Prudence and Practicality

by C. J. Hill

  Sir William had not enjoyed himself so much in a long time; Charlotte mused quietly upon her new-found information regarding her friend, and Mr. Darcy, Mr. Wickham and Mr. Collins; Maria was too exhausted to speak and Lady Lucas hoped aloud, that Mrs. Bennet had strained her voice this evening and would be silent for the next two weeks.

  VI

  Charlotte permitted herself the luxury of rising the next morning after the events of the night before. She had elected to take her breakfast in bed in order to give herself time to consider all of the confidences she had gleaned from Eliza from the night before.

  First, Charlotte was intrigued with her friend’s interest in a soldier, a certain Mr. Wickham whose eligibility Charlotte was hoping to ascertain as soon as possible. Eliza certainly considered him to be eligible and from all accounts he had already won her over with his charming manners and humility. Indeed, the partial story that Lizzy had recounted to Charlotte was one of severe misfortune administered by Mr. Darcy with whom Mr. Wickham had apparently spent his childhood. Charlotte was, however, much more interested in her friend’s rage at his being maligned by Miss Bingley; a lady who, Charlotte was sure, had no personal interest in the gentleman and so could not have any underhand motive for doing so. She had claimed, according to Eliza, that she had merely wished to help Elizabeth avoid experiencing an unpleasant side of her chosen suitor, namely that he was accused of treating Mr. Darcy in a most infamous manner although she could not divulge any details.

  Charlotte’s observations over the years had been that men usually had some sort of past which sometimes would haunt them in later years, but the trouble taken by a lady of Miss Bingley’s standing, and at her own ball too, to give such a warning inferred to Charlotte that here was a hint of something seriously amiss with Elizabeth’s choice, and she determined to make further enquiries of her father and other acquaintances in the village regarding the status of Mr. Wickham.

  Elizabeth, she had clearly witnessed last night, had been so captivated by Mr. Wickham’s words against Mr. Darcy and his look of honesty, that she had hardly been able to countenance even one dance with the offender. Charlotte’s advice to Elizabeth regarding Mr. Darcy being the favourite of the two due to his status had made no impression; her friend had gone most unwillingly to dance and, from observing them whilst dancing and their discussion afterwards, Charlotte had detected little improvement in her friend’s opinion of him. Just what had Mr. Darcy committed against Mr. Wickham that made them enemies? And what was the secret that no one, not even Miss Bingley, knew that had passed between the two men?

  And then, of course, there was the question of Mr. Collins who had so clearly decided that Elizabeth was to be his lucky bride. Of more concern, was how soon would Mr. Collins propose?

  Charlotte was interrupted in her musings by a knock on the door and her sister, Maria, entered, excited to see her sister awake and able to discuss the events of the ball in every detail.

  “Did you notice that every lady from London had many layers of lace on her dress, Charlotte? And their headdresses! How I should like to have one like that. How many dances did you dance? There were ever so many eligible men there, were not there?”

  Charlotte smiled and, remembering that Maria had been excluded from these events previously, discussed with as much interest as she could muster the ladies’ evening gowns, the men who danced well and those who did not. She spent some time on the ridiculousness of Mr. Collins, whom Maria had not met but had heard enough from her friends to know that he was to be avoided at all costs. Maria was not interested in a clergyman; she talked more about the soldiers in their uniforms, and the food, and the entertainment, and the decorations, and the London society, and their manners.

  When Maria had completed her recollections, Charlotte excused herself so that she might prepare for the day; the morning was drawing on and she felt obliged to visit with her friend to try to spread some seeds of doubt in her mind regarding Mr. Wickham. Charlotte wanted her friend to be happy, and that was where her concern lay. Perhaps if she spoke with Eliza again she would glean more information than last night when the distraction of the ball and the figure of Mr. Darcy were uppermost in both of their thoughts. Perhaps she could talk with Lydia, she mused; Eliza’s youngest sister spent an inordinate amount of time visiting the soldiers in Meryton and had danced every dance last night with them. Lydia may have some insight into Mr. Wickham without realising it; unless information was important to her, Lydia would dismiss it out of hand.

