For the first time since the three men had arrived, Lady Catherine looked worried. “You would not allow a trial, because of the scandal it would cause,” she claimed.
“Could we send her to the Peninsula as a maid to the men in the army?” Fitzwilliam suggested.
“No, Son. The brave officers and soldiers face enough adversity without foisting my sister on them,” Matlock replied. He ignored his sister’s outraged look. “You have two choices, be tried, which will end in you being hanged, or you will be placed in a private asylum for the insane. If you cannot make a choice, I will do so for you, and you will not be very happy about it.”
“You cannot do this to me!” Lady Catherine insisted. “If I cannot have Rosings Park, de Bourgh House, and the fortune, then neither can Anne as she is not the late Sir Lewis’s child.”
Fitzwilliam and Darcy were worried about how Anne would react to this disclosure. She looked unperturbed.
“I knew, Mother, as did Father,” Anne disclosed. “Before he passed, he wrote an epistle to me which his solicitor ensured that I received. He also made sure you were unaware of my receipt of it when I reached my majority. Father assured me that as was his right by law, he claimed me as his daughter and loved me no less because of your indiscretions. Why do you think he allowed you nothing in his will?”
Lady Catherine sat with her mouth open, and for thefirst time in many years, she was not able to make a sound. Why were things not happening according to her desires?
“No, Catty, as you heard from Anne, there is no impediment to her inheriting all on the thirteenth day of November,” Matlock stated. “Until then, I will use the authority granted to me under the terms of Sir Lewis’s will, and will administer the estate, and you, Catty, will not be here. Now chuse! I will not ask again.”
Hearing the last caused something inside of Lady Catherine to snap. She pushed herself out of her chair and closed the distance to her daughter. “I should not have allowed you to live. You are nothing but the daughter of a footman; I will kill you now…Unhand me!” She screamed the last.
The instant their aunt headed towards her daughter in a threatening manner, Fitzwilliam and Darcy restrained the woman. They easily lifted her feet clear of the floor, then moved her further away from Anne.
No matter how much she struggled, Lady Catherine could not get free. She screamed expletives and other abuses, which ceased when a footman arrived with a spare cravat which was used as a gag. That man and another footman were instructed to make sure the lady was securely locked away until it was time to move her from the house.
“She is truly insane,” Matlock opined. “I will transport her to Bedlam to be evaluated. If, as I believe it will be, she is found to be out of her senses, she will remain there, but in the wing which is reserved for those whose families are willing to pay so they are treated well and never seen in public.”
“Father, how will you keep her subdued in the coach?” Fitzwilliam enquired.
“Anne, is there laudanum kept in the house?” Matlock enquired. He received a nod from his niece. “We will dose her with the drug. It is less than twenty miles from here, so it willnot require more than one dose. I will leave first thing in the morning. You two may use one of the de Bourgh conveyances to return to London.”
“What of callers until Anne becomes the mistress?” Darcy queried. “We do not want to have to explain what happened here, do we?”
“That is easy,” Anne said as she pulled a bell cord. “Thank you, Mr Billingsley. Please inform the staff and servants that the house is to be closed to all callers unless you are told otherwise by me.”
The butler bowed. “It will be so, Miss de Bourgh. Mr Collins came for his daily meeting with Lady Catherine. I turned him away per Lord Matlock’s orders. Does your instruction include him?”
“Most especially him. Until I give my permission to do so, anyone in my employ who gossips about who is the mistress, or what is happening to remove my mother from the house, will be sacked on the spot with no character,” Anne replied. “If you like, you may say that the house is closed due to illness. From a certain point of view, that is true.”
The butler left to carry out his orders.
“Will you need us here once you depart, Uncle Reggie?” Darcy asked. He knew what his preference was, but he would do what his uncle needed him to do.
“Anne, you have a good steward and, it seems, a loyal staff. Do you need these two?” Matlock questioned.
“No, Uncle Reggie, I do not. The harvest is in, and there will be no need for Richard and William to remain,” Anne responded. “It will be nice to be able to be my true self at last. It was so tiring having to act sickly in front of Lady Catherine.” Anne paused. “You know, even though Papa was not my father by blood, he was a far better parent to me than my mother.”
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The next morning Matlock in his coach departed before sunup with Lady Catherine in a deep, laudanum-induced sleep. Less than a half hour later, his son and nephew left for London.
Later that day, Mr Collins was once again turned away and told that the house was closed until further notice. As he assumed the order came from his all-powerful patroness, Collins obeyed the edict without question. He was soon to depart to go to Hertfordshire to inspect his birthright. He was certain that by the time he returned, the house would be open, and he would be able to report to Lady Catherine about his triumph in Hertfordshire.
Chapter 21
On his arrival back at Darcy House, Darcy found a note from Bingley. It had been written the previous day. He broke the seal and opened it.
9 October 1811
Netherfield Park
Hertfordshire
