Page 4 of The Earl’s Second Chance

CHAPTER THREE

Mr. Collins Calculates

Mr. Collins arrived the next morning in a hired chaise, having learned the news from Lady Catherine de Bourgh before the Bennets had finished breakfast.

He entered in a fever of bows.

“My lord! My lady! My noble cousins! Permit me to express both the deepest affliction and the most elevated congratulations. Lady Catherine herself observed that the distinction conferred upon this family must naturally increase the consequence of all connected to it.”

“Naturally,” Lord Herfershire said.

Mr. Collins turned to Mrs. Bennet with solemn benevolence. “And may I assure your ladyship that, upon the lamented death of his lordship at some very distant future date, I shall regard the augmented responsibilities of the family with—”

“No,” said Mr. Bennet.

Mr. Collins stopped.

“No, my lord?”

“You are heir presumptive to Longbourn under its entail. You are not heir to the earldom.”

The clergyman’s smile remained fixed while all life left his eyes.

“I beg your lordship’s pardon. As heir to the family estate—”

“One family estate. A modest one. The title and the Herfershire properties pass under a separate settlement to my eldest grandson through my daughters.”

Mr. Collins looked from Jane to Elizabeth, as if trying to identify which womb contained his ruin.

“But—Lady Catherine understood—”

“Lady Catherine was mistaken.”

No sentence had ever wounded Mr. Collins so deeply.

He recovered enough to explain that a union between himself and one of the young ladies would still preserve Longbourn within the family and place him in the enviable position of uncle—or perhaps father—to the future earl. His eyes travelled hopefully toward Elizabeth.

“Mr. Collins,” Lord Herfershire said, “you once paid Elizabeth an attention she declined.”

“Her delicacy naturally—”

“She refused you. You will not renew the subject. Nor will you speculate upon the bodies, marriages, or unborn children of any of my daughters.”

Mrs. Bennet, who once had scolded Elizabeth for that refusal, sat very straight. “Indeed, Mr. Collins. Lady Elizabeth made herself perfectly clear.”

Elizabeth glanced at her mother in astonishment.

Mr. Collins took refuge in offense. “I fear elevation has produced a regrettable pride.”

“In twelve hours?” Elizabeth asked. “How efficient of us.”

Lord Herfershire hid a smile, not because mockery had ceased to amuse him, but because he now knew that a father’s indulgence must sometimes have boundaries.

“You will remain for dinner,” he said. “After which you will return to Hunsford and explain the settlement accurately to Lady Catherine.”

“Must I?”

“With particular emphasis.”