The Darcys of Pemberley (21 page)

“I am well. Whether I am
strong
enough
or not, we shall soon discover, shan’t we? But, now you are come, I
feel up to any challenge.”

“And you have a surprising number of
companions here to lend you their support,” he encouraged.

“Aye. They are loyal friends, and I am
grateful to have them with me, especially today.”

This enigmatic exchange raised interest and
eyebrows. Fitzwilliam, however – the only one present who could
have reasonably inquired about its meaning – apparently suffered
from a deplorable lack of curiosity. His only question was if
everybody was ready to go inside, now that Dr. Essex had arrived.
He released Anne to the care of her physician and offered his
now-vacant arm to Georgiana, who had no choice but to take it. The
six of them thus returned to the house where they were shown in to
dinner forthwith.

Before they sat down, Fitzwilliam turned to
Darcy and Elizabeth with merriment in his eyes and whispered, “I
promised that the day would not fail to entertain. Well, my
friends, the fun is about to begin.”

Showdown

The dinner was very fine indeed – the best
food served on expensive china by an extravagant number of liveried
servants. However, since the guests had all dined at Rosings
before, the ostentatious display failed to impress them so much as
it otherwise might have done.

Despite Colonel Fitzwilliam’s hint about some
excitement in the offing, at first, nothing out of the ordinary
appeared. The soup was consumed without incident, followed by the
fish course, which also passed uneventfully. All parties
steadfastly maintained polite conversation throughout. The only
clue that the peace would not last could be found in Anne’s tense
expression and lack of appetite.

Lady Catherine ate little herself, finding
the food less tempting than the singular opportunity of talking to
people who could not talk back by virtue of their mouths being
otherwise engaged. When she did at last allow herself a brief
intermission to sample the roasted pheasant, her daughter claimed
the advantage.

Dr. Essex gave Anne a nod and a fortifying
look across the table.

“Mama, I have something important to tell
you,” she said with resolve.

It was not so much the rather ordinary words
as the bold tenor of her voice that claimed her mother’s immediate
interest. Her ladyship was unaccustomed to anybody speaking so
firmly to her, least of all her daughter.

Lady Catherine matched her daughter’s strong
tone and added a measure of practiced intimidation to it. “What did
you say, Anne?”

Anne instinctively cringed at the voice of
authority that had heretofore so thoroughly dominated her life.
Then, to everyone’s astonishment, she set her jaw, stood, faced her
mother, and repeated her declaration. “I said I have something
important to tell you.”

“Anne, where are your manners? Sit down at
once and hold your peace!” her ladyship insisted. “We have guests,
and I will not have our dinner disrupted.”

“If I have your full attention now, Mama, I
will
sit down. But I am quite determined to have my say; I
will not be put off. As for our guests, there is no reason they may
not hear; it will be common knowledge soon enough anyway.”

“Good heavens, child! What
are
you
about?” With unpleasantness clearly inescapable, her ladyship
dismissed the servants with a wave of her hand.

Anne, head held high, slowly sat down. Never
before had she betrayed the slightest resemblance to her mother in
her person or style. Yet now, as she took full command of the room,
it was clear that Anne had learnt more under that singular tutelage
than her friends ever suspected.

A hushed anticipation stole over the company.
Every eye focused on Miss de Bourgh.

Finally she spoke, more quietly this time but
with unwavering assurance. “There has been a change of plans, Mama.
I have broken off my engagement to Colonel Fitzwilliam and
consented to marry Dr. Essex instead.” With this she smiled and
reached across the table to take his offered hand.

Gasps of surprise rippled round the table
amongst those previously unenlightened. They could hardly have been
more shocked had the pheasant on the Dresden platter resurrected
itself and flown out the window.

Though astonishing, the news did not strike
Elizabeth as being necessarily unpleasant, depending upon how their
friend Fitzwilliam bore it. A glance at his suspiciously sanguine
countenance reassured her. Far from showing signs of distress, he
appeared to be enjoying the proceedings immensely.

