by Linda Phelps
The two young ladies returned to the family in the sitting room, where Charlotte soon made her apologies and started for home. Within the hour Sir William Lucas appeared, sent by his daughter to announce her engagement to the Bennet family. He was met by incredulity and contradiction.
“Sir William, you are mistaken, I assure you,” cried Mrs. Bennet.
“Good Lord! Sir William, how can you tell such a story?” exclaimed Lydia. “Do not you know that Mr. Collins wants to marry Lizzy?”
Sir William was steadfast in relating his news, but only when Elizabeth added that she had heard it from Charlotte herself would the family begin to believe. Sir William, having delivered his tidings, excused himself for home, where, as he politely explained, there was much to do, since the wedding was to take place quite soon.
Charlotte and Lady Lucas led him into the house, more than curious to know what the reactions of the Bennets had been. “They were greatly surprised,” Sir William told them. “I had quite a time getting them to believe me. For my part, I expressed pleasure that the two families would be united in this fashion, but that did not seem to please them overmuch.”
“Did they not congratulate you?” asked Lady Lucas.
“Elizabeth did, but the others seemed too astonished to do so.”
“Do you suppose Mrs. Bennet realizes that our Charlotte will someday be the mistress of Longbourn?” asked Lady Lucas.
Sir William said the words that Charlotte thought but would never have expressed. “My dear, I believe that is what she thought of most. You must be gentle when you discuss the matter with her.”
“I am sure she will wish me joy for having a daughter married before she can have one,” Lady Lucas said. And she and her husband burst into comfortable laughter which Charlotte did not quite understand.
Chapter Fourteen
AS CHARLOTTE PREPARED FOR her wedding, she found that Longbourn was no longer the second home it had been all her life. Mrs. Bennet watched her with suspicion, focusing on any item she touched, as if she feared Charlotte would take possession of it without waiting for it to be the legal property of her and Mr.. Collins.
The younger Bennet girls, while interested in the idea of a wedding, and particularly interested in her wedding clothes, often succumbed to giggles when they contemplated her. She could easily imagine what thoughts were going through their empty heads. Mr. Bennet, on the rare occasions he emerged from his study, offered wishes for her happiness, but with an ironic tone that communicated doubt. She felt she had fallen in his estimation.. Considering the woman he had chosen as his life’s companion, Charlotte was not overawed.
Oddly, the only member of the household who seemed to be sincerely happy for her was Jane Bennet. Said she, “Dear Charlotte, I have heard your glad news. Mr. Collins will be a happy man with you as his partner, and I doubt not that you will be happy yourself. You will find Mr. Collins to be a loyal and faithful husband, one with whom you can proudly make your life.”
Charlotte imputed her sentiments to what Jane imagined to be a fellow feeling since they were two girls about to be brides of the men they loved. Jane was normally too intelligent to believe such a thing about Charlotte and Mr. Collins, but perhaps in the haze of her own happiness, she attributed Charlotte with feelings that were not there.
“I thank you for your kind thoughts, Jane, and wish with all my heart that you will soon be equally happy and well provided for.” Jane did not respond to these words with the shy, delighted smile Charlotte had expected. Rather she seemed taken aback. Charlotte feared that she had not spoken the odious words in a light manner. Had Jane detected her jealousy and resentment?
Elizabeth was friendly, although not as she had been. She tried to be playful, but it was obvious that some concerns wore at her. It could not be only their separation that made her unusually quiet. So what was the other problem? In the past they had freely spoken to each other of the most private concerns. Was that intimacy now gone?
“Have you seen that Mr. Wickham of late?” asked Charlotte
“Yes. He calls here often, and we almost always encounter him when we go to town.”
“And has he remained handsome and amiable?”
Elizabeth lowered her head. “I find him to be so: However, before your imagination takes you to the planning of my marriage, be sure that he has more than hinted that he looks for someone with more money than I can bring to any alliance.”
