“You completed your studies at Cambridge, did you not?” Denny enquired.
“Correct,” Wickham replied quizzically.
“Then your luck has just changed. I am in the Derbyshire Militia. We are quartered just outside the little market town of Meryton in Hertfordshire,” Denny explained. “We are short of officers so I am recruiting and looking for men from Derbyshire.”
“It sounds interesting, but I do not have the funds for a commission readily available,” Wickham lamented.
“That is just it, you need no funds. My Colonel is offering a free lieutenant’s commission to a university educated man from our shire. If you want it, it is yours,” Denny offered.
Normally, Wickham would shy away from anything even hinting at work, but he was desperate and accepting a commission would take him to a town where he was unknown. He would be able to get credit to replenish his wardrobe. In addition, he was sure there would be a fresh supply of innocent girls for him to taste as well.
“It seems that militia life might be for me. How much is the pay and when do we depart?” Wickham asked, the second part of his question being far more important than the first.
“A Lieutenant receives two pounds and a half crown a month,” Denny revealed. “I am on my way to the post now. A few minutes later and you would not have seen me, my friend.”
As he sat on the box of the post, Wickham started to relax as the distance from London increased.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
That evening as they returned to their chambers, Jane slowed down, giving Elizabeth the impression she had overtired herself on her first day out of bed. The truth was she wanted to make sure she knew which door was Mr. Darcy’s.
Once that gentleman entered his chambers, Jane was able to walk a little better than before. She decided to attempt the compromise on the morrow. She would claim fatigue and convince Lizzy to remain in the drawing room and would tell her sister not to disturb her when she returned to her bedchamber.
Her mother had packed a very revealing nightgown. She would don it, slip into Mr. Darcy’s bedchamber, and wait for him in his bed. She would scream as soon as he entered, ensuring that they would be seen.
Jane felt better now she had a fool proof plan. She fell asleep dreaming of the wealth that soon would be hers.
Chapter8
As he wrote in his letter, Mr. Collins arrived at exactly four in the afternoon. Bennet was sure the ridiculous man had waited somewhere so he could arrive at the time he had said he would.
Mr. Collins was not tall, inches shorter than six feet, was corpulent, and sported thinning greasy hair partially hidden under his black rector’s hat. The man was even more entertaining than Bennet had hoped he would be.
“What pleasant daughters you have, Cousin Bennet! I understood there are five Miss Bennets, yet I see only three to welcome me,” Collins stated, not hiding his indignation. He could not understand why all of the Bennet daughters were not present and fawning over him because he was Lady Catherine’s clergyman. Did they not realise that through him they might partake of her great condescension? Were they not cognisant of the great compliment he, a parson, was willing to bestow on them?
“My oldest two would have been happy to meet you, Mr. Collins, but Jane, my eldest, was taken ill while visiting friends at Netherfield Park; my second daughter, Elizabeth, is nursing her back to health. Is it not admirable she cares so much for others?” Mrs. Bennet asked slyly as she started to direct the man towards Elizabeth. She would never do better than the foul-smelling man and it was her duty to secure Longbourn for her family.
“That is indeed the Christian thing to do, so Miss Elizabeth deserves as much praise as my patroness, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, would…” Collins was about to launch into a soliloquy of the many wonders of his patroness when the Bennet matron interjected.
“My apologies, Mr. Collins,” Mrs. Bennet stated, “Mrs. Hill will show you to your chamber. I will have a bath readied for you, and you may want to rest after your journey today.”
“Yes, I would like to see my chambers, but a bath will not be necessary. My late honoured father taught me it was unhealthy to bathe above once in a fortnight,” Collins informed the Bennets.
He gave Kitty and Lydia thunderous looks after they burst into giggles as he explained his bathing regimen. When he became the head of the family, he would take the two chits in hand. He hoped the older daughters were prettier than the one who had been introduced as Mary. She was decidedly plain and bookish. One of his exalted station deserved a beautiful wife.
Bennet just shook his head. He was sure his wife would attempt to steer his idiotic cousin toward Lizzy. He hoped she would be able to discourage him before he proposed; as he knew his wife would not allow her to refuse, which meant she would harangue him until he agreed with her. Lizzy was clever enough to redirect the man. He did not need to worry about her, of that he was sure.
As they walked into the house there was no missing the way his cousin looked around like a wolf about to claim a lamb. Bennet was sure the man was cataloguing his future possessions. If only Fanny had been able to birth a son, the stinking man would never have been admitted to Longbourn.
It was a physical impossibility because his wife had locked her door to her husband after Lydia’s birth. Fanny remained convinced Lizzy had cursed her, causing her to deliver only females. Bennet tried to explain the babe had no choice as to its gender, but his wife had not wanted to hear so he had given up.
Once Hill had led Mr. Collins to the guest chamber, Bennet slipped back into his library, poured himself some port, and opened his book. Once he was safely ensconced in his personal paradise, Bennet forgot about Collins and his Lizzy. As was his wont, he shut out all thoughts of anything and anyone else when he was in his study.
“Mama, have you ever smelt a man with a worse odour than our stupid cousin?” Lydia asked after her mother called for tea for the four of them.
“Hemayneed to revise his standards of cleanliness, but that is nothing to the fact he will be the master of this estate one day. He must marry one of you so Longbourn will be secured,” Fanny related.
“No Mama, I could never marry him,” Lydia claimed.