Lady Catherine, on the other hand, looked
staggered, as if someone had struck her a physical blow. Staring at
her daughter in disbelief, a full minute passed before her ladyship
could recover her power of speech and mount a retaliatory strike.
“What utter nonsense!” the great lady then barked out. “Why, the
very idea is scandalous; every feeling revolts. Dr. Essex, unhand
my daughter this instant! Anne, apologize to Colonel Fitzwilliam
and our guests, and never speak another word about this madness
again. Do you hear me?”

Anne remained impressively calm under this
onslaught. “I hear you clearly enough, Mama, but I have not the
smallest intention of yielding. I am of age, so there is nothing
you can do to prevent me from marrying whomsoever I choose. If you
accept my decision graciously, Dr. Essex and I will be married here
at Hunsford church. If not, the ceremony will take place in London
where he has been these three weeks acquiring a license. But I
shall
marry the man I love, Mama. Anything else, I now
realize, would be impossibly perverse.”

“Well said, my dear,” was the simple praise
Dr. Essex offered.

In truth, he and others in the room felt a
powerful impulse to tender a standing ovation for the privilege of
having witnessed the once-weak and cowering young woman declare her
emancipation from her overbearing mother.

Lady Catherine, her left eye beginning to
twitch, turned on the colonel. “Fitzwilliam, do something! You are
the injured party here. Can you not make my daughter see
reason?”

“I fear it is a hopeless business, your
ladyship. She is determined to have her own way, and I am quite
convinced that neither you nor I will be able to change her mind.
You are correct about one thing, however. I am indeed the injured
party, and, as such, I am entitled by law to compensation for my
loss,” said the colonel, skillfully playing his small but crucial
role in the family drama.

“Heaven and earth, Fitzwilliam! You would not
bring a legal action against us, surely,” her ladyship implored,
sinking still further.

“Lady Catherine, let us
both
carefully
consider how we are to react to this surprising development. For my
part, I am convinced that if you can find the charity to accept
Anne’s choice, I will be persuaded by your good example to likewise
forgive the offense without prejudice.”

“I see,” said her ladyship through tight lips
as she grasped the implication of the colonel’s veiled threat.
There would be no help for her from that quarter, clearly. On the
contrary, her nephew appeared to be in league with the others to
thwart her at every turn. She felt herself quite put upon, the
victim of duplicity on every side.

Fitzwilliam diplomatically proposed that he
and the Darcys withdraw, leaving the three principals to work out
an understanding amongst themselves. Her ladyship had not the
strength, and no one else the inclination, to resist his
suggestion. Anne could spare her reinforcements, now that she had
secured her victory. Darcy and Elizabeth were eager for further
explanation from Fitzwilliam. As for Georgiana, no one other than
Elizabeth had the least idea that the change of plans could have
any material effect upon her. Miss Darcy carefully concealed her
flutter of spirits and followed the others to the drawing room
without a word.

“This is quite a turn of events,
Fitzwilliam!” Darcy began when they were beyond the hearing of
those sequestered in the dining room.

“I did promise that the evening would
entertain,” said the colonel with a swagger in his step. “I trust
it did not disappoint.”

“You bear your loss exceedingly well,
Colonel. Are you truly so serene, or do you play a part for Anne’s
sake?” Elizabeth asked.

“I am no player, I assure you. I must even
admit to being a trifle relieved that things turned out as they
have. I thank you for your concern, Elizabeth, but you must have no
more apprehension on my account.”

“But how did all this come about?” Darcy
enquired as they took seats close together in the drawing room.
“Some clarification is in order.”

“And I shall be only too delighted to supply
it,” said Fitzwilliam. “The situation has been building for some
time, it seems, although I was in the dark about it myself until
very recently. I only knew that Anne was unhappy, and, as the
wedding grew closer, she became more so. I pleaded with her to tell
me her troubles, and finally the truth came out Friday night after
we returned from seeing you in London.