  With this idea fresh in her mind, Charlotte passed through the front hall into the kitchen where cook was preparing lunch.

  “Good morning, Mrs. Dunn! Thank you for arranging for my breakfast this morning; I am not sure that I enjoy late nights as much as I used to.”

  “Good morning, Miss Lucas. I thought you might be tired this morning, coming in late as you did. I do hope you enjoyed the ball. Your mother’s tray has not been touched yet – should I have it cleared away?”

  “Oh, yes, thank you, Mrs. Dunn. Mother will be asleep a while yet – is Sir William abroad?”

  “Yes, indeed Miss. He was up at his regular time, took his coffee and went out to the stables. From there I don’t know where he went. How many for lunch today, Miss?”

  “I will not be dining today but I expect the rest of the family will be at home. I will leave the dinner arrangements to your discretion as I expect to remain away all day. Good day, Mrs. Dunn.”

  Wrapping her walking cloak firmly around her, Charlotte proceeded on her short walk to Longbourn, through lanes still crunchy in places from the overnight frost not yet touched by the weak November sun. It was a pleasant enough day for a walk through the country and Charlotte was happy in her solitude, anticipating much interesting discussion of the previous night and, hopefully, more insight into her mission that was Mr. Wickham.

  As she entered the park around Longbourn, Charlotte immediately recognised voices raised, either in anger or heated discussion, and was debating whether she should return to Lucas Lodge or impose herself into such a situation when she was spied from a downstairs window by Lydia who came running out of the house in great excitement, accompanied by her sister, Kitty.

  “Lord, Charlotte! I am glad you have come, for there is such fun here! – What do you think has happened this morning? – Mr. Collins has made an offer to Lizzy, and she will not have him!”

  Shocked into silence at the news and the immodest manner in which Lydia presented it, Charlotte found herself unable to respond coherently before being dragged into the breakfast room to face Mrs. Bennet, who was obviously the source of the commotion heard from outside only minutes before.

  Trying to control herself, but spectacularly failing to do so, Mrs. Bennet applied to the newcomer to please persuade her friend Lizzy to do as her family would desire her to do and accept Mr. Collins’ proposal. Mrs. Bennet was clearly beside herself at the thought of a daughter refusing a genuine and beneficial proposal from such a source that was capable of relieving two of her most vexatious concerns. Elizabeth must marry Mr. Collins if only for the relief it would bring her mother.

  Charlotte, although cognizant of the Bennet entailment, having been educated a little on the matter the night before, knew that even something as serious as that would not persuade her friend to consider such a man for a husband since Lizzy herself had dismissed it as impossible.

  Charlotte at the time had reflected that Lizzy was, as always, much too concerned with the love and respect that she believed essential to convince her to marry; Charlotte, on the other hand, could see how this proposal would be beneficial enough to convince any other woman in a similar situation to accept him.

  As she tried to appease Mrs. Bennet, Jane and Elizabeth both walked into the breakfast room to greet their visitor but were met instead by a barrage of scathing words from their mother. Charlotte listened as Mrs. Bennet warned Elizabeth that if she continued on this path there would be no guarantee of her having a future offer, nor of
having a place to stay when the house was entailed away to the man she was so selfishly refusing. Listening, Charlotte reflected that her own fate was not so dissimilar to what Mrs. Bennet feared for her girls; she, too, would be dependent upon the good will of her father and, later, her brothers if she should not be happy in marriage.

  She went to greet her friend and Jane, but not more than that was allowed before Mr. Collins entered the room in a stately, stiff manner, registering his displeasure at the turn of events through his resentful air and utter lack of recognition of his cousin.

  Mrs. Bennet insisted that they all leave her and Mr. Collins to a private talk; she was clearly hoping to salvage something from the disaster that had befallen her family, and so Elizabeth, Jane and Kitty all passed quietly out of the room, pleased to leave such drama and discomfort, but Lydia elected to stay to watch the fun unfold further, and Mr. Collins himself detained Charlotte as soon as he spied her across the room.

