Elizabeth could not but agree as she read on:
I am assured by Jonathan Bingley that Mr Frank Burnett is a man of excel
lent character, who I understand has loved Catherine for many years, but was
prevented from making her an offer in the most extraordinary circumstances.
And so, in summary, Mrs Collins proceeded to tell her friend the tale of thwarted love that Jonathan and Anna Bingley had revealed to her. Clearly, it had affected her deeply, for in writing to Elizabeth, she expressed not only her appreciation of Mr Burnett's conduct but did not omit to censure in the strongest terms her late husband's patron, Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
It is surely a very cruel thing to deliberately set out to thwart the course of such
an attachment and to deny two young people (as they then were) the pleasure
of one another's love, for no good reason. Yet, to judge by her conduct towards
you and Mr Darcy on an earlier occasion, conduct of which we have often
spoken in a lighter vein, it would seem to me that Lady Catherine had no
scruples on that score and had learned nothing from the failure of her previous
schemes.
Though Elizabeth was surprised at the vehemence of her words, she could not resist a chuckle at the memory of Lady Catherine's crude attempt to separate Mr Darcy from her and the totally unintended but delightful consequences that had flowed from it. Indeed, the result had been the very reverse of her expectations. Quite clearly, as a matchmaker, or even a match breaker, Her Ladyship could not lay claim to a high rate of success, she thought with a smile. Still, there was the matter of her plans for Catherine, and the hurt she may well have caused.
Elizabeth picked up the letter from Catherine Harrison, knowing even before she had opened it what news it would contain.
Catherine wrote more delicately, seeking chiefly to acquaint Mr and Mrs Darcy, for whom she had the highest regard and warmest affection, with the news of her recent engagement and to invite them to meet Mr Frank Burnett when they attended Lilian's wedding. She was confident they would find him a man of excellent character and of their hopes for marital happiness, she declared, she had no doubt at all.
We have too may interests in common ever to be bored with one another's
company and have no reason to believe that the deep affection we share will
not deliver lasting happiness.
In a touching tribute to her mother, she added:
I am truly delighted that Mama has given us her blessing; it will greatly
enhance our pleasure and bring a measure of comfort to her as well. I
am aware that she has been concerned for my future welfare since Dr
Harrison's death last year.
I know that you and Mr Darcy will wish us joy; your own felicitous union
has been an example to us all these many years. I am aware from what
Mama has told me in the past that Lady Catherine strenuously disap
proved of your marriage and strove fiercely to prevent it. She did likewise
when she forbade Mr Burnett to propose to me those many years ago and
did succeed in separating us, for a time. It would seem that her disapproval
only served to guarantee your happiness, and I pray it will have a similar
effect upon ours.
Mr Burnett and I look forward very much to seeing you when you attend
Lilian's wedding next month.
Taking both letters, Elizabeth went downstairs and out across the lawn to find her husband, who had left her after breakfast to fulfill a promise to take his two grandsons fishing.
She found them by the lake. The boys were concentrating so well upon their sport, they hardly noticed her arrival, but Mr Darcy beckoned to her to join them. Sitting down beside him, Elizabeth handed him her letters one by one and watched for his response.
As he read Charlotte's letter, his face remained calm, though he did express some exasperation on reaching the paragraph in which she wrote of the manner in which his aunt had interfered in Catherine's life.
"My aunt was truly incorrigible! This is most high-handed," he said in a voice that suggested suppressed anger. "Mrs Collins is absolutely right. It was to her that Frank Burnett should have been referred; Lady Catherine, by inviting Miss Collins to stay at Rosings, had not acquired the right to usurp the place of her mother."
Elizabeth nodded in agreement but said nothing, handing him Catherine's note. She could not fail to see how her words moved him. Twice he stopped and shook his head, as if unable to believe what he had just read. When he read the lines about her separation from Mr Burnett for many years, he put down the letter, his face dark and melancholy.
"Elizabeth, I must confess I had not thought Lady Catherine could be as cruel as this. I was well aware of her fixed and often prejudiced views on matters pertaining to marriage, and I have heard her express them frankly and in a way that often embarrassed me. But, that she should have used her influence over a young person living as a guest under her roof, to detach her from a perfectly reasonable young man, who wished to make her an offer of marriage, is unconscionable," he continued in a grave voice. "There was clearly no objective reason to reject Mr Burnett—he was respectable and well educated, worthy in every way, except he did not meet with my aunt's approval. It was an appalling error of judgment.
"It puts me in mind of Lady Catherine's stubborn attitude towards her own daughter. On realising that her plans for Miss de Bourgh could not be fulfilled, my aunt determined to keep her to herself, a hostage to wealth and prestige, living subject to her mother's will, in a palatial mansion that might well have been her prison. Bereft of real friends and unable even to choose her own companions, hers was a lonely life, from which there was no relief, until her mother's death.
"In the case of Miss Collins and Mr Burnett, the fault is compounded by her misrepresentation of Catherine's situation to Mr Burnett, falsely claiming that she had been spoken for. Doubtless she intended by this deception to keep Catherine at Rosings at her convenience. It is quite outrageous!
"Lizzie my dear, I wish there was something I could do, even at this late stage, to make amends for the grievous wrong they have both suffered at the hands of my aunt."
Elizabeth listened, understanding his anger but not wishing to exacerbate his indignation by further censure of his aunt's conduct. She did, however, make it quite clear that she did not believe he should feel any guilt on Lady Catherine's account.
"Pray do not blame yourself, dearest, you are in no way culpable, and while I understand your sense of outrage, it is not a matter for which anyone other than Lady Catherine was responsible. Neither Catherine nor Charlotte would ever say otherwise, I am certain of it."
