When Darcy rode up to his townhouse, it greeted him with all the easy familiarity of a close friend. Just setting his eyes upon it helped calm him. But he knew very well that just inside might be something of a different matter.
He walked up to the door and opened it, greeting a very surprised butler, Mr. Andrews. “Mr. Darcy, this is a surprise! We were not expecting you!”
“I am sorry to arrive without notice, Andrews. Tell me, is my aunt here?”
“Yes, sir. Your aunt arrived but an hour ago, and your cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam is here as well.”
“Richard is here?”
“Yes, sir. He has been here a couple of days. He is in with your aunt now in the sitting room.”
Darcy looked at him. “I beseech you, Andrews; do not let anyone know I am here. I shall be in my study. Please make an attempt to draw Colonel Fitzwilliam away from my aunt and ask him to come into the study without raising her suspicions. Presently, I do not wish for her to know that I am here.”
“Yes, sir.”
Darcy slipped into his study and closed the door. He waited. If he could garner the help of his cousin, this might turn out to be easier than he thought.
It was some minutes before Colonel Fitzwilliam came into the study. He opened the door curiously and when he saw Darcy, his eyes travelled up and down the usually immaculate man. Darcy was encrusted with a layer of dirt, his clothes completely soiled. He began to let out a “Cous…”
Darcy put his fingers up to his lips to silence him. “Shhhh, Richard. I do not want Lady Catherine to know I am here just yet! I desperately need your help.”
Darcy saw the look of exasperation on his cousin’s face. “And I need your help too, Darcy! She is extremely upset and irrational! Something has her so enraged, yet she refuses to tell me what it is!”
“I believe I know what has her so enraged. I will tell you and I ask that you return to her and attempt to get her to discuss it with you.”
Colonel Fitzwilliam looked askance at him and nodded his head. “Pray, continue.”
“First, sit down and promise me you will not utter a word until I have finished.”
Richard furrowed his eyebrows and smiled. “You are behaving quite oddly, cousin, but if you insist, not a word!”
“Good. Some news came to her attention about me and she is not pleased about it.”
“What news was that?”
Darcy paused, thinking to himself that disclosing his marriage ought to get easier with all the people he had already told. “She found out I am married.”
“Mar…”
“Shhh!” Darcy looked at his cousin’s shocked face. “I married a wonderful young lady I met on the ship to America. She is exceptional… more than I could have expected to find in a lady… but she does not meet our aunt’s expectations of whom she believes I should marry. Although I strongly believe no woman would have satisfied her notion, other than Anne.”
“Ahhhh, now I understand her temper tonight!”
“Well, there is more. Our marriage has been a secret.”
At Colonel Fitzwilliam’s look of astonishment, Darcy explained briefly how it came to be.
“Very few people know about it, but Wickham found out… in truth, he stole the marriage certificate and took it to her, no doubt seeking some sort of recompense for bringing it to her attention. She, in turn, went directly to Elizabeth, my wife, with the certificate in hand, berating her to her face, and threatened that she would annul our marriage!”
“Darcy! In the past we have witnessed some inexcusable behaviour from her, but this surpasses them all! Certainly she has no real ability to annul your marriage, does she?”
“Is there anything our aunt would not attempt, if she was so determined?” He looked at his cousin guardedly. “Think back, Richard, on how often she has used her wealth and position for fraudulent means; silencing and influencing authorities; discrediting the honour of someone simply because they stood up to her or were not to her liking.”
“I take your meaning.”
“You must engage her to talk. Somehow you must get her to show you the marriage certificate and remove it from her possession and return to me! I will rest a little easier having it in my own hands.”
“How am I to do that?”
“Give her some reason to enlighten you as to what she comprehends of my situation. Relate to her how badly I have mismanaged Pemberley, how you are concerned about my behaviour of late… anything to get her to confide in you about what she discovered concerning me!”
“You really want me to disparage you in front of her?”
“Only until you are able to secure the certificate. I do not believe she can do anything without it. And once I have it, I will confront her. With your help, of course!”
“Thanks, good cousin! I cannot tell you how I have always wanted to do this!” The colonel cast Darcy a sarcastic look. “Enumerate your faults, that is, not confront our aunt!”
Darcy shook his head at his cousin’s teasing. “But you will do this?”
“Yes, I will see what I can do!” As Richard walked out, he turned and gave his cousin a curious glance, unable to believe the man had actually found a woman he deemed worthy to marry. That he had married in such a fashion was even more astounding.
Richard left, and Darcy sank down in his chair. He leaned back and closed his eyes, believing he would just rest his weary body while his cousin was charming his aunt into surrendering the certificate. But resting his body soon gave way and Darcy fell into a deep, much needed sleep.
