Page 40 of Why I Kissed You (Pride and Prejudice Variation)
Elizabeth drew a fortifying breath as she wrapped her hand around the doorknob, then blew it out slowly and entered the library.
Mrs. Bennet lay on the sofa before the fireplace, one arm thrown over her eyes, with Jane perched on the edge holding her mother’s other hand.
Lydia sat pouting in an adjacent chair by her mother’s head and Mrs. Gardiner sat in a chair facing hers at the opposite end of the sofa.
Mary and Kitty were in chairs across the room with books in their hands, and Lady Disley and Miss Darcy sat quietly—and primly—at a small table by the windows.
All heads lifted or turned to her as she entered. Mrs. Bennet sat up and wailed, “Oh my dearest Lizzy! We are all ruined, I know it—you’ve come to tell us Mr. Darcy must break his word and marry that perfidious young woman!”
Elizabeth smiled. “Quite the opposite, Mamma,” she said. “Mr. Darcy and I are still to marry, but right now the gentlemen are awaiting the arrival of his attorney to work out some legal details of the marriage articles for Miss de Bourgh and Mr. Wickham.”
Lydia jumped to her feet. “Mr. Wickham! How is he involved?”
Lady Disley stood and came toward Elizabeth. “My dear, I think you must tell us what you know—in a manner suited for the younger ladies to hear, of course.”
Elizabeth nodded. “Of course, my lady,” said she, then she shared the entire sordid tale—from Anne de Bourgh’s using information she had overheard her cousins Darcy and Fitzwilliam discussing to learn Wickham’s location, to her meeting with him in Hyde Park to lay out her plan for forcing Darcy to marry her, and thence to his appearing at Darcy House a short time ago to “do the right thing.”
Lady Disley scoffed. “Of course, Annie wrote to that wretched boy—even as sheltered as she has been at Rosings her whole life, she’s managed to hear talk of how depraved he’s become.
She likely thought that suggesting you’d received an inheritance might entice him to ruin you, but then, where and when could he have done it? ”
Lydia’s expression as she regarded the countess was incredulous. “You mean to say Mr. Wickham really is as bad as all that?” At Lady Disley’s affirming nod, Lydia flopped back down into her chair. “But he seemed so very charming!”
“The best—and worst—rogues always are, my dear,” said Mrs. Gardiner.
“You are really to marry Mr. Darcy, Lizzy? You will not lose ten thousand a year, this fine house, and his estate in Derbyshire?” asked Mrs. Bennet tearfully. “Mr. Darcy did not… he did not do that thing that girl said?”
Elizabeth gestured to Jane and the two of them exchanged places.
When the former had sat next to her mother and taken up her hand to press it between her own, she shook her head and smiled.
“No, Mamma, he did not. My betrothed is a forthright, honorable man. He abhors lies and deceit as much as I—in fact, it took only one act of concealment to teach him how wrong it was, for he nearly lost a very dear friend over it. He may, at times, appear proud and disagreeable, but I can promise you that it only happens when he is uncomfortable in the situation in which he has found himself.”
“He said that society in Meryton was confined and unvarying!” cried Mrs. Bennet.
Elizabeth glanced over her shoulder to find Lady Disley was not only smiling but trying not to laugh.
“My dear Mamma, that is because poor Mr. Darcy was so little exposed to country manners like ours, he knew not what to do with himself. Here in town, the rules of behavior are much more refined—I cannot go walking about all on my own, for instance. Kitty and Lydia would be considered too young to be out in society—though at Kitty’s age, she might be brought out. ”
“And some young ladies are not even out at seventeen, Mrs. Bennet,” added Lady Disley.
“Whyever not? If a girl is old enough to marry, she is old enough to be out—for how will she ever find herself a good husband if she is not introduced to men?”
The countess smiled benignly; Elizabeth hoped that the lady wasn’t about to draw from her well of snobbery in her reply.
“Madam,” Lady Disley began as she slowly came around the end of the sofa, “age alone does not make a proper society daughter eligible to marry. She must be well-educated in the domestic arts, play an instrument or sing, know all the common dances, speak at least one foreign language, and she must be mature and sensible . She cannot go about laughing and flirting with every handsome face she sees.”
“But laughing and flirting are so much fun!” cried Lydia. “There are dozens of officers in the militia who enjoy my company.”
Elizabeth was mortified, and just resisted the urge to cover her face with her hands. Well, now the countess knows how silly my sister is , she thought morosely.