  “Miss Lucas!” He bowed deeply, managing to infuse into even that most ordinary action the displeasure that permeated his very being. His desire to appear civil, regardless of the occasion, overcame him and he proceeded to ask after her family minutely. After being advised that they were, “well, thank you sir,” he continued along the same path anxious to make doubly sure that they were in good health and approached the subject from another angle.

  “I was so happy to meet you and your parents last evening. I do hope the evening was not overtiring for them. I am very aware, due to my offices in my parish, just how wearing these kinds of events can be on senior members of our society.”

  Charlotte saw that even though a personal disaster had befallen him that very morning, nothing was going to redirect his mislaid sense of courtesy without a more fluent answer.

  “You are very kind, sir, and I thank you on behalf of my parents who are both extremely well as of this morning. My father was, in truth, up betimes this morning on some particular errand of his own; they are both less senior, and more active, than they appear, sir.”

  Taking her gentle reprimand about the age of her parents without showing any knowledge that it was, indeed, a reprimand, Mr. Collins nodded and continued.

  “And you, Miss Lucas. How did you enjoy the festivities last evening? I do feel that a ball, given by a respectable gentleman, can only bring the greatest pleasure to its guests. I, myself was enchanted by the spectacle and am only sorry that it will not be a repeated pleasure that I can look forward to due to my cousin’s decision this very morning.”

  His accusatory words fell heavily on Mrs. Bennet’s ears and she was sorely affected.

  “Oh, Mr. Collins!” cried Mrs. Bennet, reminded of her daughter’s stubbornness. Rising up from her chair she approached him with arms outstretched in supplication.

  Charlotte took the opportunity of the attention being withdrawn from her, to observe the drama unobtrusively by moving silently towards the window as Mr. Collins turned to his hostess, drawing himself up to his full height and speaking in a voice that transmitted his extreme displeasure.

  “My dear Madam, let us be forever silent on this point. I am resigned that, although I had hoped to secure an amiable companion for myself from one of your daughters, I begin to see that it is not such a great disappointment since the companion whom I chose begins to lose somewhat of her value.

  “I have certainly meant only to act to the advantage of your family but if anything I have undertaken has offended your good self, I beg leave to apologise.”

  He bowed stiffly to his hostess and accepted her offer of a chair near the fire. Their voices lowered as Mrs. Bennet and Mr. Collins discussed the matter further, but, evidently from Mr. Collins attitude, to no avail.

  Charlotte continued to pretend indifference and an inability to hear the conversation proceeding just a matter of feet away from her, but inside her head thoughts were beginning to form. Mr. Collins could not possibly have formed any strong attachment to Lizzy in so short a time – he had mentioned that he had decided to choose from “one of your daughters” - therefore, he was merely looking to satisfy his desire for a wife with his equal and most honourable wish to eliminate the issue of the entailment, which was evidently heavy on his mind.

  With this in mind, Charlotte began to work her way through the remaining Bennet daughters, as, she was sure, was Mrs. Bennet at that very moment, hoping to redirect his attentions to one of them.

  Jane was all but spoken for by Mr. Bingley; Kitty was too young and untutored to be the wife of a rector. Lydia was certainly forward enough, even though she was the youngest, but she would never settle for a parson. A soldier in a fine uniform was all she would consider. The last remaining was Mary who, although reasonably learned and quite suitable for a parson’s wife, would be a dull prospect even for Mr. Collins.

  In conclusion, Charlotte determined that, indeed, there was no other possibility in the Bennet household who could hold a claim to Mr. Collins and so, in the time it took to think these thoughts, Charlotte decided to try to influence Mr. Collins for herself! She was intelligent, capable and quite able to take over the role of parson’s wife. For the first time Charlotte felt that her escape from dependence on her family might be possible even though there were only two days before Mr. Collins was due to return to Hunsford; she could certainly try to impress her character upon him at every opportunity through carrying out her advice previously given to Lizzy; by showing more interest and affection than she felt.

