“He did neglect to tell you he has been promoted to full colonel,” said Lord Matlock. “Even if he does return, he will be on the General’s staff and no longer leading cavalry charges. Personally, I hope he spends the remainder of his career at the War Office, although I doubt it will happen.”
Before more could be said, they heard voices in the entry hall, the door to the parlor was opened, and Jackson, the butler, announced, “Miss Anne DeBourgh.”
When she entered, her face showed her surprise at seeing so many people, two of whom she did not know, “My goodness, I hope I am not interrupting.”
Lady Matlock arose and went to her, “Of course not, you are always welcome, Anne. Is your mother not with you?”
“No, she left early this morning for Longbourn in Hertfordshire to confront Miss Elizabeth Bennet, and seeing William here, I am sure you know why. She, of course, ordered me to stay at Rosings.” She then looked at Elizabeth and Mary. “May I assume one of these ladies is Miss Elizabeth?”
Lady Matlock held out her hand toward Elizabeth, who arose and came to her. “This is Miss Elizabeth, Anne. Miss Elizabeth, this is Miss Anne DeBourgh, our niece.”
“I am most pleased to meet you, Miss Elizabeth. As soon as we received the announcement from William, I knew I needed to meet you. I was most impressed when you refused to marry Mr. Collins, and from what Mrs. Collins has told me about you, I can believe you would be good for William.”
“I am also pleased to meet you, Miss DeBourgh. Will and Georgie have told me about you, and I look forward to being your cousin.” She then turned to Mary and motioned to her to join them. As Mary approached, she continued, “May I introduce you to my sister, Miss Mary Bennet. Mary, as you undoubtedly heard, this is Miss Anne DeBourgh.”
After they had greeted one another, Georgiana came to them, and took Anne’s hand. “Anne, I am so happy you are here. I would have written you about Lizzy, but their engagement happened so quickly, I did not have a chance.”
“I want to hear all about it, but later. I think you all should prepare to be confronted by my mother. I am sure she discovered at Longbourn that Miss Elizabeth is in London; therefore, she will probably go to Darcy House and then here. As I said, she left early this morning, telling me I should not come, but I finally decided I wanted to see what happened and add my affirmation to those who tell her William and I never intended to marry. I hope you do not mind, Aunt Helen, but I plan to stay a few weeks and decided to come here rather than our townhouse. Mother will be in a fury and I would rather not be around her for a while.”
“We are happy to have you, Anne. May I assume Mrs. Jenkins is with you?”
“She is. Mrs. Deming showed her to her room and said I would be in my usual room.”
“Good.”
After greeting the others, she expressed her surprise at seeing the Colonel, who filled her in on what had happened. Then he asked what everyone was wondering, “How are you feeling? Has the new doctor father insisted you see been any help?”
“He has. If it were not for him, I might not have felt confident enough to defy mother and take this trip to London. Mother is quite upset with him, because he forbade continuation of the treatment old Dr. Martin was giving me. She tried to refuse letting me try the treatment recommendations Dr. Harris made, but I insisted, and she and I had quite an argument about it. She was rather surprised, I think, that I stood up to her and was so forceful in my views. I finally tired of pretending to be the submissive daughter. In fact, I had stopped taking the elixir Dr. Martin had prescribed months before Dr. Harris came and would no longer let him bleed me. I started feeling better almost immediately. I am taking the medicine Dr. Harris has prescribed, walking every day, and feeling stronger. I know I may not look much better, but inside, I certainly feel better. I have come to believe I may actually live long enough to inherit Rosings on my thirtieth birthday.”
“That is good news,” said Darcy. “Do you think you will be able to make it to Pemberley for the Christmas gathering, even if your mother refuses to go.”
Looking somewhat abashed, she said, “I packed enough for a prolonged stay. I hope to be able to stay with Aunt Helen and Uncle Robert until after Christmas ‒ attending both the wedding and the Christmas gathering. Is that acceptable to you, Aunt Helen?”
Uncharacteristically, Lady Matlock opened her arms and hugged Anne. “You know it is, Anne. We would love to have you. You can stay with us as long as you like ‒ until you are thirty if you wish.”
