Chapter 54 Unraveling
Within the confines of her private sitting room, Lady Catherine paced like a panther in a too-small cage.
Twenty years on from Sir Lewis' death, she still preferred to wear black.
Not out of mourning but because, in the richest and most elegant fabrics she could find, it conveyed a strong sense of power and respectability.
She was fond of both. None of those fashionable, flimsy muslins for her.
Lady Catherine wanted velvets and brocades that bespoke wealth through their rich depth and silks and satins that told their status with the swish they made at her every move.
The fabrics were certainly swishing now as her steps measured the length of the room time and again.
Instead of giving her the accustomed feeling of power, today the sound reminded her that everything she had worked for and depended on seemed to suddenly be draining away.
She could not understand what had happened to make things go so awry.
Just a few days before, she had been standing on the edge of success with several of her long-term plans.
Over and over, she examined events but was no closer to seeing when things had begun to go so wrong.
Something was missing. Something was hidden from her view that had undone all her years of careful planning.
As she paced, she continued to search her memory for clues to the unraveling of her schemes.
Then there was Richard. She thought she had neutralized his opposition to her ten years before with the gift of the lieutenant's commission.
He had broken with his father as she had hoped and then spent most of the following time on the Continent in the midst of battles and away from anywhere that he could interfere with her plans.
The additional commissions had been the only outlay required to keep him there.
She had not even needed to work out ways to ensure that his postings were outside of England – that came by chance.
Her most troublesome nephew was supposed to be settled into his career and almost ready to move on to the rank of general.
Yet, he showed up with Darcy and helped deliver Anne to her unauthorized marriage before the two men defied their aunt and drove off at top speed to an unknown destination in Darcy's carriage. It was a betrayal of the worst kind.
No, not quite. The worst betrayal came from Anne.
What business did Anne have defying the natural authority of her mother?
How did she even meet the insignificant Earl of Boxwell's insignificant younger son?
Recently, Lady Catherine had worried that Anne might be drawn to Sir Phillip, taken in by him and his mother in a bid to replace her at Rosings Park.
Yet somehow, instead, it had come to this.
Allowing Anne the use of that phaeton had been a mistake from the start!
Why should the girl need fresh air and the opportunity to see new scenes?
A brief walk in the formal garden was good enough exercise for girls when Lady Catherine was young.
She should have stopped that nonsense at the beginning, no matter how insistent her brother had been and simply returned the vehicle and ponies to him.
Anne's betrayal had even driven Lady Catherine from her favorite room, the large, elegantly impressive sitting room on the first floor.
When those country oafs told her that Anne had married the itinerant son of a carter, every stricture on avoiding unladylike behavior was shattered as Lady Catherine indulged in a full-scale tantrum on her return to Rosings Park and her favorite room.
Any small and fragile item was fair game as she screamed and threw things, letting out all her frustration in a gigantic explosion.
Even after the servants had cleaned up the wreckage, the atmosphere of the room had changed from being her place of power to being a reminder of all she had lost. Every gap marked an ornament broken.
The shattered mirrored panels, now completely gone, were sinkholes in a familiar landscape.
Worse yet, no sooner had she begun to feel some slight relief on learning that Anne's husband was, at least, of noble blood, if still completely lacking in standing, but now her neighbors insisted on calling to congratulate her on her daughter's recent marriage!
People who had not called on her in years were showing up at her door.
How had they even found out about the wedding?
It was not to be borne, and so she retreated to her private sitting room to pace and brood, not at home to additional callers.
If he had been in the vicinity, she would have thought her brother was at the root of the problems. She knew that Peter had always opposed her, from the day he was born, it seemed.
He was the heir to Matlock! Viscount Rand!
Just because Lady Catherine was born a girl, the moment he arrived on the scene she was relegated to second place behind a mewling baby.
Well, she would not let him enjoy his position.
She had broken his toys and taken the things he cherished as a boy.
Then, she took his sons and worked to divide him from his friends when he became a man.
Gaining the affection and loyalty of his first-born, James, had been easy.
The boy was greedy and weak and could be bought without much effort.
Even as a man, he was her tool and her spy, and it only cost her a gift of coin now and again.
Although, come to think of it, he had not reported anything to her of late.
He usually only had news about her father's recent movements, but even that helped her feel she knew where she stood.
No matter, Parliament was still in session, so her father and James were still in London.
Richard had been harder, but Lady Catherine had found his weakness as well.
The military life was his dream, while being his father's nightmare.
She gave him his desire, and in so doing, parted him from her brother.
More than that, the separation had extended to her brother's friendship with Bennet and parted them as well.
A totally unintended result but satisfying indeed. Her success there had seemed complete.
Bennet's had not been the only friendship she had hoped to divide.
She had married to spite her brother as well.