“I suppose it was only natural that she
should become terribly fond of Dr. Essex after all his kindness to
her. She had no idea he returned her affection, however, and
considered it an impossible match in any event. So Anne accepted
her fate and consented to our engagement for much the same reasons
that I did – a sense of family obligation, a desire to have things
settled, and so forth.

Then, about a month ago, Dr. Essex declared
himself. Improper, I know – to speak thus to a woman already
engaged to another – yet I have not the heart to pass judgment upon
him. With his encouragement, Anne began considering taking a stand
for her own interests. Then, when she finally confessed the whole
business to me, I gladly released her from our engagement, which
cleared the way for what transpired tonight, my friends.”

“And I trust it is all for the best,” said
Darcy.

Georgiana said nothing, her heart too full to
risk any comment on the subject.

Elizabeth shook her head in wonder. “I can
scarce believe it, though I have seen it with my own eyes – Anne
standing up to her mother, daring her wrath, and her ladyship
looking so completely devastated. I never thought to see the day
when I might feel sorry for Lady Catherine, but I almost pity her
now. She cannot have seen this coming. Still, do you really think
she will give in to Anne’s demands, Fitzwilliam?”

“She has no very appealing alternative, as I
believe she will soon discover.”

In the dining room, where heated negotiations
continued, Anne and Dr. Essex held their ground with ready answers
for all her ladyship’s objections and warnings. In the end, Lady
Catherine admitted defeat and resigned herself to the inevitable.
She even withdrew her threats of disinheritance when she considered
that the scandal created by taking such a public step – and the
legal action from Fitzwilliam it might provoke – would only
increase her misery.

Managing the disaster as tastefully as
possible then became her primary objective. Though a tempting
solution, it seemed bad form to hold the wedding as originally
planned, simply substituting one groom for the other as if no one
would remark the difference. It was finally settled that the thing
would be accomplished as quickly and quietly as possible in London
by use of the license Dr. Essex had already obtained. The details
of the financial settlement could be handled in the same trip, and
the newlyweds would return to Rosings as if nothing revolutionary
had occurred. Indeed, as Dr. Essex had spent the majority of his
time under that roof and in the company of the family for the
previous twelve-month, to all outward appearances, that would be
the case.

When the dining room summit concluded, Lady
Catherine was in no humor for idle conversation or to otherwise
linger in the company of persons who had witnessed her
mortification at the hands of her own daughter. Giving the
plausible excuse of a headache, she went directly to bed.

With the festivities over, the Darcys
prepared to take their leave. Fitzwilliam, supposing his presence
neither wanted nor needed at Rosings any longer, likewise ordered
his carriage. Anne and Dr. Essex, arm in arm, saw their departing
friends out.

“Our sincere congratulations,” said Darcy on
the steps.

Georgiana added, “Yes, I wish you both every
happiness.”

“That means a great deal to me … to us,” said
Anne, smiling up at Dr. Essex.

“And you will all three come to the wedding?”
he asked.

“We would not miss it for the world,”
Elizabeth assured him.

Anne then turned to the colonel, laying a
gentle hand on his arm. “Fitzwilliam, what can I say? I am forever
in your debt.”

“Nonsense! Glad to be of service, my dear. My
reward is seeing you made so happy. And I suppose I must confess
some small satisfaction in beholding my aunt’s rather remarkable
countenance as well.”

As the Darcys drove back to London, Elizabeth
pondered the day’s extraordinary developments. For Lady Catherine,
she felt some pity, but otherwise she could not regret what had
transpired in the least. She rejoiced both in the happy outcome for
the newly engaged couple, and in the fact that Colonel Fitzwilliam
would not be settling for an arranged marriage after all. Most
bewitching, however, was the question of what it all might mean for
Georgiana’s prospects. Could there really be a chance of something
developing between her and the colonel, or would the hope of that
possibility, no matter how remote, only serve to muddy the waters,
to confuse the issue and open old wounds to fresh pain? Georgiana,
herself, had hardly said a word since the drama unfolded and, from
her pensive aspect, Elizabeth could imagine that she had similar
thoughts in contemplation.