An Alternate Perspective

by Wynne Mabry

They were equally curious upon entering the house, but neither noticed anything significantly different. Each of them felt as though she was being welcomed home by her own father, who said little, yet made it evident that he had missed his two eldest daughters very much.

  Both Elizabeths were called upon to admire some new extracts of Mary’s and to hear her most recent thoughts on morality. From Kitty and Lydia, they heard all the latest information about the regiment. All of this made each Elizabeth feel as though she really were home.

  Both Mrs. Bennets expressed surprise that their daughters had returned, but the similarity ended there. One of them was very disappointed by this, but the other did not think it a matter of any great concern. Besides that, she saw some usefulness in their return. After all, there were two weddings to be planned, and she had been looking forward to choosing wedding clothes.

  “We must plan a journey to London,” she said with an enthusiasm which gave the unengaged Elizabeth a justifiable fear of being carried away at a crucial moment from the place where she needed to be.

  The other Mrs. Bennet could only complain that they had returned.

  “You should have taken advantage of the opportunity to stay at Netherfield as long as possible,” she said. “There was no need for you to give so much trouble.”

  Elizabeth could not say that Miss Bingley’s hostility had persuaded her to leave. It did not feel right to make any objection to the lady who was not really her mother. Anyway, it seemed that this Mrs. Bennet had an excellent opinion of Mr. Bingley’s sisters.

  Following Jane’s example, she quietly accepted the rebuke, and hoped that the offense would soon be forgotten.

  It was, and the distraction came in the form of a visit from Charlotte Lucas. Elizabeth was pleased to see her, and to learn that in essence this person was just like her friend, but she was astonished that their circumstances were so different. It seemed that fortune had not smiled on Charlotte in this reality as it had in another. She was very sorry to see it so.

  In that other reality, Elizabeth was happy that the discussion about wedding clothes had been interrupted by a visit from Charlotte. Only she was not Charlotte Lucas, which was surprising. The maid announced her as Mrs. Everleigh. On hearing this unfamiliar name, Elizabeth looked up expecting to see a stranger. She was astounded to see the face of her own dear friend. Apparently, Charlotte was married in this reality.

  Elizabeth so much wanted to know how this could be. She longed to be able to ask questions. Instead, she had to make do with speculating from the little bit of useful information which was revealed during their conversation.

  There was a mention of Mr. Lucas, who was not Sir William in this reality. He had not been knighted, nor did it seem that he had given up his business in Meryton. In fact, it sounded as though he had expanded upon it and done very well for himself. It could be guessed that his fortune was significant.

  Perhaps that was how this Charlotte came to be married. Presumably the family’s wealth had resulted in a substantial dowry for her, and it was true that fortune so often dictated a lady’s chances of marrying. Elizabeth just hoped that Mr. Everleigh had been motivated in his choice by feeling rather than fortune. She would not want her own friend to be in a loveless marriage.

  Charlotte did seem to be quite happy though, and when she spoke of her husband, Elizabeth could hear affection in her voice. It appeared that this lady was very much content. If only her own Charlotte could be so fortunate.

  She went to bed that evening thinking about this significant difference between the fates of two Charlottes. It was a pity that one had missed out, but this also made it appear that nothing was inevitable. Clearly, she herself was not destined to marry Mr. Darcy just because her counterpart intended to do so.

  She was free to make her own choice, and there was no reason to think that it would be Mr. Darcy. Yet she did have an idea that she might like him better in the future. She would certainly be looking at him with a fresh set of eyes when she saw him again.

  An Astonishing Lack of Concern

  On the next morning, both Mr. Bennets announced their expectation of a visitor at breakfast. Both Elizabeths were surprised by this piece of news, and more surprised by Mrs. Bennet’s reaction to it.

  One of them looked on in astonishment as her other self’s mother laughed. Her own mother would not think this at all amusing. Indeed, if the same person was also paying a visit in her reality, she could imagine that he would be very unwelcome.

