Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
It was a largely sleepless night for Darcy until exhaustion overcame him in the early hours, permitting him two or three hours of rest. As soon as his valet, Quinn, was aware that he had wakened, he said that the earl’s man had delivered a message.
Lord Romsley wanted to see him before breakfast; Darcy was to go to his bedchamber.
The vessels in his head immediately began to throb.
The note from his uncle was enough to make Darcy long to hide under the bedcovers and avoid the day, which he anticipated would be filled with frustrating, enraging, and repetitive disputes regarding his choices in life.
After consulting the mantel clock, he said, “I shall write a response to be delivered to his lordship in half an hour. Should anyone enquire, I am not yet awake.”
Sometime later, dressed and with a much-needed cup of strong tea warming his belly, Darcy went in search of Bingley.
The note to his uncle had claimed there would be no time to meet before the breakfast hour.
In reality, he simply wanted to delay speaking to him—or Lady Catherine, or even the countess.
He needed more sustenance before he could listen to their entreaties—demands—that he give up Elizabeth and accept the so-called rightness of a union with Anne.
At least at breakfast, I can count on Fitzwilliam and Bramwell’s support. His cousins would also provide distraction.
He found Bingley sitting alone in the drawing room. His friend gave him a look of sympathy, and, with a sigh, Darcy took a chair across from him.
“So?” Bingley asked. They had not spoken since he had departed to Longbourn with Elizabeth and Miss Bennet the previous day; by the time he had returned, Darcy had retired to his chamber.
Darcy sighed again and shook his head. “It was not pleasant. No doubt, you heard enough to understand why they have come. I cannot apologise enough for my family’s intrusion. It is unconscionably rude of them.”
Bingley waved this away. “You had no way of knowing they would follow you to Hertfordshire, nor have you control over their behaviour.” He blushed. “Now it is I who must apologise. I should not speak so of them.”
Darcy gave a low, humourless laugh. “After what you witnessed, after how horribly they spoke of Elizabeth, they deserve far worse. They will not succeed.”
Scratching his jaw and chuckling, Bingley admitted that he had not been aware of Darcy’s interest in Elizabeth. “She said little yesterday, even to Jane and me. Understandably, I suppose. I mean, she would not wish to speak of it to her parents or sisters.”
“How is she?” Darcy heard the slight tremble in his voice.
Above anything, he wanted to see Elizabeth, to hold her in his arms and promise her that all was well.
That would not be true, however, until he managed to send his family away with the promise that they would no longer interfere in his business.
Bingley contorted his features into several expressions, none of which Darcy could entirely interpret.
“Well…she was rather quiet, which is unusual for her. As I am sure you know. I could not say exactly what she felt, but if I had to guess, I would say she was as shocked by what happened, as we all were, and anxious on your behalf.”
He suppressed a desire to sigh, feeling he had done quite enough of it already.
“I would like nothing more than to say I shall go to see her at once or as soon as the hour is reasonable, but…” Bingley nodded his understanding.
“Already, my uncle requested a private discussion. My hope for today is that I shall convince them to leave, ideally before noon.”
Bingley nodded again, this time vigorously.
“Jane suggested I join the Bennets for breakfast, and I think I shall. I would not have wanted to leave without talking to you first, but I imagine my presence will not make the situation easier. Naturally, your relations would wish to speak to you alone.”
Darcy agreed and promised that he would join him at Longbourn once his family were gone, supposing the hour was not too late.
Breakfast went as Darcy had anticipated it would; the atmosphere was both frosty and heated, with more than himself feeling agitated and angry, from what he could tell from the expressions and voices they all used—apart from Anne, who remained silent.
Afterwards, he had yet another long discussion with the earl and Lady Catherine that left him wanting to hit his head against a wall.
Bramwell had joked about their aunt going mad, but it was Darcy who felt that he was.
The cause was the endless circle of arguments he felt trapped in, back and forth and back and forth they went, neither side willing to accept anything the other said.
