“Retire sir?” asked Mr. Gardiner. “Have we just completed supper and need to separate to refresh ourselves? I am not understanding you.”
Collins blustered for a moment, “Mr. Gardiner, certainly we cannot discuss business with ladies present. It would affect their composure... their very felicity to be exposed to matters of pounds and inheritances.”
“For my part, I want my daughters to remain,” Mr. Bennet replied. “Jane and Elizabeth have good heads on their shoulders for ladies. I do not think anything Mr. Collins says will harm their senses.”
Collins frowned but fell silent and Mr. Darcy’s attorney stood up and addressed the gentlemen and ladies. For his own family, he would have separated the ladies from such conversations as well but he understood from Mr. Darcy that these were exceptional women with education and thought. And it appeared that the parson from Lady Catherine’s glebe could lay claim to neither such characteristic.
“Upon request of Mr. Darcy, I have examined the claims and requests of Mr. William Collins for alterations in the marriage settlement dated 4 November of last year and signed by Mr. Thomas Bennet and his daughter Miss Jane Bennet, and by Mr. William Collins. I find nothing in the agreement that allows for any alterations or adjustments without breaking the agreement.”
“Mr. Collins, I understand you wish to lay claim to the entirety of the dowry of Mrs. Francis Bennet, wife of Mr. Thomas Bennet. Sir, I must inform you that to do so would require Mr. Bennet to break his own marriage settlement for Mrs. Bennet’s father stipulates the division of her dowry equally among her children.”
The attorney stared at Mr. Collins for a moment before adding, “You would have to bring suit against Mr. David Gardiner who has been dead these fifteen years past. And I have to tell you, judges do not favour the attendance of rotted corpses in their courtrooms.”
Elizabeth watched Mr. Darcy carefully as he kept his face free of emotion or opinion except for catching her eye and winking quickly.
“I do not understand you sir,” Mr. Collins said. “Her Ladyship assures me that families make changes to the marriage settlements up to the very day of the wedding.”
“That may be the case sir when both parties are in agreement to the changes,” the attorney explained. “I understand that Mr. Bennet does not wish to make the change you have requested. To change his mind, do you wish to offer any consideration to Mr. Bennet for increasing Miss Bennet’s share of the dowry?”
“No. Lady Catherine... I believe that the entire dowry should be mine because I shall have to support Mrs. Bennet and her unmarried daughters after I inherit the estate.”
Mr. Bennet leaned forward, “Do you anticipate an early inheritance, sir? I hope you are not planning to do me in with inheritance powder. Remember the scoundrel who was hung last fall for poisoning his wife for her money! They stretched his neck as his final inheritance.”
Darcy glanced at Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner and at Elizabeth – they were each piqued at Mr. Bennet for such words but the master of Longbourn did not know of their previous dealings with the dead man and it appeared that Elizabeth had not told Jane Bennet of the events.
Again flustered and blustering, Mr. Collins retreated to the directives of Lady Catherine; “It is the duty of the upper class to direct the lower classes how best to settle things! We all must listen to Lady Catherine and her wise words!”
Mr. Gardiner exchanged glances with his wife as Mr. Bennet and Mr. Collins exchanged remarks that grew heated. Mr. Darcy stepped between the two men before they came to blows.
“Gentlemen, you will be silent!” he roared and Mr. Collins fell back while Mr. Bennet grew sullen.
Darcy pointed to a chair beside the fireplace and Collins retreated to the location. Leaning forward and whispering to Mr. Bennet, Darcy asked, “Sir, do you wish to break the engagement?”
Mr. Bennet glanced toward Jane for a moment but then shook his head and returned to Mr. Gardiner’s side. Darcy turned toward Mr. Collins but before he could direct the conversation, Collins spoke, “Mr. Darcy, Lady Catherine will be displeased with both of us if we do not put the settlement into better terms. Her Ladyship assured me that you would arrange everything to suit her requirements.”
“Mr. Collins, you have entered into a binding contract with Mr. Bennet and his daughter Jane to marry her, keep her as your wife for your life, give her children and make her mistress of your house. You have agreed to see to the care of his widow and any unwed children of his marriage at the time of your inheritance.”
