A Different Impression Rewrite

This chapter is another one that changed quite a bit during the revision process. I moved several scenes and revelations around because the original went back and forth in places and could be a little confusing. I hope everything makes more sense now.

A few things before we begin:

• I greatly appreciate your feedback. In many ways, y’all are my beta readers, and I read every comment you leave. I do not always have a chance to reply, but I appreciate it when you point out an error, an inconsistency, or something that simply is not clear.

• The pre-order for the new edition of A Different Impression is now available. Amazon currently lists the release date as October 29, but I am still hoping to release it in late September. I gave myself some extra time because I am also working towards releasing the audiobook with the revised edition.

• Since I have made such extensive revisions, I cannot simply update the existing book. Amazon requires me to publish it as a new edition with a new listing. If you own the first edition, it will remain in your Kindle library, although the original version is no longer available for purchase.

• I have set the price as low as Amazon allows in each country while still qualifying for the 70 percent royalty rate. It will, of course, also be available through Kindle Unlimited.

• You may pre-order it here, should you desire to do so: https://amzn.to/4g1xhYX

Those of you who have been reading along here have been part of this revision from the beginning, and I hope you have enjoyed seeing the story take shape again.

Now, on to today’s chapter, Lady Catherine Protests.

At Matlock House, Lord Matlock sat with his wife, Darcy’s express open between them. He was not particularly surprised by Darcy’s account of Mr Collins; Catherine had always possessed an unfortunate confidence in her own judgement of character. His greater concern was how she would react to the news of Darcy’s engagement.

Lord Matlock had long known—as had everyone else in the family, except his sister—that Darcy would never marry Anne. Neither cousin desired the match, and Anne’s health had always appeared too precarious for marriage. Indeed, she seemed to grow weaker with each passing year, although every physician Catherine consulted insisted that her constitution was simply delicate and could not be improved.

Darcy had informed him that an express had been sent to Catherine at the same time as his own. Lord Matlock therefore anticipated that his sister would arrive upon his doorstep within a day or two.

He was not disappointed. Late the following afternoon, Catherine’s strident tones announced her arrival long before she reached his study.

“And so it begins,” Lord Matlock said to his wife, who had joined him in anticipation of his sister’s arrival. “I cannot imagine this will be pleasant. Catherine will be livid when she learns she will not have her way.”

Lady Matlock sighed heavily. “How is it that Catherine became the woman she is while Lady Anne was so kind and loving? I have never understood how your sisters came to possess such different characters.”

“Catherine was the eldest, and she was always jealous of Anne,” Lord Matlock explained. “When our sister made a considerably better match than Catherine had, despite George’s lack of a title, she became even more resentful of them both. I believe she imagines that forcing Darcy to marry her daughter would somehow avenge everything she claims to have suffered when our sister married better than she did.”

“But Catherine married a titled gentleman.”

“Yes, but Pemberley is far greater than Rosings, and the Darcy name is both older and more influential,” Lord Matlock replied. “Catherine has never allowed anyone else to see Lewis’s will. I have often wondered who is meant to inherit Rosings upon her death—Anne or someone else entirely. Lewis’s solicitor is here in Town. Perhaps I ought to pay the man a call.”

“You suspect something?”

“I am not yet certain what I suspect. I would like to imagine that concern for her daughter lies behind Catherine’s behaviour, but I find that increasingly difficult to believe.”

“James, do you truly believe Catherine capable of caring for anyone besides herself?” Lady Matlock asked sceptically. “I have always pitied Anne for being left alone at Rosings with her, but Catherine continually insisted that the girl was too ill to travel.”

A knock sounded upon the door. The butler entered and attempted to announce their visitor, but before he could speak, Lady Catherine pushed past him and swept into the room with Anne and her companion following in her wake.

Lord Matlock’s attention immediately settled upon his niece. Anne was terribly pale and appeared exhausted. When she swayed upon her feet, he rose quickly and helped her to the nearest settee. Cutting off Catherine as she began speaking, he addressed his niece.

“Anne, my dear, how are you? Shall I send for a physician?”

“I need to lie down, Uncle,” Anne replied weakly. “I am afraid my tonic is not helping today; in fact, I believe it has made me feel worse.”

“Send someone to summon the physician immediately,” Lady Matlock instructed the butler. “Then have the housekeeper quickly prepare a room. Anne, dear, we will have someone see to you as soon as we can. Would you like a cup of tea?”

