Chapter 59 Rosings Park
Elizabeth watched as the angry woman pointed a long finger at Fitzwilliam.
Lady Catherine was frowning at him, and both her hands were shaking. When he had shown Elizabeth the letter summoning him to Kent, he had warned her that his aunt could be difficult when crossed, but Elizabeth had never imagined the extent of her fury.
Lady Catherine's next words pulled her from her thoughts.
“You have made a grave mistake, Fitzwilliam.”
Fitzwilliam placed his hand over Elizabeth’s. “I am very happy with my wife, Aunt. I can assure you there has been no mistake.”
“You married beneath you. Had you married your cousin, you would have married into elevated bloodlines, fortune, and connections.”
Fitzwilliam took Elizabeth’s hand and laced his fingers through hers.
“I married the woman I love, Aunt. I care nothing for fortune or connections. Elizabeth is a gentleman’s daughter, and her family has held Longbourn for four hundred years. Her birth requires no defense from me.”
Lady Catherine's mouth tightened. “And what of your duty to your family? From your infancy, you and Anne were intended for each other. It was the favorite wish of your mother, as well as hers. While you were still in your cradles, we planned the union. Have you no regard for what was expected of you?”
“I have always reserved the right to choose my own wife. Neither you nor anyone else had the right to make that choice for me.”
Anne sat near the window, her embroidery untouched in her lap, watching her mother and cousin argue.
Lady Catherine looked toward her daughter. “And now Anne must suffer the consequences of your selfishness. She has been deprived of the marriage she was raised to expect.”
Anne set aside her embroidery. “I never expected to marry cousin Fitzwilliam, Mamma. I knew he did not love me, nor have I ever loved him.”
“You were children. Affection would have come.”
“No. I do not want to marry a man who wishes he were married to someone else. I can think of few things more horrible.”
Lady Catherine sat straighter. “You speak as though you have some great number of alternatives. You are nearly eight-and-twenty, Anne, and you would do well to remember it. Since I first received Henry’s letter announcing Fitzwilliam’s marriage, I have been attempting to secure your future, and Sir Vincent has indicated that he would consider you as a wife. ”
Anne's fingers closed around the back of her chair. “Sir Vincent is nearly sixty, and everyone in Kent knows he begrudges every shilling spent in his household. I will not marry him.”
“He is a baronet with an excellent estate and no surviving son. You would have a fine house and every comfort. At your age, you are in no position to be so particular.”
Anne looked at her mother. “Then I would rather never marry.”
Fitzwilliam shifted beside Elizabeth, but her fingers tightened around his. Anne rose from her chair and faced her mother.
Lady Catherine also stood.
“You will do as you are told.”
Anne's face had lost its color, but she did not retreat.
“No, Mamma. I will not.”
Lady Catherine stared at her daughter. “You will not?”
“I will not marry Sir Vincent, nor will I marry anyone else because you command it.”
“You have lived at Rosings all your life. Everything you have, every comfort you enjoy, has been provided for you here. You should consider what your life would be without those comforts before you defy me.”
“I have considered it. If remaining at Rosings requires me to marry a man of your choosing, I will leave.”
Lady Catherine's expression changed. “You would leave your mother?”
“I will not stay at that price.”
Lady Catherine looked toward Fitzwilliam. “And I suppose you intend to encourage this?”
“Anne is of age and has made her decision.”
“Do not pretend you have had no part in it. You come into my house with that woman as your wife, and suddenly my daughter believes she may disregard every duty she owes me.”
Fitzwilliam rose, bringing Elizabeth to her feet with him. He kept her hand in his.
“You may be angry with me, Aunt, but you will speak of my wife with respect.”
Anne crossed the room and stopped before her mother.
“This is not Mrs. Darcy’s doing, Mamma. It is my decision.”
Lady Catherine looked at her daughter. “And where, precisely, do you imagine you will go?”
“To Aunt Helen, if she will have me.”
Fitzwilliam said, “Aunt Helen will have you, but if she does not, you may stay with Elizabeth and me until we find a house for you. Anne, as I said before, you are of age. With Mrs. Jenkinson as your companion, you may have a home of your own if that is what you wish.”
Anne looked at him. “I should like that very much.”
“Then go upstairs, Cousin, and pack what you require for a few days. We shall return to Darcy House today and call upon Aunt Helen this evening.”
Anne rose. “There is very little here I wish to take with me.”
She made a half turn before him and glanced down at her gown.
“You see what Mamma has me dressed in. I shall take my night things and another gown or two. When I reach London, I shall ask Aunt Helen to take me to her modiste and order an entirely new wardrobe.”
Anne looked at her mother.
“What do you think of that, Mamma? You have never allowed me to choose my own gowns, but I shall do so now. I have my own money, and I shall spend some of it purchasing gowns I actually wish to wear.”
Lady Catherine stared at her.
Anne crossed the room and kissed her mother's cheek.
“I hope you will change your mind about me, Mamma, but I shall not change mine. Mrs. Jenkinson is coming with me. She has spent all these years keeping me alive, and I cannot possibly abandon her now.”
Anne left the room.
* * *
At Darcy House, Anne stood before the mirror in Elizabeth's dressing room while Elizabeth held two lengths of ribbon against the gown she had lent her.
“The blue,” Anne said.
Elizabeth handed it to her.
“I have spent eight-and-twenty years wearing what Mamma considered suitable. I see no reason to begin my freedom wearing a ribbon I do not like.”
She tied the blue ribbon beneath her breast and examined herself in the mirror.
“I shall need gowns in blue. Several, I think. Perhaps yellow as well.”
“Yellow would suit you.”
Anne smiled. “Excellent. I have never been permitted yellow.”
Elizabeth went to her jewel case and took out a delicate gold chain.
“Lizzy, I cannot take your jewelry.”
“You may borrow it.”
Anne bent her head, and Elizabeth fastened the chain around her neck.
Anne touched it with her fingertips. “Thank you.”
* * *
Lady Helen came forward the moment Anne entered the drawing room at Matlock House and took both her hands.
“Fitzwilliam's note told me enough. You are staying with us.”
Anne kissed her aunt's cheek. “Only if you will have Mrs. Jenkinson as well. I cannot abandon her after she has devoted so many years to preventing my death at mother’s negligent hands.”
Mrs. Jenkinson's mouth twitched.
Lady Helen kissed Anne's cheek. “You are both welcome for as long as you wish to stay.”
“Thank you, Aunt Helen. I do wish it. I would very much like to stay here with you.”
The door opened, and Richard entered.
He stopped when he saw his cousin.
“Annie.”
She smiled at him. “Richard.”
He crossed the room and kissed her cheek. “I was told you were here. I did not expect to find you looking so pleased.”
“I have left Rosings, refused a baronet, chosen my own ribbon, and arranged to spend a considerable sum of money on gowns tomorrow. It has been an unusually productive day.”
Richard's eyes went to the blue ribbon and returned to her face.
“You chose it yourself?”
“I did. You need not look astonished. I have been dressing myself for some years now.”
Richard held out his arm to her. “Come and sit with me, Cousin. You may tell me all about the baronet.”
Anne slipped her hand through his arm.
“He is sixty years old, Richard, quite miserly, and he smells.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Would you not rather hear about my new gowns?”
“Then tell me about the gowns.”
Richard led her toward the sofa.