How can it be that they are elevated while I languish in this hovel, and my estate, house in London, and my fortune have been stolen from me? How can the Crown allow such injustices to be perpetrated in the realm?
I command you to turn your attention to righting the wrong you made in a moment of dotage and to remove the titles of ‘Lady’ from the low-born foundlings immediately. Now that I have instructed it, I expect to see an announcement reversing this travesty in the papers forthwith.
Once you have obeyed me in this, you will remove my traitorous nephew from my estate, punish my brother for helping him steal what is mine, and restore me to my rightful place.
You should always obey your betters. How can one born outside of the Kingdom be superior to a noble Englishwoman like me?
Lady Catherine de Bourgh
Peer of the Realm
Neither Lady Elaine nor Matlock thought that Catherine was so far lost to reason. She had finally slipped the bounds of sanity. Without a word, Matlock handed the letter to Holder and waited while he and Edith read it.
“She has committed treason!” Edith exclaimed. Realising she had said the words aloud, she placed her hand over her mouth.
“Lady Holder has the right of it. The wordsMrsde Bourgh wrote to us are indeed treasonous,” Queen Charlotte stated. “To begin with, we have stripped her honorific from her. The only question which remains is whether she is for the tower or to be consigned to Bedlam?”
“It has been some time since she has been a member of our family in any meaningful way,” Matlock stated. “When Anne de Bourgh went to her final reward, anything left between us, which also applies to how my sister Lady Anne Darcy feels about our older sister Catherine, was broken. All she cared about was retaining her perceived power.” He paused to consider his next words carefully. “I would not wish execution on anyone, Your Majesty. That being said, I, we, will defer to your judgement in the matter, as it was you whom she insulted so grievously.”
“Do you agree with your husband, Lady Matlock?” Queen Charlotte questioned.
“I do, Your Majesty,” Lady Elaine replied.
“And you, Lord and Lady Holder? It is your daughters whom Mrs de Bourgh slandered after all,” the Queen queried.
“We are with Lord and Lady Matlock,” Holder returned as his Edith nodded her agreement. “Either way, Mrs de Bourgh will be removed from society, and we, especially our most precious daughters, will never be exposed to her vitriol and machinations again.”
“We thank you for coming so quickly,” Queen Charlotte said. “We will notify you when we reach a decision. As Lord Holder implied, one way or the other, this blight on society will be excised.”
With that, Her Majesty stood, as did everyone else seated in the room. The guests bowed and curtsied. Queen Charlotte turned and walked towards a door in the rear of the room, her entourage following her. As soon as she exited the room, the Fitzwilliam and Carrington parents stood up normally.
Within moments, the doors behind them opened, and the major domo guided them back to the coach they had shared to arrive.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Lady Catherine de Bourgh was seriously displeased with the Queen who spoke that disgusting German language. It had been three months since her letter demanded the revocation of the title of ‘Lady’ for the foundlings.
So far there had been nothing, and Catherine had looked at the papers every day seeking the notice she expected, nay, had demanded, to see. The problem was that she had not seen one. Perhaps, Lady Catherine reasoned, she should write another letter because the previous one had been misdirected. That was the only good explanation for her commands being ignored.
She had just sat down at her writing desk when there was an insistent pounding on the front door. She would leave that to her servants; the great Lady Catherine de Bourgh did not do anything as plebian as answering the door.
Catherine ignored the voices she heard from downstairs, nor did she pay attention to the sounds of multiple pairs of boots trudging up the stairs. When the door to her sitting room was unceremoniously thrown open, her notice was captured. She could not account for the presence of the men.
“Do you know who I am? What is the meaning of you men intruding on my attention?” Catherine screeched.
“Mrs Catherine de Bourgh…” the one man began.
“That isLadyCatherine to you, peasant,” she spat out. “Now remove your lowborn selves from my august company!”
“By order of Her Majesty Queen Charlotte of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in the name of His Majesty the King, you have been stripped of your honorific and are hereby to be placed under arrest for the crime of treason,” Captain Utley of the Royal Guard stated with military bearing. “Sergeant, Corporal, take this woman into custody.”
“That foreign-born woman cannot take my title from me; I will take hers! How dare she disobey and insult me thusly? I will see the King, and he will put this to rights!” Catherine screeched.
Anything else she tried to say was not heard as the corporal gagged her while the sergeant bound her arms.
“As I was saying before you so rudely interrupted me, you are charged with treason. However, Her Majesty does not believe you are sane; therefore, rather than you being transported to the tower for a date with the executioner and his axe, you are forSt Mary Bethlehem Hospital, where you will reside for the rest of your days in the mortal world.” The captain looked at his two men who had accompanied him. “Remove her to the cart and make sure the men secure her to the bed.”
No matter how much she tried to escape the men, Catherine could do nothing. She suffered the indignity of being carried out of the dower house, her legs kicking ineffectually in the air, and dropped into the bed of a horse-drawn cart like a sack of potatoes.
