Chapter 34
The following day was marked by an invitation from Mr Collins’ patroness, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, to dine that evening at Rosings Park.
Elizabeth had not expected any such attentions and was most curious to meet the great lady.
Mr Collins had spoken little of her, merely mentioning that she had awarded him the living and that she had a daughter who was of an age with Elizabeth’s friend, Charlotte Lucas, but unfortunately was not well.
“These are the famous cousins who have so transformed you, I presume,” Lady Catherine intoned before any introductions had been made.
Lady Catherine was a statuesque lady, taller even than Mr Bennet.
She was dressed in a high-collared dress, which was undoubtedly expensive, if out of fashion for more than a decade, and she wore a haughty expression that reminded Elizabeth of someone, but she could not say who.
“Indeed, Ma'am, may I introduce my cousins?” he said and awaited her assent. She nodded, and he continued, “Lady Catherine de Bourgh, my cousins, Mr Thomas Bennet, Miss Bennet, and Miss Elizabeth Bennet,” he said, and Mr Bennet bowed, and Jane and Elizabeth curtsied as the introductions were made.
“Your cousin seems to be a gentleman,” she observed, “and your young cousins seem very ladylike.” Elizabeth’s eyes raised at this pronouncement, but she saw her father’s eyes twinkle in mirth at her unmannerly words.
“Indeed,” Mr Collins replied, “my cousin, as I mentioned previously, is the owner of Longbourn, which, although it is small in comparison to Rosings, is an estate with a long history and has been in the family for many generations.”
“Mmm,” was Lady Catherine’s response to this.
“This is my daughter, Anne,” she said, and it was only then that they realised that she was not alone.
A small pale woman was sitting in the furthest corner of the room, wrapped in blankets.
They bowed and curtsied to her, and she nodded her head weakly, and Elizabeth’s heart went out to the sickly young woman.
“Your estate is entailed on Mr Collins, I understand?” Lady Catherine questioned Mr Bennet, and he confirmed it was true.
These questions coming after so many others, which in any other circumstances she was sure her father would have refused to answer.
The dinner, which was excellent and not overly complex, had been peppered with such queries, and Elizabeth had hoped this line of questioning had ended with the meal, but it seemed not.
With only two gentlemen in attendance for the evening, there not being a male in Rosings, Lady Catherine decided that there would be no division of the sexes after dinner, for which Elizabeth was glad.
“I see no occasion for entailing estates from the female line. It was not thought necessary in my late husband, Sir Lewis de Bourgh’s, family. Do you play and sing, Miss Bennet?” Lady Catherine went on to say in a non-sequitur.
“A little,” Jane confirmed but Elizabeth is the better of us,” she admitted.
Elizabeth understood this to be an instruction, not a request, and therefore went to the pianoforte.
She hoped that this meant that Lady Catherine had run out of impertinent questions to ask her father.
He had sat through it all with a faint air of amusement that Elizabeth would not have been able to hold, if she had been in his place.
She looked through the music sheets and, finding nothing to her taste, chose to play a light Scottish air that she knew by heart.
She had to admit that the instrument was the finest she had ever played, no family in Meryton having the funds for such a pianoforte.
Having finished the Scottish air, she continued to play, digging into her repertoire for pieces she did not need the music sheets for.
It was as she began the third piece that she noticed that Miss de Bourgh was paying her rapt attention, and giving that lady some pleasure made Elizabeth play on for much longer than she would have otherwise.
When the evening ended, Lady Catherine had offered one of her carriages to bring the party back to the parsonage, but they had declined the offer.
Elizabeth was pleased to be ending the evening with this pleasant walk, the parsonage standing at the very entrance to Rosings Park, and the path clearly visible in the bright moonlight.
Elizabeth looked up at the moon and walked jauntily on by herself, Jane having taken their father’s arm, and her cousin walking close beside her.
She smiled, it was a time she would never normally get to walk, for it would have been improper for a lady to walk alone at such a time.
“You will look forward to seeing Lady Catherine’s nephew again,” Mr Collins said, and Elizabeth came to a complete stop.
“Again?” she asked.
“Why yes,” her cousin said, his tone questioning, “for you know that one of the nephews Lady Catherine said would be joining her tomorrow is Mr Darcy,” and at that name, the whole party stopped walking to look at Mr Collins.