“Thank you, Aunt Helen. I may accept your offer. Mother is becoming more and more unstable; therefore, I am not looking forward to living with her once William and Miss Elizabeth are married. Her entire focus these last two years has been on seeing William and I marry, and once that is not even a remote possibility, I do not know what she will do.”
“I have been expecting her to show up here sometime today,” said Lord Matlock. “I have instructed the staff to take her to my study when she arrives. I will try to reason with her and spare all of you the worst of her tirade.”
******
Those at Matlock House were in the middle of dinner, when they heard a commotion in the entry hall and a rather strident female voice say, “Where is Lord Matlock? I must see him immediately.”
Lord Matlock immediately stood and saying, “I believe it is time for me to go into battle with my sister. Please continue without me.”
When he entered his study, Lady Catherine was pacing back and forth. The moment he opened the door and entered, she hurried over to him, shaking a piece of paper in her hand. “I assume you have received one of these abominations,” she exclaimed. “The gall of that boy, thinking he can marry that lowly country twit. He is engaged to Anne. What are we going to do to stop this?”
“Calm down, Catherine. I assume you are referring to Darcy’s announcement of his engagement to Miss Elizabeth.”
Shaking the piece of paper almost in his face, she continued, “You know I am, and I will not calm down until this travesty is made right. Is he here? He was not at Darcy House, and they would not tell me where he was.”
Lord Matlock, trying to remain calm himself, grabbed the paper from her hand and said, slowly and sternly, “Catherine, calm yourself and sit down, or I will not speak to you at all.”
There was a momentary staring match between the two of them, and then she moved to the chair closest to her and practically threw herself in it. He calmly walked to the chair facing hers on the opposite side of the fireplace, sat, and said, “Yes, we received the announcement, and yes, he and his fiancée are here. They are eating supper and you will not disturb them. In fact, Anne is also here and eating with them.”
Lady Catherine immediately arose and said, “Anne is here and with them. That is not to be countenanced. I must go to them.”
Before she could move, he had arisen, grabbed her wrist, and said, “No, Catherine, you will not. Sit down!”
She glared at him a moment, and then sat back in her chair. “Surely, you are not condoning this engagement. He has duties to his family. That girl is a nobody who would not even agree to marry Mr. Collins.”
Lord Matlock did not sit but stood directly in front of Lady Catherine. “Catherine, let me remind you of a few facts. First, Darcy is twenty-eight years old and one of the wealthiest men in England. Second, I may be head of the Fitzwilliam family, but he is the head of the Darcy family, and I have no control over what he does. Third, he never was and never will be engaged to Anne, despite your claims. As for Miss Elizabeth Bennet, she is a special young woman who refused Mr. Collins because he was not worthy of her. In fact, she probably could have married the son of a peer, had she chosen to do so. Both Helen and I believe she is the only woman we have ever known who could make Darcy happy and believe he was lucky to win her love. We highly approve of this engagement.”
“You cannot mean that. His mother and I planned for Anne and William’s marriage for years. He has to respect his commitment to his mother’
s wishes.”
“Catherine, there is no proof of any agreement between you and our sister, and even if there was, Darcy has no obligation to accept it. If it were a written agreement signed by George, perhaps you might have some legal recourse, but I know for certain that George did not favor a marriage between Anne and Darcy. Therefore, you must desist in this crusade of yours to see them married. It would not happen, even if Darcy was not engaged to Miss Elizabeth.”
They glared at each other for a moment, and then he turned away to sit in the other chair. As soon as he was turned, she stood, raised her iron-headed walking stick, and struck him where his head and neck met his shoulder. He sank to his knees, stunned and bleeding, and then fell on his side, unconscious, as she headed for the door. Opening the door, she stepped out into the hall and almost collided with Col. Fitzwilliam. In her unreasoning anger, not truly knowing what she was doing, she swung the walking stick at him. However, he caught the stick before it struck him and wrenched it from her.
Seeing the blood in the head of the walking stick, he shouted, “What have you done?”
