Fitzwilliam and Darcy were amazed at the transformation of their ward they saw before them. It was as if a great weight had lifted from her shoulders, and she was on her way to being the carefree girl she was before Ramsgate.
Even more astounding was Anna looking up to see the crowd and continuing on as if it were an everyday occurrence.
As much as he believed that coming to know the Bennet sisters would be advantageous for his sister, Darcy could not have dreamed of what they were seeing before them.
Now all he had to do was win Miss Elizabeth’s heart.
Chapter 23
Monday morning, the fourteenth day of October, William Collins set off from the parsonage a little before the sky lightened in the east.
Even though he preferred not rising from his bed so early, thanks to his limited funds, he could not afford a night in a coaching inn. Also, the best he could rent was a gig. He had wanted to rent a carriage so the man who had written him that disrespectful letter could see Collins’s consequence.
Collins was confused; he was unsuccessful in his attempt to see his all-wise patroness—he had been turned away from the mansion as he had for some days now—because he needed some of his money for the purpose of renting the carriage he desired. This money would enable him to stay at an inn for two nights. As he was to arrive on Monday, he would have departed on Saturday and spent the Sabbath—he had a curate engaged to give the services while he was away—at the inn.
Instead, here he was perched on the seat of an uncovered gig on its way to his birthright. Collins was aware he was larger than most, which meant that he would not look very dignified on the seat of such a small carriage.
All the while, he reminded himself how he was going to teach these Bennet usurpers, who had stolen the Collins’ rightful estate from them, a good lesson when they saw him marry another. He planned to make sure that he would evict anyone named Bennet from his estate before his cousin’s bodywas cold in the ground. That thought kept him warm as the cold wind whipped around his person while they travelled.
At two of the rest stops, Collins paid the fee to swap the horse because he did not want to arrive late. Lady Catherine’s lectures about punctuality rang in his head; therefore, he was determined to arrive at exactly the hour he said he would.
The gig reached the lane outside of Longbourn a half hour before four. Before the coachman could guide the horse past the gateposts, Collins spoke up. “No, we will wait here until I say so,” he insisted.
“It be yir money. A ‘alf crown ta wait.” The man held his hand out.
Collins handed over the coin begrudgingly. He was very short of coin now, so he would have to find a way to get his cousin to advance him some of his future inheritance.
When his fob watch showed five minutes before four, Collins gave the order to drive on. He liked what he saw of his future estate. The park was nothing to that at Lady Catherine’s Rosings Park, but it was far larger than the patch of ground of the Collins Farm and made his garden at the parsonage look tiny by comparison. He saw the swing hanging from the bough of an ancient oak tree. He smiled at the thought that he would soon force any Bennet from his land. It would be a Collins who used that swing in the future, not a Bennet!
As they rounded a gentle bend in the gravel-covered drive, the house came into view. Of course, it was nothing to Rosings Park’s mansion, but it was many times larger than any house in which William Collins had ever resided. It rose up three storeys, built with a beige or light brown stone and the façade was covered by ivy. At least, someone had made sure that the area around each window was ivy-free.
The ivy would be one of the first things to go. Rosings Park had none on its structure because Lady Catherine foundit untidy and classless. “Mr Collins,” she had said one day, “no house of note which belongs to someone of rank has ivy on the wall.” Like most of her advice and pronouncements, her words had stuck with Collins. If Lady Catherine would not allow the vines on her walls, then, following her wisdom, as he always did, Collins would not permit it on the walls of his house.
His mood changed significantly when he noted that not one of the residents was waiting for him in the drive. He was a clergyman; how could they disrespect him in such a blatant fashion? Before he could yell about the disrespect as he had wanted to do, two of the largest men Collins had ever seen came to stand near the front door.
Collins shook with fear at seeing them. His father had been a large man, but these two men made his father look small. He had not forgotten theeducationhe had received from his father’s fists and boots. If his father had done that, what would these men be able to do? He began to sweat profusely as the memories of his father’s true nature intruded, not the ones he had tried to replace them with. How he wished he had some food at that moment; eating always calmed him.
With the huge men watching him, Collins said not a word about his absent cousins. He would not dare to ask one of them to assist him, so Collins stood and turned as he grabbed the handle and tried to climb down. He was sweating so much that half-way down he removed his handkerchief from his pocket and began to attempt to mop his brow.
Before long, the item was soaked with his sweat and was no longer useful.
The driver jumped down and removed the lashing which had been holding Collins’s trunk in place.
He watched as one of the two men stepped forward and lifted his trunk as if it weighed nothing. Just then the front door opened. An older man stepped out. Collins was about toask him if the man was his cousin, but he was spared that embarrassment when the man spoke first.
“Mr Collins, I am Mr Hill, the butler. If you follow me, I will show you to your chamber so you may wash and change from the road. Biggs here,” Hill inclined his head to the footman-guard, “will make sure your trunk reaches your chamber.”
“When will I see my cousins?” Collins asked nervously, still eyeing the man holding his trunk like it was a toy.
“Mr Bennet and his daughters will see you in the drawing room. Once you are ready, exit your chamber and Johns here,” Hill nodded to the mentioned man, “will show you to the relevant room.”
As fearful as he was of the huge men, Collins said nothing. The last thing he wanted to do was to anger one of them. All he did was nod.
The drawing room in question had a good view of the drive. Kate and Lydia were watching and reporting what they saw back to their family. When their father’s cousin was no longer visible, the two youngest Bennets turned to face their father and sisters.
“He is as round as he is tall. The most corpulent person I have ever seen,” Lydia reported. “He could not stop sweating once he saw John and Brian.”
“Now Miss Lyddie, you know we do not speak so,” Mrs Dudley reprimanded.
