The letter itself was canvassed at great length after the first orders to Mrs. Hill and their maid had been given. “So sudden a visit,” Elizabeth said. “Does the letter explain why he did not give more notice?”
Elizabeth worried for Jane, worried for all of them, and she had a slight worry that this change would become permanent. Her situation would become detestable if she was forced to deal with Mr. Collins daily, however amusing the gentleman might be in small, carefully measured doses. Had he perhaps fallen out with his patroness? “It is not in Mr. Collins’s manner to make a visit so suddenly.”
“Jane wishes to see me, is that not enough?” Mama replied. “And Mr. Collins, Lord, our dear Mr. Collins. He thinks of me as his own mother! He said as much.”
Lydia exclaimed, “Haha. I bet he disliked his own mother!”
Elizabeth suppressed her laugh with a faked cough as Mama scolded her youngest sister.
“But Lizzy, you shall need to be upon your finest behaviour! None of your running about and being always so impertinent. Mr. Collins is bringing a friend with him!”
And now Elizabeth suppressed her wince. It was more difficult than the suppression of her laugh. “A friend of Mr. Collins is, of course, always welcome. But I can hardly see how this would be of any particular importance to me.”
“Oh, but it shall — Mr. Collins mentioned how he thought the both of you would have a great deal in common.”
Now Elizabeth did not manage to suppress her wince. But fortunately, Mama was looking at the letter again. Lydia though saw her wince, and stuck her tongue out at Elizabeth in a gesture of clear delight thatshewas not the one who would face an unwanted suitor in the next few days.
“Let me see, yes here: And furthermore, my friend Mr. Sykes shall join us two days after the arrival of myself and my sweet Jane. He is a respected member of the neighbourhood and has been widowed nearly a year. A man who is not too old, with a tolerable estate, though he has several children half grown. He is a charming man of excellent character, and what is more a most charming manner. I do believe he has hopes of finding a new companion for his future life, now that a suitable period of time has passed since the death of the second Mrs. Sykes. I thought that he and Cousin Elizabeth might find a great deal to speak of, and that is why Lady Catherine and I suggested to Mr. Sykes that he might accompany me on my visit to Longbourn. My patroness as well is most eager to see him settled and married once more, for the sake of the neighbourhood, and for the sake of his dear children.”
After hearing that speech, Lydia giggled. “Mr. Collins thinks he is charming? La! What a joke. He’ll be the dullest man we ever met.”
“Lydia! Do not say such things,” Mama scolded her.
“Hahaha.” Lydia laughed again. “Lizzy will need to marry a dull, dull man!”
“For my part,” Mary said, “I am inclined to believe that you might like him very well, as Mr. Collins is a serious man of the cloth, and we ought to believe what he says of this Mr. Sykes.”
“Maybe,” Elizabeth suggested, “he will take one look atyou,Lydia, and be filled with an unquenchable passion, and it will be you who are obliged to marry him.”
“Na na! I would never marry someone like Mr. Collins. Not for a million pounds.”
“You would too,” Mama said. “I would insist on it.”
“La! I shall marry an officer.”
“Oh, if there was a smart young colonel, with two or three thousand a year who wished to pay court to you,” Mama sighed,“I would not object. I liked a uniform very much when I was young.”
For her part Elizabeth was now filled with substantial anxiety about the visit. At least there was the better part of a week for her to prepare herself for meeting this, almost certainly, unwanted suitor.
It was not that she would find it so difficult to refuse the man, but she feared for the consequences to the tranquillity of her life.
For most of the afternoon Elizabeth employed herself in many various tasks and errands — not only did this offer distraction, but the work itself was necessary given their paucity of servants. It was only when the family sat down for their dinner that Elizabeth was able to take the letter from her mother to peruse herself.
The desire of Mrs. Collins to see her mother was prominent in the text, as was Mr. Collins’s own filial respect for Mrs. Bennet. He specified his desire to fulfil every duty to the estate and its tenants by giving them a high example of marital fidelity, personal grace, and excellent clerical advice. Additionally, he wished to improve his acquaintance with all of the excellent members of the neighbourhood.
Despite all of this, Elizabeth suspected that the following textactuallywas the principal explanation for the visit, onto which the additional hope of foisting her upon Mr. Sykes had been then added:Lady Catherine was most surprised to hear that her nephew, Mr. Darcy of Pemberley, who she can also happily call son, and her granddaughter were present in the vicinity of Meryton, and she hopes that we will have the opportunity to extend her compliments to that exalted personage.
Darcy had said enough to make it clear that he was on no good terms with his aunt, and it seemed likely that uponlearning that he was present in the home territory of her priest, she sent him off to spy upon the gentleman. And of course he wanted to introduce Mr. Sykes to his cousins.
The descent of Mr. and Mrs. Collins upon Longbourn created a great disruption in their lives.
Mama moved herself and her clothes to Elizabeth’s bedroom, while Elizabeth was to sleep in the same bed as Mary for the duration of Mr. Collins’s visit. The guest room was to be occupied by Mr. Sykes. As they made the preparations in the room for it to be occupied by him, Mama repeated to Lizzy happily, “And Mr. Collins says he is such a charming man! Such a charming man! And with an estate of more than two thousand a year. Such a charming man!”
A recommendation of that sort from a less reliable source could not be imagined by Elizabeth.
Elizabeth was comfortably confident thatshedid not wish to become the acquaintance of anyone who Mr. Collins was eager to introduce her to.
The next two days were constantly busy as a great deal of cleaning, cooking and work filled the time of the servants and the family. An additional manservant was borrowed from the Lucases, and they hired an extra two maids of all work. Their old cook had gone to London to serve in the house of a baronet — Mama had always insisted on having an excellent table to entertain with — but they were able to hire on a contract for two weeks a cook from two towns over who had recently become unemployed after he had placed two different maids at once into a delicate condition.
