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.”
They found their place cards. Although Lady Catherine had been assigned to a different table, the presence of others prevented Elizabeth and Darcy from continuing the discussion. They spent the meal engaged with their fellow diners in the sort of idle chatter that Elizabeth tolerated and Darcy abhorred.
Afterward, they danced a set together, then mutually decided they had experienced enough of the ball. Elizabeth departed to look in on Lily-Anne while Darcy took leave of their host. She found the baby sleeping contentedly, a tiny sliver of white peeking through her lower gum, and walked to her chamber with a lighter heart. Passing Miss de Bourgh’s room, she considered looking in on her as well to enquire whether her headache had improved. No sounds came from within. As she did not wish to disturb her if Miss de Bourgh had indeed found rest, she continued without stopping, but a scheme began to form in her mind. She quickened her step, eager to share the idea with Darcy.
Upon opening the door to her own chamber, she discovered that Darcy had not yet returned. A note, however, lay on the floor with her name written across the front. She picked it up and saw that it bore the de Bourgh seal. Before she had a chance to open it, Darcy entered.
She momentarily set the letter aside on a small table near the door. Whatever Lady Catherine had to say could wait.
“I have been thinking, Darcy. Let us suggest that your cousin Anne return with us to Pemberley from here. If she accompanies us, Lady Catherine cannot use the inconvenience or rigors of travel as an excuse to deny the invitation. Miss de Bourgh will conduct her journey under our protection, enabling you to personally ensure her every comfort, and Pemberley is closer than Rosings, so the length of the trip will prove less taxing on her ‘fragile constitution’ than returning to Kent. The scheme also provides the advantage of immediacy. If we plan the visit for some future date, once Anne is back at home her mother has leisure to devise any number of excuses to prevent its ever actually occurring.”
“She cannot just as easily invent pretexts in person?”
“Evasion and equivocation are more easily achieved from a distance.”
Darcy removed his coat and folded it over the back of a chair. “While that may be true, it seems Miss de Bourgh has another engagement that will prevent her coming to us as you propose. Lady Catherine informed me this evening that my cousin is about to become affianced to Neville Sennex.”
“Lord Sennex’s son?” Elizabeth allowed herself a few moments to absorb the information. She had observed no hint in Anne’s manners that a betrothal had been contracted, though hindsight now suggested that perhaps the engagement, not a headache, had caused her to decline Mr. Crawford’s invitation to dance. “I am all astonishment.”
“Miss de Bourgh might be as well, when my aunt informs her of the marriage. Lady Catherine has been negotiating the entire agreement without her knowledge.”
“But Anne is of age; she should have been consulted. After all, she does not have to give her consent.”
“My aunt is confident she will acquiesce, as she has no other prospects at present.”
Elizabeth pitied Miss de Bourgh. Ladies in society’s upper ranks often had little say in the selection of their own husbands; marriages amongst the
“Knowing Lady Catherine, I am hardly surprised that Miss de Bourgh’s inclinations were not considered. The marriage is quite a coup for your aunt.”
“Indeed, yes. It allies the de Bourghs with an old, established family and restores Lady Catherine’s line to the rank of peers after having married a mere baronet herself. Miss de Bourgh will immediately become the Honorable Anne Sennex, and rise to still higher precedence when the viscount dies and his son inherits the title. As the present Lord Sennex is a widower, even while he lives Anne will be mistress of Hawthorn Manor, one of the finest estates in this part of the country, and enjoy greater wealth than she knew at Rosings.”
“It sounds like a good establishment for your cousin, particularly as she has reached an age where many women must settle for less, if they marry at all. In exchange, Mr. Sennex acquires Lady Catherine as his mother-in- law. Miss de Bourgh certainly must have charmed him, for it would seem that most of the advantages of this bargain fall on her side.”
“Mr. Sennex will be amply compensated for any pain and suffering he endures as a result of his relationship to my aunt. Anne brings a substantial portion — the settlement Lady Catherine brought to her own marriage — and eventually will inherit the entire estate of Rosings.” He paused. “It is, by all appearances, a good match for them both.”
The hesitation, though so slight as to be almost imperceptible, suggested he had left something unsaid.
“However advantageous the marriage may be in worldly considerations, I cannot help but hope that Anne and her husband might also share affection — if not immediately, at least over time,” she said. “I have not met Mr. Sennex. What sort of man is he?”
“Unfortunately, I cannot say that I care for his society. Though my intercourse with him has been limited, in nearly every instance he has shown himself to be a man of short temper and unpleasant disposition. If fact, just this evening, rather than graciously accept defeat, he all but accused his whist opponent of cheating, though his own partner could not support the allegation. And despite invitations whenever I visit Riveton, I will not hunt with the gentleman, nor will Colonel Fitzwilliam.” Darcy went on to explain their aversion.
Elizabeth was sorry to hear the character of Anne’s fiance so described. “For Miss de Bourgh’s sake, I had wished him to be a more amenable gentleman, but one can hope he might improve under her influence. Too, your cousin is used to living with someone of difficult temperament. Perhaps as mistress of her own house she will be able to better manage Mr. Sennex than she can her own mother. Or at least minimize the time she spends in his company. At present, she is constantly at Lady Catherine’s command.”
A sharp rap on the door so startled Elizabeth that she jumped.
“Darcy! I must speak with you immediately!” The voice was unmistakable.
Darcy glanced at the door, rattling in its frame with the force of repeated knocks, then back at Elizabeth. “Apparently, so are we all.”
Elizabeth scowled. “Does not Lady Catherine understand that we have retired for the night?” Faint strains of music and laughter indicated that the ball continued below. Whatever her ladyship required, could she not apply to Lord Southwell? This was his house, after all. “I suppose she will not go away until we answer.”
Darcy had scarcely depressed the latch when Lady Catherine burst into the room. Colonel Fitzwilliam followed, his entrance less dramatic, but his countenance bore a gravity that Elizabeth had never before witnessed in him. Clearly, the matter that brought them was no trifle.
“I have just come from my daughter’s chamber,” Lady Catherine said. “Anne is missing.”
