Sudden Awakenings (The Other Paths Collection)

Chapter 11

Mrs. Bennet crowed her satisfaction to anyone who would listen, oblivious to her daughter's misery and the dark looks she received from their neighbors.

She immediately wrote a letter to Mary, urging her and Mr. Collins to come for the wedding if they could, and bragging in the most unscrupulous terms about the advantageous marriage that Elizabeth was to gain with Mr. Darcy.

Kitty’s style of communication was altogether different. In her letter to Mary, she relayed all she had overheard about Elizabeth's situation and the scandalous way in which her engagement took place.

Mary took these letters to heart. After conveying her displeasure to her husband, he immediately went to his patroness, Lady Catherine, and told her everything concerning her nephew’s hasty engagement.

Mr. Collins and Mary traveled to Longbourn as soon as possible, accompanied by none other than Lady Catherine de Bourgh herself.

Mrs. Bennet was surprised by the visit of this esteemed person of whom she had heard so much, and took it as a great honor that this lady should condescend to grace them with her presence.

“I suppose you are here for the wedding of your nephew, then, Your Ladyship,” she said after introductions had been made .

Lady Catherine did not dignify her with a response but turned to Elizabeth instead. “Miss Elizabeth, you have a small wilderness near your home. Will you show it to me?”

Without a word, Elizabeth nodded, rising, and Lady Catherine followed her to the path leading through the orchard. The harvest was now past, leaving the trees bare and forlorn against the gray skies. A northerly blast had blown in during the night, giving the air a bitter chill. Elizabeth pulled her shawl tighter around herself to stay warm.

“Miss Bennet, I am sure you can be at no loss to understand why I am here,” Lady Catherine began, her feet crunching on the leaves beneath them.

Elizabeth blinked. “Indeed, I cannot account for this honor at all.”

“Well, then I shall come right to the point. I have been told by your sister and Mr. Collins of your engagement to my nephew.”

“Such a fact is public knowledge by now,” Elizabeth stated, still bewildered at the reason for this lady’s visit.

“Have you any idea of the degradation of this?” Lady Catherine's expression was cross.

“Degradation? I beg your pardon,” said Elizabeth, her own face scrunching in anger.

“You may think, Miss Bennet, that you have a right to insist upon my nephew marrying you. I have heard the circumstances surrounding this whole debacle, and I must say, I am shocked! Such wanton behavior as yours ought not to be dignified by a marriage. My nephew must be under no obligation to marry you after the way you wormed yourself into his bedchamber.”

Elizabeth turned her head sharply towards Lady Catherine. “If you think for one moment that I desired this match or sought it out—”

“Did you not? Was it not deliberately orchestrated by yourself? ”

“Not at all!” Elizabeth argued. “I have no wish for a union with your nephew.”

“Good,” Lady Catherine interrupted. “Then we understand each other. This match is not to take place. You will break off your engagement with my nephew at once and cease this whole talk of marrying him.”

Elizabeth was thoroughly incensed. “Unfortunately, Lady Catherine, that is something I cannot do.”

Lady Catherine ceased walking and whirled to face her. “Cannot do! But you yourself said you do not wish this.”

“That may be,” said Elizabeth, “but I have no choice in the matter. I will not see my family's honor destroyed. There is nothing for it but for Mr. Darcy and I to be married. My father insists upon it. Mr. Darcy has agreed to it, and so have I.”

“This is not to be borne.” Clouds of breath came from Lady Catherine's nostrils as she snorted. “Heaven and earth, are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted? No, I will not stand for it. Notwithstanding the gross impropriety of it all, Mr. Darcy is not free to marry you. He is engaged to my daughter. Now, what do you have to say to that?”

“Only this,” said Elizabeth, coolly, “That if your nephew truly is engaged, you have no reason to suppose he would make an offer to me, under any circumstances. I know by now that his honor runs too deep to do otherwise.”

“Are you calling me a liar?” The lady spat in indignation.

“No, Your Ladyship. But neither is Mr. Darcy a prevaricator. I cannot for one minute believe that he would conceal a prior engagement from his friends, if he had already trothed his affections.”

Lady Catherine drew in her breath, her patience wearing thin. “The understanding between Mr. Darcy and Miss de Bourgh is of a peculiar nature. It was planned from their infancy. It was the particular wish of Mr. Darcy’s mother and myself that one day our children would be wed. Would you really go against these deep maternal desires and see the hope of that union be destroyed?”

Elizabeth crossed her arms in defiance. “As I have previously stated, Your Ladyship, I have no choice in the matter. I must marry Mr. Darcy, or else my entire family will be ruined.”

“So you would drag down the Darcy name along with yours instead.” Lady Catherine snorted again.

“I hope I shall do no such thing,” replied Elizabeth. “Although the start of our marriage may be unconventional, I am confident that my status as a gentleman's daughter will enable me to bring honor to the Darcy family.”

