“No fear of that,” Elizabeth replied with a grin. She lowered her voice as they joined the back of the crowd of people milling about in front of the lychgate. “My heart is well and truly bound to my husband’s and in no danger of being lost.”
Charlotte smirked. “Forever the romantic.” Her teasing had not the chance to gain pace, for a young girl directly in front of them—about Lydia’s age and with a similar grasp of propriety—drew their attention with a barely whispered exclamation.
“Did you see her? Even paler and more miserable than usual!”
“Aye, very ill indeed!” her equally indiscreet companion replied.
“Who was the gentleman with whom she was sitting?”
“Her husband, Mr Montgomery.”
“I thought she was supposed to marry Mr Darcy?”
The second girl giggled. “Peter heard Mr Darcy lost a wager to Mr Montgomery and was obliged to give up his claim to Rosings Park to settle the debt.”
“He cannot have been very distressed, for who would wish to marry that cross, sickly thing anyway. Perhaps it was Mr Montgomery who lost the wager, and hewas obliged to marry Miss de Bourgh in Mr Darcy’s stead!”
“It is unlikely,” Elizabeth said, unable to hold her tongue any longer, “since neither the house nor the lady was theirs to wager. Mrs Montgomery is a sensible woman from a distinguished family. She is quite at liberty to choose her own husband. She ought to be celebrated for havingchosento take on a little boy in need of a mother. Ishould wager he cares not one whit for the paleness of her countenance.”
The two girls turned to face her and looked caught between astonishment, shame and indignation.
“Miss Webb, Miss Emily, allow me to introduce my very good friend, Mrs Darcy,” said Charlotte with obvious pleasure.
Both girls abruptly took on a pallor not dissimilar to the object of their earlier ridicule, curtsied, giggled and ran away. With a rueful smile at her friend, Elizabeth set off again through the throng of villagers to where her party’s various equipages waited in the lane.
“You are not distressed by their idle talk, I hope,” Charlotte said quietly.
“On the contrary, I am comforted to discover my sisters are not the only thoughtless girls in England.”
The approach of the rest of the de Bourgh party prompted a hasty but heartfelt adieu between the ladies. They were both reunited with their husbands whilst Fitzwilliam and Mr Montgomery stepped forward to hand the other ladies into their respective carriages.
“Wait!” Lady Catherine demanded. She fixed Elizabeth with a steely glare. “Mrs Darcy will ride with me.”
Thus, after a quick re-shuffling of passengers between carriages, Elizabeth found herself travelling the short distance back to Rosings alone with Lady Catherine, rather than enjoying a final stroll back through the park as she and Darcy had planned.
Her ladyship said nothing for the first several minutes. Elizabeth waited, wondering whether it was more likely that her ladyship meant to bestow a surprise blessing or take advantage of one last opportunity to abuse her. A hoarse intake of breath presaged what transpired to be the latter.
“Let me be very clear, Mrs Darcy, I shall never approve of you. You are of absolutely no importance in the world. You are impertinent, you are appallingly liberal in your thinking, and you have, against every appeal to common decency and reason, put my nephew in an unpardonably tenuous position in society.” She looked away for a moment, coughing slightly as she peered out of the window. Eventually, she looked back. “I do concede, however, that I may have underestimated your character.”
Had there been no sides to the carriage, Elizabeth might have fallen from her seat.
Lady Catherine nodded brusquely as though satisfied with her astonishment. “Were you aware I was behind you when you were speaking to Mrs Collins just now?”
“Why, no, ma’am.”
“I did not think so.Youmight still have spoken that frankly regardless, but she certainly would not have. You were discussing your situation.”
“Aye, a little.”
“You spoke with more modesty than I have heard you admit to before. I am relieved to have heard it. Yououghtto be overwhelmed.”
Elizabeth frowned warily. “I am not sure I?—”
“Because no matter how strenuously you deny it, you were not born into this sphere, and you cannot have been prepared for this degree of responsibility. Complacency would bedisastrous.”
“I assure you, I have never been complacent ab?—”
“But you act as though you are! Your behaviour shows nothing but an unjust assuredness of your success and an equal indifference to your failures.” She paused and took a deep, rattling breath, continuing in a far calmer tone. “I am relieved to discover you are without such conceit after all. Where there is real inferiority of mind and situation, modesty will always be under good regulation.”