Anne was scarcely able to remain upright. Mrs Jenkinson settled beside her and supported her while she drank the sweetened tea. “I added extra sugar, Anne. Would you like to try to eat?”

“The tea will be enough for now,” came the reply, in a voice so small it could scarcely be heard in the room.

“Catherine,” Lord Matlock demanded, “what is the meaning of this? Why have you dragged Anne to London in such a state? I cannot imagine what could have brought you here unannounced and with Anne so weak.”

“Anne is merely upset because Darcy has been taken in by some harlot,” Catherine replied arrogantly. “He sent an express stating that he was engaged to some… some nobody who must have used her wiles to seduce him and make him forget what he owes his family, what he owes to Anne. We shall obtain a special licence, and you will accompany us to Hertfordshire. Darcy will break this ridiculous engagement and marry Anne immediately.”

“Mama, I have told you repeatedly that I do not wish to marry Darcy,” Anne said from the settee. “Nor does he wish to marry me. I am pleased that he has found someone he loves.”

“You are ill and do not know your own mind,” Catherine snapped. “You will do as I instruct.”

Lord Matlock saw Anne flinch, but for once his niece did not withdraw entirely.

“My illness does not prevent me from knowing whom I do not wish to marry,” Anne insisted, her tone growing in strength.

“Darcy will not marry Anne, Catherine,” Lord Matlock said in an attempt to support his niece. “Darcy has told you this, I have told you this, and Anne has told you this. No one, other than you, has ever believed that Darcy and Anne should marry. Our sister, Darcy’s mother, certainly did not wish it, nor did George, and I cannot imagine that Lewis would have recommended it either. There is no marriage contract, nothing that would bind the two, other than this delusion that you have carried for the last five years. There was no mention of such a match until after George Darcy died, which tells me as much as anything else that you are trying to take advantage of Darcy’s honour and his dedication to duty and family.”

Catherine drew breath to interrupt, but Lord Matlock raised a silencing hand.

“I have met Darcy’s intended, and she is a lovely girl. She and Darcy are very much in love and, while it is not the match I would have expected him to make, he is extraordinarily pleased with his choice. I have never seen the man so happy as he is when with Elizabeth. They will marry—the marriage articles have been signed, the licence has been acquired, and there is nothing that you can do to prevent the match.”

Catherine’s face turned nearly purple. She began hurling invectives at Lord Matlock, Darcy, Elizabeth, Lady Anne, Lewis, and anyone else whose name occurred to her. Lord Matlock allowed her to continue until one declaration arrested his attention.

“Anne cannot be mistress of Rosings!” Catherine cried. “She was incapable of managing it when she reached five-and-twenty, and she remains incapable now. Once she marries Darcy, she will reside at Pemberley, and Rosings will remain where it belongs—in my hands!”

For one stunned moment, Lord Matlock could only stare at his sister.

“Stop, Catherine. Did you just say that Anne became mistress of Rosings when she reached five-and-twenty?”

A faint voice came from the settee.

“I inherited Rosings?” Anne asked. “Uncle, what does she mean? I have never been told that the estate belonged to me.”

Catherine spluttered, “No, that is not what I said. Besides, Anne is much too weak to be in charge of such a large estate as Rosings. I am much better suited to be its mistress. Darcy will marry Anne and take her to Pemberley so that I will continue running Rosings.”

“Do you honestly believe Darcy would have allowed you to retain control of Rosings had he married Anne?” Lord Matlock regarded his sister in disbelief. “You are even more deluded than I realised.”

He summoned the butler and ordered several footmen to escort Catherine to a bedchamber and ensure that she remained there. She continued shouting as the servants led her away, but Lord Matlock paid little attention. His thoughts were fixed upon what she had inadvertently revealed.

Lady Matlock escorted Anne upstairs with her companion. Lord Matlock instructed the housekeeper to place his niece in a room well removed from Catherine’s and to take the physician to her immediately upon his arrival.

He watched Anne leave, troubled by how heavily she leant upon his wife’s arm. Catherine’s admission about Rosings was alarming enough, but the severity of Anne’s condition now struck him as something more than the unfortunate consequence of a delicate constitution.

