Chapter Eleven
Darcy awoke full of pleasant recollections from the previous evening, though he had not long to savor these ruminations.
He had only just sat down to breakfast with Richard and Georgiana, who agreed that he ought to call on Elizabeth at Trafalgar House, when he received a summons from Lady Catherine.
Darcy asked the messenger who delivered the missive to return to Lady Catherine with his acceptance; he would take tea with his aunt in an hour at the hotel. His cousin and sister stared at him in horror until after the messenger had left the house.
“Are you out of your senses, to be subjecting yourself to one of the old dragon’s tantrums?” Richard crossed his arms in front of his chest and grimaced at Darcy.
Georgiana opened her mouth and then paused and chewed her lip as she considered her words. “If Anne knows her mother has invited you, she may choose to absent herself.”
“If I wished to force my company on Anne, I would do so. Given her behavior in company, I have no wish to see more of her until she has been made to see reason—until she sees that depraved charlatan for what he is. Our aunt is a shrewd woman and has more experience in society that the three of us combined. I would like to hear what she has to say—as a relation, I believe I owe her that.”
Darcy knew he sounded dreadfully stodgy, the essence of what Anne had come to despise when presented with a more carefree suitor. But he was not sorry for his principles; he wanted only for her to learn to appreciate his steadiness over the flippant flashiness of Sir Sidney Parker.
He would not be dissuaded, and he knocked on the door of his aunt’s suite at the appointed hour.
He was shown into the spacious parlor that connected the two bedrooms. Tea was laid out and sunshine poured in through the windows that overlooked the ocean, but Lady Catherine’s presence seemed to suck all the light from the room.
“Sit.” She made a cold gesture toward the chair across from her, and he did so with steely reserve. “I trust you know why you are here, Fitzwilliam.”
“To take tea. Will Anne be joining us?”
“I am not to be trifled with! Anne is the subject of this discussion, and it would not be proper for such an event to take place in her presence.”
Darcy’s lips curled into a mirthless smile. “Shall I surmise that she has gone off with Sir Sidney, despite your evident disapproval of their relationship?”
Lady Catherine’s confident posture deflated somewhat. After a minute of silently studying his aunt, Darcy no longer saw the formidable dictator who had frightened him all his life. He saw a woman who was tired of fighting with her only child when their futures were at stake.
“She will not listen to me, now that she is so close to reaching her majority. A quarter of a century of my efforts, dashed to ruins! She has been my life’s work, a spoilt child with no accomplishments who is so eager to escape my guidance that she will throw herself into the power of a seducer who flatters her vanity. ”
“You know that I do not want that any more than you do.”
“Nobody could possibly desire it less than myself! Think of my situation!” Lady Catherine huffed her fearful displeasure, then narrowed her eyes at him. “I fear you, too, have fallen prey to a fortune hunter.”
“I was raised, like Anne, to be wary of such schemers. The difference is that I bear my parents no resentment to spurn me into foolish rebellion.”
“Do not tell me you are above foolishness when I saw how you carried on with that strumpet at dinner last night! There are rumors that you are actually courting her! Have you forsaken Anne entirely? Have you resigned yourself to her downfall? I have not, and I shall not! You are not released from your engagement to my daughter!”
“She released me from it, but I have not abandoned her, Aunt. I understand your apprehension, but I have jeopardized my own dignity by pursuing Anne to Sanditon to detach her from that libertine.” Darcy gave her a quelling glare.
“And I will not tolerate any abuse of Miss Bennet. She is a gentleman’s daughter and a respected relation of one of the pillars of this community.
Furthermore, she has willingly consented to feign an attachment between us to further my aim of regaining Anne’s affections. ”
Lady Catherine recoiled, either out of surprise at his tone or at what he had revealed. She stood and began to pace near the table, and Darcy, comfortable in the ensuing silence, began to avail himself of the refreshments.
She spent several minutes lost in her own contemplation, her face betraying suspicion, calculation, and perhaps a little relief. “It is a ruse, then? You intend to inspire Anne’s jealous impulses?”
“Yes.”
“And you say Miss Bennet agreed to this? Well, that is mightily convenient. Do not be drawn in by her arts and allurements, Fitzwilliam! She must see this as an opportunity to draw you in and engage your honor.”