“Honor? Honor indeed!” exclaimed Lady Catherine striding back down the path they came. “I can see nothing honorable about this. Mark my words, Pemberley shall suffer with you as its mistress, and the Darcy name shall be forever disgraced by you. If you had any sense–any sense at all, Miss Bennet, you would not proceed with this union. You have not heard the last from me. I take no leave of you. I send no compliments to your mother. You deserve no such attention.”

They reached Lady Catherine’s carriage, awaiting her in the front drive. Lady Catherine, without another word, climbed in and rapped on the roof to signal her driver to depart. Elizabeth did not wait for her to disappear from sight before returning to the house.

S

Mrs. Bennet hurried to Elizabeth as soon as she returned from her ramble in the orchard.

“Would Her Ladyship like to stay for tea?” she asked, looking around for Lady Catherine. “Where is she?”

“Her Ladyship has left, Mamma,” Elizabeth told her. “She would not stay. ”

“Oh, how disappointing. I was so sure she would stay for tea, at the least.”

“She will return again, though, I am sure of it. Is she staying at the Kings’s Arms until the wedding?” Mrs. Bennet followed Elizabeth into the drawing room, where Mary and Mr. Collins were still waiting.

“I do not believe so, Mamma,” Elizabeth said, busying herself with stitching a shirt from her workbasket. “I do not think Her Ladyship intends to come to the wedding at all. If I had to wager, she is currently bound for the London Road, and we will not see her darken our doors again.”

“Perhaps she has returned to Rosings,” suggested Mary.

“Her Ladyship has many things to tend to, I am certain,” said Mr. Collins, equally surprised his ride had left him. “We will, of course, be staying here for the wedding, Mrs. Bennet,” he told her. He supposed he and Mary would have to return home by post after the wedding was over. Turning towards Elizabeth, he said, “Mary and I wondered if we might speak with you for a few moments alone.”

Not much in the mood for further discussion, but knowing her cousin would not let it rest if there was something he intended to say, she gave her assent.

Her mother muttered something about needing to see about dinner and rushed off to find Hill. Mary moved closer to her husband and took his hand. Elizabeth laid her work aside and gave them her full attention.

“What is it you desire to speak with me about, Cousin?” she said.

“It is in regard to your engagement to Mr. Darcy,” he began.

“It seems everyone has concerns on that account,” said Elizabeth, with no small bitterness.

Mr. Collins cleared his throat. “Yes, well, Her Ladyship was right to be concerned about such things. I know Mrs. Bennet is jubilant about your impending marriage. Ordinarily, I too would rejoice at such a union. Notwithstanding the fact that Mr. Darcy has long been engaged to Her Ladyship's own dear daughter, Miss de Bourgh. The Jewel of Rosings Park, as I often call her.” He smiled as he said this. Mary poked him sharply in the ribs. “But I digress,” he quickly added.

Mary looked at Elizabeth. “I shall be more to the point, sister. Do you not know that it is a sin to climb into bed with a man whom you are not wed to, let alone engaged to?”

Elizabeth's cheeks turned bright red. “It was not intentional, I assure you, Mary. You are no stranger to my sleepwalking.”

“Intentional or not, you ought to have been on your guard. ‘For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.’” Mary warned, quoted from the Holy Scriptures.

“I am no whoremonger, Mary!” Elizabeth said, rising to her feet.

Mr. Collins sought to reassure her with a gentle, “Now, now Cousin,” which was enough for Elizabeth to recollect herself and resume her seat, doing her best to rein in her temper. “We all know nothing of that sort is taking place,” Mr. Collins went on, “but it is the appearance of it which matters. Your conduct has exposed this family to ridicule. Mr. Bingley, his sisters, his servants–they all saw what appeared to be an indiscretion between you and Mr. Darcy. And whether or not it is true, people are apt to talk.”

“This is nothing new to me,” Elizabeth reminded them. “After all, I have only agreed to this engagement in the first place because of such reasons as you have named. Need I remind everyone that this whole scheme was not my idea? I have no wish to marry Mr. Darcy at all!”

Mary continued to adjure her. “You must endeavor to lead a moral life if you are to restore any honor to our family, to Lady Catherine, to her nephew, Mr. Darcy. You must not be cavorting about climbing into bed with men to whom you are not married, whether you are sleepwalking or whether you are fully aware of your actions.”

“As I am now to be married, I do not think that shall be an issue any longer,” Elizabeth retorted. “Should I wander into my husband's bedroom, I think nobody would think worse of me.”

“But suppose you were to walk into another man's bedroom,” Mary suggested, “a servant, or perhaps a guest of Mr. Darcy's, what then? Will the Darcy name and ours be further still disgraced, and Mr. Darcy cast you out and divorce you?”

“I will take precautions to ensure such a thing never happens,” Elizabeth said, her anger still brimming the surface. “You can rest assured this mistake will never again occur.”