Nothing was resolved, although to Darcy’s surprise, the earl appeared to want to find a compromise of some sort.
What that might be under the circumstances, Darcy did not know, and it seemed his uncle did not either.
Lady Catherine refused to settle for anything other than Darcy’s immediate removal to Kent and vow to remain at Rosings until after he was wed to Anne.
Darcy was also subject to a conversation with Lady Romsley.
The countess was gentler in her statements; she did not demand, but she spoke at some length of why it would be ‘so much better and easier’ for him to marry a lady from their own circle.
“If not Anne, then another. There are many eligible girls who would be a credit to your name and who would make excellent mistresses for Pemberley, to say nothing of sisters for Georgiana.”
“Anne is hardly of our circle,” Darcy retorted. “When was the last time she was in town? How many balls and soirées has she attended? I recall one occasion at which she was at the opera, and it proved too much for her. Or so Lady Catherine said. We all know Anne would not have told us.”
“I understand you are displeased by having us question your decisions, Nephew, but you need not use such a belligerent tone with me.”
Darcy’s cheeks warmed at the reprimand. “I apologise, Lady Romsley. You are correct, and I regret my words. I find the present situation…displeasing.”
“But you must understand our concern. I am well aware that my sister-in-law’s manner can be strident. Unyielding. But Catherine and Anne have long anticipated you would fulfil your parents’ hopes. Catherine told us you spoke of having the wedding soon when you were at Rosings in the spring.”
Before she could say more, he held up a hand, palm towards her.
“With respect, I have heard enough of what my father and mother supposedly desired for my future, to say nothing of my aunt and cousin. I can only insist, as clearly as possible, that nothing will change my opinion on the matter. As to her and I discussing a wedding, I assure you, I did not participate in such a conversation.” It was possible Lady Catherine had blathered about it, but she had often spoken thus, regardless of his assertions of disinterest, thus he paid no attention.
“As for your suggestion that I find another lady from the ton, please recall that, despite the numerous parties and so forth I have attended—in town and elsewhere—I have never met a lady I wanted to marry, that I felt I could be happy with. Until I met Miss Elizabeth. I understand my choice might surprise you, but I am convinced she and she alone will suit me, and I have felt this way for many months.”
Lady Romsley regarded him. The way her head was tilted to the side and the gentle crease between her eyebrows gave the impression that she was sad and perhaps resigned.
“If you are truly so set against marrying Anne, then I shall not try to change your mind. I do not know why my sister-in-law is convinced you agreed to wed this autumn when you say you did not, but that is immaterial, in my opinion. Of much greater import is this girl you wish to marry. You owe it to yourself, your estate, and the memory of your parents to make a more prudent match.”
“I owe it to myself to make a marriage that will ensure my happiness,” he countered. “Trust me enough to know that I would not marry a lady who was incapable of being a good sister and mistress.”
It took about ten minutes longer before he could escape the countess, and Darcy was unsure what she presently thought regarding the circumstances. Bramwell and Fitzwilliam were nearby and wanted to go to a quiet room so that he could tell them about the recent conversations, but he put them off.
“I have letters to write, and I do not want to delay sending them,” he insisted. “See if you can convince your parents to return to town. I think they are willing, but they will not go unless Lady Catherine does, and she insists she will not unless I agree to go with her and Anne.”
“We shall do our best,” Fitzwilliam promised. “After that, my brother and I shall follow your suggestion from last night and go into Meryton for a while.”
To no great surprise, Mr Bingley was at Longbourn in time for breakfast. He gave Elizabeth an awkward smile, but otherwise, he said nothing to her of what she most wanted to hear, meaning that Mr Darcy would be there soon and that his family had all returned to town or Kent or wherever they had come from.
But it would not be so simple to resolve the situation with them; Lady Catherine, if not the earl and countess, would not be easily convinced to support his desire to marry Elizabeth.