Posted on Thursday, 1 June 2006
This short story begins when Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Elizabeth Bennet are finishing their talk in the gardens at Longbourne.
Lady Catherine was seriously displeased. “I send no regards to your mother. She deserves no such attention. However, before I go, I must and WILL speak to your father. Take me to him right now.”
Elizabeth was rather surprised by this request. Lady Catherine, wanting to meet her father? Before she could say anything, however, the rude Lady had already walked towards the front door of the house. She opened the door and let herself in.
Elizabeth followed her dumbly.
“Hmmmpphh, Miss Bennet, where is your fathers study? I demand to meet him at once.”
“Nothing you say to my father is going to change my mind, Lady Catherine. He will not be in awe of you. He will let me make my decisions.”
“We’ll see about that later. Should I start opening all doors one by one again, or will you take me to him?” Lady Catherine bellowed.
Elizabeth led the way. She opened the door to Mr Bennets study. Mr Bennet looked up from his books, “Lizzy, what is all the commotion about?”
Before Elizabeth could reply, Lady Catherine brushed past her into the room.
“I will tell you what all this is about. YOU started it Thomas. YOU are out to take revenge on me.”
“Catherine??? Is that really you? And what a surprise this is. When did you come? Do come in, come in.” Mr Bennet got up from his seat and started ushering Lady Catherine inside his study. His face was smiling, but his eyes seemed somewhat troubled.
“Didn’t you hear my carriage? And you are still reading in here, when people are visiting you? Do you still prefer books to company then? Nothing has changed you, has it?” she frowned.
Mr Bennet gave a slow smile. “I must confess, in that respect I have not changed. Do sit down Catherine. I want to hear all about you. How are your parents? Your brother and sister? Where do you live now?”
“Come, come Thomas. Play no games with me. I am aware that you know where exactly I live now and who I married.”
“I must confess that I do not. I have not heard a word about you since our last meeting. I was true to my promise.”
He sighed, hesitated as if to go on or not and finally said, “But all that is years and years ago. We don’t remember it now. I do remember the beautiful friendship I shared with all three of – Anne, you and your brother James.”
Elizabeth did not expect the talk between her father and Lady Catherine to go anything like this. She was shocked into silence. She barely walked to the nearest chair and sank down.
Lady Catherine was almost shouting now, “What don’t YOU remember Thomas? I remember each and everything perfectly well. And don’t you lie to me now, I see that you are trying to get your revenge by setting up your daughter against mine.”
“Catherine, Catherine, still as loud as ever. No, my dear, I am not out to get revenge. For years, Catherine, 25 years to be precise, I have not heard about you and your family. I do not know anything about you. How can I even think about revenge? And pray, why should I seek revenge against you?”
“Oh come on. Stop this nonsense. The toad Mr. Collins surely told you that he works for me?”
“For you? You are THE Lady Catherine de Bourgh? I had no idea you had married a de Bourgh.”
“Yes, of course. Did you think just because YOU did not want me, I would pine away for you and not get married? Of course not! I married Sir Lewis de Bourgh. We lived happily for many many years at Rosings. I think I fared better than you, didn’t I?”
“I never doubted that you would, Catherine. I was not good enough for you. You must remember that I told you so when I declined your…err…your proposal.”
“And you said you didn’t love me. I have not forgotten that. You, a lowly gentleman did not love me? How dare you not love? I was ready to marry you, why I even proposed to you…yet you spurned me, Thomas, and I am not likely to forget that.”
“Let us not get into all that, Catherine. You mentioned Mr. Collins. What about him?”
“You see Thomas, although you claim you don’t know what happened to me, I very much know exactly what happened to you. My character is celebrated for my honesty and my behavior now is no different. At least I am being honest when I tell you that I made it my business to know what happened to you when you left Matlock. You came to this little estate and started living here. Eventually you met that – that – your current wife and married her. But your estate was entailed away. I found out that it was to go to a certain Mr. William Collins.”
Lady Catherine halted for breath. She smiled a wicked smile and went on, “Do you think it is by chance that Mr. Collins was introduced to me? I was so happy when I first talked to him. Such a peacock of a person, plays right into my hands. I could use him as a card and he wouldn’t even know that! Anyway, I wasn’t very sure what I wanted to do with him right away. But then it came to me - you had 5 daughters and not much money. Well, well, let one of them be punished by being Mr. Collins's bride. THAT itself would be such a punishment. Your daughters didn’t have fancy dowries, they couldn’t possibly refuse a proposal such as this one. But NO, you cheated me even out of that satisfaction. Mr Collins was back to Hunsford not with a Ms. Bennet but a Ms. Lucas”
Mr. Bennet was speechless for a whole minute. Then he said, “You sent him here on that purpose? He did mention Lady Catherine de Bourgh encouraged him to come hither. But I had no reason to believe that his Lady Catherine and I know each other”
“And now, Thomas, you are playing your final card by setting up your daughter against mine.”
“What did my daughter do, Catherine? I presume you mean Elizabeth?”
