Only today Jane and I heard the sad news that your husband had left this world. Please accept our heartfelt condolences.
We would like to invite you to come stay with us while we are in London. It will be as quiet and peaceful a place for you to mourn as any. If Maria is still with you, as I suspect that she is, she is welcome as well.
If this invitation is acceptable, please send a note with the rider that delivered this missive to you. I will send my carriage to collect you on the morrow, unless you tell me you need more time.
You are in our thoughts and prayers my friend.
I hope to see you soon,
Lizzy
After a very short conversation the sisters agreed to accept the invitation and wrote a short note indicating as much and they handed it to the rider to carry back to the Bennets at Portman Square for her.
With all the packing complete, even without Lady Catherine’sadvice, the sisters walked over to Rosings Park to take their leave of the Mistress. Charlotte knew that Miss de Bourgh’s family was helping her search for a good and proper parson, one who would serve his parishioners and not be the eyes, ears, and mouthpiece of the owner of Rosings Park.
They were welcomed into the drawing room that Lady Catherine used to look down on one and all from her imperious ‘throne,’ and what a difference already! The throne-like chair was gone, as were all of the gaudy accoutrements that the great lady had thought cowed her guests.
“You are very welcome, Mrs Collins,” said the woman smiling at her. Charlotte was amazed. Who was this well looking, alert, and voluble woman? “You have my deepest sympathy. How are you managing?” Anne asked gently.
“As well as can be expected, thank you, Miss de Bourgh. We are all packed and my very good friend Eliza is sending her carriage to collect us on the morrow. We will be the Bennets’ guests for a while before we return to our father’s home, Lucas Lodge, near Meryton in Hertfordshire.” Charlotte smiled at her.
“You know, Mrs Collins, I do not require that you leave with such haste. Please let me assure you that you have as much time as you may need. I am not Lady Catherine, who would shoo you out of the door before your husband was laid to rest. I am sorry that the funeral was so ill attended. Perhaps his parishioners were not aware of his passing.” Anne smiled serenely and it grew into a true smile when Charlotte gave a most unladylike snort.
“There is no need for any of us to dissemble, Miss de Bourgh. We all know how deficient my late husband was as a representative of the Church as well as a man. His parishioners knew of his passing, and when they did not think that I could hear, I heard sentiments expressing the opposite of sadness. They knew that he was a puppet for Lady Catherine and their interests held no sway over him. They found out all too soon that anything that they told him in confidence made its way directly to his patroness. He could never understand why the parishioners stopped confiding in him altogether.” Charlotte put aside the polite artifice dictated by society, as it was long unwanted and suffered by herself, and she suspected that Miss de Bourgh had had more than her fair share to mitigate as well.
“Charlotte?” Maria asked softly, concerned about the wisdom of being so honest with the mistress of the estate.
“Maria, Miss de Bourgh is an exceptional woman. It would be far worse to lie about my husband to her than lie to save a reputation he long ago ruined for himself.” She patted her sister’s hand and turned back to Miss de Bourgh with a bow of her head in deference. “I recognise that he was a man of mean understanding that was servile and sycophantic to anyone of rank, while at the same time pompous and arrogant to anyone that he deemed below him. Miss de Bourgh, I am not a romantic, so I knew who and what I was marrying. I wanted a home of my own with a respectable man that would relieve the burden I was becoming to my parents. Even as there was no affection, I did gain a measure of felicity in my situation as I was able to spend as little time with my late husband as possible.”
“I think we were both offered relief when they were occupied with one another,” Miss de Bourgh agreed, the kinship she had long felt with this woman at last reciprocated. Charlotte could see the look of shock on her sister who had never been the most perceptive person, but Miss de Bourgh and her companion Mrs Jenkinson showed no surprise at her speech.
“I will mourn Mr Collins for a year as society dictates, and then I will move on and look to the future only. As my friend Eliza Bennet likes to say, ‘remember the past only as that remembrance gives you pleasure.’ That is sage advice that I will endeavour to follow as I let myself forget any time that I had with him.”
“Before Lady Catherine was removed from my home, I heard tell that the Bennets are among the wealthiest families in the realm. Was that the ramblings of one who always got things wrong, or was Lady Catherine correct in this case?” Miss de Bourgh arched her brow in question.
“Yes, Miss de Bourgh, that is fact. In order to stop my late husband on one of his rambles where he tried to berate Eliza for not marrying him, she laid out the Bennets’ true wealth. Mr Collins thought that it would all fall to him until she had him read a clause in the entailment documents that put paid to his delusion. The only thing entailed was the original Longbourn and nothing earned up to the day of inheritance was included or could be challenged in any way.” Charlotte smiled serenely.
“How, then, did your late husband have a bank draft for twenty thousand pounds on his last and final visit to Rosings Park? The man was going to turn it over to Lady Catherine so she could fritter it away as she did her own fortune. If the question is impertinent, please excuse me; you are under no obligation to answer Mrs Collins,” Anne said apologetically, never wanting to be like Lady Catherine who would demand any information she wanted, regardless of it being her business or not.
“Please make yourself easy, Miss de Bourgh. Before Eliza left, and on behalf of her father, she offered my late husband an option. Break the entail now and receive twenty thousand pounds which represents more than ten years of Longbourn’s income, or wait and hopefully outlive Mr Bennet. As we can see from Mr Collins’ demise, for once in his life he made a good decision. In death he has provided for me like he never could have in life; as I am his sole beneficiary; the draft is now mine.” Charlotte’s smile grew wider as she thought of it more completely.
“Charlotte, you are rich!” Maria blurted out before she remembered where she was. She clapped her hands over her mouth and blushed furiously in embarrassment.
“Although I am not rich Maria, I am comfortable.” She patted her sister’s hand to let her know that her outburst would not be censured, and then she turned back to Miss de Bourgh. “Eliza’s invitation is very providential for me as we will start out staying at the home of Mr and Mrs Edward Gardiner, her aunt and uncle who I have been close with for many years. Your uncle, the Earl, recommended that I invest the money with Gardiner and Associates and take as little out as I need to live, letting the rest compound and grow. That is advice that I intend to follow, so being a guest in his house will allow me to make the request of Mr Gardiner to permit me to invest with him.”
Anne stood as the sisters did, knowing it was the appropriate time to part though she had enjoyed the almost sisterly conversation and wanted to offer herself an opportunity to actually make a friend.
“Mrs Collins, know that you will always be welcome at Rosings Park or de Bourgh House in Town whenever I am resident at either. My hope is that you have a bright future. Though you say you are not a romantic, my wish for you is that you find love and happiness. I would very much like to begin a monthly correspondence with you as I have very few acquaintances that are genuine in their regard for me as you were, even without knowing the truth.”
“I would be very glad to be your correspondent. I will look forward to how you transform every room, as you have done in here. I now find this space to be nothing short of perfect!” Charlotte offered Anne a genuine smile. After the sisters left, Anne opened an express that she had received before the visit from Mrs Collins and her sister.
Matlock House
Grosvenor Square
London
10 April 1812