  “Can you really mean your cousin, Mr. Collins?” this amused lady asked her husband.

  “Indeed, I do,” he replied.

  “I am sure that you are joking,” she said. “Mr. Collins would never want to come here. Not after his father’s quarrel with us.”

  She sounded remarkably unconcerned. Elizabeth’s own mother could not hear of Mr. Collins without making some bitter remarks about the unfairness of the entail which made him heir to Longbourn.

  Mr. Bennet held up a letter. “If you do not believe me, you may read this for yourself,” he said. “It is a letter from Mr. Collins, informing us that he will arrive at 4:00 today.”

  “Really? He really sent you a letter? This is not a joke?”

  “It is not.”

  Since his wife did not take the letter as offered, Mr. Bennet opened it himself and began to read aloud.

  “I have often wished to put an end to the breach between us, which stems from my late father’s disagreement with you,” Mr. Collins had written.

  This was as far as Mr. Bennet progressed before Mrs. Bennet interrupted. “I am sure he really wishes that the events which caused that quarrel had not happened in the first place,” she said.

  Elizabeth wondered what was meant by this, but Mr. Bennet continued reading. “I have a great desire to know my cousins better, especially as they are now all the family I have in the world.”

  “Pish,” said Mrs. Bennet. “I do not believe a word of it. His father had far more interest in the property than in knowing his relatives. I am sure that Mr. Collins is just as odious. His writing to us shows a great lack of respect for his father. I never liked the man, but one would expect a son to show a little loyalty and keep up the quarrel.”

  “He seems to have been influenced by his recent ordination,” Mr. Bennet said, not bothering to read from the letter any more.

  “He is ordained? I am sure there are few men less worthy.”

  “Nevertheless, it appears that some noble lady has given him a living. A valuable living, he writes.”

  “How very strange. One would expect the aristocracy to have better sense.”

  After her recent experience, Elizabeth could not agree with this statement. She was not inclined toward any good opinion of the aristocracy.

  “Apparently Mr. Collins likes to demean himself with grateful respect toward her ladyship,” Mr. Bennet said.

  “He wrote that? He sound likes an ingratiating person,” she said with irritation.

  “He does indeed.” Mr. Bennet only sounded amused.

  “Well, I do not want to meet him. Why did you not put him off?”

  “I did not have the heart to refuse him. Not after he had already chosen the date of his visit and planned all the details of his journey. I felt quite sympathetic toward him.”

  “You wanted to indulge your curiosity,” Mrs. Bennet said. “I certainly do not feel sorry for him. I doubt that he would have been sympathetic toward us if his father had succeeded in his attempts to keep the entail from being broken.”

  The entail had been broken? Now Elizabeth could understand why this letter was not causing any great concern.

  “I think you are being much too generous to him,” Mrs. Bennet added. “But at least he can do us no harm. I would not be willing to have anything to do with him if the entail still stood, but I suppose I can tolerate giving him a bed for a little while. You girls will have to help him find something to do though. I do not want to be bothered with keeping him company all day.
”

  “I do not want to entertain him,’ Lydia cried. “It does not sound like he will be any fun at all.”

  “He is a parson,” Kitty said contemptuously. “Parsons are all dull.”

  “They are not,” Mary protested. “I have doubts that Mr. Collins can be a good parson though. In point of composition, his letter was quite defective. His ideas were very poorly expressed. It makes me wonder what his sermons are like.”

  Since they had not heard much of his letter, Elizabeth thought this a hasty conclusion. But admittedly, she had not formed any better opinion of Mr. Collins on the basis of those few sentences.

  “I am sure his sermons are dreadful,” Mrs. Bennet said, agreeing with her middle daughter. “And his conversation will be just the same, Mr. Bennet. You will soon be regretting your generosity.”