“Yes, yes, the very same. I must say when I met her at Rosings she reminded me a lot of you – same bluntness, same clarity of thoughts and same rudeness. I was softened for a little while. But the minute she heard that Anne and William Darcy are destined for each other, she set her cap on him.”
“No, Catherine, I am sure you are mistaken.”
“I AM NOT MISTAKEN. You wouldn’t let me have the husband of my choice – my first choice, that is, and now your daughter won't let my daughter do the same.”
“This is all rubbish. I know my Lizzy too well.”
“Oh come, come Thomas. I know everything about your family. Mr. Collins was here for two weeks. I took great delight in asking him about everything that concerns this household. The stupid guy was elated by my interest. I know your wife is not anything like what you were looking for. You may not own it to me now, but in your heart you know you made a mistake by marrying her.”
She looked at Mr. Bennet with narrowed focused eyes. Mr. Bennet looked back at her and hung his head. She said, “You would have been better off with me. Had you married me, we would have had money and love all together.”
“No, no, and a third time no. I think my current state is not half as unpleasant had we been married” he said softly.
“WHAT? You persist on insulting me? You compare me to this thing called Fanny Gardiner with whom you are not happy and then say I would have made it more unpleasant? Thomas, oh Thomas…why is it still so between us? Why won't you still admit that you – that I – that we…oh never mind.” She sat back and sighed again. She always felt defeated on the “Thomas issue” as she privately called it. But soon her mind turned to other things and she smiled that wicked smile again.
“In any case, what I was saying earlier – I know about how wild your younger daughters are and how inadequate a father you are. (I would not have tolerated either, had we…but that is not the point.) You are not happy here, Thomas, not with your wife, not with your daughters and not with this house as it is entailed away. Whereas I, Lady Catherine have everything I wish for – a beautiful estate, a lovely daughter, money, carriages, jewels…And I set up Mr Collins onto your daughters. So now you want revenge. You must have trained your daughter to look out for something that will hurt me. You MUST have done that. She found out about Darcy, lured him and now she wont budge from her position… Do you think Anne’s William will ever be your son-in-law?”
“Why not, Catherine? Anne and I were good friends. I am not sure how things stand between her son and Lizzy. I didn’t even know Mr Darcy was Anne’s son. I would have made it a point to talk to him about her. How is she? And how is your brother James?”
“Don’t sidetrack me. I am here just to warn you. I know what to say to William. He will not want anything to do with your daughter or you after my talk to him.”
“Anne will refute any garbage you fill in his head. She always understood why I refused you, Catherine. I really did not love you. And like you pointed out yourself you lack for nothing, you are happier without me.”
Her features softened, “Anne is dead. She has been gone these 5 years at least. And…”
He interrupted with, “Dead? I had no idea. I was so wrong to cut myself off from her and James. But I had promised all of you that I would. Though Anne and James had begged me not to…Anne, sweet Anne. She was like a sister to me.”
There was complete silence in the room for a few minutes. Mr Bennet was lost in the distant memories of Anne Fitzwilliam. Lady Catherine, who in spite of everything else did love her sister dearly, also did the same. There was no question of Elizabeth saying anything. She was still reeling under the shock of what she had heard.
After a while Lady Catherine got up. “I give you notice Thomas. Keep your girl away from William Darcy. He belongs to my daughter.”
“I cannot make Lizzy do anything against her wishes. That is all I can promise.”
Lady Catherine turned to Elizabeth for the first time since entering the room, “You shall attend me to the carriage. I do not wish to encounter your mother again.”
As she said it, Elizabeth saw a brief spark of intense sadness and pain in Lady Catherine’s eyes. Within a split second it was gone and as if to remind herself, her ladyship said, “Remember Thomas, I am happy as I am. You are not. I lack for nothing and you have nothing. And now you will not have William either.”
Away she strode to the door without looking back at him. Elizabeth silently attended her to the carriage. Finally Lady Catherine turned to Elizabeth and said, “You heard everything. Do you want to end up like your father? Loveless match with no respect for your spouse? Don’t follow his advice. Forget William, he doesn’t belong to you”
“Lady Catherine, I learned a few things today. One of the important things I did learn was that although you say you lack nothing, you do lack something very important. The love of someone you so desired. If and when I shall marry, it will be for love and love only. However, I cannot promise you anything about Mr Darcy.”
Her Ladyship got into the carriage and it rode away.
Neither Mr Bennet nor Elizabeth said a word about their afternoon to anyone. They discussed it amongst themselves only once – that very night. After that the subject was never touched on.
In a few weeks, Elizabeth married William Darcy. She never forgot the scene in her father’s library. If anything, it made her more determined to seek reconciliation with Lady Catherine.
In the weeks right after Lydia’s elopement Elizabeth had learned all about the fear of not getting the person she loved most. She had most dreaded not being united with Mr. Darcy ever. She had thought of Lady Catherine in those weeks and realized that her ladyship had carried a similar burden for years and years. Somewhere in her heart she found a lot of sympathy towards her ladyship. She was determined about the reconciliation.
And everyone lived ever after…the loved ones happily and the mismatched ones just as they did before…