Page 49 of Saving Jane
“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.”
Sighing, she added, “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 than 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 me 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.
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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 teacups, 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.
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