  But when they were all gathered around the dinner table later that day, Elizabeth saw that Mr. Bennet was quite amused by his guest. Mr. Collins was very good at giving offense without meaning to do so, and he had already begged pardon at least a dozen times since his arrival. He was just the sort of inept person who would amuse her own father as well.

  After the servants had withdrawn, some information was revealed which gave her great astonishment.

  “You seem very fortunate in your patroness,” Mr. Bennet said to Mr. Collins.

  “I am indeed,” he replied. “Lady Catherine de Bourgh is exemplary in her attention to my wishes and consideration for my comfort.”

  Elizabeth wondered if she had heard the name right. Could he really mean Mr. Darcy’s aunt? The very lady who had so rudely abused her? The person who had shown no consideration for her counterpart’s wishes and comfort?

  She said nothing as Mr. Collins described Lady Catherine’s affability and condescension. When he declared that he had never seen any evidence of pride in her ladyship, she had some regret for not being able to present her own outstanding evidence of it. But that encounter was something which Mrs. Bennet must not know about. It would only give her cause to worry that her daughter’s marriage to Mr. Darcy was in danger.

  Of course, she would be devasted if her daughter did not return and Elizabeth was compelled to dissolve the engagement. She could take her other self’s place in many ways, but not as Mr. Darcy’s wife. But there was no need to think like that, she reminded herself. She had confidence in the unknown Mr. Hurst, who was obviously such a clever man.

  The rest of the evening passed without the ladies having to do much in the way of entertaining Mr. Collins. He made a brief attempt at entertaining them, but when his reading failed to capture Lydia’s attention, he decided to play backgammon with Mr. Bennet instead.

  Elizabeth picked up a book, but the pages were turned infrequently. She was wondering if the Mr. Collins of her reality was also visiting her family. Perhaps her own mother had also been pressed into having him as a guest, which would be very disagreeable for her. As it was possible that the two men shared this desire to make amends with their relatives, Elizabeth was thinking of her family with some concern.

  On the next morning though, she decided that this Mr. Collins had been motivated by feelings other than the ones he had expressed in his letter. She noted his disappointment when her mother informed him of Jane’s engagement. She saw him give her a look of evaluation next. Apparently, she passed this test, because he was again disappointed at being told of another engagement.

  After that he looked at the other three sisters with uncertainty.

  From this, she guessed that he had come to Longbourn with the hope of engaging himself to one of the sisters who would inherit the property instead of him, as he would have once expected. This was his way of making up for the entail having been broken. Marrying one of them would be almost as good as inheriting Longbourn for himself.

  Having a great disgust for such a ploy, Elizabeth was happy to accept Kitty and Lydia’s suggestion of walking into Meryton to visit their aunt. Unfortunately, Mr. Collins decided that nothing would please him better than to join them. He did not bother himself much with talking to her and Jane though. They were obviously no longer of interest to him.

  Now he appeared to be deciding between Kitty and Lydia. It was obvious to Elizabeth that they would never have him, but it did not seem that much of anything was ever obvious to Mr. Collins. He inserted himself between the two girls with a fine disregard for their irritation with him. Elizabeth thought that he was one of the most oblivious people she had ever met.

  She was curious to know if her own cousin was the same, but she no longer thought it possible that he had also imposed himself upon her family. After all, he could not have the same reasons for wanting to know them. Longbourn was already going to be his one day. For the first time, Elizabeth thought of this as an excellent state of affairs. Her own Jane and her counterpart should be safe from such unwanted attentions as she and this Jane had only escaped because of the engagements.

  In Meryton, Kitty and Lydia looked out for officers with extreme eagerness, and upon sighting one, they rushed across the road in a great hurry. Although she understood that they were just as fond of officers as her own sisters, Elizabeth attributed today’s haste in part to a desire to escape from Mr. Collins.

  Following them at a normal pace, she recognized the officer as Mr. Denny, but the gentleman standing next to him was not anybody she knew.