He grabbed her arm and pulled her with him into the study where he saw his father on the floor, bleeding from his head and neck. Leading Lady Catherine to the chair, he forcibly shoved her into it as he shouted, “Help! Somebody! I need help in here!”
A few moments later, Bates, the butler came in the room, and saw the Colonel kneeling over his father and Lady Catherine, sitting in the chair, staring at Lord Matlock and Col. Fitzwilliam, looking confused, as if she did not understand what was happening, and saying, over and over again, “What did I do?”
“Bates, go to the dining room and get Lady Matlock, Mr. Darcy, and Miss Elizabeth and tell them to hurry up here, and then send for Dr. Harris.”
A few minutes later, Lady Matlock, Darcy, and Elizabeth entered the study to find Col. Fitzwilliam still kneeling over his father, holding a cloth against his neck, trying to stop the bleeding. Lady Matlock gave a cry and hurried over to her husband, kneeling on the other side of him from the Colonel. “What happened, Richard?”
“I think Aunt Catherine struck him from behind, hitting him in the head and shoulder. I am worried about how much he is bleeding. You told me you knew some medical procedures, Lizzy. Is there anything you can do?”
Elizabeth sank down beside the Colonel and taking the cloth from him, lifted it and looked at the wound. It was purple and swollen, and the metal head of the stick, which shaped like an elongated handle, had obvious found its way under his neckcloth and torn a long gash in the skin, from whence most of the blood was coming.
“Please, have someone bring me hot water, clean cloths, a small needle, some tweezers, and silk thread. I need to sew up this gash. It is too long to heal by itself. Also, get some ice, if you have it, or water as cold as you can find.”
While all this was going on, Lady Catherine was no longer saying anything, nor did she look at anyone. She just continued to stare at her brother. Darcy, who had intended to berate her, could see she was in almost a catatonic state and was sure she would not be responsive to whatever he said. Therefore, he just stood beside her, making sure she did not move.
Twenty minutes later, Elizabeth arose from her ministrations, instructing Lady Matlock to hold the cold cloth over the area where she had worked for a while to minimize the swelling. Blood was seeping out from the area where she had stitched, but it was coming very slowly, and she thought it would soon stop.
“Why is he still unconscious?” asked Col. Fitzwilliam. “I would not have thought she hit him hard enough to knock him out for so long?”
“I do not know,” said Elizabeth. “Somehow the shock to his body caused him to blackout. I could feel his pulse and feel him breathe, so if you are worried he might have died, I can assure you, he did not.”
“Oh, look at your beautiful gown,” said Georgiana, who had come in with the others, while Elizabeth was working on her father. “There is blood on it which I do not think will come out.”
“Do not worry about it, Georgie,” said Darcy, as he walked over to Elizabeth and lifted her up from the floor. “We will buy her a thousand dresses for what she had done for Uncle Robert.” And then he enfolded her in his arms and could feel the tenseness go from her body, as she put her arms around him and put her head against his chest.
That was how Dr. Harris found them when he was shown into the study few minutes later. He took the cloth from Lady Matlock and had her move away, while he examined the wound and other bruises.
“Why did you call me? Where is the doctor who did this?”
“It was not a doctor, Dr. Harris,” said Lady Matlock, taking Elizabeth’s hand and pulling her away from Darcy. “It was my niece, or at least soon to be niece. This is Miss Elizabeth Bennet.”
The doctor looked at her and the blood on her gown. “Astounding. Have you done this before?”
“If you mean sewing up a gash, I have done it three or four times in the past three years. I have helped our apothecary in my hometown.”
“He must be a good teacher, because you have done an excellent job. Did you check for foreign matter in the wound, before you sewed it up?”
“I did. I found some little pieces of cloth which I removed.”
“Good. Assuming you found everything, I see no reason why it should not heal properly. It was good you were here and able to do this so quickly. Had it been necessary to wait for me, he could have lost too much blood.”
“Why is he still unconscious?” ask Col. Fitzwilliam.
“These blows at the base of the skull can sometimes be more traumatic than one would think. From the bruising, I do not think he should be out much longer, but if he does not regain consciousness in a few hours, send for me again. I cannot see any damage to the skull, but it is still often a mystery what happens inside the head when a blow, such as this must have been, occurs. May I see what struck him to cause this?”
