North by Northanger

“But that ivory has been passed from mother to daughter for nearly three hundred years,” Lady Catherine continued. “Now that my sister is gone, its ownership is without question. It is rightfully mine. Kindly retrieve it, for I want it back.”

“I do not have it.”

“Do you insult me with falsehoods? The statuette must be in your possession, or you would not know anything about it.”

“Indeed, I have it not. I learned of it from others.”

“Who?”

“Lady Anne herself. She mentions it in a letter I discovered.”

“You have been nosing through my late sister’s correspondence? Is that what you have been about in your dressing room in recent days? Oh, yes — I know about all the trunks delivered there. Do you think that servants do not talk? The presumption! To read my sister’s private writings — you, who never knew her, who cannot begin to touch her excellence. Just because you have managed to snare her son and install yourself as mistress of Pemberley — assumed her role here — do not flatter yourself that you will ever fill Lady Anne’s place. Does my nephew know of this?”

“He approves it. Indeed, I believe so does Lady Anne.”

The remark nearly sent Darcy’s aunt into apoplexy. “Your insolence surpasses anything I have heretofore witnessed. If Lady Anne somehow observes your conduct from above, I assure you, it does not please her to see you seize so much that by long understanding was to have belonged to another.”

“Miss de Bourgh?”

“You have usurped my daughter’s place here, the life that was intended to be hers. And you ruined my nephew’s standing and reputation in the process. Why, he would not be in his current legal difficulties now — this business with the diamonds — were it not for you. He would have been nowhere near Northanger Abbey had he done his duty and gone to France as I asked.”

“On an errand that has proven unnecessary.”

“Just because no scandal presently brews, does not mean the errand was unnecessary. The honor of a great and noble family cannot be too vigilantly guarded. You would understand that, if you came from one yourself — if you had inherited a legacy, as my daughter has. But surely even you cannot justify the theft of her maternal birthright. The ivory statuette should ultimately fall to Anne, my sister’s namesake.”

“It was Lady Anne’s to bequeath where she chose. But if it is a matter of maternal birthright, what about Georgiana’s?”

“I am the elder of the sisters; my daughter is the elder of the cousins. Surrender the ivory.”

“I told you, I do not have it.”

“It must be here at Pemberley. Lady Anne would not have allowed it to leave her possession.” Her eyes narrowed. “And you realize that, too. What else of hers have you rifled through besides her letters? Have you ransacked all her effects in search of the statuette?”

Elizabeth had reached her daily limit of Lady Catherine’s abuse. “Not yet.”

“Impertinent baggage! I demand your pledge that when the ivory is located, you will cede it to me.”

“I make no such promise. Should the ivory be found, Mr. Darcy and I will do with it as we see fit.”

Lady Catherine suddenly became very quiet. Scorn radiating from her, she gathered the full measure of her pompous bearing, rose, and made her way toward the door with deliberate steps. As she passed Elizabeth, she paused.

“Not if I discover it first.”

Twenty-One

The Black Gentleman has certainly employed one of his menial imps to bring about this complete though trifling mischief.

— Jane Austen, letter to Cassandra

“You do not honestly believe my aunt came into this room and took the letter?” Darcy regarded Elizabeth skeptically.

She was in no mood to defend herself to him. Dr. Severn was due to arrive that day, and she anticipated enough disagreement ahead. Darcy had sent a note to the physician by express, and in turn received word that Severn would set out posthaste for Derbyshire. Severn meanwhile advised them to consult a local physician should her affliction continue or worsen until he could arrive. Darcy had been hovering over her ever since, staring at her nose so often one would think she had sprouted a wart.

“How else can the letter’s disappearance be accounted for?” she asked.

He shook his head. “To enter your private dressing room and not only read a letter clearly addressed to you, but to purloin it... I simply cannot believe her capable of such conduct.”

“A few days ago, I would have said the same. But since Lady Catherine threatened to seek the ivory herself, I cannot shake the sense that someone is intruding in my personal rooms. Yesterday I had to empty the drawers of the desk in my morning room to find something I was certain I had left within easy reach. This afternoon I returned from my walk to discover a trunk lid open that I know I closed. And now the original letter from your mother is missing.”

“Could you not simply have misplaced it? Thrice this fortnight we have had no tea after dinner because you mislaid the key to the tea caddy, only to find it again after we settled for coffee.”

To Elizabeth’s gratitude, Darcy was gracious enough not to add that on the second occasion she had discovered the key in the tea caddy itself, which had actually been unlocked. Or that her tea was almost too strong to drink some evenings because she could not seem to keep count of how many tea-ladles of leaves she added to the pot.

Though loath to admit it, she had become increasingly scatterbrained. The Wednesday before the harvest feast, she had entirely forgotten they were engaged to dine with the Vernons until the couple had arrived at Pemberley. And Thursday she turned her chamber inside out looking for her cap, only to spot it on her head when she passed the looking glass. Jane had complained of similar trouble when she was in the family way, and Elizabeth hoped her own distraction was indeed caused by her expectant state and nothing more serious. She also hoped it would not last beyond her confinement. The thought of losing more mental clarity with each successive pregnancy alarmed her — while casting the behavior of other women of her acquaintance in a new light. Perhaps her own mother had been a more sensible woman before giving birth to five children.

Then again, perhaps not.

Regardless, she felt certain that the missing status of Lady Anne’s letter to her derived not from her own actions but those of someone else. And she could think of only one other person in the house with as much interest in it as she had. Lady Catherine had become uncharacteristically taciturn since their quarrel over the statuette, and Elizabeth believed Darcy’s aunt genuinely schemed to find the ivory for herself.

“I have not completely lost my wits,” Elizabeth said. “Lady Catherine was so adamant about her right to the statuette that I have little doubt she could justify, at least to herself, invading something so insignificant as my privacy. If she considered it beneath her to filch the letter directly, she would not scruple to delegate the task to her maid.”

Darcy yet appeared doubtful. “Where did you last see the letter?”

“I moved it to the escritoire in here.” She had wanted the letter more easily accessible while continuing to sort through Lady Anne’s other correspondence.

He glanced at the desk. “Do you normally lock the fall front?”

“I thought the fact that this is my private dressing room was security enough. Apparently not.”

The appearance of Mrs. Reynolds curtailed their conversation. “Sir, you had asked to be informed the moment Dr. Severn arrived. Do you wish him to attend Mrs. Darcy immediately?”

“No.” “Yes.” Elizabeth and Darcy replied simultaneously.