  Soldiering on in the Shoes of Another

  In the other reality, Elizabeth was surprised to learn that there was an entail, but she was not surprised to hear her counterpart’s mother rail bitterly against it. Her own mother was also inclined to react in a dramatic fashion when something upset her, and this was indeed a very upsetting situation.

  She felt a great deal of sympathy for this Mrs. Bennet and her daughters. It must be a very unpleasant thing to know that one’s home was not secure. She would certainly not like for her family to be in the same position. They were very fortunate that a solicitor had advised her father to look into the wording of the entail.

  The reading of Mr. Collins’s letter gave her further astonishment. She had to stop herself from exclaiming when she heard the name of Lady Catherine de Bourgh. It was remarkable that Mr. Darcy’s aunt was Mr. Collins’s patroness. Obviously, the connection was unknown to anybody else since they did not show any sign of recognizing the name, but that was not surprising. She would not have expected this Mr. Darcy to reveal much, if anything, about himself.

  There was more to come at four o’clock, when their visitor arrived. He had a bit too much to say about the reputed beauty of his cousins, and when he declared himself to be sensible of the hardship which the entail caused them, Elizabeth took the hint. For some reason, he meant to make one of them his wife.

  Straight away, she thought that he must not ask Jane. That would put her into the most awkward situation. Even though Mr. Bingley had been very attentive, she could not be certain of his intentions. This entail could make her feel the necessity of accepting Mr. Collins. Elizabeth was very much concerned about the danger of this situation. It was even more important than ever for Mr. Bingley to propose if he had any intention of doing so.

  At dinner, she was curious to hear everything that Mr. Collins had to say about Lady Catherine. Apparently, Mr. Darcy’s aunt was the most affable and thoughtful person. Having not yet met the lady, Elizabeth had no idea about the veracity of this information, but she did not have a great deal of confidence in it. Mr. Collins gave the impression of being a man who saw things the way he wanted to see them.

  The next morning, Elizabeth was distressed to hear him express an interest in Jane to Mrs. Bennet. Fortunately, she had the sense to hint that her eldest daughter would soon be engaged. Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief that this avenue had been closed to him.

  Unfortunately, he then looked toward her, and in this world, she had no engagement to protect her from his attentions. This placed her in a very awkward situation. She could only guess what her other self would wish to do. Fo
r her part, she wanted to give him an obvious hint of her disinterest, but it was possible that her counterpart would think it her duty to marry the man.

  Before long, she came to the conclusion that it would not matter what she did anyway. Mr. Collins was clearly not a perceptive man. He would do just what suited him best, and that might very well be proposing to her or her counterpart, depending how long it took for them to change places again. She could only hope that Mr. Hurst was making excellent progress, so that her other self would be back in time to answer that question in the manner of her own choosing.

  Elizabeth very much doubted that it would be an acceptance though. She could not imagine that her other self would choose to accept an offer which could only be extremely disagreeable to her.

  She and the other sisters except for Mary walked into Meryton that morning, taking Mr. Collins with them. On the way, his pompous manner increased her own aversion to him. Marriage to such a man would be intolerable for anybody who shared her view of things.

  Once they reached the town, Kitty and Lydia were in a great hurry to see any of the officers, just like their counterparts always were. One was soon spotted, and with him was a stranger, not only to Elizabeth, but to her companions as well. They were all introduced to the man, whose name was Mr. Wickham, and whose manners were very pleasant. Elizabeth found him extremely likable for a brief time.

  But then Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy approached on horseback.

  Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham saw each other, and in their expressions, Elizabeth saw recognition, followed by dislike and anger. Then she made the connection. Her Mr. Darcy had told her about the dreadful Mr. Wickham who had made excessive demands of him, as well as trying to elope with Miss Darcy in order to gain her fortune. This must be the same man, and he had done the same in this reality.

  She immediately left the group and went to talk to Mr. Darcy, who was looking excessively uncomfortable.

  “I can see that this is very unpleasant for you, and I understand why,” she said.