When he was shown the walking stick, he said, “I can see why the gash and the trauma. That is a heavy head and its shape makes it a mean weapon.”
“Can we put him in his bed?” asked Lady Matlock.
The doctor cogitated for a moment. “I believe so. However, we must make sure we move him in such a way that his head and neck do not shift significantly. If these two strong looking gentlemen can lift him, I can hold his head and ensure it does not move.”
With Darcy at his shoulders, Col. Fitzwilliam lifting his legs, and the doctor holding his head steady, the three men lifted Lord Matlock and started to carry him out of the room. Without saying anything, Catherine, slowly stood, as if to go with them.
“I have been watching her, and she is obviously traumatized,” said Dr. Harris. “Will you young ladies please keep her here until we have deposited Lord Matlock in his bed and then I will return and look at her.”
As the men carried Lord Matlock from the room, followed by Lady Matlock, Elizabeth and Lady Alicia, took hold of Lady Catherine, who, without a word, fought to follow the men. However, when the men disappeared through the door, she sagged and let them force her to sit in the chair again.
“She has never done anything like this before,” said Anne. “What do you suppose occurred which would make her do this?”
“They undoubtedly argued about William and Lizzy’s engagement,” said Lady Alicia. “She must have lost all reason and somehow managed to strike him. But he is not weak. I cannot imagine why he could not stop her.”
“From the bruising and the direction of the tear in his skin, he was struck from behind,” said Elizabeth. “He had probably turned away from her to go sit, and she struck him. I am sure he would never have considered she might strike him.”
Suddenly, Elizabeth, who still had her hand on Lady Catherine’s shoulder, felt her shudder and expel breath rapidly, and then go limp. Elizabeth quickly moved in front of her and putting her finger under Lady Catherine’s nose, could feel no air coming out. “Quick, Georgie, get me the feather pen off the desk.
”
Georgie ran to the desk and brought back the feather pen. Elizabeth put the feathered end under Lady Catherine’s nose, and faintly saw the feather’s move. “Good, she is still breathing, but she had lost consciousness. She may have had a stroke. Georgie, run to the doctor and tell him what happened.”
A few minutes later, the doctor returned and found Lady Catherine on the floor, with Elizabeth beside her, and scissors in her hand. She had taken the quickest way she could to loosen Lady Catherine’s corset. “She shuddered and lost consciousness, doctor. She is barely breathing, and her heartbeat is weak, but fast.”
The doctor took his listening tube out of his case and pressed it against her chest to listen to her heart and then lifted her eyelids to look at her eyes. “I fear an apoplectic attack,” he said. “We must get her to bed and watch her to see what happens. I do not believe she is in mortal danger, but she may be incapacitated.”
A half an hour later, both Lord Robert and Lady Catherine seemed to be resting as well as they could be, and the others gathered in the parlor, where Lady Matlock sat beside Elizabeth and Darcy. Taking Elizabeth hand, she said. “Lizzy, thank heaven you were here and had the skills you have. Dr. Harris assured me things could have been much worse, had we had to wait for him.”
Elizabeth shook her head and with tears in her eyes, responded, “But if I had not been here, perhaps all of this would not have happened. When Will told me our engagement would cause some divisiveness in your family, I felt I could face anything for his love, but I never envisioned something like this.”
Lady Matlock squeezed Elizabeth’s hand. “Do not even think of placing any blame on yourself for this. This blow up by Catherine was just waiting to happen. I never believed she could do what she did, but William was bound to marry someday, and a scene such as this was almost destined do occur. I praise God that you were here, and that William has found such a wonderful woman.”
Darcy put his arm around Elizabeth and pulled her toward him, so she would put her head against him and he could kiss her hair. “Elizabeth, I agree with Aunt Helen. Rather than try to take blame, why not believe that God knew this would happen and he wanted to ensure you were here to help. I do not want you to even think any of this is your fault.”
The Lady of the Mount and Patience Rewarded: Two Stories of Darcy and Elizabeth Page 16