25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Several hours later, the Collinses and Lucases departed in Lady Catherine's carriage. Lizzy watched the carriage pull away, her foot tapping impatiently on the elegant carpet in Lady Catherine's personal study. She turned away from the window and stalked the length of the room, muttering under her breath. The gaudy, overstated décor weighed down the atmosphere, adding to her discomfiture. Then the bookcases caught her attention. As she perused them she found a surprising wealth of timely and useful volumes.

She must study a great deal. Lizzy pulled a tome off the shelf and thumbed through it. Behind her, she heard the door open and the rustle of a large amount of fabric. She listened but did not turn.

"Miss Bennet…"

"Yes, Lady Catherine." She lifted the book slightly higher and traced a line with her fingertip.

"You will face me when you are addressed."

"Excuse me?" Lizzy slammed the book. "I am neither your tenant nor one of your servants to jump and obey your orders, madam." She slid the book onto the shelf with more force than necessary. She heard strong footsteps approach. Taffeta swooshed nearby.

"You can be in no question as to why I have called you to this meeting."

"Indeed? In fact, I have no idea why you have sent my friends away and kept me here, waiting for this last half hour. I am simply grateful that the parsonage is only half a mile from here for I was just about to return there myself." She slowly turned to find herself nose to nose with her hostess.

"Walk? Alone at night?" Lady Catherine inched back.

"Since I am not able to fly, walking does seem to be the most expedient method and as I am unable to command the sun, I have little option but accept the darkness."

"How dare you—"

"How dare you!" Lizzy leaned closer. "I am not your prisoner. You cannot keep me here against my will and I assure you this abominably rude wait is entirely against my will."

"I am not accustomed to being spoken to in such a manner."

"And I am not accustomed to being treated with such rude presumption."

Lady Catherine harrumphed.

"I suppose then, in our offense we are equals." Lizzy stared at her and they glared at each other in a stalemate of wills.

A slow smile spread across Lady Catherine's face. She began to laugh, a strange wheezing cackle that took Lizzy imagination back to the hen house. "Please, Miss Bennet, will you sit with me?" She gestured toward a pair of overstuffed chairs.

Lizzy nodded and took a seat near Lady Catherine. "To what do I owe this unprecedented audience?"

"I have been watching you and I have concluded you are a fitting companion for my daughter." Lady Catherine's hands rested lightly on the arms of the chair as she nodded condescendingly.

"Companion?"

"Yes, companion—"

Lizzy's face flushed and her eyes widened. "Begging your pardon, madam, but I am a gentlewoman and despite my father's hardship we are doing quite well. I am by no means looking to take a position in service. How dare you reduce me in your eyes to a servant? Even if I were so desperate as to be—"

"Silence Miss Bennet!"

"No, madam." Lizzy rose and crossed her arms over her chest. "How can you expect me to be silent in the face of the insult you have just delivered not only to me but to my entire family?"

"Calm yourself young woman—"

"Only to give you opportunity to further degrade my person? What fault will you find next? My dress or perhaps my study of algebra? Both I am certain are equal faults in your eyes."

Lady Catherine rose, mouth agape. She met Lizzy's eyes, but the younger woman would not give way.

"I beg you importune me no further. I shall return to my friends." Lizzy hurried for the door.

"Stop!" Lady Catherine rushed after her, her voice booming in the small room. "Please Miss Bennet," she added more quietly.

Lizzy paused and turned, surprised by Lady Catherine's softened expression.

"You have misunderstood me. Would you please sit and allow me to explain?"

Though her ire was still high, Lizzy studied Lady Catherine's eyes only to find a surprising sincerity in them. She frowned at the compulsion she felt to give the woman a chance. Finally she nodded and followed Lady Catherine back to the chairs near the fireplace.

Lady Catherine stared into the fire for several long moments before she turned back to Lizzy. "I am not seeking a lady's companion for Anne. Mrs. Jenkins already serves us in that capacity. I am not offering you a position in our service."

Lizzy nodded, some of the tension draining from her shoulders.

"During this brief evening in your company, Anne has improved significantly. It has been many years since I have seen her spirits so high. In truth, I never thought to see her in such good humor again." Her eyes misted over. "Mrs. Collins told me of you and firmly believed that you would be good for Anne. I did not believe anything so drastic could be affected so quickly. I gave her leave to write for you to come."

"So Charlotte's invitation—" Lizzy scowled, her hands tightening into fists.

"Was a sincere one. Be assured of that. I admit to being curious to see if her prognostications might prove correct. And they were." The corners of Lady Catherine's thin lips lifted slightly. "I hope to see many continued improvements."

"Then will you explain how it is you believe you will curry a favor from me when in every way you have managed to insult my family, my home and my person?" Lizzy wondered if the sound of her grinding teeth carried to Lady Catherine's ears.

"I merely state the truth Miss Bennet."

"Truth, though it may be in your eyes, I find it offensive. You are the last person to whom I would consider granting the time of day, much less the favor of my companionship. I came here to visit with my dear friend Mrs. Collins. Unlike my cousin, I do not desire your condescension nor do I appreciate it. I would thank you to remove me from any further invitations during my stay at the parsonage." She jumped up. "You do not need to call someone to show me to the door. I am quite certain I can let myself out." Lizzy spun on her heel and stomped to the door, startled by the appearance of Anne on the threshold.