“But these terms...”
“Mr. Collins you will not interrupt me!” Mr. Darcy commanded and the parson sank back in the chair.
“There is nothing in the agreement that allows you to make demands for alterations. In fact, sir, if you fail to live up to your end of the agreement, Miss Bennet has actionable cause to sue you and take the entitlement for herself.” Collins stared at his fiancé for a moment as though seeing her for the first time. “I suggest sir that before you sign another contract with anyone – a tenant, steward or merchant that you have the contract reviewed by an attorney that you trust.”
“Do they mean to cheat me out of my inheritance?” Collins demanded to know. He turned back to Mr. Bennet and exclaimed, “My father always said you cheat! You cheated at university! You cheated at cards!”
Darcy stepped up and pushed Mr. Collins back into his chair once again. “Mr. Collins if you say another word, I shall use my considerable influence and power to strip you of this entailment and give it to Miss Bennet free and clear.”
Collins was silent and Darcy continued, “The settlement works to protect you as well Mr. Collins. Miss Bennet must marry you in June or her father defaults on the agreement and you would have actionable cause then to sue him for all he owns today.”
Before Collins could make any rude remarks Mr. Darcy added, “But I am certain that Miss Bennet will fulfil her side of the agreement; she will marry you, bear your sons and daughters while being mistress of whatever house you are master – be it the parsonage in Hunsford or the manor house known as Longbourn.”
Everyone looked at Jane who managed to smile at Mr. Collins before she rose, curtseyed and said, “Mr. Collins, we shall be man and wife this June.”
Mr. Bennet made no comment and Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner waited until Mr. Collins finally agreed. “Very well Miss Bennet. Our marriage settlement will not be changed and we shall marry in June.”
“I have a request,” Jane said, clearly and without emotion in her voice though Elizabeth feared it cost her sister dearly to be so collected.
“Yes Miss Bennet,” Mr. Darcy replied, not waiting for Mr. Bennet or Mr. Collins to speak.
“I should like to visit Hunsford before the wedding. Mr. Collins, would it be possible for you to arrange for my stay at the parsonage for a month at Easter?” Jane looked at Elizabeth and took her sister’s hand. “I am certain that my sister will accompany me to view our future home, take the staff in hand and set the house to rights.”
“But who would act as chaperone for you and your sister, Miss Bennet?” Mr. Collins asked. “There is no one suitable in the house and Lady Catherine is a full mile or more from the parsonage. It would be inappropriate for young ladies such as you and your sister to reside under my roof without the appropriate oversight of a lady from your family of the older generation to...”
“My wife will not attend,” Mr. Bennet informed the company. “I would not trust her as far as East Bourn during the day and never overnight.”
Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy were both caught off guard but pleased to hear Mr. Gardiner say, “I believe that my wife can act as a suitable chaperone for my nieces for a month-long visit to Hunsford.”
Mrs. Gardiner rose and curtsied to Mr. Collins. “I should be pleased to visit with my nieces Mr. Collins.”
“Well then, that settles everything,” Mr. Bennet said. He rose and went to the sideboard for glass of port.
Mrs. Gardiner escorted Mr. Collins to th
e door, asking for the number of bedrooms and space for servants. “How many children will you bring?” the parson asked suddenly.
“There will be many children at Hunsford in a few years, Mr. Collins. My three children and their nanny will bring life to your parsonage sir. I am certain you can anticipate having many children soon – Jane’s mother had five children in just seven years.”
Mr. Collins paused to consider Mrs. Gardiner’s estimation of Jane’s potential for giving him children and suddenly he paled.
“We shall arrive in the middle of March and remain as your guests until the middle of April,” Mrs. Gardiner promised. “We shall set all to rights in the parsonage in preparation for Jane’s arrival as your bride in June.”
++**++
Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy managed to find a private corner to talk while Mr. Bennet and Mr. Gardiner escorted the attorneys to the door. Mrs. Gardiner returned without Mr. Collins and she went Jane.