“Poor Wickham. How unfortunate it is that men and women require a little something to live upon.”
“He would have something to live upon if not for that beastly Mr. Darcy,” said Elizabeth.” For all his pride and the airs he gives himself, he has behaved shamefully. I cannot bear to hear his name.”
Charlotte, whose sole distaste for Mr. Darcy had originated in his constant refusal to acknowledge that she existed, could only nod her sympathy and turn the subject. “And should there be children, think of how much more money is needed.”
“Our own parents have made that clear to us, have they not?. With my four sisters, and your two sisters and three brothers, we have all been educated in the cost of raising children. You, at least, will not be a permanent burden.”
“For that I am especially glad, for it means that there will more available for the others, said Charlotte.” I would like to think that Maria will some time winter in London, and that at least some of the boys can be given a profession.”
“Perhaps Lady Catherine will help you there. She has, I believe, no sons of her own, and whatever type of person she turns out to be, I think you will not find stinginess to be one of her faults.”
“I can only hope I meet with her approval,” said Charlotte.” I am not looking forward to being introduced to her.”
“She will love you,” Elizabeth assured her, “for Mr. Collins’s sake at first, but soon after for yourself. Anything else is impossible.” Her smile was entirely natural when she spoke, and Charlotte felt that they were approaching the degree of intimacy they had previously enjoyed.”
Mr. Collins returned to Hertfordshire to report that Lady Catherine had, based on his description of Charlotte, sanctioned the marriage. He did not make this known immediately, but spoke at length of where in Rosings they sat when he gave her the happy news, what tea he had been served, the state of health of Lady Catherine’s daughter, the preparations she suggested for the improvement of the house where the couple would live, and her willingness to oversee personally these very improvements.
“My dearest Charlotte, Lady Catherine was kind enough to say that from what I told her of you, you are the very woman she would have chosen to be my wife. It was she who said before I ever came to Longbourn, ‘For my sake, you must marry a gentle woman, Mr. Collins, but not one who has been raised too high. She must manage your household, and it would be well if she had the domestic skills that are needed for such employment’. She anticipates an early meeting, for she has kindly informed me that since we have come to an agreement, we should wed as soon as possible. So name a day, my dearest, that we may be sure to please her.”
Hoping to be in her new home before the wedding of Mr. Bingley and Jane Bennet took place, Charlotte answered, “Indeed, Sir, the earliest day that is proper will do. We must have the banns proclaimed again, and then we have nothing to delay us except some dresses that are being made for me.”
“I hope none of them are too elegant,” said Mr. Collins in alarm. “Lady Catherine is very conscious of what one wears, and although she expects one to look respectable, she does not wish to see elegance of dress in anyone who does not have the rank to make it suitable. She would be particularly critical of any attire that could overshadow that of her daughter Anne. As you and Lady Anne are somewhat of an age, you may sometimes be expected to amuse her, for as I have explained, Lady Anne is not in health.”
“Perhaps I can be of use to her,” said Charlotte, “and I promise you that no dress of mine will surpass anything Lady Anne, or Lady Catherine, for that ma
tter, might wear. I am chiefly ordering dresses that will do you honour when I sit in the pew and you speak from the pulpit, with a couple that are suitable for any evenings we might be invited to spend at Rosings.”
“Dear Charlotte, it is as if you are already settled in my house, although I have by no means given you all the particulars you may expect, nor have I done justice to Rosings itself.”
“You must save some details for our long ride to Hunsford after the wedding, “said Charlotte hastily, “for I shall want to discover some of these wonders for myself. Come, Mr. Collins. I believe we are called to dinner”. She took the arm he offered, but had no real hope that she would not hear about the magnificent rooms of Rosings during the meal.
