Page 2 of Roses from Pemberley
Darcy shrugged. “I am sorry, Aunt, but it was a personal matter I had to attend to, and I did it. Please do not ask me anymore about it.”
He looked at Lady Catherine and then at Richard who only regarded him with a thoughtful expression.
“Pray, Aunt,” said Richard at length, “allow my cousin to keep his own counsel. He is a grown man, after all. Shall we not discuss other matters?”
Lady Catherine still looked doubtful but eventually said, “Very well, but if this happens again, I will demand an explanation.”
“It will not happen again,” said Darcy quietly.
Presently they were called into dinner where Darcy allowed the conversation to wash over him without adding much to it.
“Are you well, Darcy?” asked Anne, who was sitting next to him. “You do seem rather ill.”
He smiled wanly at his cousin and answered, “Thank you for your concern, Anne, but I simply have a headache.”
She looked skeptically at him but said nothing further.
“And what has got you so quiet, Darcy?” asked Lady Catherine from across the table. “Were you not listening to anything I said?”
Darcy, who had not been listening said, “I apologise, Aunt, I was woolgathering. Will you please repeat what you said?”
“I was telling Richard and Mrs. Jenkinson how Miss Bennet will never be proficient at the pianoforte unless she practices more. Do you not agree?”
“I think Miss Bennet plays rather well.”
“You cannot mean that!” cried Lady Catherine.
“I think she plays rather well, too,” said Anne, “better than I ever could have.”
“But your health, Anne,” said her mother.
“What about my health?”
Lady Catherine rolled her eyes. “It is only your health that has stopped you from learning to play the pianoforte. But, had you learned, you would have become quite good at it. I am certain.”
But Anne only shook her head and said, “Not at all, Mother. For I am not musically inclined. Do you not rememberthat I tried taking lessons once, and my piano teacher said he despaired of me ever learning?”
“No, I do not remember such a thing!”
“Well it is true,” said Anne with a laugh.
Lady Catherine looked annoyed. “You had better not talk like that in front of Darcy. For what will he think of you if you admit such things in front of him?”
Darcy smiled at his cousin, momentarily forgetting his heartbreak.
“And what does it matter what Darcy thinks, Mother?” asked Anne.
“What…what does it matter? Of course it matters! For he shall be your husband one day. Once he proposes to you, that is.” Lady Catherine looked reprovingly at Darcy. “And you will not endear yourself to him if you keep talking in that manner.”
“I personally like a self-deprecating woman,” said Richard out of the blue.
Anne smiled faintly at him before turning back to Lady Catherine and saying, “I am afraid, Mother, that you are completely mistaken. For Darcy and I will never marry.”
“Of course, you will marry. My sister and I decided it long ago.”
“Yes, Anne,” said Richard with a grin, “why do you say that? I thought you would agree to everything your mother says.”
“Shame on you, Richard,” said Anne indignantly. “You know I do not love Darcy and he does not love me.”
