The butler announced dinner, providing merciful interruption. They processed to the dining room in order of precedence. The earl and his wife first, followed by Lady Catherine, then the rest according to their rank.
Darcy found himself seated between his sister and his uncle, with Elizabeth some distance away next to Richard and Kitty. Her posture was rigid as she attempted to navigate a conversation with those nearest her.
Lady Catherine dominated discourse from her position of prominence. “I cannot fathom what possessed you to act with such haste, Fitzwilliam. A gentleman of your standing requires a wife of appropriate breeding. This... Miss Bennet—”
“Mrs Darcy,” he corrected.
“—comes from no family we recognise. Her father is merely a gentleman with an entailed estate, I am told. Her mother’s relations are in trade. Trade! How you could consider such an alliance suitable defies comprehension.”
Mrs Bennet, seated within hearing and apparently incapable of recognising insult however blatant, smiled as if she had been complimented. “Oh yes, my brother, Mr Gardiner, does very well in his business. Very well indeed! He resides near Cheapside, quite respectable, and provides excellently for his wife and children. We are all very proud of his success. Why, just last year he expanded his warehouses, and his profits have increased most satisfactorily. He is quite the example of industry and intelligence applied to commerce. I am certain you must agree, Lady Catherine, that such enterprise is to be admired, regardless of one’s position in society.”
Lady Catherine’s expression suggested someone had just announced the plague had arrived for dinner. Her fingers tightened around her fork until her knuckles showed white, and she drew a breath that seemed designed to fuel a comprehensive set-down.
Lord Matlock intervened before his sister could unleash whatever vitriol she had prepared. “I am certain we are all delighted to welcome Mrs Darcy to the family. The circumstances of their meeting may have been unusual, but Darcy has always demonstrated sound judgment in matters of importance. We trust his choice and extend our warmest welcome to his bride.”
His words were kind, but they did nothing to ease the oppressive atmosphere at the table. Lady Catherine’s silence spoke volumes, her expression making clear that she extended no such welcome and considered her brother’s platitudes insufficient to the situation.
Down the table, Kitty’s laughter rang out, too unrestrained for the formal atmosphere. “Oh Colonel, you are too amusing! Yes, it is all quite absurd, is it not? Lizzy announces her engagement to save Mr Darcy from those dreadful fortune hunters, and now here they are, married! Like something from a book, truly. However, I suppose the circumstances were rather romantic in their way.”
Richard chuckled, enjoying her animation. “Romantic indeed, Lady Catherine. I am still attempting to understand precisely how my cousin managed to acquire a wife in the space of a week. He has always been so cautious about such matters.”
“Cautious!” Kitty laughed again. “Oh, nothing about their courtship was cautious. Everything happened so quickly. One moment Lizzy was unmarried, the next she was engaged, then married before any of us quite realised what was occurring!”
Darcy’s fingers gripped his fork. Every word, however innocently intended, painted the marriage as a hasty farce. Elizabeth had gone absolutely still, her gaze fixed on her plate.
“How... extraordinary.” Lady Catherine’s voice could have frozen water. “One might almost wonder whether the haste suggested a planned necessity.”
The barb was well-directed and Darcy clenched his jaw, refusing to rise to the bait.
He endured it all in silence. To censure Mrs Bennet’s lack of discretion would humiliate Elizabeth. To silence Kitty would suggest he found fault with her family. To respond to Lady Catherine’s provocations would create precisely the sort of public discord he had hoped to avoid.
So he said nothing and permitted the disaster to unfold around him.
By the time the final course concluded, his head throbbed and his shoulders ached from sustained tension. The ladies withdrew, leaving the gentlemen to their port. Lady Catherine departed with them, her disapproving countenance making clear that conversations would continue at a later time.
“Well,” Richard observed with amusement once the door had closed. “That was certainly memorable.”
Arthur shot him a quelling look. Lord Matlock sighed. And Darcy reached for the port with the grim awareness that the evening was far from over.
Chapter Twelve
Elizabeth
“You need not endure us in silence.”
Elizabeth’s voice cut through the quiet as the bedchamber door closed behind them. She had waited until they were alone, until the servants had withdrawn and the family members had dispersed to their own quarters.
She’d spent the entire walk upstairs rehearsing what she might say, how she might address the mortification she felt.
Now she stood near the dressing table, hands clasped together to keep them from trembling.
Fitzwilliam paused in the act of removing his coat. “I beg your pardon?”
“My mother. My sisters. Their behaviour tonight. I am not blind to what occurred. You sat frozen as my mother proclaimed our business to the entire table and Kitty undermined our marriage with every jest. You were mortified.”
“We are loud and crude by your standards.” She continued, moving back and forth, unable to remain still as the conversation unfolded. Her body demanded motion, some outlet for the anxiety and shame that had been building since the moment Mrs Bennet opened her mouth at dinner. “We speak when we ought to remain silent and laugh when the situation demands restraint. I am aware of our shortcomings. You need not pretend otherwise for the sake of sparing my feelings.”
Fitzwilliam coloured. In the candlelight, the tinge stained his skin above his cravat. He stared at her almost blankly, and she pressed on before he could respond needing to voice everything while courage remained.
