Chapter 92 #2
Mary held Miss Bingley’s gaze, determined not to be the one who looked away. In the end, it was Miss Bingley who flinched, accepting that she would learn no more of Mary’s true intentions without disclosing what she knew.
She had had the story from Mr. Ryder himself.
He told her that shortly before their trip to the Lakes, he had been called to Kent, to attend Lady Catherine de Bourgh at Rosings.
There he had found his relative so beside herself with fury and frustration that it had taken some time for him to understand the cause of her anger.
A whole day passed before the terrible truth was revealed to him in all its horror and shame—her ladyship’s daughter, Miss Anne de Bourgh, was engaged to be married—to her doctor.
“You might think such a thing impossible, Mr. Ryder—it should be impossible—if there were any gratitude and obedience in this world, it must be impossible—but I regret to tell you that it is not.” The affair, it appeared, had been going on under Lady Catherine’s unseeing eyes for some time—“for years, Mr. Ryder, years!”—the silent couple concealing their affections until Miss de Bourgh reached her majority.
“Think of the deceit. The flouting of my authority!” Now that she was twenty-one, however, Miss de Bourgh was free to contract a marriage with whomsoever she chose, however distressing her intentions were to her mother.
“This is how I am repaid for a lifetime’s care and trouble.
This is how I am defied and humiliated.”
Lady Catherine now demanded that Mr. Ryder seek to achieve what her own efforts had failed to do, and bring her daughter to her senses.
He doubted very much whether his endeavours would have any more success than her ladyship’s; and he was quickly proved right.
His attempts to make Miss de Bourgh consider, if not her own position, then what she owed to her mother, fell on very stoney ground indeed.
It was quickly evident that she had no sympathy at all for a parent who she considered had always bullied and belittled her; and that she could not wait to begin a new life at as great a distance away from her as possible.
It was an additional blow to Lady Catherine to discover, so late in their dealings with each other, that her daughter’s will was quite as strong as her own, and not to be deflected by either threat or inducement.
When it was certain Mr. Ryder could do no good, there was nothing left for the beleaguered Lady Catherine to do but apply to her nephew for his help.
Only in such pressing circumstances was she reluctantly prepared to acknowledge Mr. Darcy’s position as the titular head of the family.
But when the Darcys arrived at Rosings, she began to regret the decision to invite them.
Neither her nephew nor his wife seemed inclined to pursue the matter with the harshness she thought appropriate.
Mrs. Darcy she suspected of harbouring some sympathy for her daughter’s situation, having come upon them more than once closeted in conversations she could not but regard as disloyal; and she did not doubt Mrs. Darcy’s opinions were reflected in her husband’s ultimate conclusions as to the best way to proceed.
Having interviewed the doctor, Mr. Darcy declared himself satisfied that he was no fortune hunter, but a respectable man with a genuine affection for Miss de Bourgh.
That lady was as determined to marry him as he was to marry her; and it was therefore difficult and probably unprofitable to imagine how or even why they should be prevented from doing so.
Miss Bingley took a sip of her tea. Mary sat in silence until she was ready to continue.
Mr. Darcy, it appeared, had advised Lady Catherine to reconcile herself, with what good grace she could muster, to a union that was likely to take place, whatever she thought of it; and to do what she could to salvage some fond feelings in her daughter by not appearing vindictive.
Lady Catherine paid not the slightest attention to this latter advice; but she was finally persuaded to agree to the marriage itself, once Miss de Bourgh made it clear she was quite prepared to elope with her doctor if her mother refused to countenance more usual arrangements.
Lady Catherine laid down two conditions.
The marriage should take place as privately as possible, with all who knew of it agreeing to say nothing about what had transpired.
And the happy couple should immediately afterwards go abroad and stay there, on as prolonged a honeymoon as was possible.
When these requests were agreed to, they were married, by private licence, in the drawing room at Rosings.
“I believe,” observed Miss Bingley, “it was your old friend Mr. Collins who did the honours—he was always ready to do anything in his power to oblige her ladyship. And Mr. Darcy made all the arrangements, ensuring that—for the moment at least—it has attracted no public attention nor any breath of scandal. Rather as he did for your sister Lydia, as I recall?”