Both Bennet parents had to school their demeanours as they saw the look of abject terror on Mr. Collins’s face at the thought of one who would not only not listen to his venerated patroness, but would contradict her.
“I had so hoped to find a wife from among my cousins,” Collins moaned, “how will I be able to return and face Lady Catherine having failed her. Some days before I left, my patroness summoned me to see her. ‘Mr. Collins,’ she said, ‘you must marry. A clergyman like you must marry. In order to alleviate the pain of the entail, choose properly from among your cousins, that way, for my sake she will be a gentlewoman; and for your own, let her be an active, useful sort of lady, not brought up high, but able to make a small income go a good way, and educated in the bible so she will be a good parson’s wife. This is my advice. Find such a woman as soon as you can, bring her to Hunsford, and I will visit her.’
“What am I to do now?” Collins fairly wailed.
“It just so happens you have overlooked one of your cousins who isexactlythe type of young lady your patroness described,” Fanny stated innocently.
“Truly?” Collins perked up.
“Yes, our middle daughter, Mary. She is everything Lady Catherine spoke of and additionally she is very well versed not only in the bible but she is also a student of the writings of Reverand Fordyce,” Bennet added thecoup-de-grâce.
Fanny and Bennet said nothing as they watched Mr. Collins cogitating. They were certain he would choose to pursue Mary and consider it his own choice to do so.
Collins thought back to when he arrived. Miss Mary was not quite as pretty as Miss Elizabeth but she was more than acceptably good looking. Honour would not allow him to choose Miss Bennet and he would never think of someone for the post of his wife who his patroness would find unacceptable.
He owed his cousin and his wife a huge debt of gratitude. Without their warnings, he may have made the greatest of errors. How unselfish of them to warn him even to the detriment of their second daughter’s marital prospects. He felt sorry for Miss Elizabeth as she would never receive a proposal of marriage, but that was not his worry at the moment.
As he went over everything in his head, he realised Miss Mary would be the perfect woman to marry and present to his all-wise patroness. “I have settled on Miss Mary as my wife-to-be,” Collins announced.
“In my opinion,ifMary accepts you, you will have done very well for yourself,” Fanny stated.
“W-what d-do y-y-you m-meanifs-she accepts me?” a flabbergasted Collins reacted.
“Simply this, Mr. Collins,” Bennet replied. “We will not force Mary, or for that matter, any of our daughters, to accept a man, regardless of how eligible he is, without an inclination on her side to do so. We are not saying Mary will not accept your proposals positively, only that you need to woo her. Get to know her and allow her to get to know you. That can only engender positive feelings for you and then when you do make your addresses your chance of a positive response will be greatly enhanced.”
As he thought about his cousins’ words, Collins found nothing objectionable in what they said. In fact, they had helped him with their advice. Miss Mary may have rejected him had he made his addresses without them getting to know one another.
He was resolved, he would do what he needed to in order to court Miss Mary as she deserved to be, and then when the time was right, before his departure in a fortnight, he would propose to the middle Bennet daughter.
“I thank you for your wise words,” Collins stated sincerely. “It will be as you suggested.”
Fanny looked at her husband with a smile. They had redirected the parson while not alienating him.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
That evening at dinner, the family was joined by Kitty and Lydia. The former had accepted her change in status with good cheer—eventually—while the latter still railed against the unfairness of it all whenever she had time with her mother.
Lydia was well aware any misbehaviour this night would cost her a further two quarters’ allowance. With what she had already lost, it would mean she would go a year with no pin money. It was worth it to bite her tongue to not lose more money.
Most galling of all was the fact there was a regiment of the Derbyshire militia encamped not a mile from her home and not one scarlet jacketed officer or soldier had she seen.
Maria Lucas had called and extolled the attributes of the many handsome officers, especially one she named Lieutenant Denny. Life was so unfair and now it seemed her dream of being the first sister to marry was to become dust as well if the way their boring cousin was looking at boring, plain—no she had to admit her middle sister no longer looked plain—Mary.
With the nursery being on the uppermost floor, and a footman always on duty outside the door, there was no hope of escape.
Other than by Lydia, dinner was enjoyed by all. The two youngest Bennets were farewelled and sent back to the schoolroom after dinner while the rest of the family retired to the drawing room with no separation of the sexes.
After tea and coffee, Bennet sat and read, Fanny busied herself with some sewing, Jane and Elizabeth had their samplers to work on, which left Mary and Mr. Collins.
The latter two sat together happily discussing one of Fordyce’s sermons. To all of those observing in the drawing room, the two seemed to genuinely enjoy each other’s company.
By the time everyone made for their bedchambers, Mary and William Collins were well on their way to becoming better acquainted with each other.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
George Wickham could not believe he had to join the damned militia in order to escape his creditors and some angry brothers and fathers who were on his trail. It was not his fault young ladies—with the emphasis onyoung—were so gullible and would routinely surrender their virtues to him.
Earlier that afternoon he had run into Jim Denny, now a Lieutenant in the Derbyshire Militia. Thankfully he owed none of Denny’s family money and he had not meddled with the man’s sister, so Denny had been friendly towards Wickham.
