taste?”
The little girl was wide-eyed for a moment but then she saw him grinning, and Elizabeth was giggling again.
All of the adults began to laugh and to relieve any of Kitty’s fears, Jane and Lizzy both hugged her.
After a few moments, William looked at Mr Lynton.
“Would you be so good as to find a stable boy and send him to summon Mr Bennet? Miss Elizabeth, where is your father this afternoon?”