Page 53 of A Mismatched Compromise

All the room seemed to hold its breath. Not five minutes later, a voice — a man’s voice, unhurried and perfectly composed — could be heard exchanging some pleasantry with Hill in the hall.

Colonel Fitzwilliam chuckled. “Oh, this just gets better and better,” he said to his seated cousin. “Would you like a beverage before the next act, Anne?”

Mrs Bennet, her blood still hot with the fervour of defending her family, turned toward the door with the rest of the room, not knowing who might enter, but prepared to give the new arrival the same treatment she had provided Lady Catherine.

“Matlock.” Mr Bennet’s tone changed entirely when the door opened, greeting the new arrival with the relieved tone of one greeting a new arrival whose presence he might actually enjoy. He crossed the room, bringing Mrs Bennet with him, and shook the newcomer’s hand. “My dear,” he said, “allow me to present my good friend, the Earl of Matlock. My wife, Mrs Bennet.”

Looking up at the smiling face of an actual earl in her drawing room, Mrs Bennet made a sound rather like a small, startled bird, and sat down abruptly in the nearest chair.

Chapter 27

Darcy’s first thought upon seeing his uncle in the doorway of Longbourn’s drawing room was not one he would have shared in polite company. His second was more resigned: Of course Matlock was here. He ought to have expected this. The day had already assembled nearly everyone capable of causing him great difficulty into one overcrowded parlour, and it had wanted only the head of the family to make the farce complete.

The earl appeared entirely unmoved by the scene he had walked into — the reddened faces, his sister, his son, his niece and nephew all gathered, Mrs Bennet half-falling into a chair as if her legs had failed to support her…these things might fluster or discomfit other men, but the earl scarcely seemed to notice them. He surveyed the room with the same mild interest he brought to everything from breakfast to battlefield dispatches, smiled a little to himself, and bowed to his hostess.

“Mrs Bennet, pray forgive my unannounced arrival. I had rather thought there might be some difficulty underway by the time I arrived, though I confess I did not anticipate that quite so much of my family would be gathered to hear it. Nor did I expect that I should hear my sister’s voice from a quarter mile down the road,” he added, with the faintest note of dry amusement.

He spoke pleasantly, almost warmly, as though the whole business was an amusing misunderstanding, but Lady Catherine was not distracted from her mission by his calm manner.

“Matlock. I am glad to see you here, for you must put an end to this troublesome business at once. Darcy has taken leave of his senses entirely, and has given this…young woman hopes of a connection that can never, under any circumstances, be permitted.” She drew herself up to her full height. “You are the head of this family, and I insist you fulfil your duty as such and order him away from her, before he disgraces us all.”

“Indeed, were this another individual, and not a gentleman of so renowned a family as Mr Darcy, I should fear for his very reason,” Mr Collins put in, stepping forward as though his contribution had been in any way encouraged or requested “I regret having to speak negatively of Miss Elizabeth, as it is never becoming to disparage a kinswoman, but as a clergyman I feel it is my duty to be forthright and therefore I am forced to acknowledge that to Mr Darcy, such an alliance would be most shocking, degrading even, and —”

“That will be quite enough from you,” the earl said, as Elizabeth and Darcy both flinched at Mr Collins’ unknowingly sharp jab. “Who are you, anyway, you tiresome fellow?” the earl asked, gazing curiously at Collins. “Never mind,” he said when the other man opened his mouth, “I am not really that interested.”

Fitzwilliam chuckled, and Lady Catherine rounded on him furiously. “You find this amusing?” she asked awfully.

The colonel was getting ready to answer her with what would have no doubt been total honesty, but his father silenced him with a wave of his hand, turning instead to Darcy. “I gather, from what I’m hearing here and what I heard bellowed down the drive, that Wickham has been dealt with?” he inquired, entirely ignoring the other man’s presence and speaking as though he were not even in the room.

Darcy nodded. “He has, sir,” he confirmed.

“Excellent,” the earl said. He looked around the room again. “Based on the…heightened emotions, and all the players present, can I also infer that there has been conversation regarding the event some months hence that precipitated all the…troubles?”

Darcy nodded, preparing himself to explain a complicated and delicate matter as best he could, when Fitzwilliam inserted himself again. “Indeed, Father. It has been established that Wickham sent a note to the youngest Miss Bennet, Miss Lydia, cancelling their planned assignation. Miss Elizabeth intercepted it, and went there to meet her sister and — this was implied — deliver a sound scolding, but was knocked off her feet — literally — by Bingley here, who stormed into the library searching for Miss Jane Bennet, apparently never questioning why Miss Bennet would be in the library in the first place. Miss Lydia — or, rather, Mrs Wickham — herself has confirmed that she was there to meet Wickham, Bingley has admitted that he rushed into the room without thought, a condition that surprises none of his friends, and Miss Elizabeth has confessed that she was there to help her sister, and that she has kept that young lady’s imprudence a secret for these many months. My Aunt Catherine is disinclined to believe any of this, and accuses Miss Elizabeth of playing for the wealthiest partner, while Darcy has said very little; I suspect because he is holding on to his patience tenuously and with both hands.”

“How very instructive you are, Richard,” his father murmured. “You should perhaps focus more on being silent instead.”

Fitzwilliam grinned unrepentantly, but subsided. The earl returned his gaze to Darcy. “Is my son’s very lengthy summary accurate?” he asked.

Darcy nodded.

“Accurate!” Lady Catherine broke in. “That is precisely the sort of tale that a family determined to protect its own would settle upon, but it clearly has no acquaintance with the truth. Everything this girl has done is through no fault of her own, but is to be laid at the doors of an extensive list of wrongdoers: a sister, a servant, a misunderstanding, a man who is already too much of a wastrel to matter… How convenient that everything should fall out so neatly to establish Miss Elizabeth’s innocence.”

“It is not convenient, Lady Catherine,” Darcy said levelly, though it took more effort than he wanted to admit to keep from raising his voice. “It is simply true. I have spent a considerable amount of time determining the truth of the matter and confirming every detail myself, at some trouble, I might add, because I did not want to be wrong about any of it. I am not wrong.”

Lady Catherine scoffed. “And I am to take your word on that, when you have been so thoroughly bewitched by the young woman in question that you can no longer be trusted to see her and her machinations clearly at all?”

Mrs Bennet rose, ready to sail forth again in defence of Elizabeth, but the earl’s calm voice made her drop back into her seat.

“That will do.”

His voice was no louder than ever, but Darcy was startled at the coldness in it, along with a hard edge he had never before heard from his calm, affable uncle.

“I have been told that we have established today, with witness and statements from those involved, that there was no impropriety on the night in question — though not through any lack of trying on Mr and Mrs Wickham’s part,” he added wryly. “Miss Elizabeth Bennet went to the library to ensure that her sister was not there with a scoundrel twelve years her senior. Mr Bingley went there in the mistaken pursuit of a different lady, powered perhaps by an excess of feeling and a somewhat proportionate lack of forethought, toward the lady whom he is now, happily, engaged to marry. The engagement that resulted from the accidental encounter between Miss Elizabeth and Mr Bingley was entered into by two honourable people attempting to repair a misfortune neither intended, in order to ensure that no harm came to either of them. It has now been dissolved with equal honour, and for the same reasons.”

“Honour? I do not know —”

“I am not finished speaking, Catherine!” Matlock said, staring at his sister until she looked away. “Miss Bennet’s conduct that night was not a disgrace. It was an act of sisterly affection, purchased at great personal cost, and I will not hear it characterised otherwise in my presence.”