He was grateful for her understanding, but Elizabeth knew him well enough to realise that it would not satisfy him.
***
Later, after they had returned to the house and the boys had gone upstairs, Mr Darcy retired to the library for the rest of the afternoon.
His wife had decided to rest awhile before dressing for dinner; their daughter Cassandra and her husband Dr Richard Gardiner were to dine at Pemberley that evening, and Elizabeth looked forward to breaking the news about Catherine's engagement. She knew Cassy shared her affection for Catherine. She was about to rise and ring for her maid when Mr Darcy entered the room.
"Elizabeth my dear," he said, "I should like your opinion on a matter of some importance."
His wife knew both from the tone of his voice and the fact that he had called her Elizabeth, that something serious was afoot.
In his hand was a letter, which he held out to her.
"I am writing to Mr Burnett to offer him the position of manager of the Rosings Trust."
Ignoring the look of astonishment that crossed her face, he continued, "It's a matter I have been considering for some time. I have raised the subject with Jonathan and he has agreed that it would be useful for the Trust to have a permanent manager on the estate, but we had not begun to consider whom to appoint to the position. I believe Mr Burnett would do very well; he is well qualified and has a thorough knowledge of the place. In addition to an appropriate income, it will entitle him to a residence within the estate. I shall propose that when they are married, Catherine and her husband continue to live at the Dower House. With Catherine's interest in the parish school, it will be, I think, an ideal solution. It will mean they will have a place of their own for as long as they stay on at Rosings Park."
Looking directly at his wife, he asked, "What do you think, Lizzie?"
He was clearly eager to have her approval and approval he received in full measure, for Elizabeth understood how keenly her husband had felt the callousness of his aunt's actions. This was his way of ameliorating, in some practical manner, the hurt she had caused all those years ago.
Elizabeth spared no words in warmly supporting his generous impulse, for she more than anyone knew his feelings and understood his true nature. Yet he continued to surprise her with the extent of his generosity.
"I intend to write to Jonathan, too, and tell him what I propose. He will need to make the formal arrangements and have the necessary documents drawn up. I am certain he will concede that it is both fitting and fair; do you not agree, my dear?" he asked and once again, she agreed completely.
"Indeed I do, I know that you will not rest until you are satisfied that enough has been done to make amends for Lady Catherine's cruel interference in their lives. You are being very generous, and I would not have expected you to be otherwise. I have no doubt that Jonathan will be of the same mind, and if I may say so, my dear, both Catherine and Mr Burnett should be absolutely delighted with your proposition."
***
On the following day, the mail carried two letters from Mr Darcy and one from Elizabeth. The former, directed to Frank Burnett and Jonathan Bingley, set in train Mr Darcy's proposal, while the latter conveyed Elizabeth's thoughts to her friend Charlotte Collins.
Amidst the many happy sentiments expressed regarding the news of Catherine's engagement and the forthcoming marriage of Lilian Harrison to Mr Adams, Elizabeth wrote also of the feelings of outrage that she and Mr Darcy had experienced on learning of the duplicity of Lady Catherine de Bourgh's dealings with Frank Burnett and young Catherine Collins.
Dear Charlotte,
she wrote,
how I wish you had been with us today to see
for yourself how deeply and grievously wounded Mr Darcy feels on learning of
the utterly intolerable conduct of his aunt towards Catherine and Mr Burnett.
I too was shocked, but thanks to my previous experience with Her
Ladyship, not as much as my dear husband, whose sense of decency and family
honour seem to have been outraged by this news.
So keenly does he feel it, he is determined to recompense the couple in some
way and has proposed a scheme which will, I am sure, please them and meet
with your approval as well.
Having explained, in confidence, the proposition that Mr Darcy had put to Mr Burnett, Elizabeth expressed her belief that both Catherine and Frank Burnett would welcome the prospect of continuing their valuable work at Rosings.
I am quite convinced that it will afford them the opportunity to achieve what
they have both set their hearts on: a new and happy life together.
Nor could she resist one final derisive comment:
It will not be without some degree of irony, dear Charlotte, that we can look
forward to seeing the couple agreeably established at the Dower House in
Rosings Park in the future; a circumstance, I think you will agree, that would
surely have left Lady Catherine de Bourgh "seriously displeased"!
Chapter Twenty-three
Who can be in any doubt of what was to follow?
Preparations for Lilian's wedding were well advanced when Mr Darcy's letter was received by Mr Burnett, and upon his arriving with it in hand at the Dower House, both he and Catherine were thrown into such a state of confusion, a mixture of surprise and gratification, they were quite unable to concentrate upon the tasks at hand.
Catherine had long known of Mr Darcy's generosity of spirit; her mother had spoken of it often when they were children, she said.
"When Mr Darcy was first introduced to the community around Meryton in Hertfordshire, where my mother lived, he was widely regarded as proud and arrogant, with few virtues save for his considerable wealth. But he then fell in love with Mama's dearest friend, Elizabeth Bennet, and the transformation of his character that followed their marriage was, Mama says, quite remarkable. She now deems him to be one of the most generous and thoughtful men she has had the good fortune to meet," she explained.
"And does she credit Miss Elizabeth Bennet with effecting this remarkable change in his nature?" asked Mr Burnett, with some degree of amusement, to which Catherine replied cautiously, "Not entirely, I think. In spite of the general opinion amongst people in Meryton, who deemed Mr Darcy to be haughty and ill natured, Mama believes he was much misunderstood; she says he was, in reality, exceedingly shy and often gave offence without meaning to do so. Miss Bennet certainly influenced that aspect of his character, making him more open and amiable, but in most essentials I believe he remained as he had always been—a generous and honourable gentleman. Mama certainly thinks so."