Suddenly Mrs. Darcy by James Jenetta

Author:James, Jenetta [James, Jenetta]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781936009428
Publisher: Meryton Press
Published: 2015-04-27T16:00:00+00:00

“Well…” I was not sure what she suggested, but I suspected it was not intended to comfort me. “I am a country dweller myself, Lady Catherine, so I can sympathise. Your home is very grand, and if you never wish to leave it, then I can well understand.”

“Well, then we are as one, Mrs Darcy, which pleases me. I hope you find the married state an agreeable one. You have done very well by your marriage, but I expect you know that.” She paused, fingering the blue lace of her sleeve and then, looking up at me, continued. “You may not realise that, when he married you, Darcy broke his engagement to poor Anne.” Her great grey eyes stared me down and then, after a beat, glanced gently to her daughter sitting beside her. “Or maybe you did know about it. He may have told you, or he may not have. It is, I suppose, in the past now. He has begged my forgiveness, and I have granted it. Darcy knows I could have made more fuss than I did, and I would have been within my rights to do so. It is not the sort of thing he would like people to know: that he broke a promise to a respectable and high-born relation in order to marry a young woman who…well, in order to marry another.”

I blinked and felt a lurch within me as though I had fallen from a great height. I recalled Mr Darcy had said little of Anne, even when I asked, and he seemed to grow rather testy when required to discuss her.

“We have resolved not to think on it though, he and I, and I suppose in time it shall be forgotten. I understand from my servants that my nephew keeps to your bedchamber at night. Well, it is early in your marriage, and he has not yet been to town, has he? No, of course, you have been at Pemberley.”

My mind reeled at this new direction in her conversation. I was astonished that she had raised such a subject and still more that she should do so with her unmarried daughter sitting beside her. Anne looked away, and I flushed, completely at a loss as to how to proceed.

“You may find when you are in town and as time passes that matters change, and that may be agreeable to you. Your stay here has satisfied me that you are an intelligent young woman, and I do not suppose you are in ignorance of the ways of the world, Mrs Darcy. It is well known, of course, that my nephew keeps a mistress in town. I am afraid I cannot tell you her name, but maybe you can tell me. I can see you are the sort of girl who makes it her business to know matters, and you seem to handle my nephew reasonably soundly, so I shall venture no advice to you.”

“And I shall seek none.” I looked away from her gaze, intending to show no feeling.

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