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He winced as he remembered he had told Elizabeth that her inferior rank was the reason he had tried not to fall in love with her.

It was true, of course, but he wondered now, as he watched the footman pour the tea, whether he should have had a little more tact. It was something he did not always possess, but often when he thought after the fact about exchanges, he could imagine a way in which they could have gone better.

"Did you see anything interesting on your walk?" the Colonel asked.

Well, he supposed this was as good a time as any to tell them. After all, Mr Collins knew, so the whole countryside would soon know.

In fact, Darcy wondered if he might be hurrying here right this moment, desperate to tell Lady Catherine.

"I visited the parsonage," he said, and everyone looked at him in surprise.

"Indeed," Lady Catherine said. "Did you have a need to unburden your soul? And yet Mr Collins was just here, so you can’t have seen him."

"I went to call upon Miss Elizabeth Bennet," he said, and he saw the expression on his aunt’s face change almost immediately. Her brows knitted together and her jaw clenched, and she hadn’t even heard all of it yet.

"Is she well?" the Colonel asked. "She seemed out of sorts yesterday after our walk."

"She is well, yes," Darcy replied, and decided to just say the words and let the dice fall where they may. "In fact, I am pleased to inform you all that I asked her for her hand in marriage and she has consented."

The gasp in the room was audible. He couldn’t tell if it had come from Lady Catherine or her daughter, or quite probably both.

The Colonel smiled, however.

"Bravo," he said. "Congratulations. She’s a fine young lady. I think she’ll make you very happy."

"Very happy!" Lady Catherine exploded. "What on earth are you talking about? You cannot marry that girl. She is a nobody and nothing. Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted? And besides, you are promised to my daughter. Would you so callously throw her over because this woman flashes her smile at you?"

Darcy clenched his fists and attempted to stay civil. If he got as angry as she was, no matter how much she was insulting his bride-to-be, he was sure it would not end well.

"Anne and I have been in agreement for many years that we shall not wed, Aunt Catherine," he said with a glance at his cousin, who, while looking surprised, did not look devastated.

And it was true. Whilst Lady Catherine had talked of the match, both he and Anne were clear that they would not be well suited.

"Mama—" Anne tried to intervene, and he appreciated the effort, but Lady Catherine shut her down with a sharp look.

"No, Anne, this arrangement has been agreed since you were in the cradle. He cannot just throw you over for some harlot—"

"I do not wish to be rude," Darcy said, his voice getting louder, "but insult my intended again and I will walk from this house and never return. I am sorry you do not like the match. I am sorry you thought I would marry Anne, when it is clear we are not suited, and we are both in agreement of that. I will be marrying Miss Bennet, and I hope you will all be there to celebrate with us. As long as you can keep polite tongues in your head," he said with a pointed look at his aunt.

"And now, I have letters to write. Good afternoon," he said with a brief bow of his head.

He turned on his heel and strode from the room, sure he was going to be the topic of conversation all afternoon.

◆◆◆

As she had rather suspected would happen, Charlotte knocked on her bedroom door a little while later, when she was trying desperately to put into a letter what had happened to Jane, because it did not seem she was going to be able to leave as quickly now as she had intended to.

She was glad she had never told Jane of her discovery that it had been Darcy who had separated her from Bingley, for that would have made it a lot harder to then tell her sister that she had accepted his proposal of marriage.

Would Jane understand that the very reason she had accepted it was for Jane and the other Bennet sisters’ wellbeing?

The knock at the door came before she had managed to write very much at all, and she put down her quill, called, "Enter," and smiled at her friend.

"Am I disturbing you?" Charlotte asked, but Lizzy shook her head, as she had known this conversation would be coming from the moment they had seen Mr Darcy.

"No, come in, Charlotte. Take a seat," she said.

Charlotte sat in the window seat and folded her hands in her lap before she began to speak. "I must admit I was very surprised by Mr Darcy’s announcement this afternoon."