“We shall set Hunsford to rights at Easter my dear. Things will be well,” Mrs. Gardiner assured her niece before she stepped to the hall and ordered tea.
“How have you been this winter Miss Elizabeth?” Darcy asked.
“Well enough but Longbourn has been out of sorts with the many letters from Mr. Collins.”
“He proposed changes after the agreement has been signed and closed. You were correct to question his ability to manage Longbourn.”
“I worry that if he treats our tenants in this manner, he will have no one to work the fields within one season.”
“This is my aunt’s influence. I shall make certain that he works with the steward at Rosings rather that listening to my aunt to learn how to manage his inheritance. She has bankrupted Rosings with interference.”
“Mr. Darcy, my cousin has told me that Lady Catherine is without doubt the greatest noblewoman in the kingdom,” Elizabeth teased.
Darcy smiled, “I look forward to your battle of wits with my aunt when you visit Hunsford in March.”
“Tell me of you... and Georgiana,” she added. “How have you been this winter?”
“We work very hard to pass our days industriously and wait for spring,” he replied.
“I imagine that my father will take Jane and I home tomorrow. We shall return in just a month to journey to Hunsford with our aunt and cousins.”
“Will you stay in town before you go to Hunsford?”
The parlour door opened and Mr. Gardiner guided the maid with the tea service to a table while Mr. Bennet spoke to Mrs. Gardiner about the day’s events. Jane approached her aunt and father while Mr. Darcy rose and escorted Elizabeth to the others around the tea service.
++**++
Chapter 21.
Jane’s Easter Visit to Hunsford
The weather in March varied from spring to winter but transportation across southern England was easy when Mrs. Gardiner, Jane and Elizabeth travelled from London to Kent. They arrived at the parsonage in Hunsford on a Wednesday afternoon and quickly found that Mr. Collins was not at home. A maid with matted hair and dirty dress served them tea made with old leaves and lukewarm water in the dark and musty parlour. There were no biscuits, the cream was curdled and the sugar was hardened. When she examined the tea cups, Mrs. Gardiner found they were dirty.
“Where is Mr. Collins?” Jane asked the maid.
The girl placed her hand on her hip and replied, “How am I to know? His high and mightiness...”
“Enough!” Mrs. Gardiner commanded. “Come girls!”
A thunderstorm struck the kitchen at the parsonage in the next hour that set the maids scrambling as the ladies took hold of the servants and the parsonage.
Elizabeth went through the pantry with the cook, throwing out spoiled and moulded grain, flour and dried fruit.
“You could kill the vicar and his guests with this grain!” Elizabeth hissed. “And the magistrate would send you to hang in Canterbury Square for it! We shall feed this to the hens.”
“The coop is empty miss,” the cook explained.
“There are no hens or cocks?” Elizabeth asked with surprise.
“Mr. Collins likes chicken pie and he ordered the housekeeper to butcher all the birds for pies this winter.”
“So there are no eggs? No hens to lay eggs?”
“Where is the soap?” Jane asked the maid-of-all-work. “We will get these dishes clean or there’ll be no supper for anyone!”
Mrs. Gardiner cornered the housekeeper against the servant’s dining table and questioned the woman closely on her experience and future wishes to remain employed at the parsonage.
“But madam, Mr. Collins contradicts all of my directions to the maids,” the housekeeper complained. “When I have the maids clean the fireplaces early in the morning, he tells me that they should lay the fires during his breakfast. Then he complains when the rooms are not warm when he rises from breaking his fast.”
“My niece and I will handle her fiancé,” Mrs. Gardiner assured the housekeeper. “Now, when was the last time you did a wash of the bedding?”
The woman’s face grew pale.
++**++
When Mr. Collins made an appearance at his parsonage, he found the entire household in an uproar with Elizabeth and a maid moving the carpets from the parlour to the garden for beating, and the furniture in the parlour all moved to one side of the room as Mrs. Gardiner directed the housekeeper and two young girls on their knees in scrubbing the floor. He fled to the kitchen for a pot of tea only to discover Miss Bennet – his fiancé – assisting a maid and another girl scrubbing every surface with lye soap amid stacks of clean dishes on the tables and sinks.