To her surprise, however, Lady Disley’s reply was not as snide as she’d expected.
“My dear, I can see that you have a lively spirit, and that does you some credit,” said she.
“But being pretty and lively and enjoying the attention of many men will not secure you the one who will provide for you. If a gentleman of sense, good breeding, and wealth were to see a young lady at the center of a group of officers—or even his fellow gentlemen—he is more likely to think her a doxie than a lady. And a real gentleman is never going to marry a doxie.”
It was a harsh truth, but it was the truth. For a moment it appeared as though Lydia would argue; her expression was as rebellious as it had been earlier in the drawing room. Then suddenly she crumbled, sitting back and crossing her arms as she turned her face petulantly toward the fireplace.
Lady Disley then turned her attention to Elizabeth. “I am pleased you stand by my nephew and believe in him.”
Elizabeth shrugged. “I could do nothing else but believe him, my lady. We all knew—from her own words—that Lady Catherine was like to try and interfere. We just did not expect her to use her daughter to do it. And there may have been a time I thought ill of Darcy for his manner, but that was before I really knew him. Now, I know that he only behaves that way when in large, unfamiliar company because he has not the ability to pretend interest in the affairs and lives of people he does not know. I know that he is kind and compassionate. He is a doting brother, a loyal friend and cousin, and he does admit when he is wrong—however hard it is to beat it out of him.”
Her words caused a chuckle from all those around her, save Lydia—though her youngest sister’s lips did curl.
“In Kent, I learned more about the kind of man Darcy is than I did in the whole time I knew him in Hertfordshire,” Elizabeth went on. “I know that not only will he be a good husband to me, he really is one of the very best of men.”
“It is well that you think so highly of the man you are to marry, Lizzy,” spoke up Mary. “For I do not think Papa would consent to give you up to anyone less worthy.”
“Is Mr. Wickham really to marry Mr. Darcy’s cousin, Lizzy?” asked Kitty.
Elizabeth cast a glance at Lady Disley, who looked understandably disgusted with the idea.
“Unfortunately, yes. Lord Disley is not keen on having such a scoundrel for a relation, but given how closely he now knows Miss de Bourgh, Bishop Keller pressed for it. My good uncle Mr. Gardiner was able to assuage the earl’s displeasure with his suggestions for regulation of the marriage. ”
The countess looked toward the library door, then back to Elizabeth with an openly curious expression. “Is that so, my dear? Pray tell, what were these suggestions?”
Elizabeth could not help but grin. “First, that Miss de Bourgh’s dowry is to be put into an interest-bearing trust for any children they may have, and neither is to have access to the principle or even the interest—they are to live solely off the income of the estate.
Wickham must also be a true master of Rosings in the sense that he must ensure that the estate remains solvent—he cannot allow any part of it to fall into disrepair or be so inattentive to the tenants that they seek to make their living elsewhere. ”
Lady Disley scoffed. “Well, that may be the one thing he does correctly—he was a steward’s son, after all, and Albert Wickham was a very proficient manager of my late brother’s property at Pemberley.
Hopefully the boy learned something of use from his father, for he certainly did not inherit his decency. ”
“Further,” Elizabeth continued, “Lady Catherine is not to be forced to live in the dower house at Rosings. It is one of the earl’s conditions that not only must Miss de Bourgh and her mother suffer the indignity of having a servant’s offspring for their husband and son, but that Wickham’s punishment is to suffer the presence of both of them.
She may move there on her own, if she wishes, but neither Wickham nor her daughter can force her to go.
He shan’t be allowed to simply abandon them, nor is he even to stir from Kent by himself more than a week out of the entire year, which may be amended if he behaves himself.
And lastly, Miss de Bough is to amend her last will and testament as regards the disposition of Rosings upon her death.
Because the estate is in no way entailed and legally hers at present, she is to bequeath the estate back to the de Bourgh family, as it was originally a de Bourgh property.
Mr. Wickham is also to draw up a will in which he relinquishes all claim to the estate; he and the children will be allowed to remain only until they are all married or the youngest reaches majority, whichever is first.”
“Oh my,” said the countess. “Catherine won’t like that at all—one of the things that attracted her to Sir Lewis was the grandeur of that house and its grounds.”
“It does seem a little unfair to the eldest of their children, should they have any,” opined Mrs. Gardiner.