Richard walked through the door, awakening Darcy with a start. “That was certainly prompt!” he said as his cousin looked at him, holding a piece of paper in his hands.
“Prompt? How can you say that was prompt? It took me more than an hour to get this from her!”
Darcy blinked his eyes a few times. “That long?” He shook his head to clear his thoughts. “I must have fallen asleep.”
“You must have fallen into a deep sleep!”
“So where is she now?”
“She is still in the drawing room. Mad as a hornet about all the things I said about you. But you were correct, it worked! After I told her of your recent troubling behaviour, she was more than willing to tell me all about your little indiscretion. However, in her eyes, one would think you had committed treason or some similar offence. When I feigned complete disbelief, I asked her what proof she had and she promptly produced this!”
“Excellent work, Richard.” He met the look of mirth in his cousin’s eyes. “Now I only hope we can undo the damage of the stories you told!”
“Undo them? Why, I only told her what was true!” Colonel Fitzwilliam took great delight in teasing his younger cousin.
Darcy shook his head. “Come, Richard. I need you beside me now, more than ever!”
The two walked into the drawing room, where Lady Catherine had leaned her head back and drifted off to sleep.
“It appears as though all that anger has taken its toll on her, Darcy. Perhaps we should leave her and wait until morning.”
“No, Fitz! We are doing this now!”
Richard looked at his cousin and could see how exhausted he was. “Darcy, there is no need to pursue this tonight. You are fatigued beyond measure! Let it… and you… rest until morning. You always think better after a good night’s sleep. And you know how our aunt hates being disturbed from her sleep. You will not stand a chance with her tonight if we awaken her now.”
“Perhaps you are right. I shall retire to my room and will be up at first light. I shall see you in the morning.”
“Aye, cousin. Anything you say!”
As Darcy turned to leave, he admonished his cousin. “If I am not here in the morning, do what you must to keep our aunt from leaving! I have an urgent errand to run and you must keep her here until I return!”
At Richard’s nod, Darcy walked slowly to his room, anxious for his bed. Passing Andrews, he informed him that he would be turning in and again asked that his aunt not be informed of his presence in his home.
“Shall I have a bath drawn for you, sir?”
For the first time since arriving, Darcy looked down at his clothes. “Yes, Andrews, that would be splendid.” He came into his room and quickly rid himself of his grimy attire. He waited quietly and patiently for the bath to be drawn, and at long last it was ready. He stepped into the bath and leaned back, allowing Andrews to take Durnham’s role in scrubbing him clean.
When he finally slipped into bed, he fell into a deep sleep, consoling himself with dreams of a beautiful woman he longed so much to have at his side.
***
Darcy opened his eyes and sat up with a start. He looked around him, adjusting his eyes to the semi-darkness of the room, quickly realizing that he was in his room at his townhouse in London. He swung his legs off the bed, knowing that he must ready himself without delay if he was to get the early start he required.
It was some time later that Colonel Fitzwilliam cautiously came downstairs and was grateful when he saw that the dining room was empty. His aunt had not yet come down. He would be able to savour at least a few minutes of undisturbed silence as he enjoyed his morning meal while contemplating the events of the previous evening.
He had never seen the likes of his aunt’s anger in the whole of his life. He could easily have called it a furious rage. On many occasions he had witnessed her demanding tirades, her stridently voiced dissatisfaction with a trifling annoyance, and even her irritation at his own acts of impudence, but never what he had witnessed last night.
He wondered to what extent his aunt had berated the woman who was now the object of her contempt—Darcy’s wife. To think that she paid her a visit to express her disapproval, to vehemently denounce their marriage, and to threaten to annul it! The very thought made Richard shudder. He hoped that this lady his cousin married had a strong enough constitution to bear this first meeting of their aunt and was kind-hearted enough to forgive her.
Richard questioned, however, whether his cousin would ever be able to forgive their aunt. Throughout their life they had, for the sake of family, endured her emotional outbursts and verbal assaults, learning at an early age simply to remain silent when she burst into a fit of rage. Was it only his imagination or was she truly becoming more and more malicious of late? He heard his aunt’s voice snapping out orders to her maid. She had arisen! He knew it was only a matter of time before she would come upon him in the dining room and continue with the tirade she began last evening. He looked at his empty coffee cup and shook his head, hoping his cousin would return shortly. He was not sure how long he would be able to detain her from setting out, as Darcy had requested, let alone endure her wrath.
She entered the room with a fiery countenance that clearly reflected her dissatisfaction with everything and everyone. At her overly dramatic frustrated sigh, Richard looked up. “Good morning, Aunt.”
“Until I get a few things settled, I hardly would call it good. Richard, do you still have the marriage certificate? You do, do you not?”
“Ah, yes, it is somewhere around here.”
“Nephew, you must retrieve it directly and attend me!”
