Page 17 of Till Death Us Do Part
“Ididconsult my own relatives!” he snapped angrily, “We examined every conceivable way to escape the connexion.Normally, I could just walk away with little material damage to my own and my family’s reputation, but in this case it was impossible. Miss Elizabeth Bennet will be Mrs Darcy, whether any of us want her or not. The die is cast.”
Slamming her teacup down, the lady said, “Heaven and earth! Of what are you thinking? Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?”
Darcy snapped, “Yes, they are—though I completely fail to understand how the shades of Pemberley are any of your business, with your estate being two hundred miles from it.”
“What about your betrothal to my daughter? Is she to be tossed aside without a by-your-leave?”
Darcy, starting to become frightfully short on good temper, backed away from his aunt and sat down on a chair a few feet away, at the optimal distance to prevent himself from doing something ungentlemanly.
“You know perfectly well you made up that whole thing. What was it you said, ‘While in their cradles, we planned the union,’ which, as you perfectly well know, is absolute nonsense? To start with, our cradle days were separated by three years. In the second place, did you know I read Mother’s journals?”
The lady gasped, but Darcy continued without pause.
“Mother consumed two full pages describing a particularly ugly set of baby clothes you gifted me, which she naturally gave to the poor as soon as you left. She once spent half a page talking about the wildflowers in the southern fields. She spent a good thirty pages on her rose garden. In all this writing, does it seem reasonable that she wouldomit entirelya discussion of a betrothal with her sister.I think not!”
Darcy could see his aunt was seething, looking for another opening, but he was in no mood to indulge her.
“Let me ask you something. What does Annewantin a husband? Have you even asked her?”
“She wants you, and even if she did not, she will do her duty.”
“So, her duty is to spend the rest of her life with a man she does not particularly care for, just to make up foryourdefects in the last two decades of managing Rosings? You think you can use the Pemberley coffers to shore up your own excess?”
Lady Catherine slapped the arm of her chair and spit out angrily, “How dare you?”
Darcy, equally angry, slapped his own chair. “Idarebecause my familymattersto me. If it did not, I would not have endured Easters at Rosings these last ten years, trying and failing to bring your spending down to the level you can afford, despite an abundance of wilful excess. Let me ask you something, aunt.Whendid it becomemyresponsibility to solveallthe problems of this family?”
Confused, the lady asked, “What do you mean? Explain yourself.”
“Gladly! Do you knowwhyI had to offer for Miss Elizabeth Bennet? Have you any idea what the last straw was?”
“I would if you spoke in plain English instead of riddles.”
“Fine!” Darcy spat out, then tried to calm himself.
“As I said—according to you, Uncle Matlock, and everyone else—I am the man that must fix everything in the Darcy, Fitzwilliam, and de Bourgh families. Malcolm has the French Disease and will die soon, so we need the heir, who is currently a prisoner in Paris back—my problem! Over the last six months the viscount has gambled away an enormous fortune that Uncle did not catch soon enough, even enough to break the Matlock finances—my problem. The son of my father’s steward is trying his best to sink our family’s reputation because I will not support his profligate lifestyle—my problem. My aunt, who should have known better, borrowed far more than she can repay from a disreputable lender—my problem. Miss Bennet is the daughter of an insignificant country squire who could not be botheredto teach his progeny basic manners; nor teach his wife not to entrap young men—my problem. And that is just the start. I have worked from dawn to midnight for the last fortnight, trying to arrange things so something will be left of this family and its holdings when I return, and I must defer this important business to listen to you rave incoherently—my problem!”
The last was said emphatically enough that he would have smacked the floor if he had her walking stick.
Lady Catherine gasped, and started to reply, but Darcy held up his hand to forestall whatever tirade she was planning.
“The last straw, and I mean truly thevery last straw, was the loan you took out to redo your gardens and build a folly. A folly! Those were a stupid idea when they were in fashion, and they have not been so for decades. The only thing a folly has to recommend it, is that it is the most perfectly named extravagance in the world. Folly indeed. I might have managed everything else, but that was the end of it. You have no idea how precarious your financial position is because you will not listen to anyone. The Earl had no idea how precarious his position was because he could not be bothered to check his eldest son. All of this has landed on my head, becauseI care, though I wonderwhy.”
Darcy paused for a second, then sat forward in his chair, staring at his aunt, trying to get her to comprehend.
“Understand this and understand it well! I am marrying Miss Elizabeth Bennetbecause of you!I would not have just abandoned her to her fate, as I am a gentleman. If our family’s reputation had been pristine and our finances secure, another way could have been found, but marriage to me specifically was theonlyoption that would prevent the vultures from descending on this family for a time.”
The lady was sitting gasping and staring, not at all certain whether to lash out or listen, though listening was never her strong suit.
Darcy leaned forward and tapped her knee most impertinently.
“This is important!Let us dispense with my nuptials, which are cast in stone. Instead, let us return to my earlier question that you blithely ignored.What does Anne want?More importantly, what does sheneed?”
“She needs to do her duty to her estate, and she wants to marry you.”
Darcy just shook his head, unable to deal with such obstinacy.
“Did you imagine that Anne and I never discussed this, all these years? I can understand your tendency to think so becausewe did not—until a few months ago. I was always afraid you might stage a compromise, so I always had a male cousin with me to watch my back at Rosings.”