"Please, Miss Bennet," she said in a soft, plaintive voice. "Will you stay with me? I have not had a friend my own age, much less one to stay with me. I am …very lonely."

Lizzy looked at Anne and recognized the real sadness in her expression. For a moment Lydia's face flashed in her mind. Why does Anne remind me of her so? It has always been so difficult to deny Lydia anything.

"It would mean a great deal to me if you would stay," Anne whispered, a mix of hope and dread in her voice.

Lizzy sighed and shook her head. "As your friend I will stay." She turned to Lady Catherine. "But not as a companion. I am not in your service I am gently born and if you will not recognize me as your daughter's equal by birth if not by consequence, I shall remove myself immediately."

"Your audacity is quite shocking." Lady Catherine glared and drummed her fingers on the arm of her chair.

"Then I shall bid you good evening and enjoy the blessing of the full moon to accompany me back to the parsonage." Lizzy curtsied and hurried past Anne.

"Wait!"

The strident command stopped her in her tracks though she cursed her feet's unconscious obedience. She heard the swirling of taffeta.

"Please, Miss Bennet," Lady Catherine's voice, close behind her, softened into something more pleading than commanding. "It shall be as you ask. I will have rooms prepared for you in the family wing, if you will accept my invitation."

"Please," Anne whispered.

Huffing, Lizzy turned. "I will accept your invitation to be your guest ." A wry expression lifted her lips. "I imagine you have already dispatched a servant to the parsonage for my things."

Anne giggled, trying to contain the sound with her hands.

"I see." Lizzy cocked her head. "Thank you for your consideration." Lizzy swore she saw relief across Lady Catherine's face.

Lizzy awoke surrounded by luxury she had never known before. A nearly silent scullery maid set a fire and scurried out. Though tempted to acknowledge the girl, she chose not to for fear of exciting her anxieties. It only took a few minutes for the room to grow comfortably warm. Lizzy pushed back the covers and wondered what she should do. The thought did not go very far before a young maid suddenly appeared.

The main curtsied. "I am Ruth ma'am. Lady Catherine assigned me to be your maid while you are here."

Lizzy struggled not to roll her eyes. "I see. She is a most thoughtful hostess."

"She is, Miss." Ruth turned to Lizzy's trunk that had been delivered late the previous night. "I have been in her service for these seven years now, since I was old enough to be a scullery maid."

Lizzy sat back and watched the girl lay out the things for her morning toilette forcing herself not to help.

"I was fortunate to take a position in her service. There is not so helpful or protective a mistress anywhere. None of the girls here fear for the menservants or the guests. It is an enviable post." Ruth gestured Lizzy to a chair at the dressing table and began to brush her thick hair. "Some say she is a proud, controlling woman, but I reckon that is because they did not like her being right so often."

Lizzy giggled.

"It is true, Miss." Ruth swept her hair into a simple chignon and pinned it expertly.

"It is lovely. How did you do that so easily? I can never get it up so quickly." She patted her hair admiringly.

"See, that is what I am talking about! T'was Lady Catherine who told me the right way to do it." Ruth set the brush down on the dressing table.

"She is a font of information—"

"Indeed she is, on every topic. It seems she knows nearly everything I reckon. There is nothing any of us have asked that she does not know. What's more, she welcomes us to come and seek her answers. Imagine that, a great lady like her takin' questions from servants."

"Truly?" Lizzy's eyebrows arched.

"And she is so generous to share with all of us though her time is in such great demand that her vicar must assist her."

"How singular."

"Indeed it is." Ruth turned to the closet. "That sign post* of hers followin' her around, writing down near everything you can imagine. I done never seen a man what could write so fast. His hand is mighty pretty to look at you see. I cannot read, you know, but I am learning."

"Learning to read?" Lizzy knew the surprise was evident in her voice.

"Indeed, the Lady is seeing we are all taught so that we can read those pretty lines her vicar writes. There be at least one person in each of the tenant houses now what can, you know."

"My goodness!"

"That way she does not have to visit to give her instructions." Ruth smiled and chuckled. "Now for a dress."

"Let me guess, Lady Catherine has chosen one for me?"

Ruth peeked out form the closet, a frock in hand. "She sent this one for you thinking that yours would need freshening from their packing. She feared that the gal at the parsonage would not know the right way to pack gowns." Ruth held up one of Lizzy's dresses from the trunk.

"That does look a bit travel worn." Lizzy laughed and examined the gown Ruth held out to her. "This is a very fine garment. It will be a pleasure to wear."

With Ruth's sure assistance, Lizzy soon twirled in the mirror, surprised at her own reflection.

"Lady Catherine was right, the color suits you very well, Miss." Ruth plucked at the sleeve and handed Lizzy a lace tucker.

Relying on Ruth's directions, she found her way to the morning room with only a few missteps. There she was met by the butler who informed her she should break her fast as she chose, her ladyship had already left the house on her morning calls and Miss de Bourgh would not likely rise for several hours. The ladyship's personal library was at her disposal if she so chose.