Lady Lucas, having found it more pleasant to exile herself from Longbourn until Mrs. Bennet would forgive her for the crime of abetting the marriage of her eldest daughter and Mr. Collins, was not as knowledgeable of local affairs as she had once been. Only after a rare visit to Meryton, where she was captured by Mrs. Phillips, who did not share her sister’s current hatred of all things Lucas, did she learn of the interesting events that had lately been happening in their neighbourhood. That evening, as she and Charlotte shared some sewing, she reported, “Do you know that Mr. Bingley has left Netherfield, possibly never to return?”
Charlotte turned to her mother. “What are you saying?”
“That Mr. Bingley is gone for good. I had it from Mrs. Phillips who had it from Mrs. Bennet who had it from Jane Bennet herself.”
“Jane Bennet?”
“Yes. I had already heard from Mrs. Bennet that she was vexed because Mr. Bingley had canceled a dinner engagement at Longbourn in order to make a short stay in London on matters of business.”
“But he was to return directly, was he not?”
“Indeed. But it seems Jane Bennet has had two letters from Miss Caroline Bingley. The first of these informed Jane that the party at Netherfield had taken the notion to follow Mr. Bingley to London lest he suffer from the loss of their companionship.”
“But they intended to return, did they not?”
“Jane was informed in a second letter from Miss Bingley that they had all decided to remain in town, since it was so much more amusing than Netherfield. Miss Bingley wrote that she did not expect they would ever return.”
Charlotte’s mind raced as she heard these revelations. “But what of Jane herself? I—that is, so many people thought that she and Mr. Bingley had formed a strong attachment.”
“Mrs. Phillips said that Mrs. Bennet said that Jane is somewhat out of spirits with this news. It had been hoped, of course, that Mr. Bingley would like her enough to marry her, but apparently he did not. And after she had become so intimate with his sisters and even stayed in his very house! But Jane persists in saying that he has done or said nothing to her that was improper. She did not say that to Mrs. Phillips but to her mother. It seems Mrs. Bennet was more grieved by this news than Jane herself was, and upbraided Jane for not contriving more cleverly to win his affection.”
For a moment Charlotte felt sympathy for Jane Bennet, which emotion was quickly followed by a burst of joy that Bingley was free! Only then did she remember that she herself was not free, that she had promised to be the wife of Mr. Collins. Would she have courted Mr. Collins so steadfastly if she had realized that Mr. Bingley was not the property of Jane?
Recognizing her lack of sense, she quickly asked, “And how is Mrs. Bennet bearing up after the loss of another of her dreams of a married daughter?”
“Poor soul,” said Lady Lucas. “How trying it must be to face two such disappointments in this short time. I have not visited her of late, as you know, and for some reason she does not come here, but Mrs. Phillips said that Mrs. Bennet is in a state of strain due to the unreliable nature of her nerves. I assure you, I feel greatly for her.”
“I’m sure that you do,” said Charlotte, “just as much as she would feel for you in similar circumstances.
“You are exactly correct,” said Lady Lucas, and the two of them resumed their sewing.
In a few days it was widely reported that Jane Bennet had gone to London with her aunt and uncle, the Gardiners. Half the neighbourhood whispered that the visit was meant to distract her from her broken heart. The other half was of the opinion that she went to town to pursue Mr. Bingley where he had gone to ground.”
“Of course, it’s not true,” said Elizabeth to Charlotte when they explored these two views “You know that Jane always behaved with the greatest circumspection and modesty.”
“Yes,” agreed Charlotte. “She did what she could to waylay gossip. But apparently she was not so successful as she might have wished.”
“These neighbours of ours always like a good story, but now that the Bingleys and Jane and soon you, Charlotte will no longer be where we can watch you, of whom will we speak?”
“Perhaps they will speak of your longing for Mr. Wickham,” teased Charlotte.’
“I assure you that I am in complete control of my feelings where Mr. Wickham is concerned. That is not to say that were circumstances different I might be longing for his company.”
“Poor Lizzy. Always admired by the wrong man. Now that can strain the nerves. You will grow pale and listless if you do not take a care.