It seemed an age before the physician entered Lord Matlock’s study. Lady Matlock had already returned from settling Anne upstairs and now sat opposite her husband, her concern evident in the tight clasp of her hands.

The physician closed the door behind him and approached the desk, carrying the unlabelled bottle Mrs Jenkinson had given him.

“My lord, I believe your niece will recover from today’s illness, although she may remain weak for some time. Miss de Bourgh informed me that she took her usual tonic before departing Rosings and a second dose when they stopped at Bromley to change horses. Her condition worsened considerably soon afterwards.”

Lord Matlock glanced at the bottle. “What is in it?”

“I cannot yet say. There is no label, and Miss de Bourgh knows only that an apothecary in Hunsford prepares it according to her mother’s instructions. I intend to request the receipt from him.” The physician placed the bottle upon the desk. “Until I know precisely what it contains, Miss de Bourgh must not take another dose.”

“You believe that is responsible for her illness?” Lady Matlock asked, her voice showing her alarm.

“I strongly suspect it,” the doctor replied. “Her irregular heartbeat, shortness of breath, chest pains, weakness, and stomach complaints are all consistent with the effects of prolonged arsenic exposure.”

Beside him, Lady Matlock went pale. “Those are the very symptoms I have observed in Anne.”

Lord Matlock’s hand tightened around the arm of his chair. For several moments, he could find no words.

“You believe my niece has been poisoned?”

“I fear so,” the physician replied. “The tonic may contain only a small quantity of the poison, but she has apparently taken it regularly for years. It affected her more severely today because she took a second dose, believing it would counteract the effects of the journey. Instead, she received a greater quantity of whatever is weakening her.”

Lady Matlock’s expression suddenly altered, and Lord Matlock knew that the same terrible thought had occurred to them both.

“Did not Sir Lewis suffer similar symptoms before he died?” she asked, her voice quiet. “I remember how drawn he looked towards the end. He complained frequently of a sore throat and pains in his stomach, and he often struggled to breathe.”

Lord Matlock looked towards the bottle upon his desk. Catherine’s determination to control Rosings—and her furious insistence that Anne was incapable of managing it—returned to him with dreadful clarity.

“Could Catherine have given this tonic to them both?” he asked, struggling to voice the possibility. “Would continued exposure have kept Anne weak enough for Catherine to retain control over her?”

“I cannot speak to Lady Catherine’s intentions,” the physician cautioned. “It is possible she did not understand what the tonic contained. I shall enquire of the apothecary, although if he knowingly included arsenic, he may be reluctant to provide a truthful account.”

Lord Matlock understood the difficulty. Unless Catherine had placed her instructions in writing, any accusation might rest upon the word of an apothecary against that of an earl’s daughter. Catherine’s rank would carry considerable weight, regardless of the truth.

“If Sir Lewis was given the same tonic, it is possible that he, like Miss de Bourgh, took an additional dose when he felt particularly unwell,” the physician explained. “A greater quantity might have caused his death even if the individual doses had previously been too small to prove fatal.”

Lord Matlock looked at his wife and saw his own horror reflected in her expression. He had known Catherine to be selfish, domineering, and vindictive, but he had never imagined her capable of anything so monstrous.

At last, he rose from his chair.

“I should like you to examine Lady Catherine as well. She remains confined to one of the bedchambers and is loudly demanding her release. Determine whether she requires a calming draught, but do not mention our suspicions to her.”

The physician agreed and departed. Lord Matlock remained standing behind his desk, his gaze fixed upon the unlabelled bottle.

He would summon Sir Lewis’s solicitor at once. If Catherine had concealed Anne’s ownership of Rosings—or deliberately kept her daughter weak to retain control of it—Lord Matlock intended to uncover the truth.

As I have said before, this was only the second story I ever wrote, and revisiting it has made me realise just how unhinged I allowed some of our favourite characters to become! 😍

Since Caroline Bingley was dispatched so early, the other usual suspects have to step forward and cause trouble for ODC. One thing I have always enjoyed about this story, though, is that Darcy and Elizabeth are firmly on the same side. Whatever everyone else throws at them, they face it together. It is very much ODC against the world.

What do y’all think? Has Lady Catherine gone too far, even for Lady Catherine, or can you believe she would do all of this to keep control of Rosings? I would also like to know whether the revelations were clear or if anything still needs more explanation.

— Melissa Anne 💙

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