The colonel gave her an innocent questioning glance. “Pardon? Attend you where?”
“Oh, Richard! Have you no recollection of last night? With all that you told me of your cousin’s behaviour of late, you must accompany me. Surely with the information we both submit to our attorney, he shall clearly see that my nephew is not in his right mind and that his marriage must therefore be annulled!”
Richard forced himself to disguise his horror as he looked at his aunt. “Not in his right mind?” He smiled at the thought. “Certainly that can wait, Aunt, until after breakfast. Sit down and enjoy something to eat.”
“I must attend to this as soon as possible, Richard, and you must join me!” She pulled out a piece of paper. “I have written it all down this morning, everything you informed me of last night and all that I have come to be acquainted with in regards to his behaviour of late. He certainly cannot continue to handle all of his responsibilities, particularly managing Pemberley, if he is so mentally incapacitated. And this marriage…”
Richard could barely swallow without choking as he heard his aunt’s scathing words. He looked up with disbelief as she essentially threatened to take over all of Darcy’s affairs. He forced himself to remain calm. “I am sorry, Aunt. I fear that I cannot. If you wish me to accompany you, it must be later. Something has arisen and I cannot leave at present.” He hoped his expressed inability to leave directly would delay his aunt’s departure.
“Something has arisen?” Lady Catherine looked at him angrily. “When I arrived yesterday and discovered you here, you informed me that you were here to spend a week free of responsibilities and engagements. Now you say something has arisen? Pray, what?”
“Me!”
The voice behind Lady Catherine startled her. She turned to see Darcy standing in the doorway, his eyes darkened and his hands tightly gripping his riding crop.
Darcy noticed only the slightest thread of dismay cross her face, followed by an adjustment of her shoulders and a fortification of her resolve. “Nephew!”
“Lady Catherine,” Darcy acknowledged her with restrained anger.
The two studied each other. Lady Catherine anxiously tried to determine if her nephew knew her reason for being in Town or was aware of the meeting with his… his… She could not bring herself to consider that woman as his wife!
Darcy, on the other hand, braced himself to confront this woman who so insolently berated his Elizabeth.
“I was not aware that you would be in Town,” Lady Catherine commented warily.
“I would imagine you rather hoped I would not.”
“Well,” she said, nervously clearing her throat. “Your cousin and I… we have business we must attend to.” The glance she gave to Richard demanded that he heed her appeal.
As she turned to walk around Darcy, he sidestepped in front of her to prevent her from getting beyond him. “I would advise you to sit down, first, Aunt. There is a matter I must discuss with you.”
“As soon as I return!” She turned to the colonel. “Richard, be so kind as to get that item we were discussing a few moments earlier. It is imperative that I have it in my possession.”
Richard merely looked at his aunt. “I am sorry, I seem to have misplaced it.” He patted his hands around his pockets and into his coat jacket as if to search for it. Then he settled back with a sly grin, eager to watch events unfold. Over the years, he and his cousin had passively endured their aunt’s tirades on so many occasions that he was actually looking forward to Darcy putting her in her place.
“Misplaced it?” she exclaimed.
Darcy reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. “Is this what you were looking for, Aunt?”
Lady Catherine gasped as she saw the marriage certificate in his hands. “And exactly how did you come into possession of that?”
Darcy leaned into her and, in a voice that barely restrained his rage, pointedly stated, “I might ask you the same question!”
Desperately, Lady Catherine reached out to grab it, but Darcy quickly pulled it away. Her voice raised a couple of octaves as she pointed her finger repeatedly at Darcy. “It was in the best interest of the family that it was put into my hands. You have not been in your right mind lately. Your cousin will attest to that! And this marriage that you had the audacity to enter into! Why… why…” Lady Catherine’s face grew red and she took a few breaths to calm herself. “It is positively insupportable!”
“And your behaviour to my wife was unspeakable and completely unforgivable!”
“Nephew, I am not used to being treated this way by family! Now hand me the marriage certificate! I shall deal with it so that the family will not go through the disgrace that this travesty of a marriage will bring upon us!”
“Indeed, I will not!” The resonance of his voice reflected the anger he was barely able to control. “My marriage to Elizabeth will bring no disgrace, no dishonour, and no shame to our family! It is you who brings our family disgrace by your insolent actions!”
“How dare you, nephew!”
“And how dare you approach my wife without my permission and threaten her and berate her as you did!”
Lady Catherine met his challenging glance and answered, “You are the one who has chosen to dishonour the family name! Your behaviour of late… your cousin has told me…”
Darcy looked at his cousin. “Just what do you have to say against me, cousin?”
“Me?” asked Richard, feigning innocence by shrugging his shoulders. “I can think of nothing you have done that is not of the highest integrity.”