“I? Not likely. And I assure you that any feeling I have for Mr. Wickham is safely contained, although I will never admit that one actually existed. As for today, I am as likely to appear to long for the company of Mr. Darcy as for that of Mr. Wickham.”
“It is good you have no regrets,” said Charlotte.
“I regret that Mr. Wickham was so cruelly treated by Mr. Darcy. If Mr. Darcy had been a man of honour and had carried out his father’s wishes, no impediment of fortune would prevent our considering marriage.”
.Early in January Mr. Collins arrived at Lucas Lodge to prepare himself for the wedding. It was set for the ninth day of January, and as a result of the efficiency of Lady Lucas, Charlotte, and a hired seamstress, all was in such readiness that a wagon filled with clothes and furnishings preceded them to the rectory in Hunsford three days before the Collins took occupancy.
The ceremony itself took place without any blunders, unless one noticed the loudness of Mr. Collins’s responses to the traditional questions. By this time Charlotte knew Mr. Collins well enough to recognize that it was with great restraint that he kept himself from elaborating on those responses. Charlotte had with difficulty convinced him that there was no need to mention Lady Catherine or Rosings at any point in the service.
Book Two
Chapter One
THE WEDDING WAS CELEBRATED on a fine winter morning, after which Charlotte and Mr. Collins waved to all from the coach which had been supplied by Lady Catherine de Bourgh for ease in their journey. It had been decided they would leave immediately for the rectory at Hunsford,
“I hope you are prepared for a somewhat lengthy journey, Mrs. Collins,” said Mr. Collins, using her new name for the first time. “It is almost exactly fifty miles from here to Rosings, that is, to the rectory.”
“That far?” said Charlotte, although this was information she had previously possessed. “And how kind of Lady Catherine to send this carriage for us.”
“She has also arranged for fresh horses at each of the way stations,” said Mr. Collins. “I think there is not another woman in all of England who would exhibit such concern for the comfort of a woman she has not yet met, although I assure you, my reports of your demeanor have been entirely favourable. Lady Catherine was well pleased, as I had hoped. I do not doubt that when she first greets you she will turn to me and nod her head in approval.”
“You are kindness itself, Mr. Collins,” said Charlotte. “I heartily thank you for preparing my way for me.”
“It is more agreeable for Lady Catherine to know what sort of person to expect, and you will admit that I have more than readied you for the occasion. You need not fear she will awe you into silence.”
; “I have no fear,” said Charlotte, “because you have been so conscientious on my behalf and on that of Lady Catherine.” Charlotte, noted that she was already weary of praising her husband and his mentor, and they were little more than a mile on their journey. “Husband,” said she, and that was the first time she ever addressed him as such, “tell me again of the rectory. I am so eager to see it.”
“You will understand that our house has none of the beauty or grandeur of Rosings, my dear Mrs. Collins. Have I told you of the dining room at Rosings, of the plate and china upon which we may expect to dine?”
Realizing that she would hear yet another description of Lady Catherine’s house, and nothing of the one in which she would live, Charlotte allowed her thoughts to wander. She began to hope his voice would fail, for surely silence would be preferable to this constant relating of things he had previously related to her. Arranging her features in a picture of bright interest, she found she need do no more than smile when he reminded her of the good fortune she enjoyed by being his wife.
The lap robe they shared did not suffice to protect them from the winter cold..By noontime Charlotte felt chilled beyond tolerance; her feet were numb, her lips were dry, and for one of the few times in her adult life, she had an impulse to cry. This was, in fact, the longest journey she had ever taken. Fifty miles. She could not comprehend such a distance. When would she be in her home?
She had long since ceased to listen to Mr. Collins. Without volition her mind turned to an imaginary wedding trip with Mr. Bingley at her side. He would notice her discomfort and tell the coachman to put up in the nearest inn so she could warm herself. They would sit together in front of a fire, and when no one was looking he would chafe her hands until they were warm. Once back in the coach, he would open his coat so that she could comfort herself by pressing against the warmth of his body.