The viscount watched him leave, then sank into his chair. He picked up his cards and played on Darcy’s long-forgotten lead. “Lady Catherine, I apologize for my son’s behavior. He is not generally ill-humored. You need have no misgivings about our earlier business.”
Lady Catherine snapped down her card with such force she nearly bent it. “I hope not. Else I shall be sending an express to my solicitor countermanding this morning’s documents—”
Miss Jenkinson having played, Darcy collected the trick and glanced at his cards, trying to recall what he had intended to lead next. After such an extended disruption, he could no longer remember with certainty which cards remained in play.
“—and another to Mr. Collins canceling the banns.”
Darcy’s head jerked up. His gaze shifted between his aunt and the viscount as if he watched a game of shuttlecock.
“I assure you,” Lord Sennex said, “that is not necessary.”
“All the same, perhaps we ought to postpone the date.”
“There is no sense in postponing happiness. Besides, one month from today will have Neville home in time for the opening of foxhunting season, which will put him in especially good temper.”
“Miss de Bourgh is the granddaughter of an earl. Her wedding will not be scheduled around the pursuit of vermin.”
“Of course not.”
“Mr. Darcy, are you ever going to lead the next trick?”
Darcy stared at his aunt. Miss de Bourgh and Neville Sennex? He had never suspected such a partnership was forming. Lady Catherine was a craftier strategist than even he had realized.
“It seems that you and his lordship have effected an alliance that goes well beyond this game.”
“Yes. Your cousin has just become engaged to Mr. Sennex.”
“I shall be sure to wish her joy when I return to the ballroom.” He withdrew the queen of spades from his hand.
“Kindly defer your congratulations until the morrow.”
He dropped the card onto the table. “May I ask why?”
“Anne does not yet know.”
With a triumphant flourish, Lady Catherine played the king of spades, overriding Darcy’s queen and defeating his attempt at the vole.
“You should have called my king, Mr. Darcy. Have you not yet come to understand that you are far better off with me as an ally than as an opponent?” She collected the trick and placed it in front of her.
“That is, if you want to win.”
There certainly are not so many men of large fortune in the world as there are pretty women to deserve them.
— Mansfield Park
You lost how much in a single hand?”
“Never mind. I was distracted.”
Elizabeth nodded in passing to an acquaintance as Darcy adroitly maneuvered her away from Lady Catherine, who had been only too happy to declare her winnings when Elizabeth at last delivered Anne’s message. “Was not the entire purpose for you to distract her? Whatever turned things round?”
“News you will no doubt find quite diverting.” Darcy glanced back at the card table from which he had just escaped. Though the room was clearing, Lady Catherine and Lord Sennex remained, deep in conversation. “This, however, is not an appropriate venue in which to reveal it.”
“Apparently we are fortunate that the summons to supper terminated your game, or you might have lost Pemberley by evening’s end. Lady Catherine’s fondest dreams would have been realized as she ousted me from its premises.”
“My aunt has other matters on her mind this week.”
“Oh, more cryptic talk! You know how it delights me when you speak mysteriously. I suppose I shall have to wait until we are safely alone in our chamber before you explain further?”
“I am afraid so.”
“Very well. I can spend supper regaling you with Miss de Bourgh’s adventures in the ballroom.”
“Did she enjoy her dances with Colonel Fitzwilliam?”
“Dance—she stood up with him for only one before the fear of being caught by her mother forced her from the floor. But yes, from all appearances she enjoyed it very much. Another gentleman in their set afterwards invited her to dance with him, but having turned down Colonel Fitzwilliam’s offer of a second dance she declined his invitation, too. Which is a shame, for I believe she would have liked to accept them both.”
“Was the gentleman someone we know?”
“Colonel Fitzwilliam introduced us. He is Mr. Henry Crawford, a guest of Admiral Davidson.” She scanned the dining room, but could not readily locate Mr. Crawford. “I do not see him in this crowd or I would identify him to you. He seems an affable gentleman, with a friendly countenance and engaging manners. Too, merely the fact that he invited Miss de Bourgh to dance earns him a place in my esteem.”
“You have suddenly developed an intense interest in my cousin’s social intercourse.”
“We do have a stake in it.”
“How so?”
“I doubt the Miss de Bourgh we knew a twelvemonth ago would have defied her mother and danced tonight. For all the vexation Lady Catherine’s prolonged visit to Pemberley caused us, I daresay it benefited Anne. The separation from her mother allowed her to think for herself — and of herself — for what was undoubtedly the first time in her life. She needs more such opportunities.”
“You are not suggesting that we invite my aunt for a return visit?”
“I want her to stay for six months this time, and to bring Miss Jenkinson with her.”
At Darcy’s horrified expression, she laughed.
“Set your mind at ease — nothing could induce me to feel that charitable. Though now that I think on it, we should invite Miss de Bourgh to visit us at Pemberley for a while — without her mother or companion. Miss Jenkinson could use the hiatus to take an extended holiday. Surely she has family somewhere that she has not seen in a decade or two.”
“Your plan assumes Lady Catherine would be willing to spare either of them.”
“Provided she has someone to nod mutely at appropriate intervals in her soliloquies, the particular company she keeps is entirely interchangeable. There are others in the neighborhood, such as Mr. and Mrs. Collins, who can serve her purpose just as well. Mr. Collins, you know, is only too willing to drop everything whenever his patroness issues a summons to Rosings. I do scruple to subject Charlotte to an increase in her ladyship’s attention, but as a clergyman’s wife she understands the need to sacrifice for a good cause.”
“Their party would number only three — how will Lady Catherine play quadrille?”
“Oh, dear. I suppose Miss Jenkinson must stay behind after all. Well, we shall have to plot her liberation for a later date. I can allot attention to only one charitable enterprise at a time, and Miss de Bourgh inspires more of my sympathy.”