Page 36

"I publish the banns of marriage between Fitzwilliam George Darcy, bachelor of Kympton Parish in Derbyshire, and Elizabeth Rose Bennet, spinster of Meryton Parish. If any man can show just cause why they may not lawfully be married, let him now speak, or else hereafter forever hold his peace."

“Oooohhh, how wonderful,” the future bride heard from her mother, but since it was said breathlessly, barely audible from a few feet away, she simply smiled and reached over to squeeze the matron’s hand.

Elizabeth had revised her feelings for Mrs Bennet substantially since their heartfelt conversation the previous week.

Learning the uncomfortable truth that her mother considered herself a failure at five and twenty due to the entail and becoming increasingly aware she would face the same responsibilities herself in a few months, left her feeling surprisingly charitable.

Oddly enough, she was far more in charity with her mother than her father, thus reversing the usual course of her life.

For the past week, she had devoted considerable time reflecting on her mother’s life.

It seemed that, against all odds, Mrs Bennet produced five daughters worthy of respect.

It was true a fortnight earlier Elizabeth would have put the number at two or three out of five, but after Lydia’s harrowing experience at the ball, her younger sisters were rapidly becoming less irritable, less ignorant, and less insipid.

She imagined that soon enough, she would be raising her own children, and it was probably harder than it looked.

Perhaps… just perhaps… her mother might offer sound advice.

She held Mrs Bennet’s hand tightly, smiled at her beau, and looked towards Mr Turner, who abandoned the pulpit to read the banns in the exact spot her William had delivered his apology from a lifetime earlier.

She glanced to her sisters, wondering how things would change for them as sisters of Fitzwilliam Darcy, and trying to picture possible futures—which looked bright indeed.

She was in no way prepared for the loud exclamation of, “ I object! ” thundering from the back—followed by a massive thump on the flagstones. She joined the parishioners in a startled gasp, and even more startled wrenching around of necks to look back seeking the disturbance.

She was only half-surprised to find Darcy stalking down the aisle, seemingly considering going back for the colonel’s sword.

She saw the colonel watching the scene in amusement.

Elizabeth surmised he believed his cousin had things well in hand, but Georgiana looked frightened, so he stayed to relieve her anxiety.

Of course, it was also possible the colonel and the loud woman did not get on well and he simply did not want to deal with her.

Before he arrived, the ‘lady’ in question continued with the same thrill demands.

“He is engaged to my daughter, so he cannot be engaged to this…”

She was not especially surprised when Darcy interrupted the lady angrily.

“ Lady Catherine! Let me be rightly understood! I recommend in the strongest possible terms, that you reconsider what you are about to say regarding the future Mrs Darcy. My forbearance has been extensive, but it is not unbounded. Disrespecting my bride will not be tolerated! It is long past time to abandon this ridiculous fantasy.”

He finished the last sentence with a bellow fit for a bull.

Elizabeth wondered whether he was truly as angry as he sounded or if he simply understood his aunt’s intractability required strong measures.

She was not especially worried. To the contrary, she was enjoying herself.

It was thrilling in a way to see the man defending her as a gentleman ought.

The lady started to speak, but Darcy rudely interrupted her. “I am not engaged to Anne. I have never been engaged to Anne. I will never be engaged to Anne. It is past time to put this idea behind you.”

By that time, Elizabeth had strolled leisurely to join Darcy, and she saw the colonel do the same, leaving Georgiana in the care of Mary and the two youngest Bennet sisters. Elizabeth considered that akin to engaging a fox to guard the chickens, but who was she to quibble?

The colonel spoke as if he was in a drawing room on a lazy afternoon, “Good morning, Aunt. How were the roads and the weather?”

The lady blustered, caught off guard by the incongruous bit of civility.

She answered angrily. “The roads are savage in this county. I assure you they are far superior in Kent, and the weather is atrocious.”

Elizabeth saw the colonel give a small smirk and could not decide if he was working gallantly to defuse the situation, or poking fun at his aunt for amusement. Since Darcy looked ready to chew rocks, she hoped for the former, but expected the latter.

