Much to everyone’s surprise, Bennet leaned back in his chair and laughed.
Everyone stared in confusion.
At last, he spoke. “Well, well, well… Perhaps… May I ask you a question, girls, or is this to be an interrogation or torture?”
Mary said, “Of course, Papa. We are not here to vex you.”
“I will not claim to be a good father, nor even an adequate one, but you could do worse. Suppose I could only pass on a single trait to my offspring. What would it be? Wealth? Beauty? Manners? Clothing? Jewels? Intelligence? Accomplishments? All this dowry blather? What?”
Everyone stared in confusion, and he sat as if he had all day for them to work it out.
At last, Elizabeth said, “I would vote for resilience.”
Bennet slapped his hand on the desk with a great crack. “Exactly!I cannot pretend it was by design, or even what I wanted, but here and now, I will take Lizzy’s assessment as truth. Dare anyone contradict her?”
Everyone shook their heads in confusion, so he continued.
“Now, I have apparently shamed the very foundations of the Bennet family by not saving money to bribe suitors, and you are all here to take me to task, so I may assume some resilience has accidentally crept into your characters. May I also take it that Jane would be leading this charge if she were present? “
“Probably.”
“So, it is all working out as it should. My daughters, even the most sheeplike, are ready to do battle with their father like lionesses. I am satisfied.”
Elizabeth snapped, “Parents are usually not so stingy as to only impart a single trait.”
“What do you suggest, Elizabeth? Should I sell my treasures to give you some funds? Will that make your marital prospects better, or just attract the Wickhams of the world? Shall I retroactively hire a governess for you a decade ago or hire one right now for my two youngest? Will any of that bring back that blond puppy or his growling friend, who ran from our family so precipitously—though, through their actions, I would say Janeavoided something unpleasant rather than lost an opportunity. Perhaps a hair shirt would satisfy you, or maybe I could eat mud or worms.”
“None of that is necessary,” she snapped. “I do have a suggested course of action which will leave me entirely satisfied, and I shall ask no more.”
A tense silence lasted half a minute before Bennet said, “Out with it!”
Elizabeth replied with preternatural calm, as she often did when furious.
“Do nothing!Do absolutely nothing, as you have always done! Sit here and enjoy your treasures like a dragon in his cave, drooling over his gold and jewels. As you said, more by accident than design, your daughters are becoming resilient. We have learnt the things you should have taught us, and that is all we need. Jane and I will go to town with the Gardiners. We will marry tradesmen or minor landholders and behappy, something we could perfectly have done years ago without Mama’s interference and your indifference. We will help our two youngest sisters when they become old enough. We will quit wasting our time on men that require dowries, since we have none. We will be fine, and content that at least now we can see all the pieces on the chessboard and understand the state of play!”
She turned and stomped towards the door, expecting her father to say something cruel, and prepared to ignore it. She wasnotready for the voice that stopped her.
“A moment, if you please, Elizabeth.”
She turned to Mr Collins, who still stood straight and surprisingly formidable. The contrast between his present demeanour and his original manner was startling but welcome. For Mary’s sake, Elizabeth was glad of the change, and no longer worried about Longbourn’s fate in the next generation.
Mr Collins stood before the desk and indicated a chair. “Pray, sit and hear me out.”
She crossed to it and sat, her earlier anger largely spent, though resentment remained. To believe her parents had negligently let their future go up in smoke in fine gowns and entertainments, with no thought for the future was bad enough. Indolence and ignorance were terrible, but at least better than avarice. To know her father had a future for them sitting in his library and had not even told them of its existence was startling and distressing.
Mr Collins faced his future father-in-law.
“Let us lay down boundaries. These books areyourpossession, and it is nobody’s business whether you sell them, keep them, give them away, burn them—whatever you choose. Are we in agreement, sir?”
Bennet replied petulantly, “We agree for once. They are my books, and I will do with them as I choose.”
To the surprise of everyone, Mr Collins pulled a battered but serviceable copy ofDon Quixotefrom a shelf and set it on the desk. He examined it carefully, went to the hidden closet, and brought out the even older, far more valuable edition, setting it beside the first. Pointing to the battered version, he asked, “Where did you get this?”
“My grandfather bought it. Lizzy is the only one who learnt enough Spanish to read it, though I think it was even beyond her. She only has the basics.”
Elizabeth nodded. “I can speak like a 10-year-old at best, and the language is archaic Spanish. I had to resort to an English translation to get through it.”
Mr Collins said, “So, it is part of the estate, and therefore part of the entail. Nobody would ever do it, of course, but it ispossiblethat if you disposed of a significant part of the books youinherited, I could take you to the courts for recompense—just as if you sold some of the land. You could sell the books you purchased yourself, but not those you inherited.”