  Mrs. Bennet left the breakfast room in tears, dabbing her eyes with her handkerchief, announcing that she would spend the remainder of the day in her room; that she had raised an ungrateful daughter; that no one knew what she suffered with her poor nerves; that she did not know what they would all come to, growing more and more indistinct as she proceeded upstairs.

  With an understanding smile, Charlotte offered her hand to Mr. Collins in order that he might escort her from the room. With an unexplained elevation of mood, and unknowingly working into her scheme, he offered her his arm and they walked out into the drawing room to sit in front of the fire for the remainder of the morning and into the afternoon discussing his parish, Rosings Park, Lady Catherine, his plans for the Parsonage and many other points of interest to him.

  The conversation never faltered, as when Mr. Collins found he had exhausted all knowledge on one subject, his companion skilfully threaded another topic into the tapestry of his self esteem, with such an interest that he felt his good humour restored. His temper and self-importance were so much improved that, as the afternoon wore on, Mr. Collins had regained his humour enough that he managed to accept his tea from Eliza’s hand but returned immediately to his most attentive audience in Miss Lucas.

  Elizabeth was deeply grateful to her friend for taking such care of her cousin, and for keeping him in humour; she mentioned it several times to Charlotte during the course of the visit and begged her not to overexert herself knowing as she did how dull a companion her cousin was. However much Elizabeth would wish to have Charlotte as her confidante this afternoon, as at the ball, she much preferred having Charlotte deal with Mr. Collins thus relieving the rest of them that burden.

  Her mother, who found she could not be upstairs away from her prey, was not so pleased and many times attempted to engage Mr. Collins in conversation with her, to interest him in another of her girls, but to no avail. He would not shift. He had been slighted by the Bennets and now he would punish them all for the rest of his stay - for he intended remaining for the entirety of the fortnight regardless of any awkwardness - by focusing his attention elsewhere. Delivering guilt and regret; it was his vocation after all.

  The following day, the Bennets were engaged to dine with the Lucases and so Mr. Collins was also invited, even though his temper with the Bennets was not much improved and he imposed upon them the same state of angry pride and disdain. Again, during the chief part of the day, Charlotte took it upon herself to listen to his opinions and quietly lead the conversation to areas of in
terest to one, if not both, parties. She was happy to show him around Lucas Lodge, the house that she ran almost by herself, and the animals that she reared. This was all of interest to Mr. Collins as he observed the neat rows in the kitchen garden and the chickens running about their coop.

  “Miss Lucas, you are the epitome of husbandry. I am pleased to see that your influence is not only over the linens and silver-plate but also in the outdoors and the propagation of healthy foods. I, too, am most interested in gardening; I tend a large garden behind the Parsonage by myself and I hope to expand my modest undertakings with chickens and bees in the not-too-distant future.”

  “Of course I do not do anything other than order the seeds and where they are to be planted, and make sure that the chickens are fed, but I am involved in the oversight of our self-sufficiency, I assure you,” Charlotte hastened to add, in her desire to provide as ladylike, as well as useful, view of herself as possible.

  “I do sometimes collect the eggs and harvest vegetables as necessary but usually that is left to the kitchen maid to take care of under my orders.”

  “Of course, my dear Miss Lucas, I should not imagine that you would undertake any more than an oversight of the work, as befits your situation in life. Your arrangements are of the most estimable kind in every way; I applaud your management of both inside and outside areas. Your family is most fortunate indeed. I find that gardening can be quite beneficial both in healthful advantage and in resting the thoughts from the rigours of my profession. It is most relaxing and aids reflection I find. I have no pretence of being above some honest labour.”

  “Indeed, sir, I could not agree more about the healthful benefits of gardening, both to the worker and the recipient, and I am sure that your intention for different avenues in husbandry will come about in good time.”