Page 35 of Master of Netherfield
“There is nothing of concern Miss Elizabeth. Mr Darcy and your father spoke to me, and I know you are to remain here until the babe is born.”
While Nanny went to speak to Mr Nichols to prepare for five additional young ladies for luncheon, Mary and Georgiana went to the library for the new book with the tales of Robin Hood. Kitty continued playing the pianoforte and Lydia stood next to the instrument singing with Jane.
Elizabeth spent a few moments at the window looking out over an expanse of fields forming a patchwork quilt. Patient horses pulled small carts of seeds as men and boys walked back and forth, scattering seeds with each movement of their arms.
Her thoughts were with her mother, and she hated being too young to be of assistance today. Someone needed to be there to wash and swaddle the baby. And she worried about her mother even though Mrs Bennet assured her repeatedly that she would be well.
“Lizzy, I have had five confinements, and each one has been easier that the last. This baby will arrive with no trouble, I am certain.”
**++**
Interrupting her thoughts, a commotion in the hallway brought Elizabeth to the door where she found Mrs Hobbes standing at the top of the stairs attempting to block someone from coming up the stairs.
“Madam, the master is in the fields. You will wait in the parlour while he is summoned to attend you!”
“I shall do no such thing! I am Lady Catherine de Bourgh, almost Mr Darcy’s closest relation. I shall see my niece Georgiana now!”
“Mr Darcy was most explicit madam after your last visit. You are not to have run of the...”
Elizabeth saw the tall older woman push Mrs Hobbes aside and gain the top of the stairs. Only a single footman followed the woman though shouts from below stairs led Elizabeth to think the second footman was dealing with the Netherfield footmen.
“Where is my niece?” Lady Catherine demanded of Mrs Hobbes.
To distract the woman, Elizabeth slammed the door to the music room and turned to her sisters. “Do you remember...?”
But before she could say more, the door opened and the footman entered the chamber, followed by Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
**++**
“Georgiana! Come and greet me properly,” Lady Catherine announced as she stared at Kitty. Frozen in her place, Kitty’s eyes grew large as the tall, grey-haired lady approached the pianoforte. Lydia looked fearfully at the lady and her footman while Jane moved to intercept the woman.
“Madam, you are mistaken. This is my sister, Catherine Bennet. Your niece...”
“Is with her brother in the fields,” Elizabeth interjected. “She wished to ride with him this morning.”
“Nonsense,” the woman insisted. “This is my niece. I am her mother’s sister and would know her in any crowd of the proper folk.”
Lady Catherine paused to glance at the other children in the room and asked, “Who are you and why are you in my niece’s classroom?”
“Lady Catherine, my sisters and I are friends with Miss Darcy,” Jane explained.
“Nonsense I tell you!” the irate woman stepped closer to the pianoforte and grabbed Kitty’s arm. “This is my niece. She will come away with me...”
Catherine Bennet took only a moment to draw breath before she screamed; a petrifying cry filled with fear that angered Lady Catherine.
“Georgiana, stop this caterwauling this instant!” the woman commanded as she jerked on Kitty’s arm distressing the confused child even more. Jane and Elizabeth both sprang forward to protect their sister while Nanny Brice ran into the room with Mrs Hobbes.
The footman attempted to come around the pianoforte to assist his mistress, but Jane tripped him and then kicked him in that tender region that incapacitated men so completely. Elizabeth reached Kitty but before she could intervene, Kitty bit Lady Catherine’s arm.
“Oh!” exclaimed Lady Catherine as she released Kitty’s arm and stepped backwards where she fell against the pianoforte and lost her hat and her wig.
A Netherfield footman arrived in the room at that moment to deal with Lady Catherine’s footman properly while Nanny Brice and Mrs Hobbes pulled the older woman away from the sisters.
“Unhand me!” Lady Catherine demanded. “I am...”
“We know Your Ladyship!” Nanny Brice yelled. A second footman arrived and the three of them forced the woman to a bedchamber and leaving her there, they returned to the hallway where upon Mrs Hobbes locked the door. The angry woman inside the locked room pounded on the door but no one dared to open it again.
“Remain here and do not allow anyone inside until Mr Darcy arrives with direction,” Mrs Hobbes ordered the footman while Nanny Brice hurried back to the music room where Jane and Elizabeth were huddled together with Kitty and Lydia.
