“Annie, save your breath,” Sir Lewis interceded.
“As you may have noted, Giana looks very much like her late mother,” Sir Lewis took over the introductions. “That very pretty young lady is your niece, Georgiana Darcy who we all call Giana. The three beauties are sisters. Miss Jane Bennet, Miss Elizabeth—the one who saved us all those years ago,” Sir Lewis looked at his wife pointedly when he stated the last, “and Miss Mary of Longbourn in Hertfordshire. They are close friends to both Annie and Giana.”
At first Lady Catherine only glared at the one namedElizabeth. She had foiled her plans, which had led to her banishment. She was seriously displeased. Then she schooled her features and reminded herself it was critical to maintain the outward façade of cooperation. It would not do to be sent to Ireland before the patience she had exercised for so very long, bore fruit. The dark haired pretty one would receive her just rewards for her unwarranted interference when the time came.
“It is a pleasure to meet any of Anne’s friends,” Lady Catherine forced herself to say with good cheer.
Her husband, brother, and sister-in-law were not fooled by the performance. Neither was Elizabeth. ‘As long as Lady Catherine does nothing to try and harm Anne, I will keep my observations from her. I will ask Jane and Mary if they noted anything,’ Elizabeth thought as she watched Anne’s mother suspiciously. While Anne wanted to allow her mother to prove she had changed, Elizabeth decided all she could do was be vigilant.
The girls excused themselves to go ride, Anne would be in her phaeton of course. “How come our niece is with you and not with Fitzwilliam at Pemberley? Would she not want to mourn with her brother?” Lady Catherine enquired.
“Elaine and I are Giana’s guardians,” Matlock stated. “Williamwill only be one and twenty in November, he is too young to care for a girl of ten.”
“Such an unrefined name for Fitzwilliam,” Lady Catherine sniffed.
“Would you like to inform the royals that the three King Williams have had unrefined names?” Sir Lewis derided. “William is the name he wants to be called, the same name his parents used, as do all of us.If and whenhe ever chooses not to be addressed by that name, we too will cease using it for him.”
Lady Catherine took a deep breath and reminded herself she needed to show no outward signs of displeasure. If she hadto, she would call Fitzwilliam by that name. What cared she if it was the name of three past kings. In her opinion, there was no more noble name than Fitzwilliam.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
That evening after they wished Anne and Giana goodnight, the three Bennet sisters met in Jane’s chamber. Jane, Elizabeth, and Mary were sharing a suite with a sitting room between the two chambers. With Giana in the second bedchamber in Anne’s suite, Elizabeth had opted to share a bedchamber with Jane rather than one of them being on her own.
“What did you think of Lady Catherine?” Elizabeth asked as neutrally as she was able.
“I do not trust her,” Mary responded.
“Is it not too soon to judge?” Jane, who liked to give people the benefit of the doubt, questioned.
Jane did not see the world through rose-coloured glasses, but she was careful in her judgements and always hoped a person’s better angels would win out in the end. At the same time, she was aware it did not always happen that way.
“My feelings align with Mary’s,” Elizabeth stated. “However, Jane has a point, and we may be allowing our prejudices based on what we knew she was suspected of doing in the past to cloud our judgement.” Elizabeth looked at her older and younger sister. “In my opinion, we need to keep an eye on Lady Catherine when she is around Anne. Do not forget, per Uncle Lewis’s orders, she is watched at all times. Neither Uncle Lewis nor Aunt Elaine and Uncle Reggie trust her, so she will not be allowed to cause any harm.”
The other two Bennet sisters agreed with Lizzy. Soon thereafter, Mary went to her bedchamber and was soon asleep. Not long after, Jane and Elizabeth were in Morphius’s arms.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The first thing Lady Catherine did as soon as her newmaid left her was scream into a pillow, which thankfully muffled the noise.
Not only did she have to go against her character—which had always been celebrated for its frankness—and constantly bite her tongue and show ahappyface to her family, but she had to put up with Anne being friends with these nothing Bennets.
She had picked up enough to understand the father’s estate was entailed to some distant cousin. They had no wealth, and she may have heard there was at least one uncle in trade. Lady Catherine ignored the fact the Bennets’ connections were essentially the same as her own.
Once she was screamed out, Lady Catherine blew out the final candle, climbed under the coverlet, and fought to fall asleep.
Chapter 13
November 1806
Richard Fitzwilliam was beyond pleased William had accepted his invitation to join him at Cloverdell where he would meet Bingley. Unfortunately, he would also be exposed to the sisters.
At least the number of Bingley huntresses had been cut in half. The older sister was now Mrs. Louisa Hurst. Just after his six weeks of deep mourning for Uncle Robert, Richard had taken the extraordinary step of being blunt with the then Miss Bingley.
He had noticed Harold Hurst, the heir to a small to medium-sized estate, Winsdale in Surrey, was interested in Louisa Bingley while she was lavishing her attentions on himself. Rather than allow her to waste her time, she was the sister of a friend after all, Richard had told her in no uncertain terms he would never marry either her or her younger sister.
The fact she was the daughter of a tradesman (something she and her younger sister did everything they could to hide) had not been the reason he had no interest in either Bingley sister. They just would not suit and he had no feelings for her or Miss Caroline as anything but the sisters of his friend.
He knew he had bordered on being rude when he had spoken to the now Mrs. Hurst. It had to be done to save both Miss Bingleys much heartache in the future. However, Richard had informed his friend of his intentions before speaking to Miss Bingley. Bingley had attempted to have his sisters seereason many times, but they simply ignored him. Therefore, he gave his full-throated blessing to Fitzwilliam to do what he had to do.
