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Lady Catherine stiffened her neck. “That is precisely as it ought to be. My nephew must not give consequence to those beneath his sphere—not while he retains the use of his reason. But your daughter’s arts and allurements may, in a moment of infatuation, have made him forget what he owes to himself and to all his family. She may have drawn him in.”
Elizabeth meant to say something in her own defence, but her mother’s ire would not be repressed.
“I will have you know your nephew is the last man in the world who might garner my daughter’s attentions.”
Seizing a lull in the debate, Elizabeth said, “Mama—”
Mrs. Bennet held up her hand. “I shall handle this, Lizzy.”
“Mrs. Bennet, do you know who I am? I have not been accustomed to such language as this spoken against my nephew. I am almost the nearest relation he has in the world. As such, I am entitled to know all his dearest concerns.”
“But you are not entitled to enter my home with your ridiculous accusations as regards my daughter.”
“Let me be rightly understood, madam. This match, to which your daughter has the presumption to aspire, can never take place. No, never. Mr. Darcy is engaged to my daughter. Now what have you to say?”
“I say your daughter is welcome to the dour man. Why, no one in Hertfordshire can stand him and certainly not my Lizzy!”
As Elizabeth fought to balance her embarrassment over her mother’s proclamation with her outrage against Lady Catherine, Mr. Bennet and Mr. Darcy stormed into the room.
“What is this disturbance? I heard voices all the way down the hall?” Looking about, the perturbed patriarch said, “Ah, we have a guest.”
Open-mouthed, her ladyship cried, “Nephew, I thought you were in London! What on earth are you doing here with these people?”
Darcy crossed his arms and glared at his aunt. “The better question is what are you doing here? I pray you have not made a spectacle of yourself in front of my future bride.”
Mrs. Bennet’s grew wide-eyed. Her jaw dropped. “Lizzy?”
Elizabeth walked over to Darcy and accepted his outstretched hand. “That is what I have been trying to tell you, Mama. Mr. Darcy and I are engaged to be married.”
While Mrs. Bennet attempted to gather her thoughts, Lady Catherine objected. “This is not to be borne. Unhand my nephew, you insolent woman. Darcy, what is the meaning of this?”
Darcy raised Elizabeth’s hand to his lips. “Miss Elizabeth has made me the happiest man in the world.”
Her ladyship approached her dearest nephew and stopped short of tearing Elizabeth’s hand from his. Her voice brokered a measure of outrage tempered by desperation. “What of your engagement to Anne? From your infancy, you have been intended for each other. It was the favourite wish of your mother as well as mine. What has become of you, Nephew? Have you not heard me say you were destined for my daughter?”
“I have heard it repeatedly. But what is that to me? The two of you exercised the full extent of your power in conjecturing the marriage. Its completion depended on others. I am neither by honour nor inclination confined to my cousin. I have made my choice. I have asked Miss Elizabeth to be my bride, and she has agreed. You must learn to accept it.”
“I shall never accept it! Honour, decorum, prudence, nay, interest, forbids it.” She glared at Elizabeth. “Do not expect to be noticed by his family or friends if you wilfully act against the inclinations of all. You will be censured, slighted, and despised by everyone connected with him. Your alliance will be a disgrace. Your name will never even be mentioned by any of us.”
Elizabeth shrugged. “These are heavy misfortunes, but the wife of Mr. Darcy must have such extraordinary sources of happiness necessarily attached to her situation that she could, upon the whole, have no cause to repine.”
“Obstinate, headstrong girl! I am ashamed of you! Is this your gratitude for my attentions to you in my home? Is nothing due to me on that score? Understand me, Miss Bennet; I came here with the determined resolution of carrying my purpose. I will not be dissuaded from it. I am not in the habit of brooking disappointment.”
“That will make your ladyship’s present situation more pitiable, but it will have no effect on me.”
“Silence! I will not be interrupted. My daughter and my nephew are formed for each other. They are of the same sphere—descended, on the maternal side, from the same noble line. Their fathers are from respectable, honourable, and ancient—though untitled—families. Their fortune on both sides is splendid.
“Are they to be divided by the upstart pretensions of a young woman without family, connections, or fortune? Is this to be endured?” Her ladyship drew a sharp breath. “Do you not recall that I mentioned to you at Rosings, Miss Bennet, that you would be well advised not to quit the sphere in which you have been brought up? You know nothing of my nephew’s world.”
Elizabeth jutted her chin. “In marrying your nephew, I am not quitting my sphere. He is a gentleman; I am a gentleman’s daughter.”
“True. You are a gentleman’s daughter. But what of your mother—who are your uncles and aunts? Do not imagine I am ignorant of their condition.”
“Whatever my connections may be, if your nephew does not object to them, they can be nothing to you.”
Mr. Bennet tucked his hands behind his back and peered over his spectacles. “There you have it, your ladyship. There is to be a wedding uniting our families, and there is nothing to be done to prevent it. I beg to be importuned no longer on the subject.”
“Not so hasty, if you please. I am by no means done. To all the objections I have already urged, I have still another to add. I am no stranger to the particulars of your youngest daughter’s infamous elopement, sir. I know it all; that the young man’s marrying her was a patched-up business at the expense of you and her uncles.”
