Henry could not but smile when Lizzy described Sir William’s anger when he had been informed of what Thomas Bennet was attempting to do. His sons, who would have gladly thrashed the master of Longbourn themselves, had needed to restrain their usually jovial and mild-mannered father. Sir William had given up his desire to ride to Longbourn and take his former friend to task when the plan had been explained to him. He had volunteered to play any part needed to be able to assist in what was to come.
By the time the large party from Netherfield Park arrived, other than the Bingleys, Hursts, Thomas Bennet, and William Collins, everyone else was there to learn their part in what would be done to teach the two men coming from Longbourn their well-deserved lesson.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Bennet had to stop himself from skipping with joy as he led his corpulent distant cousin to his carriage. Since his coachman had left for parts unknown, and this was the first time he was using the conveyance since then, a groom would be the driver on this evening. With only a mile to cover, Bennet left just before the start time, which was half past the hour of seven. He intended that he and Collins would enter with the first set underway so his wife and daughters would not notice them.
As soon as there was the break between the first and second dance of the set, he would send Collins on his way tocompromise Lizzy.
“Are you ready to gain a wife very soon?” Bennet asked as he smirked at the malodorous man with the oversized belly. He knew his cousin could not see his face in the dark interior of the equipage.
“It could not have come soon enough,” Collins asserted. “What an honour for your daughter to be gaining one as her husband who was engaged to the granddaughter of an earl. My consequence will raise hers, as long as she behaves. I was concerned when you mentioned she can be impertinent. It is not a drawback for me, as I will be sure to educate her the same way my father did me.”
“Good. Now be prepared; we are slowing down and arriving at the assembly hall,” Bennet stated as he fought to curtail his glee. Not even Collins’s previous statement made him doubt his course for the night.
When they alighted, Bennet was concerned momentarily because he did not hear the strains of music he would expect with dancing in progress. Almost as he had that thought, the sound of music was heard. It was not unheard of for the first dance to start a few minutes late at a ball, private or public.
Bennet led Collins into the hall where a manservant relieved them of their outerwear as expected.
Hoping Collins would not attract too much attention yet, Bennet slipped into the hall where the dancing was held, Collins following behind him. He took two steps into the room and froze, which caused Collins to bump into him. There was no dancing, and on his entrance, the music ceased. All of his neighbours were standing around the perimeter, his family in the centre opposite him, and every single person was glaring at him with unbridled anger.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
A young lad, perchance the same one Bennet had flickeda penny at the day he stormed into Phillips’s office, had been given three guineas by the kind Miss Lizzy on behalf of her old uncle to watch for the Bennet carriage while everyone organised themselves inside the hall.
While the lad, the son of a Longbourn tenant, kept watch outside, everyone took up their positions both inside and outside the hall. Inside, the residents of the area stood along the walls, starting a few yards either side of the door. Mrs Bennet, her three eldest daughters, Mr Henry Bennet, the Taylors, along with their friends, the Fitzwilliams, Miss and Mr de Bourgh, and Mr Darcy stood in the centre of the room facing the doors.
A few minutes after the time the dancing would have commenced, the lad ran in, nodding. The leader of the musicians had his ensemble begin playing the music for the dance, which would have been the first of the night.
There was no sound other than the music which, as planned, ceased as soon as Mr Bennet and his cousin entered the hall.
It was bad enough that his bumbling cousin almost knocked him off his feet, but Bennet felt terribly disconcerted with all of the not so friendly stares directed at him and Collins. He had to seize the initiative back. He took a few steps towards his wife and daughters when those standing either side but closest to the door, began to cut him and turn their backs on him. Bennet watched in horror as every single person there, up to the group around his family, gave him the cut direct. Even the Lucases, who were next to those around his family whom he did not recognise, cut him.
This could not be happening! It was supposed to be him discomposing them, not the other way around. Bennet could hear his heart beating in his ears. It almost seemed like…they knew exactly what he planned to do. No, surely not.
“Which one of the pretty ladies is my intended?” Collinsquestioned. Then, he froze when he saw his former patroness’s daughter. “Miss de Bourgh! You came to your senses, and even though those men tried to stop us, you are here to marry me.” Collins froze when he identified the two men—Messrs Fitzwilliam and de Bourgh—who had come to the parsonage that day and been instrumental in evicting him. As he did not see the huge brutes who had dragged him hither and yon, he felt somewhat brave. “I trust the beneficent Lady Catherine put you in your places and ordered you to cease interfering with my betrothed…” Collins stopped talking when Miss de Bourgh interjected.
“The lady who bore me is where you should be, in an asylum for the insane. There never was a chance I would ever agree to marry a buffoon such as you. Even if you did not smell like a pig who has been rolling in his own excrement, I would have refused to have said my vows,” Anne bit out.
Collins turned purple with anger that a woman would talk to him so. He was about to issue a setdown when he felt enormous hands clamp onto his shoulders. He remembered the size and strength of those hands. As much as he did not want to, he looked to see if it was them. It was. As soon as he identified them, he lost control of his bladder.
“Biggs and Johns,” Richard spoke. “remove that disgusting, snivelling coward who soils himself from our midst. The gaol will be good until he can stand trial for heresy.”
Hearing those words was the last thing Collins did before he fainted dead away. The two enormous men dragged the insensible dullard from the room.
“How can you…” Bennet began to bluster.
“Now, it is your turn to be quiet and listen,” Henry barked. “As you can see from the reactions of yourformerfriends and neighbours, everything you attempted to orchestrate in pursuit of your amusement was known to us, from the receipt of the letter from that simpleton to yourintention to have him compromise Lizzy. You disgust me! Your parents are, I am sure, rolling over in their graves at what you have become.”
“How could you…?” The words died in his mouth when he saw the Hills standing with his wife and daughters. “How dare you tell what I planned? You are both sacked with no references!” Bennet spat out peevishly.
“As they are employed by me, what you just said is wholly irrelevant,” Henry shot back. “You, who plotted to consign one of your daughters to that imbecile, should be worried about far more than the Hills. You could be arrested and tried for criminal offences.”
At that, Sir William, in his capacity as magistrate, turned around with a look of disgust in his eyes.
“Ha! I did nothing illegal,” Bennet insisted. He did not feel nearly as confident as he sounded.
“You mean aside from attempting to induce me to commit fraud and, in such, trying to defraud the rightful heir presumptive of his future property,” Phillips interjected.
