Page 18 of Till Death Us Do Part
Catherine made no effort to contradict her nephew since he was right.
“All right, you have my attention. What does Anne want or need, in your opinion?”
Darcy leaned back a bit. “It is not my opinion that matters. What she wants is simple. I already fulfilled her first need, and it was easier than you might think.”
“Which was?”
“She wanted someone tolistenand try to understand her point of view. Much to my shame, it took me a decade to do so, but I did eventually.”
“All right! So, you listened to her whining. Shall I give you a sweet?”
Darcy just shook his head in frustration. “It is not whining, and you know it. She is the least complaining person I know.”
“All right, what does she want?”
“She wants to get married.”
Lady Catherine gasped. “Why did you not say so? We can arrange to get rid of this Miss Bennet somehow. My rector was intending to marry one of the Bennet girls, and he will follow instructions. He can have her, and you will be free to marry Anne. Your reputation will be restored when we explain it. So long as both you and Miss Bennet are married, we can work on why it is not to each other.”
Darcy sighed. “Anne does not want to be married to me. She says we are, and I quote, ‘both dour, bad-tempered, shy, and aloof.’ She says, and I agree, that the two of us married would multiply our bad tendencies, because they overlap so much. She needs someone who has strength where she has weakness, and vice-versa.”
Lady Catherine harrumphed. “I can see you are working your way up to some sort of surprise. Get on with it!”
“What Anne wants is simple. She wants a husband who is generally happy, content, and of a naturally cheerful and amiable disposition. It does not matter if he is slightly less serious than a gentleman should be, because she has seriousness to spare.”
“Is that all?”
“No, just the beginning. She wants a man who is cheerful all or most of the time. She wants a man who is flexible—not so set in his ways that he is immune to amendment. She thinks that her upbringing was so constrained that she does not even know what possibilities life holds for her, so she wants a man flexible enough to explore their options and work it out in a mutual partnership.”
Lady Catherine huffed. “That sounds frivolous to me. If she wants to do that, she can go to town and fend for herself.”
Darcy sighed. “No, that is not all. She hates to see the estate that was her father’s, grandfather’s, and great-grandfather’s run into the ground. I showed her your finances, in detail, and it pains her to see it wasted.”
“I do not see how that is any of your business.”
“And yet, you want me to help you every Easter, and you want me to own Rosings, whether it is my business or not. May I finish?”
The lady nodded in bad tempered agreement.
“She would like to restore Rosings. Have you looked at Sir Louis’ will lately?”
Lady Catherine gasped but shook her head.
“It says that Rosings passes to Anne on her twenty-fifth birthday if she is married, or her thirtieth if not.”
“If you had married her, it would all be yours now. It is not too late.”
“You are right and wrong, but I digress. Let me tell you the rest of Anne’s wishes.”
“If you insist.”
“She would like a husband who iskind. That is her most important characteristic, and to be honest, I am not a naturally kind man. For certain, I am dutiful. I take care of my estate, my tenants, the local villagers and even the poor. I see that that my community prospers, and all is done as a gentleman ought—but I am not a naturally kind person. You and I share the Fitzwilliam kindness defect. I am trying to learn to do better, and perhaps my new wife will somehow help me, but it is a struggle for me, while it comes as naturally as breathing for some.”
Catherine grumbled, but was prevented from asking any more, because she was trying to work out what her nephew was getting at.
“Enough of that. Back to Anne. If you recall, she wants a husband who is kind, courteous, and amiable. It would help ifhe were a man accustomed to living with disagreeable women, since we have a surfeit of them at Rosings, and she is not inclined to ship her mother off to the dower house unless she becomes desperate—Anne’s words, not mine!”
Lady Catherine scowled fiercely but Darcy continued. “And, since she would like to save her ancestral home, it would be nice to have a husband withmoney.”
