Lady Catherine realised her guests were still standing, and she hastily bade them to sit. “So, Mrs. Collins,” she began. “I am very glad to see you. You look quite genteel and yet not at all grand; the perfect lady for a parson with a small parish. Do you play?”
“Yes, Lady Catherine,” Mary replied, softly.
“You will play for us after dinner, then. And you, Miss Bennet?”
“Yes, Lady Catherine?”
“Do you play? I thought my meaning clear enough,” she huffed.
“I apologise, your ladyship. I was not certain and thought it best to ask for clarification. I do play, a little, but my sister here is far more gifted than I, as well as far more diligent in practicing.”
“Very well.” She seemed to consider this for a minute before continuing. “Mr. Collins tells me that he is to inherit your family estate; it was right of me, then, to suggest that he marry one of your sisters.”
Mary was silent, uncertain as to how to reply, so it fell to Elizabeth to do so. “Quite right, Lady Catherine, and I assure you that my family is everything grateful for your suggestion to him.”
Mr. Collins threw her a quick, almost invisible nod. This was evidently the right approach to Lady Catherine.
“Yes, I thought I would be right,” Lady Catherine replied, nodding. “You see, Anne, I was indeed quite right! Anne wondered if I was overstepping my place, but I was quite right to do so.”
Miss de Bourgh shrugged and said, “I only thought it was none of our business who he married and that, after all, Mr. Collins might already have someone in mind.”
“I did not, Miss de Bourgh,” Mr. Collins replied. “Though it was kind of you to consider such a possibility.”
Lady Catherine turned again to Mary. “Tell me more about yourself, Mrs. Collins. Do you draw?”
“No, Lady Catherine, I do not. But I am a quick seamstress, and have sewn many garments for our tenants.”
“Excellent! I am very glad to hear it! That is a far more useful skill than drawing. For what good does drawing do in a parsonage? None at all. Do you read?”
“I do, of course, though it is my sister here who is the scholar of our family.”
“Scholar?! Whatever can you mean?” She turned to Elizabeth, astonishment and displeasure in her eyes.
Elizabeth found herself on unsteady ground and knew not how to respond; it was Mr. Collins who came to her rescue.
“Poor Elizabeth!” he said, rather gaily. “My cousin, Mr. Bennet, is quite the scholar, Lady Catherine. He taught Miss Bennet here to read Latin before allowing her to learn to read English, and she was too young to protest!”
“But you have continued your studies?” Lady Catherine went on.
Elizabeth found her tongue. “I have, Lady Catherine. It pleases my father, you know, and we are taught to respect our parents, are we not?”
Lady Catherine could hardly object to that, of course, but she was not yet done. “But surely you have learnt some feminine accomplishments as well, Miss Bennet, have you not?”
“My father chose to treat me as a fellow student of the classics, but my mother trained all of us to be estate mistresses,” Elizabeth said. “We all know how to sew plainclothes, run a stillroom, manage accounts, hire servants, and so on.”
“Excellent,” Lady Catherine declared. “I suppose we must forgive your father, as he had no son to teach.”
Elizabeth, who had never felt that her father required the forgiveness of Lady Catherine or anyone else, managed to simply bow her head in apparent acquiescence.
Dinner was then announced, and Mr. Collins at once offered his arm to his hostess, with an apologetic look at his wife. Miss de Bourgh and Mrs. Jenkinson followed them, with Elizabeth and Mary bringing up the rear. Mary clutched at Elizabeth’s hand and squeezed it; Elizabeth squeezed back.
As Elizabeth now expected, dinner was quite sumptuous and very formal. Elizabeth, though hungry, took only small portions of each dish so as to be able to do justice to the dinner. This was noticed by Lady Catherine, who nodded at her approvingly. “Quite right, Miss Bennet,” she said. “A lady should merely nibble at her food, in order to preserve her figure.”
Elizabeth was emboldened to reply, “Truthfully, Lady Catherine, I was less concerned about my figure and more interested in being able to sample everything your ladyship was good enough to provide. Rarely have I enjoyed so fine a meal, and I am committing each dish to memory so as to be able to write all about it to my mother and sisters.”
This pleased Lady Catherine a good deal, and she went on at some length about the importance of having the best cook and the best ingredients money could buy. “Fish,” she added, turning to Mary. “Fish is very healthful, and I believe it should be served at every meal.”
“Very healthful indeed,” Mary murmured.
