Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
After leaving his cousins, who he understood intended to follow his advice and visit the market town, Darcy returned to his apartment.
He allowed himself a moment to imagine Bramwell and Fitzwilliam encountering Elizabeth during their excursion—given she and her sisters liked to walk into Meryton.
They would inform her that they did not agree with their parents’ and Lady Catherine’s arguments, and, later, they could tell him how she looked, if she was well.
One of his greatest fears at present was that she would decide to give up on him.
Why would she anticipate making such people her family, knowing they would despise her, possibly seek to turn other people against her so that she would be left friendless, with her family shamed?
The only thing for him to do was to prove to her that there was no truth to the notion that his father had been intent on the match between his son and niece, certainly not to the extent Lady Catherine insisted, and—what might be even more valuable—find a way to convince the earl and countess to cease their objections.
Similarly, he must assure her that his other close connexions—his uncle Darcy and his family—would welcome her.
Unlike the previous day, Darcy was able to write a coherent letter to his solicitor asking that he determine whether his father had ever made arrangements for him to marry Anne beyond the letters Lady Catherine claimed to have exchanged with him.
Darcy doubted that he had, given his unexpected death and the fact they had never spoken of it.
Still, demonstrating that would support his side of their dispute.
Next, he wrote to Georgiana and Mrs Annesley.
After Lady Catherine’s visit to him in London, during which she had told him of coming to Hertfordshire and confronting Elizabeth, he had told his sister and her companion that they should prepare to travel to town.
Mr Potter, Pemberley’s steward, would accompany them on the journey, ensuring their safety and comfort; his sister lived near London, and he would be glad for the opportunity to see her.
What Darcy had not informed Georgiana of was that he would soon be proposing to Elizabeth.
Either she would accept, in which case he would like his sister there to join in his happiness, or she would again refuse him, and he would require his sister’s company to ease his sorrow.
He did not believe the latter would happen, but if it did, he would take Georgiana on a holiday, seek diversion to overcome what would be the end of his hopes regarding the only lady he could possibly give his heart to. He wrote:
Stay at Pemberley for now. I do not wish to explain the reasons more than to say Lady Catherine is not behaving as she ought.
She is attempting to bully me, and I do not want you to be dragged into the disgusting situation, which I am working to resolve.
She would seek to worry and browbeat you until you agreed with her.
Do not worry, my dear sister. I shall explain it all to you when we are together, and I do not imagine this will result in more than a slight delay.
Possibly, you will receive a letter from me the day after this one arrives telling you to have your bags packed.
No sooner had he finished the letter than Fitzwilliam joined him. They sat in matching leather wing chairs by the fireplace.
“The earl insisted on having yet another conversation with my brother about your cousin Rebecca,” the colonel explained.
“I think it would be an excellent match for Bramwell. She would only accept him if she felt true affection for him—if she loved him—and she is outspoken enough to demand he behave as an adult. In short, that he be more serious.” He made a noise that suggested sudden realisation.
“What I have been thinking is that she complements him well. What he lacks, she can provide, including knowing he is valued for who he is and not just his position in life, and what she lacks, he can provide.”
“What do you imagine my cousin needs from him?” Darcy was curious, but he asked more because it seemed Fitzwilliam expected it.
“Perhaps nothing she feels is all that important to her life, but he is rich and will be an earl. And you know he would be a loyal and fiercely protective husband to a woman he truly loves.” Darcy nodded, and Fitzwilliam continued.
“I realised that you have also chosen a lady that complements you well.”
Darcy arched his brow, silently encouraging his cousin to continue.
“She is lively, and you need someone who will encourage you to be less serious. She is also intelligent, which you require in a lady, because you would be bored and annoyed with a wife who was neither. And she would gain from your position in life. From what she told me last spring, her education was…informal, and I suspect she would value what you could tell and show her of the world.” Fitzwilliam smiled broadly.
“I congratulate you, Darcy. You have made an excellent decision, not only for yourself, but also for Georgiana. I can see that Miss Elizabeth would be just the sister she needs.”
“Now if only you could convince your parents,” Darcy said, his tone dry. “Since you have said nothing of it, I assume they have not agreed to depart?”
Fitzwilliam shook his head. “Bramwell and I have only now returned from Meryton. We saw Miss Elizabeth there, with Bingley and her sisters.”
“And?” Darcy asked, leaning forwards in his eagerness to hear more of the encounter.
“We spoke to her alone for a few minutes, really just long enough to assure her that my brother and I do not hold the same views as our parents and aunt, that we shall do what we can to alter Mother and Father’s opinion, and, finally, that she should expect to see you tomorrow morning.”
Darcy nodded and sat back. His gaze averted, he ran a hand over his mouth and contemplated being with Elizabeth the next day.
“When I came to find you, my mother was attempting to reason with Lady Catherine, but we both know that is a hopeless business,” Fitzwilliam said.
“She must be desperate to see Anne married. Though it is not necessary, given her fortune.” Darcy quietly chuckled. “Why do you not offer to marry her? Then we might all go about our lives and leave Bingley to enjoy his house.”
Fitzwilliam reached across the distance between them and punched his arm. “She does not want a penniless colonel as a son-in-law.”
“You are not penniless.”
“I am comparatively poor and, most importantly, I do not have a grand estate or title that would make me good enough for her precious daughter, who, as we have been assured for years, deserves only the best,” Fitzwilliam said sarcastically.
Darcy sniggered at the thought that Anne—insipid, in poor health, and generally devoid of attractions—could capture the attention of any gentleman who did not require her one redeeming quality: Rosings.
“Admit it, even if you were mistaken or your father could convince Lady Catherine to accept a match between you, you would not want it. Anne as your wife?”
“It feels wrong to admit it, and I do pity our cousin and wish her life had been more agreeable, but no. If it were a matter of Anne having someone to ensure her a secure future, keep her safe, or what have you, and to oversee the estate, then I suppose I might. But if she sought a true husband, one who would treat her as a wife and who married her for affection? No. More to the point, I would never want Lady Catherine as a mother-in-law.”
Darcy nodded to indicate he understood his cousin’s sentiments.
He supposed if there were no Elizabeth Bennet and several more years had passed without his meeting another lady he could foresee marrying, he might have considered his cousin, if only because his family favoured it and he would gain Rosings.
But even under those circumstances, he doubted he would have done more than spend a moment debating it; the simple fact was that he did not care for Anne and would not want a closer connexion to his aunt.
That was even more certain after her recent actions.
“What are you going to do?” Fitzwilliam asked.
Resting his head against the chair and closing his eyes, Darcy spoke of the questions he had posed to his lawyer and the letter he had written to Georgiana.
“Other than that, I must speak to Elizabeth, to reassure her that your parents—if not Lady Catherine—will see reason. I might resort to threats of my own. If our aunt is willing to issue them, saying she will ruin me, then I shall not hesitate to return the favour. You will join me in again encouraging them to depart and leave me to make my own choices?”
Fitzwilliam nodded, and they spent the next while speaking of other matters before preparing for dinner.
Several hours after she returned from Meryton, Mr Bennet called Elizabeth into his book-room.
He sat behind the old walnut desk from her, his fingers steepled and covering his mouth, and studied her for a long moment while she sat opposite him on a brocade armchair.
For some reason, her heart began to beat more quickly the longer he remained silent.
Likely it was because of the sense of unease that had settled over her since going to Netherfield with Mr Darcy and finding his family there.
The earlier conversation with Viscount Bramwell and Colonel Fitzwilliam had done little to alleviate it.