Jane looked troubled and twisted her hands together.
Elizabeth reached over and placed her hand on Jane’s.“Talk to Charles.He knows his sister better than we think.I do not think she has him fooled.He will deal honestly with you and you may come up with a plan to deal with her together.”
Jane nodded.“Very well.I shall speak to Charles, but I hope you are wrong.”
“For your sake, Jane, I hope I am wrong, too.But I do not think I am.”
The carriage pulled up to Longbourn and the ladies climbed out, asking the groom to see to their horses who were tied to the back.They made their way inside only to be waylaid by their mother just inside the door.
“Girls!There you are,” cried Mrs.Bennet.“You’ll never believe what has happened.”
“What is it?”asked Kitty.
“Your cousin has arrived.”
“Claude is here?”cried Elizabeth, moving towards the front parlor.
“No, no, your father’s cousin on the Bennet side.Mr.Collins.”
“Mr.Collins who will inherit the estate?”asked Kitty.
Mrs.Bennet scowled.“Do not remind me, child.”She huffed, then pulled them further into the hall and spoke in a hushed voice.“He is here looking for a wife.Since the rest of you are marked, I have encouraged him towards Mary.”
“Mary?”asked Kitty.
“Shhh!He will hear you.They are reading scripture together in the front room.Do not distract him.”
“Will we not meet him sometime?”asked Kitty.
“She does not want him to see the sisters he cannot have until Mary has secured him,” said Elizabeth dryly.
“Lizzy, that is unkind,” scolded Jane.
“I speak of mama’s motives, not Mary’s attributes,” defended Elizabeth.
“Oh, go upstairs, all of you!You are giving me a headache.”Mrs.Bennet shooed them away.
“I will just go to Papa,” said Jane as they passed the study.
Kitty and Elizabeth smiled at her encouragingly and made their way upstairs.
“Lydia!”called Kitty.They found their youngest sister in the nursery on the third floor, a room they only visited when they wanted to hide from visitors or their mother.“Tell us about Mr.Collins.”
Lydia set down the book she was reading and sighed dramatically.“Oh, he is a dreadful bore!I thought I might actually fall asleep standing up when we greeted him yesterday.He kept us standing in the hall for ten minutes, going on about how pleased he was to be at Longbourn.”
“So you do not like him?”said Kitty.
“He is ridiculous!He never stops speaking, but he never actually says anything!He only talks about his patroness, some nosy old woman called Lady Catherine.He speaks about her as if she were the queen and not some batty old woman in Kent.”
“You do not know she is batty,” said Elizabeth.
“If she is even half like what Mr.Collins says of her, she is batty.”
“Does Mary seem to like him?”asked Elizabeth.
“That’s the strangest thing of all!”exclaimed Lydia.“She does.I do not know what she sees in him, but if he makes her happy, that is her choice.”
“I am surprised you are so magnanimous, Lydia.Brava.”
