Page 35 of Brighton Rescue (Pride and Prejudice Variation #23)
“I wish we could get a pineapple for the wedding breakfast,” Mrs. Bennet said. “That would be truly elegant!”
Elizabeth, who was reluctantly accustomed to every meal involving endless conversations about her upcoming wedding, said patiently, “Mama, most pineapples are rotting by the time they appear as a centerpiece. Please do not worry; our wedding breakfast will be delightful!”
“I only hope that we will have enough cakes!”
“Mrs. Miller is going to assist Cook with the baking, is she not? She is a wonderful baker,” said Kitty, nibbling on a biscuit.
“Yes, she makes such delectable confections!” her mother agreed. “I am sure Lady Lucas will be most impressed; Charlotte Collins’s wedding breakfast was not nearly so fancy, but then Charlotte did not marry a man worth ten thousand pounds a year!”
The door to the dining room opened, and to Elizabeth’s relief, Lydia, who had finished eating dinner earlier, bounced in and said, “A carriage just arrived! Could it be Mr. Darcy?”
Puzzled, Elizabeth turned to peer out the dining room windows. “He cannot possibly be back yet as he needed time to arrange for the settlements. I wonder … oh! It is Lady Catherine de Bourgh! Oh dear!”
Mr. Bennet, who had been phlegmatically eating his way through his dinner without contributing to the wedding discussion, looked up in surprise at his daughter’s exclamation.
He stood up and strolled over to look outside at the middle aged lady, her face set in angry lines, who was marching determinedly toward the front door of Longbourn.
“So that is Lady Catherine de Bourgh?” he asked. “Why do you suppose she is here, Lizzy?”
Elizabeth, caught between amusement and distress, said, “Given the lady’s thunderous countenance, it seems she has been informed of my engagement to Mr. Darcy, whom she has long contended is engaged to her only daughter.
She is here, no doubt, to insist that I give up all pretenses of becoming Mrs. Darcy. ”
“You will not do so, Elizabeth, surely?” Mrs. Bennet quavered. “It should not matter that Lady Catherine thinks that…”
“Of course not, Mama,” her daughter interposed. “I love Fitzwilliam and he loves me, and there is nothing Lady Catherine can do to prevent our marriage. However, I do not suppose she will depart without seeing me, so I had best go speak to the lady so that she can say what she wishes. ”
She took a step toward the door, only to be halted by her father’s gentle hand on her shoulder. “Nonsense, Lizzy. I am master of Longbourn and your father, and you are not even quite of age yet. I will speak to Lady Catherine and explain the situation.”
Elizabeth looked up at her father with a frown. “Are you certain, Father? I have met her before, you know, and she does not frighten me.”
Mr. Bennet, who had been biting his tongue for days while dealing with his wife and daughters, grinned cheerfully at the prospect of unleashing his wit on a member of the nobility. “I assure you that I look forward to discussing your upcoming marriage to Mr. Darcy with the mistress of Rosings.”
/
“Lady Catherine,” Mr. Bennet said, sweeping grandly into the parlor where the lady, dressed in expensive traveling clothes, was standing rigidly in front of the window. “I am Mr. Bennet, master of this estate. Welcome to Longbourn!”
Lady Catherine turned around to display protruding brown eyes and clenched teeth, while a vein throbbed noticeably in her forehead. “I have no interest in speaking to you, Mr. Bennet. I command you to summon your second daughter, Miss Elizabeth Bennet, immediately!”
Mr. Bennet bowed and said, with spurious meekness, “I fear that is not possible, Lady Catherine, as my daughter is not available. However, I will, with all appropriate magnanimity, pass on a message to her, if you wish.”
Lady Catherine’s lips compressed with disgust, and she sat down with a huff. “Do sit down, Mr. Bennet.”
“Thank you,” Bennet returned gravely, amused at being offered a seat in his own house. “Now, can I offer you some tea or coffee?”
“I have no time for refreshments, sir. I have heard a most alarming report and came here immediately to have it refuted. A ridiculous rumor is circulating that my nephew, Mr. Darcy of Pemberley, is engaged to your daughter Elizabeth.”
Bennet leaned back and folded his hands gracefully in his lap.
“Yes, Mr. Darcy is indeed engaged to Elizabeth and will be marrying her in a little more than a week. I regret exceedingly that he did not inform you himself, but young people can be rather thoughtless, especially when they are in the throes of ardent love.”
Lady Catherine’s eyes were now bloodshot with outrage, and her turban, decorated with dyed ostrich feathers, shook with fury. “It is impossible! Mr. Darcy is engaged to my daughter, Miss Anne de Bourgh, heiress to Rosings! What have you to say to that, Mr. Bennet?”
