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L ater that day, back at Netherfield, the Colonel said, angrily, “What were you about, getting the Bennets stirred up like that?”

“I only told Elizabeth,” Mr. Darcy said. “It was she who decided to tell the rest of the family.”

“And why would you tell Elizabeth?”

“I make an effort to have no secrets from her,” Mr. Darcy said. “And she understands that I will marry her regardless of your mother’s opinion.”

“You made Georgiana cry!” the Colonel said, accusingly.

“Not at all; the situation made her cry. And Miss Mary is quite right; our family has no business judging other families. If your mother does not understand that, I will be happy to explain it to her.”

***

Mr. Darcy felt comfortable at the idea of the Countess meeting Elizabeth in Netherfield’s fashionable drawing room.

But, as he later reflected, Robert Burns had it right when he wrote that the best-laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley, for the Countess insisted on setting off for Longbourn shortly after her arrival.

“But they are not expecting us, Aunt,” he argued.

“Send a message,” she told him. “Tell them we will be there in an hour; that is sufficient time to prepare a cup of tea, for heaven’s sake!”

“Is this not terrible manners, Mother?” the Colonel asked. “I am truly surprised at you!”

“Not terrible manners at all,” she replied, equably. “Is Darcy here not her fiancé? And what could be more natural than for her fiancé’s aunt to wish to see her at once?”

Nothing he or the Colonel could say would dissuade her, and she threatened to get back into her carriage and make her way to Longbourn on her own.

Mr. Darcy finally gave up.

Dearest Elizabeth,

My aunt wishes to meet you immediately; she is quite intransigent on the subject. Expect us in one hour. I apologise for this, but perhaps it is best to get this done at once.

Your loving,

Fitzwilliam

***

The message threw Longbourn into a frenzy. Jane rushed to find Mrs. Hill to explain the situation and instruct that the best china be washed off at once and a tea tray prepared.

“Whatever can she be thinking?” Elizabeth demanded, angrily.

“She is a peeress; doubtless she is thinking that she can do whatever she likes,” Mary replied, her own irritation showing through. “But, Lizzy, perhaps this really is better.”

“Why?”

“Because here at Longbourn, we will all be here to protect and support you! She can hardly order us out of our own parlour, can she?”

“I suppose not,” Elizabeth said, somewhat mollified. “You will all be there with me?”

“I will make certain of it,” Jane said, coming back into the room. “Kitty? Lydia?”

The sisters agreed that they would all stand together – or sit together! – when the Countess arrived. Even Mr. Bennet promised to be with them.

Jane, Kitty, Mary and Lydia rushed up to their rooms to put on their best mourning dresses and pin up their hair. Elizabeth, however, refused to do any such thing. “She must take me as I am,” she announced. “Or leave me alone.”

The Countess arrived in exactly one hour, accompanied by Mr. Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam. The entire Bennet family rose when the guests were announced by a nervous Mrs. Hill.

The Colonel performed the introductions, presenting the Bennets to the Countess. When Elizabeth was presented to her, she felt the lady’s eyes rake over her, top to bottom, but she said nothing as she made her curtsey.

The Countess, seeing everyone in black, recalled that Mrs. Bennet had died quite recently. She quite properly and sincerely expressed her condolences for the family’s loss.

Jane, serving as hostess, offered her ladyship the chair closest to the fire and rang the bell for the tea tray.

“I hope your journey here was pleasant?” Mr. Bennet said.

“Quite,” was the terse reply. The Countess looked at each of the Bennet girls in turn, and then addressed Lydia. “Miss Lydia, I trust you are recovered?”

Lydia had huddled into a corner chair, hoping to avoid notice, but she had to reply. “I am, my lady, and very grateful to you.”

Mr. Bennet added, “Our entire family is grateful, my lady. It seems every family must endure a misstep of some kind, and we are glad that the Bennet misstep is over and done with.”

The Countess responded at once. “I do not think every family must have a misstep, Mr. Bennet. I think it speaks badly of the entire family’s character when such an event occurs.”

“Is that what you truly believe?” Mary jumped in. “You think that because Lydia was duped by a handsome man, that the Bennet family is lacking?”

“Mary!” Jane hissed.

“I fear it, yes; I am here hoping to learn that this is not the case,” the Countess said, coldly.

Mr. Darcy began to protest, but his aunt ignored him entirely.

Elizabeth took charge of the conversation. “My lady, none of the Bennet girls are particularly fashionable, and we are certainly not part of the ton . My dowry amounts to very little.”

“That is my fault,” Mr. Bennet interjected.

“Which you have now begun to correct, Papa,” Elizabeth said.

“But we are human, as is everyone in the fashionable world. Is it not well known that the Countess of Jersey has been rather indiscreet? And she a patroness at Almack’s!

Did William Beckford not just emigrate to America for activities best not mentioned in polite society?

Does not the Prince Regent disgrace himself and our entire nation on a daily basis?

I could go on – and on and on! – but the point is that no one, no matter how highly placed, is immune from indiscretion.

” She deliberately did not mention Georgiana’s own misstep.

Lydia surprised everyone by standing up and addressing the Countess directly.

“My lady, I have had a good deal of time to consider our family situation and what led me to do something as terrible as running off with a man. I know that our family is far from perfect; but it stems from a very unfortunate situation. The estate is entailed to male heirs, and my mother, may she rest in heaven, only birthed girls. As a result, Longbourn, which has been held by the Bennets for two centuries, will pass to a distant relative.”

“A very unpleasant distant relative,” Mary added in a low voice.

Lydia continued, “As a result, my mother became intent on seeing us girls married.”

“Intent! More like obsessed,” Mary grumbled.

“She was no different from mothers in society in that regard,” Lydia said, ignoring Mary’s contribution.

“But she had an added incentive, you see, for her own future depended on the success of her daughters. If my father died first, it was unlikely that she would be permitted to continue to live in her home; she would be forced to depend on a son-in-law. If there was no son-in-law, then her circumstances would be dire.”

“An unfortunate situation, indeed,” the Countess observed.

“My sisters are far better than I am,” Lydia went on.

“They understood Mama’s motivations, while I did not.

Mama thought me quite pretty, you see, and she complimented me often, telling me that my looks and my liveliness, as she put it, would find me a husband in short order.

That liveliness was really bad manners, but she loved me too much to see it for what it was.

So when Mr. Wickham told me that my loveliness and liveliness made him want to marry me, of course I believed it.

It was what I always thought would happen, what Mama always told me would happen. ”

“This is what happens when no one tells the truth!” Mary bit out, rising to her feet. “Mama did not tell Lydia the truth – likely she did not know what was true herself – and no one told us the truth about Mr. Wickham! So it was inevitable, was it not, that Lydia would make a misstep?”

Elizabeth stood up as well. “Everything my sisters have said is true. But what I must say, what I am compelled to say, is that I love Fitzwilliam Darcy with all my heart and soul, and I will be the best wife, the best companion, the best Mrs. Darcy that any woman could possibly be.”

“Hear, hear!” the Colonel cried out.

Mr. Darcy rose and went to Elizabeth’s side. Taking her hand, he said, “And I love Elizabeth Bennet with all my heart and soul, and I will be the best husband and companion that any man could possibly be.”

They turned to one another and gazed at each other so lovingly, so adoringly, so tenderly, that no one could doubt that they were designed and destined for one another, body and soul.

The Countess, wise in the ways of society and equally wise in the ways of men and women, gave up the battle at once, saying, “Please sit beside me, Miss Elizabeth, so that I might come to know the lovely young lady who will soon be my niece.”