Lizzy hurried through her solitary breakfast and requested a servant show her the way to the library. Her brief glance at the vast collection on the previous night only whet her appetite. Though her father's library was extensive, it did not begin to compare to the collection boasted by Rosings Park. She scanned the shelves and quickly selected several likely volumes and made herself at home with them.

"So my collection meets your approval?"

Lizzy jumped at the unexpected sound. She was curled on the settee with her writing desk on her lap, taking copious notes from one of Lady Catherine's tomes.

"Cousin! How dare you—" Collins snapped, appearing over Lady Catherine's shoulder.

She turned on him, waving him back. "Mr. Collins, did I not dismiss you already? I have no further need of you today. Go and start copying those letters as I directed you."

"But my cousin—"

"Is exactly where I expected her to be, doing as I invited her to do. You will cease your interference with her immediately or you will not set foot in Rosings while she remains with me!" Her voice rose shrilly.

"Yes…yes…your Ladyship." He stammered, stepping backward as he bowed.

Lady Catherine entered the room and closed the door behind her loudly. Sighing heavily she trudged to her desk and removed a phial from her drawer and drank.

"Willow bark?" Lizzy asked.

"How?"

"The scent is quite unique and my father used it extensively at one time."

Lady Catherine pinched the bridge of her nose and sank into her chair. "That noddy gives me a most atrocious headache." She mopped her brow with a silk handkerchief.

Lizzy tittered. "My father said much the same thing within the first hours of his acquaintance. If he is so intolerable, though—"

"Why do I endure his presence?"

"Yes."

"You are a most forward young woman. You border on impertinent." Lady Catherine planted her elbows on her desk.

"I am accustomed to being mistress of Longbourn and running much of the estate myself. I have little time or patience for the prevarication polite society favors." Elizabeth shut the book she had been copying from.

"I like you Miss Elizabeth Bennet. Few have the backbone to stand up to me. I find it refreshing." She stoppered the phial and returned it to the drawer. "The answer to your question, I find Mr. Collins useful."

Lizzy snorted. "Forgive me, but I cannot fathom how that may be."

"He is a toad-eater for sure. But you might be surprised to know he is also an excellent secretary with a superior memory. His position as vicar affords him ready access to the households of the parish—"

"So that you might meddle in their affairs as you will." The words escaped before she could censor them, and she blushed.

"So that is what you think of me, a meddlesome old hen." Lady Catherine smiled wryly.

Lizzy looked away.

"Surely your honesty and courage are not going to fail you now, Miss Bennet."

"I find it difficult to consider how your intrusions into Charlotte's home might be considered anything but officious prying." Lizzy set her book aside and leaned forward on her knees.

"My intrusions? Of what do you speak?" Lady Catherine shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"She cannot move her own furniture to suit herself." Lizzy ticked points off on her fingers. "She lives in fear of a loose carpet tack lest she suffer a tongue lashing from her husband. Not to mention your insistence that my cousin strive for even greater effusions than he already accomplishes."

Lady Catherin half smiled and shook her head. "You do not recognize the source of all these requirements?"

"No I do not."

"Surely a clever girl like you should be able to work out something so very obvious." She balanced her chin on her fist.

Lizzy's forehead knit. "Anne?"

"Exactly. They are for her comfort so there is at least on house in the parish she can visit in safety and comfort."

"Does she not know how to walk on someone's arm? That would solve the problem just as simply with far less imposition upon the tenants of that house."

"Why should she lower herself to be guided by someone below her station? I would not hear of it. No, she deserves the consideration of all around her."

Lizzy schooled her face into something neutral. She held Lady Catherine's eyes and knew that argument on this point would be futile, for now. "What of the order you canceled at the butcher?"

"Do you know what Mrs. Collins ordered? " An amused expression played across her eyes. "Your friend is a good, sensible sort of girl, but with no experience in the running of a household. She had ordered so much meat it would surely go bad before it could have been eaten, despite the number of guests she was feeding. I am merely helping her extend the reach of her limited income by preventing waste."

"Without her consent."

"Sometimes those who need help do not know it."

"So it is your place to see they have it whether or not they want it." Lizzy stood and moved toward the desk.

"You do not approve."

"No, madam I do not. Despite being told by a number of Rosings' residents that you are a font of good advice and knowledge I do not approve of the way you force it upon everyone in your reach whether they desire it or not."

"You have not dealt with the lower classes. They are ignorant and do not know what is best for themselves." Lady Catherine waved her hand in a gesture of dismissal.

"My sisters and I regularly tend Lonbourne's tenants and I dare say I have had sufficient dealing with that class of people to decidedly disagree with you. Just because they do not make the choices you advise does not mean they are ignorant."

Silence filled the air. Lizzy could hear her own heartbeat and the scraping of a family of mice behind the wall.

"You think me high handed and overbearing." Lady Catherine stroked her chin.

"I do and it has done your daughter no good at all."

"That is precisely why you have been asked to stay here, Miss Bennet."

*sign post: slang for clergyman who is point the way for everyone but going nowhere himself.