“Well, at least you spared Anne this ridiculous exercise,” Darcy said emphatically.

“Of course not! She is in the coach. I did not want to expose her to…” the lady said menacingly.

Elizabeth would never know what the great lady planned to say next because Darcy bellowed, “You hauled my very fragile cousin here, starting at the crack of dawn on Sunday … in December! ”

He spoke with sufficient anger that Elizabeth thought he might explode.

It was the only explanation for allowing his personal business to be discussed at a roar in the presence of all her neighbours in the middle of the church.

Of course, in her mind, all the best things in her life had started with a public spectacle in the Meryton church, so she was not especially alarmed.

She did however want to keep her intended out of goal at least until the wedding, so she took his arm and squeezed it hard enough to get his attention.

She glanced at Jane, who was standing in the aisle with Mr Bingley, and subtly leaned her head toward the door.

Jane and Mary quickly walked down the aisle gracefully, with Jenny and Simon following, having already transferred their loyalty to her.

She squeezed again, and when Darcy saw Jane leaving out the back doors, he became less obviously furious.

He looked to her to see how she was taking the altercation, so she gave him a smile to show she was not the least bit distressed.

Elizabeth noticed her father approaching close enough to watch the proceedings, but he seemed no more inclined to intervene than he did in any other unpleasantness.

She honestly did not know if she was disappointed in the man for yet another avoidance of a difficult encounter or, relieved he would not make a fraught situation worse.

She was mostly happy that in less than a month, she would not especially care what her father said, thought, or did.

Mr Turner approached with quiet intention, cleared his throat, and looked at Darcy meaningfully. Elizabeth appreciated the man following proper decorum but understood there was a limit to the rudeness the good reverend allowed in his church, and the lady was pushing her luck.

Darcy introduced the reverend, Elizabeth, and Mr Bennet to his aunt using the proper forms.

Lady Catherine answered without much in the way of courtesy, but it was sufficient for the parson to ask questions.

“Lady Catherine, I just called the banns as is customary, and you objected. Can you elaborate on your objection… specifically? ”

“He is engaged to my daughter.”

Mr Turner rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I presume you have a marriage contract?”

The lady blustered. “There is no contract as of yet.”

“Ah… well, then… I presume he has proposed?”

The reverend looked at the lady, giving her a few seconds to reply. When none was forthcoming, he continued merrily along. “Has he asked for a courtship? Asked to call on her? Stated his intentions unequivocally?”

“He has done none of those things, but it is a long-understood arrangement.”

“Understood by whom?” he asked innocently.

Lady Catherine looked slightly less certain of herself but steeled her spine and continued gamely with considerable bluster.

"The engagement between them is of a peculiar kind. From their infancy, they have been intended for each other. It was the favourite wish of his mother, as well as of hers. While in their cradles, we planned the union: and now, at the moment when the wishes of both sisters would be accomplished in their marriage, to be prevented by a young woman of inferior birth, of no importance in the world, and wholly unallied to the family…”

Elizabeth nearly snapped in response, but Mr Turner cleared his throat loudly and held up his hand to silence everyone. “Mr Darcy, your response?”

“My response is that my aunt is lucky I allow her to speak of my future wife in such a manner. Mothers and aunts dream of future happiness every day, but such dreams for babes in arms rarely work out. I have no idea why she will just not let the idea die… I really do not. I have repeatedly refuted the claim.”

Lady Catherine started to snap angrily again, but the reverend stopped her cold.

“Lady Catherine, your nephew is calling the banns as is proper for his situation. My duty to the church and the law is to ensure the marriages I perform are proper. I see nothing in your application suggesting a legitimate conflict, so I reject your objection. If you truly have a binding and enforceable commitment, I suggest you take it to the ecclesiastical courts expeditiously. I will abide no more disruptions in my church.”

Lady Catherine gasped, sputtered, and to Elizabeth’s eye, she seemed prepared to be disagreeable again.

The reverend’s voice became brittle and hard.

“Am I rightly understood, madam? Regardless of what rank or status you possess in Kent—in Hertfordshire, you are in my church. Unless you can produce my bishop to contradict me, you will abide by my rules!”