Page 46 of Saving Jane
“I knew the man’s father to be a fool,” Mr Bennet continued. “Now I believe I have proof that Mr Collins is a fool without manhood! His patroness, the high and mighty Lady Catherine de Bourgh has suggested that I disinherit my other daughters in favour of leaving your entire dowry to my eldest daughter. Listen to what he writes...”
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It is with great beneficence that Lady Catherine de Bourgh advises me regarding my future matrimonial felicity and in Her Ladyship’s highly favoured opinion, Mrs Bennet’s dowry of five thousand pounds should remain consolidated in a single sum and pass to Miss Bennet (or Mrs Collins as she will be in June) upon the passing of yourself and your amiable lady. Since I am to have the expense of supporting the widow Bennet and her other daughters, it seems only appropriate that I should have the full amount of Mrs Bennet’s legacy.
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“I do not wonder that Lady Catherine will advise him how to conduct himself in the marriage bed!”
Kitty managed to giggle at that statement through Mr Bennet realized he had shocked his wife and three eldest daughters.
“I shall not even bother to reply to this message from the fool from Hunsford!” Mr Bennet wadded up the paper and threw it toward the fireplace though he missed the flames, and the pages landed on the carpets. He stormed out of the parlour and the family heard the door to the study slam.
The ladies sat in silence for a few minutes before Elizabeth asked, “Mary, was Mr Lucas to call today?”
“I do not believe that he will visit Lizzy. If a snowstorm is coming, he will remain at Lucas Lodge and check on his tenants.”
“Like our steward is doing today,” Jane said confidently. Elizabeth wondered that her father had already lapsed back to allowing the steward to perform all the master’s tasks.
Mrs Bennet picked at a few threads in a towel she was mending but said nothing as the first snowflakes began to fall. Elizabeth waited until Jane was comforting their mother and Mary was attempting to teach Kitty a new stitch before she walked toward the fireplace and retrieved the crumpled letter where her father had thrown it. She had remained ignorant of the particulars of thecorrespondence between Mr Collins and her father–Mr Bennet did not share any of the letters before he consigned them to the flames. So, she slipped the letter into her pocket and returned to her seat.
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The next morning, with snow falling in earnest since sometime in the night, Elizabeth sat before the window in the parlour watching the storm paint a winter scene from a fairy tale. The grass and shrubbery were covered by white frosting. The distant woods and fences were dressed in top hats of white and the roads and fields vanished under the blanket of snow.
With no one else in the room, she drew the crumpled letter from her pocket and read a sermon on the greatness of Lady Catherine and the same lady’s interest in the details of Mr Collins and Jane’s engagement. In an attempt to parse and understand his meaning, she read and re-read the painfully long sentences that Mr Collins committed to paper.
‘Are his Sunday sermons this verbose?’she wondered and shuddered to think she might be subjected to them in the future. Surely, she would be allowed to visit Jane at Hunsford.
After careful consideration, Elizabeth decided to enlist the aid of her uncle in London by writing to her aunt and including the letter from Mr Collins. Aunt Gardiner would share the information with her husband and perhaps they could calm Mr Bennet and restrain Mr Collins before further harm was done to relations within the family.
As she watched the snowfall, Elizabeth quietly composed the letter in her head, not putting any words on paper to be found and read by her sisters or mother until she was quite ready to put the complete letter to paper. When finished, she allowed the ink to dry and sprinkled it with fine sand before pouring off the excess and capturing it in a bowl to return to the sifter once again.
Then she added the folded letter from Mr Collins with the letter to her aunt and sealed it with wax. Once the wax was cooled, she slipped the letter into the pocket of her day dress rather than take it to the foyer where the out-going mail waited on a silver tray.
The snow was deep, and the English countryside slumbered under the white blanket for two more days before postal riders ventured forth on slow but sturdy horses to make the rounds of houses for letters. Elizabeth rose from the dining table to venture into the hall when she saw Mrs Hill approaching the doorway with the small purse of coins for franking letters.
A letter to Georgiana lay alongside the heavier letter to Aunt Gardiner in her pocket but neither of her parents paid her any attention as she drew them from the pocket and added them to the several letters waiting.
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When February arrived, grey and cold in Hertfordshire, Mr Bennet called Jane and Elizabeth into his office before tea. When his daughters were seated, Mr Bennet sighed.
“My correspondence with Mr Collins has reached an impasse. The man’s demands increase with every letter and his patron has interfered so severely that I am prepared to break with the man completely. Unfortunately to do so would imperil our ability to continue here at Longbourn even while I am alive.”
Jane and Elizabeth remained silent, and Mr Bennet explained, “My brother Phillips is an excellent attorney–Jane and Mr Collins must marry in June. But as my brother has explained to me several times and I have finally heard him; I cannot make changes to the marriage settlement or the engagement–but neither can Mr Collins. If he demands changes, he breaks the engagement, loses the entailment and since Jane is the aggrieved party, she then becomes the heiress of the entailment.”
Jane schooled her features to betray no emotion at her father’s words, but Elizabeth noticed the slight tap of her sister’s toe against the carpets.
“Mr Gardiner has kindly offered his services and the services of his own attorney to speak with Mr Collins–my correspondence with Mr Gardiner has spoken of nothing but Mr Collins since Christmas. After some negotiations, Mr Collins is coming to London to speak with Lady Catherine’s nephew–Mr Darcy of all people–and your Uncle Gardiner regarding the settlement. I have decided to go to London for the meeting and I desire the two of you to attend me.”
“London?” Jane asked.
“Mr Darcy is in London?” Elizabeth asked and both her father and sister smiled. “Miss Darcy has said nothing of her brother’s travels this winter.”
“Lizzy, have you made Miss Darcy aware of my problems with Mr Collins?”
“No Papa, I would not write of such things to Georgiana. And I cannot write to Mr Darcy.”
