Page 12 of Great Uncle Henry (Pride & Prejudice Vagary)
Rather than pull into the courtyard, Henry had his coachman halt at the base of the wide stone steps which led to the double front doors.
He made his way up the dozen steps and dropped the knocker onto the thick oak door.
He recognised the butler when he opened the door.
Henry was about to enter when there was a disturbance in the entrance hall.
A woman, dressed in black while at the same time overdressed for mourning, approached the door. “I am to be consulted regarding any callers,” she screeched.
“My apologies, Lady Catherine, but the master left orders that his friends were to be admitted without delay,” Mr Douglas, Pemberley’s butler, attempted to explain to the lady.
Hearing the name, Henry realised this was the sister, the one who had put all of the distinction of rank nonsense into the late Lady Anne’s head.
“Who are you?” Lady Catherine demanded rudely.
“I am a friend of Mr Darcy and Lord Matlock. Why is it that I should answer to you, Madam?” Henry responded. He did not miss how the termagant turned a shade of purple when she was challenged. “As far as I am aware, this is Pemberley, where Mr Darcy is the master.”
“He is, but I am the mistress here, and if you are one of the tradesmen with whom my brother-in-law associated against my wishes, I mean, my sister’s wishes, then you will leave…” Anything else Lady Catherine was about to say was lost.
“ CATHERINE !” Darcy, who had heard the commotion and came to see what his sister-in-law was up to again, shouted, which caused the lady to close her mouth. “You are not the mistress here and never will be. Have I not already told you that you have no authority over with whom I associate?”
“You denigrate the memory of my sister by allowing men of whom she did not approve to enter your home,” Lady Catherine claimed as soon as she was able to speak.
“Until you poured poison into my wife’s ears, she did not hold your ridiculous opinions as her own. Now stand aside, and allow my friend to enter unmolested,” Darcy demanded.
“In that case, I will depart with Fitzwilliam and Georgiana. I will not allow my daughter’s betrothed to remain here while you insist on polluting the shades…”
“ My son is not engaged to anyone. You may think you control everyone and everything, Catherine. You do not! In fact, I want you out of my house; I will have your coach called for, and you will not return to Pemberley without a written invitation from me. Now go pack!” Darcy commanded .
“I am seriously displeased. My brother will…” Again she was cut off.
“Will agree with Darcy wholeheartedly. As the head of the Fitzwilliam family, I order you back to Rosings Park, and you will not be removing any of Darcy’s children with you.
You will also desist with this nonsense about a cradle betrothal.
Regardless of what you browbeat our late sister into agreeing with, unless Darcy signs a contract, you have nothing.
” Matlock saw his sister was about to protest. “No, Catherine, not another word. You will depart without creating any more disturbances. Have you no shame? This is a house of mourning. Is this how you honour the sister you claim you loved? Do you think Anne would have been impressed by your acting like a harridan?”
Knowing that her brother would not relent, Lady Catherine turned on her heel and stomped to, and then up, the stairs, towards her chamber. At the same time, a much-relieved butler sent orders to ready Lady Catherine’s coach for departure.
“Bennet, please pardon that uncouth display,” Darcy stated as he extended his hand. “I thank you for coming.”
“I departed Hertfordshire on the sixth of March before your letter was forwarded to me there, and I was in London when I eventually received the notice from you. Had I received it directly, I would have arrived for the interment,” Henry stated contritely.
“My feeling was you would not be able to arrive in time. You are here now; that is all that counts,” Darcy said as he led his friend towards a sitting room to take some refreshment. “Since Anne passed, I have been in a deep melancholy, and today was the first time I felt some of the old fire.”
“Catherine will do that to anyone,” Matlock quipped.
Fitzwilliam Darcy, who had been watching the confrontation from the landing one storey up, was confused.
He had turned twelve on the fifteenth of October the previous year.
His late mother and Aunt Catherine had told him at every opportunity that he was not to associate with those below his class, and especially not those tainted by trade.
They had also told him he was engaged to Cousin Anne.
However, here were both Father and Uncle Reggie roundly refuting that claim.
Why would Mother and Aunt Catherine tell him that he was bound to Cousin Anne if that were not true?
He used to enjoy spending time with Mr Bennet, especially when he spoke of his time in India, but Mother and Aunt Catherine had decried the connection. To placate them, he had kept away from Mr Bennet except when Father gave him no choice.
While he had enjoyed the time spent with Mr Bennet, he had felt like he was betraying his class.
However, if that was true, why did Father seem to disagree so completely with what he had been told?
Not only that, they were rejecting what he had been taught about the maintenance of the distinction of rank.
He ran up to his bedchamber. When William reached his rooms, Aunt Catherine was beating on the door. “Aunt Catherine?” he squeaked. He had never seen his aunt behave in this manner before.
“There you are. Have your trunks packed; you are coming with me. Your father and my brother are under the influence of a tradesman, and I must save you,” Lady Catherine screeched. She advanced on her nephew and was not pleased when he took off running the way he had come.
Although he was confused by the way his father treated people his mother and aunt railed against, William was not at all unclear about whether or not he could go with his aunt. He had heard his father refuse permission for her to take him.
“William, what is it?” Darcy asked when his son burst into the drawing room with a wild look in his eyes.
As soon as William told what his aunt had ordered upstairs, Darcy rang for his butler and commanded that his sister-in-law be escorted from the house and off Darcy property after making sure that his daughter was safe in the nursery.
The men found the lady in question attempting to gain entry to the nursery. Regardless of her commands, invectives, profanity, and generally screaming words that would make some sailors blush, the footmen grabbed and lifted the lady and carried her to her coach.
“You will not be permitted on any Darcy land or in any of my homes. You are lucky that we do not send you to Bedlam. Only my love for my late wife causes me to stay my hand, but next time, I will not be so forgiving,” Darcy growled.
He was replaced at the carriage door by Lord Matlock.
“If you ever do anything like this again, I will publicly support Darcy’s application to have you locked up in that asylum.
Your behaviour is not that of a rational woman,” he stated.
“I will allow that you are overwrought at Anne’s passing, and that has influenced this behaviour.
I second Darcy; there will be no additional warning if you ever attempt to do something so disconnected from reality again. ”
As her coach pulled away, Lady Catherine was willing to admit to herself that she may have gone too far this time.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
After a sennight condoling with his friends, Henry was on his way to his estate. He was interested to see how Mrs Wickham and her son had changed over the six years he had mostly been away from Sherwood Dale.