“Why, I say it is nonsense, Lady Catherine. Your nephew described the situation to me very clearly when he asked for my daughter’s hand.
You wish for a marriage between the master of Pemberley to your daughter, the heiress of Rosings, and I can hardly fault you for that, but there are no formal engagement papers, and Mr. Darcy does not feel himself obligated, by honor or law, to your daughter.
I fear you have wasted your time in traveling all this way.
Are you certain you do not wish for some tea before you depart? ”
Catherine de Bourgh stared at her host in genuine astonishment.
Never in her life had she met with such casual indifference to her desires.
“Do you know who I am, Mr. Bennet? I am the daughter of an earl, and one of Darcy’s closest relations.
I have only his best interests at heart, and he will be utterly destroyed if he marries a young woman of inferior birth, of no importance to the world, and wholly unallied to our family! ”
Mr. Bennet felt a spurt of anger at these insulting words, but he knew instinctively that the lady would be far more bothered by insouciance than insults.
“Ah well, I daresay he will not be quite destroyed,” he answered cheerfully, casually crossing his booted feet.
“The young man has a good head on his shoulders, and my Lizzy is a clever young woman, if I do say so myself. No, no, Lady Catherine, you must see that Darcy is quite the honeyfall for our family, especially with Longbourn entailed away to that clergyman of yours. Darcy has offered, Elizabeth has accepted, I have given my blessing, and I assure you that I would sue your nephew for breach of promise if he tried to withdraw now. I fear that Miss de Bourgh must find another husband, at her convenience, of course.”
Lady Catherine tried to speak, but was so upset, so outraged, so incredulous, that for a full thirty seconds she was only able to make gobbling noises.
Mr. Bennet watched with some concern – it would not do if the woman actually died in his parlor from an apoplexy.
Eventually, she recovered enough to hiss vituperatively at him for a full five minutes.
He maintained his calm demeanor and then, when he grew bored of listening to her haranguing, rose to his feet and firmly ushered her out of Longbourn.
She, exhausted and defeated, went peacefully enough.
/
“Thank you, Jack!” Elizabeth said to the Longbourn coachman. “Please return with the carriage in four hours.”
“Yes, Miss Elizabeth. ”
The three eldest Bennet girls climbed the steps to the front entrance of Netherfield.
The door swung open immediately and the butler showed them into the drawing room, where Mr. Darcy, Mr. Bingley, Colonel Fitzwilliam, and Mr. Hartford were waiting for them, along with a tall, young blonde dressed in a simple pink muslin dress.
Darcy stepped forward, drawing the girl with him, and smiled down at his beloved. “Georgiana, please allow me to introduce you to Miss Elizabeth Bennet. Elizabeth, my dear sister, Miss Darcy.”
Elizabeth smiled up into the face of the taller, younger girl and curtseyed. “It is wonderful to meet you at last, Miss Darcy.”
Georgiana had been eager to make the acquaintance of the woman who would marry her beloved brother, but to her horror, shyness closed her throat, rendering her unable to speak.
She looked imploringly at her brother, who in turn looked worried, but Elizabeth merely reached out and took the girl’s hand.
“I have heard that you play music exceptionally well, Miss Darcy. I enjoy music very much, though I fear I play rather badly.”
Georgiana’s throat unclogged miraculously and she exclaimed, “You are teasing me, I know! My brother says you play and sing so very well!”
Elizabeth laughed and shot a saucy glance at her fiancé.
“That, my dear Miss Darcy, shows just how much your brother loves me. I play and sing moderately well, but I fear I do not practice enough to truly excel. You see, I often have the best of intentions of spending an hour or two on the instrument, but then the trees and flowers and fields call me, and I abandon the pianoforte to frolic outside.”
“You will adore Pemberley then, Miss Elizabeth,” Georgiana gushed. “There are so many delightful walks, and we have a pond near the house which freezes over during the winter so we can go ice skating.”
“I have never ice skated!” Elizabeth exclaimed. “Do tell me about it, will you not?”
She guided Georgiana to a comfortable couch, and the two women sat down and began conversing.
Darcy, who had been feeling quite anxious at this meeting between the two most important women in his life, relaxed.
He should never have doubted Elizabeth’s ability to make his shy little sister comfortable.
“Miss Mary?” Bingley said to the third Bennet daughter. “I heard from my housekeeper that Mrs. Audley gave birth to a healthy baby girl last night. Do you have a suggestion about what additional assistance I can provide to the family?”