“They must have been. They must have been. But yet—has he spoken to you of marriage? Is there some gentleman that he has encouraged you towards? Perhaps someone connected closely with him?”
“No, not at all,” Elizabeth replied, a little surprised bythatsuggestion as she guessed a woman with as much perception about her as Lady Catherine seemed to have would have guessed that she was illegitimate.
“Do you plan to marry? You say you have no fortune. You believe that there is no money. Surely you have put some thought to this. What future have you been taught to expect?”
When Elizabeth did not reply, Lady Catherine said, “Everything you say about Mr. Bennet seems so strange. Mr. Darcy, you have met the gentleman, have you not. Did he seem to be a wholly sensible man?—was there anything strange about him?”
As Elizabeth had not been able to bear to look at Darcy until now, she did not know how he had taken to listening to Lady Catherine’s queries, but in reply to his aunt’s request he spoke with his ordinary calm and collected manner. “Mr. Bennet seemed in all cases to be devoted to Miss Elizabeth’s welfare, and to think very highly of her. I am confident that he has some plan in mind for her placement in a suitable situation, as Miss Elizabeth has already said.”
“You did not find anything amiss in him? Nothing to dislike? No weakness of character visible in the face of physiognomy?”
Elizabeth noticed thatMarylooked slightly offended at this line of questioning, as it revolved around her father.
Besides, if Lady Catherine wished to have information about Mr. Bennet’s character it would have made more sense to ask one of the girls raised by him. No—Mr. Darcy was her nephew, whose opinion and judgement she must have more confidence in, and who was also an unbiased observer.
“I thought well of Mr. Bennet, and his appearance.” Mr. Darcy said, “I do not put much stock in looks as a proof of character. However, his behavior towards Miss Elizabeth, while not to my taste in every particular, showed him to be a responsible gentleman.”
“Looks say a great deal,” Lady Catherine replied. “The physiognomy often reveals the soul—but they are not infallible. That no doubt is what you mean. But even if there is nothing of a sly underhanded sort going on, even if my—well I’ll not speak about that. But all of this seems to be a most helter-skelter modeof management. It is most suspicious.” She turned her gimlet eye on Elizabeth. “He cannot depend upon you marrying. And he cannot wish to see you permanently in a position of dependency upon him and his daughters. I assure you that if I were to undertake the rearing of a wardIwould not behave in such a way—would you like the work of a governess? Has he really given you no preparation for such a position.”
“I do not know. I have never given it any thought.”
“Not given it any thought! Nor to your future at all, I imagine.”
“All ahead seems dim to me,” Elizabeth replied honestly. “I am in the situation I am in, and I can see nothing beyond.”
“Nothing you might do! Why at the very least you might decide that you wish to become a governess.”
Mr. Darcy interrupted, “Lady Catherine, can you not see that Miss Elizabeth has been made uncomfortable with this line of conversation? Unless you mean to convince her of the virtues of being a governess, you may as well cease.”
“How did Mr. Bennet have you educated,” Lady Catherine ignored her nephew’s suggestion. “Do you play?”
“Not at all.” Elizabeth’s voice became more assured again. She smiled. She had no cause to be ashamed of herself, and it thus should amuse her, the way it would amuse Mr. Bennet, that Lady Catherine would no doubtthinkthat she ought to be ashamed.
At least Darcy stood beside her.
“Most queer. Most suspicious. I imagine that you do not draw either?”
“No, I never enjoyed it—I much prefer to read.”
“Never enjoyed it! And I imagine you frittered all your time away upon novels? So many girls of your generation do. When I was young—but tell me, why do you thinkenjoymentshould govern how you spend your time?—but your French, how clear is your accent?”
“I have no accent in French, as I cannot speak it. I can read the language easily enough.”
Lady Catherine had a grim satisfaction at hearing that. Her expression was that of a person satisfied in hearing the announcement of an expected catastrophe that she had predicted. A self-satisfied Cassandra. “Mr. Bennetcertainlydoes not mean you to be a governess. I imagine you have no accomplishments at all.”
“I do not think I am wholly bereft of talents that are worthy of note,” Elizabeth replied. “Though I imagine you might. Mr. Bennet superintended my education most closely.”
“She can speak Greek and Latin more fluently than I can,” Mr. Darcy interjected. “Miss Elizabeth is a great reader, and from our conversations, I believe that she would make a fine astronomer. Her mathematical abilities are excellent. Also, she is a better shot than I am when shooting partridges.”
“Mathematics! Hunting! Dead languages!” Lady Catherine exclaimed. “Not suspicious but eccentric. Did he mistake your sex? Tell me, is Mr. Bennet full aware that you are not a boy? There is no purpose for a lady to know more of Greek than enough to be able to say ‘but to me it was Greek’—Mr. Bennet taught youGreekbut neglected to give you tutoring inFrenchand the piano? Most queer, most odd. Entirely eccentric. And you know nothing of your mother’s people. Nothing? Not even from what part of the country they hailed?”
Elizabeth had tired of the inquisition. “The subject of my parents has always been painful to Mr. Bennet, and we have never spoken of any details.”
“Painful! Ha! And when did you come to Mr. Bennet’s care? At what age were you.”
“Five, madam—but might I ask to what point these questions tend. You are seeking to learn some particular, but I cannot imagine what it is.”
“Five. And what year was this? I would guess it to have been fifteen years now. Are you twenty? You look to me to be twenty. What is your birthdate?”
