A half hour later, the coaches arrived from Netherfield Park, and the wishes for felicity for the newly engaged couple rained down. Once everyone had their say, Darcy took Bennet’s suggestion and asked that the three engaged couples meet in the parlour.
It had always been a dream for Jane and Elizabeth to marry in a double ceremony, so to include Mary was the easiest thing. The couples agreed to marry on Friday, the twentieth day of December, close to a month from the date of the latest engagement. That way the banns would be read, there would be no need to use a licence, and, even better, no one would be able to accuse any of the couples of marrying in haste.
On the couples’ return to the drawing room, they found that Mr Pierce had joined the party. He requested permission to speak to Mr Bingley and Mrs Bennet. By the blushes of pleasure the siblings saw on their aunt’s face, they were certain they knew what the subject of the discussion was. Bingley asked Aunt Hildebrand to join them.
Louisa and Charles were informed earlier that morning that Mr Pierce had proposed, and Aunt Hildebrand had accepted him.
“Now, with myde factochildren are married,” Hildebrand looked at Lulu, “and soon to be in that state,” she looked at Charles, “I was open to love for the first time since my disappointment when I was a much younger lady. I love Christopher and he loves me. All we seek are your blessings.”
“You have mine without reservation,” Louisa stated.
“And mine too. I would have always worried about you with both Lulu and me so happy and you still on your own. Welcome to the family, Mr Pierce. What should we call you?” Bingley wondered.
“I think Uncle Christopher fits,” Pierce suggested.
The siblings agreed. They all returned to the drawing room, where a whole new round of celebration was unleashed.
As the merriment was quieting down, Hill entered the drawing room and bowed to the master. “Mr Bennet, one of the constable’s men is at the kitchen entrance with a verbal message for you,” he reported.
“Show him into my study,” Bennet commanded. Next, he turned to his wife. “Lulu, will you come with me?” Louisa nodded and took her husband’s hand.
They told the guests they would be back soon.
Within five minutes, they had returned. Seeing the quizzical looks directed at them, Bennet decided to share the message. “In an effort to save his neck, Collins is asking to see me. Lulu and I will discuss it later and make a decision.”
After dinner, the Netherfield party departed and Lulu and Bennet made for the study.
They decided they would go and hear what Collins had to say for himself.
Chapter 39
“Collins, what do you want?” Bennet asked curtly as he and Lulu stood on the outside of the criminal’s barred door. They had decided to hear what the halfwit had to say. They would, however, not give him much leeway if all he wanted to do was to repeat the lies his father and other Collinses had told him.
“Why have you brought that…” Collins began to question. He closed his mouth when his cousin growled.
“Insult my wife a single time, and we will leave and never return,” Bennet barked. “Now again, and it is the final time I ask, why did you want to see me? As far as I am concerned, there is nothing to be said between us.”
“You are the only one who can save my life. Surely as a good Christian you do not want to see a close relation put to death,” Collins begged.
“Why would I not? Not only did you attempt to have my beloved wife murdered to stop me from fathering a son, but you admitted that I was your next target so you could recover ‘that which was stolen from the Collins line’. That was after you were shown the land register, which proves that a Bennet has held Longbourn since the estate was granted to us, andnevera Collins,” Bennet bit back. “Do not dare raise Christian values when you have none and have been excommunicated. We are all called to forgive those trespasses against us, and one day when the anger fades, I will forgive you, but that forgiveness, even if I granted it now, would not stop justice being done.” Bennet paused as he thought of something. “Weknow that your rampant stupidity led to your funds being stolen. I am sure you thought that if you murdered me, you would control my daughters and their dowries. My will would have precluded you from doing so, and you would not have touched one penny of their dowries of thirty thousand poundseach. By the by, Netherfield Park is mine as well. Also, when you swing, whether we are blessed with a son or not, the entail ends, as there are no more males in the family line.”
Collins’s mouth fell open. How could his cousin be so wealthy? If only he could get out and execute his plan. “But y-you m-must s-save m-m-m-me,” Collins cried.
“Why would my husband or I do that when even now you still hold onto the lies you were told as though they are fact?” Louisa enquired. “You are driven by ignorance, pride, and avarice. There is nothing here to save.”
“This is a discussion for men, not a woman who has been marked by…” Before Collins finished the sentence, the Bennets were gone, and with them his last hope for saving his life. He sat on the floor and snivelled. Not only had the Bennets stolen Longbourn from the Collins line, but now, all this wealth and Netherfield Park as well.
For the time remaining in the Meryton gaol, Collins would rant and rave about all the perceived crimes perpetrated against him and his line by the Bennets.
No one listened to him, and other than sliding his meals, consisting mainly of gruel, through the space in the door, no one had contact with him, especially as the foul odour only got worse every hour.
The Bennets never returned, no matter how many times he demanded they be summoned to come see him.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Collins was moved to the gaol cells located below thecourt in Hertford on the Friday before he was to stand trial. Before he had been shackled to the bed of the donkey cart which would convey him, he had again begged the magistrate for mercy. The knight had told him the Bennets were the only ones who could do so. It was at that moment that Collins finally realised that his life would soon be over.
After Collins’s departure, the constable in Meryton was heard grumbling about how he now had to remove the stench from the cell the prisoner had occupied.
