Darcy shot to his feet. “I shall do no such thing. What care I for the wagging tongues of theton? If Elizabeth is not welcome in town, we shall be very happy at Pemberley all the year round. I am confident that I may speak for Bingley when I say that neither engagement shall be broken.”
“Think of Georgiana!” Lord Matlock thundered.
“I do! She already loves Elizabeth as a sister, and she knows the truth as well as I do. She will not wish me to give up my happiness so we may impress the preening wastrels of London!”
“Gentlemen, I will thank you to cease shouting in my parlour,” said Lady Matlock, and both men turned to her with expressions of contrition.
“Your pardon, madam,” said Darcy, as his uncle murmured, “Apologies, my dear.”
“Sit down, both of you,” she said, and they obeyed. “Nephew, I have no doubt of your honesty, or of the fact that you would never forsake your honour by ending this betrothal. For your sake, and your sister’s, we must attempt to mend this situation. I will discover whence this gossip came, for if we can discredit the source, we can largely stop the talk. Secondly, I will meet this Miss Elizabeth Bennet and determine for myself if she is as genuine as you say.”
“Absolutely not!” her husband objected. “I have already declared that we shall not associate with her!”
“Such rumourscanbe managed by those without your bluntness,” she replied acerbically. “I have already lost my dear friend Lady Anne to an early grave, and I shall not lose her children to your intransigence!” Husband and wife glared at each other for a moment before Lord Matlock gave way by averting his eyes.
“Darcy,” her ladyship resumed, “you will be led by me in this. I will help you, but you must concede that I am better placed to determine what actions must be taken than you are. Your young lady will call at Darcy House in two days. I willhappento call while she is there. We shall meet without any appearance that I have sought out the introduction.” She raised her eyebrows at her husband, who nodded reluctantly.
“And if you approve of her, as I have no doubt you shall?” Darcy asked.
“Why, then I shall combat these rumours with every means in my power. I am not without influence.”
* * *
When the gentlemen called at Gracechurch Street, Elizabeth immediately apprehended that Darcy was preoccupied. She promptly suggested they all walk out, and having won free of the house, with Jane and Mr Bingley distracted by each other, she turned to him and said, “Well, what is it?”
He looked briefly surprised, then laughed. “How well you know me already. I visited my aunt and uncle yesterday, and they had some news I was not pleased to hear. Apparently, there is already talk about you and your sister, and it is by no means flattering.”
“How can that be?” she exclaimed. “Neither engagement has been in the papers yet.”
“I do not know.” He explained what had been told to him, and his aunt’s plan.
“Naturally I shall be happy to meet Lady Matlock tomorrow,” she said when he had related all. “And if it would be better to delay the wedding until the gossip dies down…?”
“Absolutely not. I will not be separated from you by lies.”
“From the moment I knew of your interest, I feared that by accepting you I might harm you and your family,” she admitted with a sigh.
“You have not done this,” he insisted. “Someone, possibly someone who had decided I should marrytheirdaughter, has elected to paint you and your sister in a poor light, and the tales have spread and been embellished, as always seems to happen.”
“Do you mean to tell me,” she replied with a look of mingled amazement and humour, “that the great Lady Catherine de Bourgh is not the only one who has decided the course of your future without consulting you?”
Darcy’s gaze flicked heavenward, and he sighed with exasperation. “A single man in possession of a good fortune is the rightful property of the ladies of his circle, and is not under any circumstances to be allowed to decide such weighty matters for himself.”
“And now you are to be punished by that circle, for your defection?”
“So it would seem.” He shrugged carelessly. “But we have my aunt’s support, and that is no small thing. Lady Matlock is a bosom friend of several of the Patronesses of Almack’s, and wields considerable social power in her own right. The earl is unhappy, but apparently willing to allow my aunt to work her magic upon the court of public opinion.”
He frowned then, and Elizabeth waited as he seemed to struggle with something. At last he continued, “My aunt informs me that my cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, remains opposed. I do not know why. I was very surprised when he objected to the interest in you which I admitted while he was in Hertfordshire. He liked you very well, but decried your station. Richard has been as a brother to me all my life, and yet I cannot explain this attitude—he has never before seemed to care for such things. Indeed, he would often tease me for being too concerned with those considerations!”
Elizabeth felt a stab of guilt for being the cause of such dissension, but she could not think of herself now. She laid her hand upon his, and when he turned it to interlace their fingers, said, “Does your aunt understand this alteration in her son?”
“If she does, she did not explain it to me.” He raised her hand to his lips, and smiled at her as he lowered it again. “It will be well, Elizabeth, so long as you do not cast me aside. I would bear a hundred confounding cousins and suspicious uncles for your sake, you know.”
It did her a great deal of good to hear that, just then. She returned his smile. “I do not think I could let you go, unless you wished it yourself.”
“That shall never happen.”
CHAPTERTHIRTY-TWO
