Page 51 of Five Gentlemen at Netherfield (Pride and Prejudice Variations)
Darcy winced at this practical statement, which seemed to indicate that Mrs. Bennet was more worried about her own well-being than her husband’s health, but Jane Bingley merely said, “He is very sick, Mamma, and I think he is ready to be with our Lord and Savior. As for you and Kitty and Lydia, Charles and I will be very happy to have you live with us for a season, so you need not worry about where you will lay your head.”
“Thank you, Mr. Bingley,” Mrs. Bennet said, and now there were genuine tears in her eyes. “If you knew how worried I have been that my girls and I would be thrown into the hedgerows! It is such a relief to have three fine sons-in-law, I promise you!”
Darcy knew, of course, that the combined fortunes of the former Bennet ladies was sufficiently large that Mrs. Bennet had been in no danger of poverty, even before the marriages.
But he also realized that for more than a decade, ever since the youngest Miss Bennet had been born and no pregnancies had followed, Mrs. Bennet had been agonizing about the entail on Longbourn, and such worry had clearly left a mark on her soul.
There was a sudden loud voice from outside the drawing room, and Darcy turned his head in confusion, which gave way to dismay. He knew that voice, knew it very well, but surely it could not be…
The door swung open, and the Bennets’ butler entered the room, his usually bland face tight with irritation, and behind him strode a tall, middle-aged woman dressed in a silk traveling dress, with an ermine stole around her shoulders, with an overly elaborate hat covering her gray curls, and with a cane in her right hand.
“Lady Catherine de Bourgh of Rosings,” the butler said and withdrew.
Darcy was genuinely horrified, but he knew his duty. He lurched to his feet and took a few steps forward, his face twisted in a scowl. “Lady Catherine! Why are you here?”
“Where is she?” Lady Catherine demanded, her icy blue eyes sweeping the room. “Where is Miss Elizabeth Bennet? I assume it must be you there, since you are, without a doubt, absurdly handsome. But how dare you…”
“This is my wife, Mrs. Bingley,” Bingley snapped, leaping to his feet and hurrying to his wife’s side to loom over her protectively.
“Elizabeth is upstairs visiting her father, who is very ill,” Darcy said coldly.
Lady Catherine’s already pink face grew redder, and she snarled, “I insist on your calling her down immediately! This engagement of yours is immoral and dishonorable. Indeed, it is entirely illegitimate, because you are engaged to Anne, Darcy, and you know it! I cannot believe that any…”
“La!” Lydia interrupted loudly. “Do you not know that Lizzy and Mr. Darcy are already married? You are far too late to thrust a spoke in their wheel, madam!”
The mistress of Rosings fell silent, her mouth drooping open to display slightly yellowed teeth, and then she turned a horrified look on her wealthy nephew. “Darcy! You cannot have already, surely…”
“Yes, Elizabeth and I were married three days ago,” Darcy snapped, stalking forward and putting an ungentle hand on her arm.
“Now your time here is over, Aunt! The Bennets have more than sufficient concerns with Mr. Bennet’s health, and for you to force your way in here and attempt to berate my wife… ”
“No!” Lady Catherine shrieked in such a loud tone that Darcy cast an anxious glance upwards. Mr. Bennet’s bedchamber was far enough away that he hoped Elizabeth would not hear the screaming, but his aunt had very healthy lungs.
“No! No! No!” she continued. “It must be annulled, because you cannot, that is…”
“Darcy, I believe our dear aunt requires some assistance in finding the door,” Richard said, striding forward to grab Lady Catherine’s other arm.
Darcy was bewildered for but a second, and then he nodded and lifted his aunt up bodily, and Richard lifted the other side, and they began to half carry, half drag, the protesting woman out of the drawing room, down the hall, and into the vestibule, where the butler was waiting to open the door for them.
They then carried Lady Catherine out onto the front stoop and pulled the door closed behind them with a bang before releasing her.
“How dare you!” the woman screamed. “How dare you lay hands on me?”
“How dare you storm into a house without an invitation with the intention of berating Darcy’s wife?
” Richard demanded, his usually cheerful face twisted in anger.
“Lady Catherine, Mr. Bennet will probably die within the day, and your presence here is absolutely outrageous. Moreover, Darcy and Elizabeth are legally and lawfully married, and there is nothing you can do about that but whine like a petulant child. If you leave now, you will be in London in a few hours and you can spend the night at Matlock House before returning to Rosings in the morning.”
Darcy was surprised that his aunt had not interrupted Richard, though based on the glazed look in her eyes, he did not think she was actually listening.
“Darcy,” she said, and then paused, and thought, and then continued in a more gentle tone, “Darcy, my dear boy, I do understand, I assure you. It is obvious that the Bennets have a number of handsome daughters, and doubtless your … this woman … she seduced you, which is most unfortunate, but gentlemen often do not think properly in the face of beauty, but really, perhaps if you paid the Bennets to annul the marriage, you could…”
She stopped talking and began shrieking once more as Darcy and Richard again grabbed an arm each and carried her down the stone steps to her waiting carriage, which had the de Bourgh crest emblazoned on its shallow doors, with four fine bay horses shifting in their traces, and an outrider on one horse, and a coachman up on the box.
Richard opened the door to the carriage, where a startled looking maid was waiting, and then both men lifted their aunt bodily into the vehicle, where she collapsed to her knees, and Darcy slammed the door behind him.
She was gibbering like a particularly outraged turkey, and Darcy said, “Lady Catherine, go home. Elizabeth and I are lawfully wed, and I love her, and she loves me. Moreover, it is my duty as a husband to protect my wife from irritating relations, especially when her father is close to death!”
The lady had managed to clamber up, and she now took the forward facing seat, and her outraged expression held a hint of fear.
“Very well, Darcy!” she snarled. “I will have Mr. Collins throw the Bennet ladies out of the house within days of Mr. Bennet’s burial, see if I do not!”
“It hardly matters,” Darcy replied coolly, “since I will gladly support the Bennet family until the end of their days. Now, I must return to my bride. Good day, Aunt.”
“This is not over!” Lady Catherine snapped. “I will speak to Lord and Lady Matlock, and we will end this ridiculous … where are you going? Come back here!”
Because both men had now turned their backs on their enraged relation and were walking back to Longbourn.
“I have long known Lady Catherine to be imperious and demanding, but I have never seen her quite this absurd,” Richard remarked.
Darcy sighed deeply as they climbed the steps toward the main door, and said, “If it were not for Mr. Bennet’s grave illness, I would be inclined to ride to London to speak to your parents. The last thing I want is gossip flowing throughout society about our wives.”
“Do not worry,” his cousin replied, opening the door and stepping within the vestibule.
“My mother is not as noisy and autocratic as Lady Catherine, but she is, in her own way, equally determined, and the earl will not allow our aunt to spread rumors. However, it is likely that Mr. Collins will obey his mistress and hasten here to throw the ladies from Longbourn as soon as possible, and we need to prepare for that.”
Darcy nodded and firmly put the matter of his aunt out of his mind. He needed to be here for Elizabeth, to support her, to succor her when…
He opened the door to the drawing room and froze as Elizabeth, who was standing a few feet away, turned toward him, tears streaming down her face, and threw herself into his arms. “Oh, Fitzwilliam,” she cried, “our father has died!”