“Miss Bennet, you ought to know that I am not to be trifled with,” Lady Catherine said. “I know not what is preventing you from answering, but I trust you will not choose to be insincere. I would know why my nephew has not made you an offer of marriage.”
Elizabeth could almost have laughed at how wretched this question made her feel. The catalogue of reasons was so long, she had no idea which Darcy objected to most—though she could guess.
“He has not expounded on the matter to me personally. I imagine it is for all the reasons your ladyship has unearthed this evening—I am a woman of no importance in the world, without family, connexions, or fortune.”
“Yes, that is all exceedingly regrettable, but you are a gentleman’s daughter. He cannot object to that.” Lady Catherine stared expectantly at her until Elizabeth felt compelled to answer.
“Perhaps it is my aunts and uncles to whom he objects.”
Lady Catherine shook her head. “It cannot be that. As repugnant as their condition is, Darcy is almost as sensible as I am and therefore equally capable of seeing that the situation calls for dispensations to be made.”
“Dispensations?” Mr Collins repeated in an awed voice. “A thousand apologies if I have misunderstood. I did not comprehend that your ladyshipdesiredthat Mr Darcy marry my cousin.”
“What Idesireis to understand why my nephew is bent on withstanding the expectations of all his friends—for do not believe that he will be noticed by any of them if he is considered to have broken an engagement of this prominence. However distasteful the union would be, it has attracted more attention than a royal wedding. In such cases, honour would usually demand that an offer be made. What possible reason could my nephew have for not doing so?”
“Truly, I could not say,” Elizabeth replied desperately. “Perhaps it is because he is engaged to your daughter and has been since they were both in their cradles.”
“That could explain it,” Lady Catherine replied thoughtfully. “He is exceedingly loyal.”
It broke Elizabeth’s heart to hear it confirmed. What little hope she had allowed herself to hold onto evaporated.
“Why have you come here? Your coming to Rosings to see his family will be rather a confirmation of an engagement, if, indeed, one exists.”
Elizabeth looked in surprise at Miss de Bourgh, for she had barely uttered a word all evening. “I came to visit Mr and Mrs Collins. It was a longstanding arrangement. I only came a little earlier than planned to allow these reports to be forgotten.”
“It has only inflamed the situation,” Lady Catherine said with a brusque shake of her head. “I receive new reports daily. Rumours such as these do not die quickly. They mark a person,sometimes for life. My nephew knows that, and so ought you to understand it. Theremustbe a reason that you are both avoiding an alliance. Have you something to hide, Miss Bennet?”
Elizabeth tried not to think of her mother as she lied, “No, madam.”
“Then what exactly is your objection to marrying him?”
Elizabeth could not help but give a small, despairing laugh. “I have no objection—I love him! I would marry him tomorrow if he would have me, but since he clearly does not want me, perhaps your ladyship could apply to him for an explanation. I am afraid I cannot answer for it!”
The room fell silent but for Miss de Bourgh’s loud gasp and subsequent paroxysms of coughing. Lady Catherine remained perfectly still, holding Elizabeth’s gaze with narrowed eyes and an inscrutable expression. She still had not spoken when the butler arrived to announce that the carriage was ready. Elizabeth half expected the loan of it to be rescinded, but her ladyship only waved them away and turned her attention to her daughter.
“Forgive me, Charlotte!” Elizabeth whispered as they walked across the hall to the front door. “I do not know what came over me.”
“Do not blame yourself,” she whispered back. “You were rather ambushed.”
Leaving Mr Collins to continue apologising to the butler, the footmen, and possibly the horses, they climbed into the carriage.
“I hope I have not angered her too greatly,” Elizabeth said as they seated themselves.
“I am not convinced that you have angered her at all. I thought, earlier, that she had rather taken to you. And with her questions just now, she seemed to be rather advocating marriage to Mr Darcy than condemning it.”
“Advocating it?” Mr Collins squawked as he climbed into the carriage and wedged himself into the insufficient spacebeside his wife. After calling for the coachman to drive on, he continued, “I trust you heard her ladyship deny any such design, Mrs Collins.”
“I heard her ask Eliza why a match with Mr Darcy has not taken place,” Charlotte replied calmly.
“Yes, so that she might discern whether that impediment, whatever it may be, is indeed a worse fate than the scorn Mr Darcy is attracting for disappointing theton’shopes. She will be seriously displeased whatever the outcome, for Mr Darcy’s reputation will be ruined whether he marries Cousin Elizabeth or not.”
Charlotte did her best to placate her husband for the rest of the short journey back to the parsonage, and assured Elizabeth as she retired to her room for the night that, despite what Mr Collins said, she was not expected to leave Hunsford on the morrow. Elizabeth was grateful for her assurances, but it did not make her feel any better.
Darcy had tried to tell her that Lady Catherine would like her. She was in agonies just thinking about how disappointed he would be to discover that she had shouted at his aunt, mortified his cousin, and worsened all the rumours about them with her impetuous flight from London. She was not generally prone to tears, but she shed a few into her pillow that night, all the while wishing that she could be back in the safety of his arms.
33
UNHAPPY FOR ALL HER MATERNAL FEELINGS