Yes, she had been fond of Lewis, so far as she was fond of anyone.
The years they were together had been good ones.
That was simply a side benefit to a marriage she had worked to bring about because Lewis had a title, money and was a good friend to her brother.
Lady Catherine gained social status in addition to gaining influence against Peter all at one go.
Then, she found ways to subtly separate the two men.
Had Lewis lived, Lady Catherine would have eventually shattered his friendships with both Peter and Bennet and rejoiced in so doing.
Lewis' death, although she regretted it, had also provided her with a way to step forward and take actions more openly, although some stealth was still needed for long-term success.
She had the income, or most of it, from Rosings Park at her command and she could buy any service she needed.
Had Sir Phillip not come along, or had he been born a girl, she could have had it all.
Here was yet another male who stole was rightfully hers.
Hoping for illness or accident to take him had proven futile, as had the arrangements she made to provoke a fatal accident.
Unable to take any steps openly or give instructions in a way that might one day be discovered and used against her legally, she been unable to remove or harm him.
Even her campaign of rumors casting doubt on his parentage had failed as he grew to resemble the de Bourghs so clearly.
Even she could see the resemblance when he and Anne were standing next to one another or when comparing him to the portrait of Sir Lewis in the sitting room.
When Wickham finished his task in Meryton, she might point him in Sir Phillip's direction in a way Wickham could not use to blackmail her later.
Perhaps funding him to lure Sir Phillip into a life of debauchery would do the trick.
Many accidents happened in gaming halls and similar places.
It was exactly the kind of assignment Wickham would enjoy, and young men were often susceptible to such temptations.
Thinking of Wickham reminded her that she really should have already heard from either Wickham or Collins about the situation in Meryton.
Her instructions had been clear that they should act to remove Elizabeth Bennet from her home as quickly as possible and see to her ruin, publicizing it when they did as a way to ruin the family and stop Jane's wedding.
Then Collins would bring his bride back to Hunsford and the curate there would perform the marriage that would keep her essentially a prisoner in the parsonage for the rest of her life.
Even if they had encountered unexpected delays, one of them should have contacted her by now.
The day she had set for the attack had come and gone.
She should have heard from them before Sunday, and yet here it was Wednesday of the following week.
It was entirely unlike Collins, at least, not to follow her instructions to the last detail so far as he understood them.
The two of them were to be her eyes and ears in Hertfordshire as well as completing her plans.
Such a lack of communication was unpardonable.
Since Bennet had let Miss Stanton go the previous autumn, Lady Catherine had felt nearly blind to events at Longbourn.
She had hoped planting Wickham in Meryton might fix that, but he only reported information he thought might be profitable to him.
Since he had been there, Lady Catherine was certain he had held back vital details regarding Jane Bennet's wedding and other information about her family.
What was surprising was having no word on his current assignment since she had offered him a sizable payment upon its completion.
He was never one to pass up a good addition to his income.
She had some servants at loose ends since ejecting Sir Phillip and his mother from the dower house.
Lady Catherine knew she had probably allowed anger to push her too far there, but it had seemed the right action at the time.
Now, the upstart baronet and his mother had slipped from her direct observation just like everyone else.
She knew about the cottage they had moved to, of course, but for some reason they were not there.
Well, it was not all bad. With those servants now free, she might need to deploy one or two in the direction of Longbourn along with setting a few to track down the missing de Bourghs.
She might also need to set a few off to infiltrate the household of Mr. and Mrs. Hanson.
With this first major act of defiance, Anne had shown she was not to be trusted at all.
Who knew what else she might do to oppose her mother's plans.
Fortunately, she had never confided anything of importance to Anne.
There was little her daughter would know that she could betray.
Lady Catherine's pacing stopped as a sudden thought struck her.
If she wanted to take advantage of Anne's ridiculous marriage and use it to her own ends, she would have to do more than plant spies in the Hanson household.
As unpleasant as the event would be, Lady Catherine knew she needed to visit the newlyweds and Anne's new in-laws and pretend this wedding was a positive event.
Her stomach churned at the very idea, but she knew it had to be done.
Lady Catherine swished her way over to the bell pull, noting as she did that the tassels at the end were starting to fray just like her plans had done.
She would ring a peal over the maid for that at the same time she ordered her carriage and luggage to be prepared.
Early the next morning she would head for Boxwell.
Her first call would be to the Earl and Countess of Boxwell where she would pretend friendship and learn the location of the Hansons' new home.
She shuddered at the thought of making that visit.
At least all those unwanted callers had provided her with a list of reasons why this alliance could be construed as a good one.
Lady Catherine would need to put all her acting skills to use as she regurgitated their platitudes and pretended to be pleased with her new relations by marriage.
Decided on her course, Lady Catherine pulled the bell.