Chapter Four #2
“I have no wish to be pursued by anybody from London, though I am impressed by how many fashionable friends have accepted Sir Sidney’s invitation to join us for a season of revelry.
I shall reach my majority at the end of the summer, and that is certainly cause for celebration.
” Miss de Bourgh turned sharply away from Mr. Darcy and addressed Elizabeth.
“My mother and I require immediate assistance.”
Elizabeth clenched the edge of her desk; the mother was a horrifying harridan.
What a lark, Elizabeth had thought when she had first seen the name Lady Catherine de Bourgh in the register—she had imagined her cousin’s noble patroness arriving with the fanfare of a queen, her groveling parson in tow.
Mr. Collins had, to Elizabeth’s infinite relief, not accompanied the great lady, but the fanfare seemed a definite requirement for her ladyship.
Lady Catherine was sweeping through the lobby even now, fairly dragging an obstinate spaniel on a velvet leash.
The other guests parted to make way for her, many of them wincing at the shrill yapping of the animal.
The dowager came to stand imperiously in front of the desk, and she snapped her fingers at Elizabeth.
“This creature has made a beastly mess in our suite and requires an excursion out of doors at once.”
Elizabeth sneezed and took several steps backward at almost the same instant as Mr. Darcy had the same reaction.
They exchanged a look of commiseration before Lady Catherine turned her attention to her relations.
“Darcy, thank Heaven you are here! Richard, Georgiana, you are both looking exceedingly well.”
The uneasy trio all offered their aunt a tepid greeting, and then she waved them away before rounding on Elizabeth again.
“Well?” Lady Catherine extended the leash to Elizabeth as if expecting her to personally attend to the ungovernable ball of fluff that had begun to chew on one corner of Elizabeth’s desk.
Elizabeth took another step backward. “As I explained yesterday, your Ladyship, one of our footmen can attend to this duty when your maid is unable to do so.”
“Ugh! I cannot find a single one of them to assist me! They are all occupied in carrying trunks for that tulip Sir Sidney’s frivolous friends; I am quite put out.
” Lady Catherine turned to grimace at her daughter.
“And where is Lovelace? Your maid ought to see to the wretched hound! We have brought her all this way on holiday with us, and she is just as likely to attract the notice of some suitable gentleman as you—the least she could do is make herself useful!”
Miss de Bourgh’s expression became even more apathetic. “She is my companion, not my maid. I do not see why she must lower herself to such menial work when the hotel promises the services of a full staff.”
“We are happy to attend to all our guests’ needs, Madam,” Elizabeth said with incredible forbearance. “I shall ring for one of our maids to manage whatever cleaning is required, and a footman will be sent to your suite as soon as one can be spared for your spaniel’s daily exercise.”
“I have rung for a maid already,” Lady Catherine said slowly, as if talking to a child.
“Obviously I should try that before coming all the way down here, where I am made to practically beg for aid. It is insupportable! I should like to speak to Sir Edward himself about the egregious mismanagement I have observed! What can you be thinking, allowing so many people to all be arriving at the exact same hour? I should never allow such an inconvenience to take place at Rosings.”
Miss de Bourgh looked at everyone with equal derision.
“That is because nobody ever visits Rosings, Mother. And give me that; you are going to strangle my poor little Contessa.” She snatched the leash away from her mother and lifted the dog into her arms with cooing affection before glancing over her shoulder at Mr. Darcy.
“Is she not lovely? A gift from my dear Sidney.”
She turned to Elizabeth, who had retreated so far around the desk that she nearly backed into Mr. Darcy. “You are the proprietor’s niece, are you not?”
“I am,” Elizabeth managed to say before sneezing again.
Miss de Bourgh smiled virulently. “I have heard our prattling parson Mr. Collins boast of a connection to your family, therefore I know you have grown up on some rustic little country farm. You must know enough of animals to be able to manage the task yourself, since your uncle has not seen fit to hire sufficient help.”
“You are a relation of my parson?” Lady Catherine recoiled, a hand on her chest. “I have heard of your ill-usage of him—I know all about it! And now you refuse to oblige me!”
