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Louisa had been distracted at Netherfield Park waiting with the ladies, so when Aunt Hildebrand suggested they all travel to Longbourn to await the men there, Louisa had agreed with alacrity.
Like Lulu was, the Bennet sisters all worried as well for their father, and the three eldest were hoping their respective suitors would be well. That left Ladies Elaine and Marie to be concerned for their husbands. The men had promised the ladies there would be no real danger, but until they saw them unharmed for themselves, all of the ladies were worried, as much as they tried not to show it.
At just after half past ten that morning, Kate, Anna, and Lydia, who was seated nearest to the windows looking out over the drive, all jumped up.
“They areallreturned,” Kate crowed happily. Rather than crowd around the two youngest Bennets and the youngest Darcy at the windows, led by Louisa, the rest of the ladies flowed out of the drawing room on their way to the front door.
Bennet’s heart swelled when he saw his Lulu lead the ladies out of the house into the drive. Before he knew what he was about, he leapt off Jupiter and met his wife halfway to the entrance. He pulled her into a hug and, without a thought, kissed her on her lips. By the time they separated, all of the men had dismounted and were pointedly looking anywherebut at the married Bennets.
Jane, Elizabeth, and Mary all would have liked to be embraced by the respective man courting her in the same fashion, but they knew there were steps to take before they reached that point.
As she watched her niece and new nephew, Hildebrand’s heart sang at this additional proof of Lulu being loved. Thinking of love made the face of a certain rector appear in her mind’s eye. He was away for a few days to visit his children and grandchildren, and Hildebrand had to own that she looked forward to his return.
“I think we should repair inside,” Louisa suggested once she and Thomas joined the rest.
No one objected, and everyone filed into the house.
The footmen who had returned with the six men led all of the horses to the stables to be looked after and rubbed down.
“Well?” Louisa asked for all of the ladies as soon as everyone reached the drawing room. “I can see you are well, but where is that criminal who was attempting to have me murdered?”
“He is in the carriage, bound and gagged, being watched over by Biggs and Johns inside of the conveyance as well as Darcy’s Thompson brothers acting as outriders,” Bennet revealed. “As I had previously said, he is a coward, and when confronted with irrefutable proof of his crimes, he acted as one. Sir William will send him to Hertford to stand trial at the assizes, which will begin on the final Monday of this month. With the mountain of evidence, he will surely hang.”
“For trying to have my sister murdered, he deserves no less,” Bingley insisted.
Matlock reminded all that he intended to write a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury to recommendexcommunication.
“It is no less than is right,” Jane said for her sisters. “He may be a halfwit, as Papa calls him, but that does not make him less dangerous or less evil.”
There were only nodding heads in the drawing room.
Knowing that Thomas and Lulu would want some time alone, and the other men all needed to wash from their rides, Hildebrand suggested the residents of Netherfield Park return to that estate. No one disagreed, and soon they were off.
“Where will he be kept?” Louisa asked once they were alone.
“Per Sir William, in the town gaol. As far as the one in our cellar goes, he will remain until the trial. If needed he will testify, and then, as soon as the trial is over, he will receive his punishment from the militia, and when his back has healed enough, he will begin his journey to New Holland.”
Soon the Bennets would have much more pleasurable things to do than think of the criminals who had attempted to harm them.
Chapter 36
All it took was the threat of either Biggs or Johns joining him in his gaol cell for Collins to confess all, including his desire to murder Cousin Bennet to accelerate his reclaiming the estate he believed was his birthright.
Sir William had Collins sign the confession, and he, the constable, and the mayor of Meryton all witnessed the document to attest to its validity.
After the confession had been made, Phillips showed Collins proof in the local land register that a Collins had never owned Longbourn. Collins could not accept the facts, just like Bennet had predicted. He had left the snivelling man to contemplate his end once he was tried in Hertford on the final Monday of the month.
As if looking at being hanged for his crimes was not enough, a few days after his incarceration in the Meryton gaol, a representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury arrived to inform Collins that he had received ade jureexcommunication. Due to the gravity of his sins, he would not have time to be restored to the faith before he had a date with the hangman.
Just when Collins thought things could not get worse, they did. His dreams were filled with his immortal soul being consigned to hell.
While Collins was being dealt with, Hildebrand had made sure that all was in order for the ball to be held at Netherfield Park on Friday, the fifteenth day of November.
It was very pleasant for all concerned that they had something to concentrate on other than the excommunicated, murderous, former parson. None of those involved could feel any sympathy for Mr Collins, who, even when presented with irrefutable proof of the lies he had been told, could not accept the truth of the matter.
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