“Mr. Collins, I hope you are well this afternoon,” Jane said and Mr. Collins was aghast to find his fiancée – a lady – helping to clean the kitchen.
“Miss Bennet, what is the meaning of this?”
Jane looked surprised but addressed Mr. Collins calmly, “Sir, I am setting this house to rights! If I am to be mistress here, it will be clean and orderly. That way when you come home, I can offer you hot tea with fresh biscuits, good meals and an orderly house.”
Standing in the doorway of the kitchen, Mrs. Gardiner remained silent but she was pleased with her niece’s statement. Mr. Collins fumbled about for a moment before Mrs. Gardiner took him in hand and sent him to his study with the promise of tea in a short while.
“I brought that tin of biscuits from London,” she reminded Jane when the tea tray was prepared.
“Shall I take it to him?”
“No Jane,” Aunt Gardiner answered gently. “Send the housekeeper to deliver this tray.”
Supper that evening was a little fresh meat, cheese and bread. Everyone retired early with little conversation.
++**++
Chapter 22.
Lady Catherine’s Call on the Parsonage
On the third morning of their visit to Hunsford, Edward and Emily sat in the dining room with their Nanny tending to their lessons while the housekeeper directed two maids in spreading yet another load of laundry on the shrubbery to dry in the spring sunshine.
Inside the parsonage, the stairs were blocked with the ticking for all of the beds being tumbled down the stairs to spend the day in the sunshine outside.
“You must stuff the mattresses with the driest hay you can find this summer Jane. We should speak to the tenants now to have them save a goodly amount for the parsonage.” Mrs. Gardiner was embarrassed by the state of the bedrooms in the parsonage. “I do not think these mattresses have been changed in years!”
“I shall have a new mattress for my bed,” Jane assured her aunt and sister. “Mamma insisted that the mattresses be changed every other year at Longbourn.”
Mr. Collins appreciated the immediate improvement in the meal served when he broke his fast but he donned his coat and hat to flee from the parsonage immediately following the last cup of tea.
“I must call upon some of my parishioners,” he explained to Jane who had hoped for his assistance with the matt
resses. The morning was still much too young for callers when a carriage stopped in front of the house, and a footman approached to request the presence of Miss Bennet.
“Who would call at such an hour?” Elizabeth asked as Jane and Aunt Gardiner quickly checked their hair before leaving the house and approaching the carriage.
Elizabeth turned to continue with the cleaning only to find the housekeeper, cook, maids and hired girls all standing at the window watching the two ladies approach the carriage.
“Watch ‘em curtsey,” one maid told the others. “Like old Lady Catherine will notice them being polite.”
“She’d notice if’n they didn’t curtsey!” the cook insisted. “There’s no pleasing that woman.”
“Perhaps we should continue with the cleaning,” Elizabeth prompted the servants. “Miss Bennet and Mrs. Gardiner will tell us everything when they return.”
The housekeeper shook her head, “Begging your pardon miss, but Miss Bennet is getting told how to cut her bread, what knife to use to slice ham, which herbs to harvest in June, how to fold her bedding, and when to conceive a child. Miss Bennet will not be able to repeat all Lady Catherine’s advice under an hour.”
Elizabeth glanced back at the carriage where her sister and aunt were attempting to converse with a lady who sat very stiffly with grey hair under an overly large hat. And it appeared that the woman’s mouth never stopped moving.
“This is Mr. Darcy’s aunt? I do not wish to meet her for the first time dressed in a dirty gown.” Her attention returned to the servants once again and Elizabeth insisted that they return to their tasks.
“Come ladies, these mattresses must be in the garden before long!”
At just that moment, Aunt Gardiner returned to the house with the two footmen from the carriage and the strong men made quick work of getting the mattresses from the house into the garden.
Only after almost an hour did Lady Catherine decide that she had imparted enough wisdom to Miss Bennet for their first meeting. Jane watched the carriage drive away before slowing returning to the house.
Saving Jane Page 14