“I believe she may be affected as I am—proximity to canines gives me hives until I can scarcely breathe,” Mr. Darcy said.
Elizabeth gave him a look of gratitude, suddenly feeling churlish for taking any delight in denying him a room at the hotel.
Before she could say anything, Mr. Connors had once again materialized at her side.
He had made it his personal mission to ensure that none of the guests of the hotel ever showed Elizabeth the slightest incivility, though on such occasions she was disappointed to be denied the delights of observing the outrageous ways that people behaved when away from home.
At present, this was not at all the case, and she smiled her thanks at the fastidious concierge.
“Your Ladyship, I have such a fondness for spaniels, so regal, so utterly endearing. I beg you would allow me to personally attend to the darling creature’s needs at once.
Miss Bennet is her uncle’s right hand—at a moment of so much excitement, she surely cannot be spared.
Come to me, little pineapple.” Mr. Connors, a man of tremendous dignity and little charm, had leaned over until his face was inches from the dog, and began to offer it kisses as he addressed the creature in a voice chiefly used to soothe infants.
“Thank you, sir. As Miss Bennet is apparently to be shackled to her desk, my mother and I are exceedingly grateful to you.” Miss de Bourgh sent Elizabeth a withering glare over her shoulder before thrusting her pet at Mr. Connors and then strolling away.
“Come, Mother, I wish to introduce you to Sir Beaufort Bollingbroke and his amiable daughters, such obliging creatures they are.”
Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief as Miss de Bourgh ushered her onerous mother away in rather the same style as Mr. Connors led the ill-mannered spaniel toward the terrace.
She had not entirely composed herself, however, for as she began to address Mr. Darcy and his companions, she instead burst out laughing.
“Gracious, the looks on your faces!” Mr. Darcy was redder in the face than anybody she had ever beheld, his sister tittered nervously, her eyes shining with unspoken japes, and the colonel threw back his head with an unfettered guffaw.
When they had all managed to becalm themselves, Elizabeth offered a conciliatory smile. “I apologize; allow me to assure you that your relations shall be well looked after. Mr. Connors is dedicated to ensuring our guests feel perfectly at home here at the Tremont, and I….”
Colonel Fitzwilliam interrupted her. “Do not vex yourself, Miss Bennet—my aunt and cousin have already vexed you quite enough.”
“I fear I have rather vexed them.” Elizabeth pressed her lips together before any further impertinence could escape her mouth.
“Anne will forgive you with pleasure when she hears you have turned us away. It was only last week that she was the one to dismiss poor Darcy, and so you have more in common than the acquaintance of that preposterous little parson.” The colonel gave a roguish waggle of his eyebrows, but Mr. Darcy looked stricken.
Something tightened in Elizabeth’s chest as she recognized the subtle symptoms of heartbreak about him. He watched Miss de Bourgh from afar with profound sadness.
“I have not dismissed you by any means, though if you no longer wish to remain at the Tremont, I should hardly blame you for it.”
Mr. Darcy inclined his head. “Thank you, Miss Bennet. I should be most obliged if you could recommend any passable lodgings that could accommodate us on short notice, until a suitable suite of rooms becomes available here at the Tremont.”
Elizabeth was momentarily surprised that Mr. Darcy would wish to stay at the same hotel as the woman who had forsaken him, but as she studied his earnest countenance, she began to understand.
Though she thought Anne de Bourgh was well on her way to becoming as odious a gorgon as her mother, the lady must be capable of pleasantness when it suited her purposes, for she had aroused the admiration of both Sir Sidney Parker and Mr. Darcy, and the latter had apparently come to Sanditon to win her back.
Elizabeth smiled. She may yet have the pleasure of seeing the man who had once publicly insulted her experience an even more public and painful sort of mortification—or better still, she might do a great service for someone as lovelorn as she was.
She pulled open the second drawer of the desk and retrieved a key that was not like any of the others she had handed out that day.
“I have just had a stroke of tremendous inspiration. Please, follow me.”