Many thanks to Laina Lee for proofreading this chapter and for the prodding!

And thanks everybody for all the very nice comments ! It definitely kept me going… which was not the plan at the beginning !

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Chapter 3

The anger had built up in Lady Catherine de Bourgh to a bursting point when she crossed the door of the Darcy townhouse. She had worked herself into a powerful and cold rage since her interview with this outrageous Elizabeth Bennet a few hours ago. How dare she? And Anne was not woman enough to stand against her mother and calm her during the journey from Hertfordshire.

She stormed into the house and asked imperiously to see her nephew. She wanted to act and reorder her world. The issue was there, to be honest. They dared – Darcy, Elizabeth – to defy her. But she had worked hard not to be defied since the death of her husband.

She was still quite young when she was married to Lewis De Bourgh. Young and full of energy, full of expectations. He was much older, adept at living a quiet life in his estate in the country. Not abusive… kind even, but not able to change his way of life for his young bride. This eventless life had crushed her spirit. What was she to do with all the energy she had in her? When, after the birth of Anne, she realised that she was not able to conceive another child… that had been the end of her. Only one sickly daughter and an old and quiet husband. She became bitter and jealous of the happiness of other people. What right had they to be happy when she was not?

When she became a widow, she decided to fully reign over her little kingdom. That gave her some satisfaction. The feeling to be, at long last!, the only captain in the ship. Who had the means, at Rosings and in the neighbourhood, to contradict her? She managed to drive away any kind of strong personalities. Hence her recent choice of Collins for Hunsford. He was such an ideal mix of stupidity and spinelessness. Witnessing him almost every day gave her, every single time, the profound awareness of her superiority and intelligence. How could she prevent herself from giving him orders for the most intimate details of his life? He would certainly have been miserable otherwise. It was her duty! Her inferiors were some kind of children, in a way.

Darcy had always been different, however. She was not able to reach him, to get at him. Or to entirely capture his real personality, truth be said. She could feel the steel in him and was not used to managing that. She was nevertheless prepared to gamble everything on this last coup: expose the true character of Elizabeth Bennet and threaten to cut Darcy from the family. He must do his duty and marry to protect and enhance the family heritage and position in society and nothing less, just as she had done. And she had paid a dear price for that.

In this state of mind, a very ruffled Lady Catherine stepped into her nephew's study and found him rolling dice on a chessboard. The future of the family was at stake and he was rolling dice, dishevelled and muttering nonsense to himself? She was baffled for a short moment before going on with her mission… nay her crusade!