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it.”
    “Accepted? Nonsense! You are engaged to Anne! Every member of our family knows this!”
    “Please, Aunt, that is simply not true. I have never spoken to Anne of marriage. We love each other but only as cousins, and — ”
    “You are formed for each other! Your mother and I planned the union when the two of you were in your cradles; it was her favourite wish! Are our plans to be thwarted by this…this upstart girl from the country?”
    “Aunt, for the last time, Anne and I are not engaged! And Elizabeth is thwarting no one’s plans, neither yours nor my mother’s. In fact, she may well have been caught somewhat by surprise by my proposal.”
    “Or completely so.” At Darcy’s side, Colonel Fitzwilliam spoke so softly only his cousin heard him. Her ladyship, totally focussed on Darcy, seemed completely unaware the colonel had spoken.
    Despite his apprehensions of the interview, Richard was surprised to find himself enjoying it. The sight of Darcy standing up to Lady Catherine, who was used to having her own way in everything she did, was proving to be a highly entertaining yet gruesome spectacle. And he also hoped for the chance to throw some oil on troubled waters before the conversation degenerated much further.
    However, Fitzwilliam’s hopes were dashed by his aunt’s next words.
    “What do you mean, ‘not engaged’? Of course you are engaged! Did you not hear what I just said? The two of you are meant for each other! It will be a splendid match! And is it to be prevented by the upstart pretensions of a young woman of inferior birth, of no importance in the world? She is wholly unallied to our family and is completely without family, connections, or fortune! Are the shades of Pemberley to be polluted by such an interloper?”
    Richard rolled his eyes in dismay as Darcy’s face paled at these insults. He had anticipated his aunt’s bad temper, but the conversation was worsening more rapidly than even he had feared it might.
    “This is quite enough of such nonsense, Nephew.” Lady Catherine’s tone suddenly became more moderate. “In fact, I think it is time that your engagement to Anne be regularized. I shall have a note announcing it sent to all our relatives as well as our friends, and — ”
    “Are you not listening to me, Aunt?” Darcy was hard put to maintain his control. “Miss Bennet has accepted my proposals. We will be married.”
    “And, I repeat, you are engaged to Anne! You will be married as soon as her health improves. Why, on his last visit, Dr. Palmer said she was improving marvellously and — ”
    “And Anne told me that charlatan had the surgeon bleed her of a quart of blood!” Darcy shot back furiously. “Anne said she thought she was going to die, and — ”
    “The letting of blood is necessary to allow the bad humours to escape from the body. Everyone knows this, and — ”
    “Everyone does not know this, Aunt! Forward-looking physicians said as much more than a century ago, and the persistence of this and other fallacies causes many people die for no reason.”
    “Who are you to question as eminent a physician as Dr. Palmer?”
    “I am a well-read individual who chooses to place my trust in those physicians who endeavour to transform medical affairs to a more scientific basis rather than to continue in the same superstitious vein as in the past! In any case, I suggest we have wandered afield from the subject of my engagement to Miss Bennet. I must stress that this matter is a private affair and is my prerogative. I will be the judge of whom I choose to marry, and it is your duty to accept my decision.”
    “I am your aunt, Darcy! I am your closest relation, the sister of your mother — ”
    “Then I suggest you remember the loving nature of my mother, Aunt.” Darcy’s words were icy and clipped. “Had she hoped for a union between Anne and me, she would not persist when it was clear that, firstly, Anne will likely never be strong enough to marry, and