“What?” asked their aunt in horror. “Tell him what you told me last night!” She turned to Darcy. “He knows, nephew! He knows how you have been mismanaging Pemberley, but fears telling you to your face!”
“On the contrary, Aunt,” Richard began. “None of those things I told you last night had any bearing of truth to them.”
“Certainly, they must!”
He shook his head. “No, I only said those things so that you would tell me about his marriage and I could obtain his marriage certificate and return it to the rightful owner.”
The two cousins watched their aunt as her face contorted in anger. “How dare you treat your aunt with such disrespect! Do you know to whom you are speaking?”
Darcy turned to his cousin. “Richard, if you will excuse Lady Catherine and me, I believe we ought to complete this conversation in the privacy of my study.”
“This is not to be borne! I refuse to go anywhere with you!” She turned to Richard. “Certainly you see that his marriage must be annulled, no matter what you say different today!” She then turned to Darcy. “Keep your marriage certificate, then. I shall not need it. When I inform our attorney what you have done, he will see that you are not in your right mind and turn over all your affairs to my authority!”
She turned to leave, but Darcy’s words stopped her.
“I have already paid a visit to Greeley this morning.”
She turned back and blinked her eyes, not believing what she heard.
“I have informed him of the circumstances of my marriage and he is under the direct order to take no action against it from anyone, particularly from you! He dutifully agreed, seeing no reason to do otherwise.”
Lady Catherine’s breathing became ragged and she pounded her foot upon the floor. “Insolent nephew! You know not what disgrace this marriage will be to our family. And what of Anne? You have been promised to each other since birth! Your mother and I…”
Darcy clenched his teeth. “Aunt, I have told you repeatedly, and your daughter has reaffirmed it, we have no wish to marry. We never have! I have already married another, and there is nothing that you or anyone else can do about it!”
“But our two estates… the obligation to your family name… the meagre station of this woman!”
“This woman is my wife. None of those things are of any import to me! She is the only thing that matters! If you cared in the least for my welfare, if you loved me as the son of your sister, you would rejoice with me! You would treat my wife with kindness and respect. But what you have done, what you have said, your behaviour…” Darcy felt his ire rising. “I confess I know not how I shall ever be able to forgive you.”
His aunt was rendered speechless as she looked from one nephew to the other, hoping for some sort of weakening. But both remained resolute.
“Aunt, if you do not wish to discuss this further with me in my study, I think it best for you to remove yourself from my premises without delay.” Darcy turned to depart the room but stopped at the door and turned. “One more thing, Aunt. I did advise Greeley that your behaviour of late has been quite unstable and if you come to him with any request that he deems highly unusual, he is to notify me at once and we shall proceed in declaring you unfit to manage Rosings. He is in complete agreement with me that Anne is perfectly capable of handling your affairs if you prove to be incompetent.”
Lady Catherine’s mouth dropped wide open, her whole body began to tremble, and she was rendered mute by Darcy’s threats.
Darcy used her silence to make one final point. “And do not think that you have an open invitation to call here or at Pemberley until you have improved your conduct and made a full apology to my wife.”
She looked up at her nephew through narrowed eyes. She had only seen the unyielding look etched across his face on a few occasions. And while she prided herself on never cowering to anyone, the threats he was issuing were enough to make her reconsider. The thought of having Rosings forcefully taken from her set her mind in turmoil.
Darcy turned and walked away, leaving Richard alone to see the look of anger upon his aunt’s face turn to anguish. Looking helplessly at her nephew, she said, “Surely you see… you agree with me, do you not? His marriage… it is unacceptable!”
Richard actually felt pity for this woman who held so tightly to what she perceived was family honour and obligation. “No, Aunt. Although I have not met this lady, I am quite confident that Darcy would have chosen well. She must be someone well suited to the intelligent gentleman he is.”
“But…” Lady Catherine tried to interrupt, but Richard put up his hand to stop her.
“And to him, that is more important than any expectations you may have for his wife.” He smiled. “As a matter of fact, I am quite anxious to meet this young lady who was finally able to break through the barriers he has always put up. Already, I find myself holding her in the highest regard!”
Richard excused himself with a quick farewell and left Lady Catherine disturbed and fretful but not yet inclined to yield. Lady Catherine was extremely indignant when she left London later that morning. Darcy remained secluded in his study and did not bring himself out to bid her farewell. Neither did she take the opportunity to stop and advise him she was leaving. Her only companions on her way home to Kent were her very diverse thoughts and feelings about all that had transpired.
It grieved her to imagine being turned away from Pemberley or the London townhouse. But her resentment and anger were in such an excessive state that she could not bear the thought of going to the girl and offering an apology. My nephew will soon overlook my actions, and his familial bonds will bring him around to apologizing to ME for his severity! Her face contorted in uncertainty. She could only hope.