“Forgive me for contradicting you, Aunt, but you are entirely mistaken. Miss Bennet has repeatedly dismissed the overtures of Sir Anthony Denham, a titled man of good fortune, and even put paid to Sir Sidney’s attempt to flirt with her last evening. She does not want for opportunities, as you say.”
“Oh, that cad! Did he really flirt with Miss Bennet, and in the presence of my daughter? It is bad enough that he has ensnared her, and even refused my offer to compensate him for withdrawing his affections, but this betrayal is not to be borne! He might make a fool of himself as often as he chooses, but he shall not make a fool of Anne!”
Darcy blinked, not surprised that his aunt had resorted to bribery, but shocked that Sir Sidney had not accepted. “I am dismayed as you are, Aunt. Do not think I am unaffected by Anne choosing such a man over me.”
He ought not have hoped for any sympathy, for Lady Catherine only glared at him. “What did you do, to lose her affection?”
“Given the timing of her dismissal, I might suggest it had something to do with Pemberley burning. However, I have come to understand that her acquaintance with Sir Sidney began last October, when you were attempting to catch my cousin the earl for Anne. You would have thrown me over yourself if you could have secured a better match.”
“And as family, it would have been your duty to allow her that opportunity and rejoice in the noble connection!”
Darcy scoffed. “Do my affections mean nothing to you? You think I should be a dutiful and loving fiancé to Anne—if nothing better turns up for her. And if she is seduced by a lesser man, I must put my pride aside and resort to paltry deception to woo her back!”
“You are certainly doing a fine job of it, though the deception is so distasteful to you. Do not think I did not observe your behavior with that hoyden last night! It was a scandalous disgrace!”
“You will not speak of Lizzy like that!” Darcy bellowed and then caught himself. His use of Elizabeth’s name had not escaped his aunt’s notice.
“I see. Perhaps you believe you can have them both? That after your little ploy has brought Anne back to you, you may take the chit as your mistress? I will not allow it.”
“Nor would I! But what appalls me the most, beyond your egregious language, is that we want the same thing and yet we are quarreling. What can you expect to accomplish?”
Lady Catherine squared her shoulders. “I expect your absolute capitulation to the agreement we made. I will keep your sister’s secret, and you will ensure that Anne and I are both well provided for, for the rest of our days.”
“And if a dandy-brained duke danced into Sanditon tomorrow and paid court to your daughter, I suppose I would be of no further use to you.”
“I will not deny that it would certainly be appealing. I wish to spend the remainder of my days at Rosings, where I have been mistress for nearly thirty years. It is perfectly natural that I should expect such an arrangement when my daughter marries and presides over her husband’s estate.
If he has no estate for her to preside over, then he shall assume control of Rosings and I shall endure an untenable existence in the dower house—unless Anne’s husband is a gentleman I can trust to treat me with the deference my rank deserves. ”
Darcy’s mouth actually fell open. He should not have been astonished at her frankly stated avarice, but somehow, he was. “I have come to love her, Aunt. Do you not want that for her, in addition to your concerns of security?”
Lady Catherine shrugged. “Not especially.”
“All the letters she and I exchanged, bearing ourselves to one another—all this means nothing to you?”
“I had understood that you initiated the correspondence to quell your own apprehensions about the match.”
This was the truth, or it had been initially, but real love had blossomed where Darcy had least expected it, and his aunt only sneered at it. The silence grew uncomfortable, and Darcy finally stood and made ready to depart. “I suppose there is nothing further to be said.”
She reached for his arm. “Come now, Fitzwilliam; you quibble over hypothetical nonsense. There is no duke, and even your cousin Rupert is not a possibility. There is only you, or that drunken wastrel who will bankrupt Rosings within a year, and she will cheer him on in his debauchery. If you love her, why stand on your principles with me?”
Darcy made no reply, though he resumed his seat at the table.
Realization alighted on him that he had already compromised his principles by engaging in the false courtship with Elizabeth.
“Perhaps it is best to just have it out with her at once. I will speak with Anne, make my case and remind her of my enduring regard and my hopes for our future. It is all I can do.”
She swatted at him. “Pish, what is this? All you can do? Beg? And then accept her choice? That is not all you can do—you must keep doing what you did last night, if you are not serious about the… young woman.”