Page 147 of The Governess of My Heart
From the moment she set eyes onElizabeth, Lady Anderson had hated everything about her; the feeling came from the fact that Elizabeth had captured Lady Martha’s regard and was given preference over her daughter. Now, she posed as a threat to herstatus and position in life, and she stripped Lady Anderson of her pride.
She was enraged beyond measure, and all she wanted to do was throw Elizabeth out of Ashton Park at that very moment.
She understood that she was not merely Lord Anderson’s legal daughter now but was to become Mrs. Darcy as well. From the conversation with her husband, it became apparent to her that neither her husband nor Darcy would be willing to abide by any of her requests.
She locked herself in her room, unable to find a way to break her daughter’s heart with the truth.
Lady Martha did not disturb Elizabeth until Darcy arrived that afternoon. Once he arrived, he requested to meet Elizabeth in privacy.
“You can meet her in the library; I will be present, though.”
"You have not spoken with her since she read the letters?”
"No, I have not. I am well aware that the first person she would want to talk tobefore any of us is you.”
Lady Martha sent for Elizabeth, and she hurried down, understanding that Darcy had arrived earlier than expected. Lady Martha said nothing as she entered the library, and Darcy immediately walked up to Elizabeth and held her hand.
He motioned her to sit down.
“How are you, my love?” Darcy asked her.
“As well as you saw me a few hours ago,” she smiled. “I expected to see you only in the evening.”
“Well! I could not stay in Pemberley after you left. Did you read them?” he asked, eyeing the stack of letters in her hand.
“I did,” she said, noticing that Lady Martha had given them privacy by stationing herself on the other end of the room.
“I spent all morning with these letters, and I don’t know how to express what I went through while reading them.”
“I am so sorry that you had to undergo this.”
“She was very much in love with him, and all the letters express the same, but everything seems to have changed once she married him and returned to London. The letters declare what he already told us, that my mother wanted to end their relationship, forget their marriage, and demand money.”
“Maybe something happened after she returned to town, or someone forced her to write them.”
“The moment I opened the first one, I doubted whether the letters were forged?”
“Why?”
“Because the writing is very similar to my mother’s, I mean Mrs. Bennet’s.”
“Oh!”
“I know her hand very well, and the writing in these letters is exactly the same.”
“So, you doubt that Mrs. Bennet forged these?”
“I did, but there is nothing to prove it apart from the writing style. I say this because I know Mamma’s choice of words and expressions. These letters are definitely written by someone who is far more sensible and intelligent, and that is not Mrs. Bennet for certain.”
“I don’t think we can brush aside your doubt that easily.”
“Do you want to read them?” she asked Darcy.
Darcy took the letters from her and sat down. He felt very uncomfortable reading something so private. He read a couple of them and understood Elizabeth’s reasoning. With his short acquaintance with the Bennet family, he was certain that Mrs. Bennet could not write anything so sensible with deep feeling and intelligent reasoning.
“It is very suspicious that the letters suddenly show deep hate and aversion towards the man she loved so much,” Darcy exclaimed.
“Maybe she felt that way when she realized she was pregnant.”
