I was denied a living I was meant to be awarded in the Hunsford parish in this county. But rather than enumerate the faults of those who denied me, especially after the Bishop adjured me from seeking redress from them, I will only say it was very insulting, as he made me study church law again. Enough on that subject. I am sure that those who have wronged me will get their reward when it is time.
As a clergyman, moreover, I cannot be otherwise than concerned at being the means of injuring your amiable daughters and beg leave to apologise for it, as well as to assure you of my readiness to make them every possible amends, but of this hereafter.
If you should have no objection to receiving me into your house, I propose myself the satisfaction of waiting on you and your family on Tuesday, the 29th day of October of this year, by four o’clock, and shall probably trespass on your hospitality till the Saturday sennight following, which I can do without any inconvenience. Mr Kimble, the vicar of St Mary’s, is far from objecting to my occasionalabsence on a Sunday, provided that he or the other curate (junior to me) is available to do the duty of the day.
I remain, dear sir, with respectful compliments to your lady and daughters, your well-wisher and friend,
William Collins
The reading was met with stunned silence.
“Papa, surely this is a jest. No man can be so insensible. To speak as he does and to invite himself here? He knows you have a son even if he had not been sent the notice of the breaking of the entail yet. How could he pen this insanity?” Elizabeth wondered as soon as she recovered her power of speech.
“Based on what I know of his late father, I would say that this is not a joke. He sounds like the man Anne and Ashby told us invited himself to apply for the Hunsford living. Just like he is inviting himself here,” Bennet responded.
“My cousins in Kent are more than satisfied with the man they selected, a Mr Charles Hayter,” Darcy reported. “I remember that the former parson, Mr Martin, spoke to St Mary’s rector about his curate. It seems that the additional education did not make the man any better than he was when he inserted himself into the process of replacing Hunsford’s parson.”
“I will write to him with a copy of the notice from the Court of Chancery. If he is too imbecilic to accept that, I may have to allow him to come to disabuse him in person. However, he will not pass one night under my roof,” Bennet revealed.
‘I need to have this man watched. He may be as idiotic as we all think, but he could be dangerous,’ Hurst decided silently.
Chapter 31
Collins stared at the copies of the documents on the table in his bedchamber, refusing to touch them as if they were a snake which would bite him.
How could this be? His late honoured father had guaranteed that because by God’s will Cousin Bennet had not been granted a son, the estate of Longbourn would be his one day. Collins picked up the accompanying letter and reread it, hoping the words would not say what he had read the first time.
9 October 1811
Longbourn
Hertfordshire
Mr Collins:
I apologise for being blunt, but since my son, Thomas Elias Bennet, was born on the 10th day of July 1805 you were no longer the heir presumptive. My son is the heir apparent, and with subsequent occurrences, even if Tommy were not here, you, Sir, will never own Longbourn.
I am enclosing certified copies from the Court of Chancery of the documents which dissolve the entail, the one that used to be in favour of heirs male on my estate.
If you think this is an attempt to cheat you with forged documents, I suggest you retain the services of a solicitor. Allow him to inspect what I sent you and he will inform you that all is genuine and legitimate. In the casethat your solicitor would like to see the original documents, he is welcome to contact Mr Frank Phillips, at the Law Offices of Frank Phillips in Meryton, who represents me and my estate’s interests.
Before you ask, the original documents will not be posted or couriered to you. Coming to Mr Phillips’s officewith yoursolicitor is the only way you will have access to them.
If the olive branch you alluded to is your desire to marry one of my daughters, allow me to disabuse you of that notion now. My eldest daughter is married to a viscount, my next eldest daughter is being courted by an eminently eligible man, and my middle daughter is not of an age to think of marriage yet. My youngest daughters are not out. Were the preceding not the case, I would never have given my consent for you to marry any of my girls.
Please understand that even without Tommy’s birth and the end of the previous entail, my wife and unmarried daughters would never want for anything when I go to my final reward.
I refer to the previous entail because there is now a new entail filed at the Court of Chancery. It allows for Longbourn to only go to those who are of my body. In addition, it expressly forbids anyone from the Collins line to inherit or become the master through marriage. This is because it was your ancestor,the former William Clem Bennet (he changed his name to Collins after being banished) who gambled and lost half of Longbourn’s land, which was the genesis for the entail. I hope you understand that there isnothingyou can do to ever be part of the line of succession again.
With all of the above explained, you can see that your visit would be futile. As such, we will not receive you into our house until we issue such an invitation. That, Mr Collins is the normal way: one is invited by the hosts. One does not invite himself!
I do commend you for trying to heal the breach your late father caused. If you would like to maintain a correspondence with me, I will welcome that.
Sincerely,
Thomas Bennet
Rereading the letter did not make the contents more palatable. The fact that his cousin told him to go see a solicitor to verify the veracity of the documents told Collins he would be wasting funds on something he already knew: the documents were true.
