Page 129 of Miss Bennet's Dragon
“I beg your pardon?”
“Which part do you know to be false? That I would marry your nephew, or that I would demand he give up Pemberley?”
“Disrespectful girl! They are both false.”
“Well, I quite like Pemberley,” I said. “So, that part is false.”
“LikePemberley! What temerity. Who are you tolikePemberley?”
“Her ladyship must choose what she wishes to be false. I either like Pemberley and covet it, or I dislike it and demand your nephew surrender it. It is not the sort of thing I would be undecided about.”
Abruptly, I remembered Mr. Darcy’s last words to me: “I will conquer this, whatever the cost. I swear it.” Giving up Pemberley was exactly the kind of foolish plan he would invent over his fixation with the “darkness of Pemberley.” A noble sacrifice for an imagined problem. He would reveal it after the damage was done, accompanied by many distractingly handsome bows.
Lady Catherine was staring in disbelief, apparently beyond words.
Another question occurred to me. “Is it only Pemberley that concerns you?” I was a little surprised by that.
“Certainly not! You cannot mean there is a foundation for this unthinkable rumor of marriage?”
“I do not pretend to possess equal frankness with your ladyship. You may ask questions which I shall not answer.”
I heard steps. Mary and Miss Darcy had come out.
Miss Darcy was wide-eyed with surprise. “Aunt Catherine.”
“Georgiana!” exclaimed Lady Catherine. “Heaven and earth! Why areyouhere?”
“I am visiting Miss Mary Bennet,” she replied in a defiant tone.
Her ladyship appeared overwhelmed by irritating Bennets. She turned to me. “I wish to confirm, Miss Bennet, that you have acquired no brothers. I will be most disappointed if there are rumors about my niece as well.”
“I remain without brothers,” I said. “May I ask your purpose in visiting today?”
Lady Catherine eyed Mary and Miss Darcy, loath to continue with anaudience. But they showed no signs of leaving. In fact, Miss Darcy took Mary’s hand and set her feet, as if she feared her aunt would drag her into the carriage.
Lady Catherine answered with heavy emphasis, “I have come to insist you immediately and publicly contradict this impossible report, which I shall not name.”
Just to irritate her, I asked in puzzlement, “You refer to the report of Mr. Darcy’s and my impending marriage?” There were loud gasps behind me.
“Obstinate, headstrong girl!” shouted Lady Catherine. “There will be no marriage!”
I addressed Mary, who was flabbergasted. “Her ladyship has declared it impossible. Does that not mean contradictions are unnecessary?”
Miss Darcy asked breathlessly, “Are you engaged to my brother?” Her eyes were circles.
While irritating Lady Catherine for sport was amusing, it would be unfair to mislead Mr. Darcy’s sister. “I am not.”
Miss Darcy’s face fell into huge disappointment.
Lady Catherine, however, was smiling. “As I thought! Now, will you promise me never to enter into such an engagement?”
“I will make no promise of the kind,” I said. What nerve.
Lady Catherine stared in disbelief. Then her smile returned, but it was cruel. She pointed to our empty draca house. “What has happened to your firedrake?”
The memory tightened my throat. “Gone,” I said softly. “After my dear father’s death.”
“Then your mother is weak. Miss Bennet, your status as gentry is lost. Know that I can find a respectable heir to Longbourn in days. I will send them to claim your home.”
