Page 45 of Regrets

Elizabeth’s mouth fell open in shock at such complimentary words, but she quickly composed herself and turned to Mr. Darcy.

He cleared his throat. “An entail may be broken by what is, essentially, a legal trick. It has been used successfully for some years now. I suspect it will become illegal at some point, as it comes rather too close to chicanery for comfort, but it will serve your purpose if you are sufficiently determined.”

Elizabeth stared at him. “A legal trick?”

“The process is called a common recovery. You need a third party, and to this third party you would grant the estate in fee simple. Since the estate is entailed, it would be an illegal conveyance, so this third party would not have a legal title and would then sue your father for the title. There is always a time limit assigned to such cases, and your father would simply allow the time limit to come and go. The court must then automatically assign the title to the third party.”

Elizabeth shook her head. “So now Longbourn belongs to this third party?”

“Correct; and then the third party transfers Longbourn back to Mr. Bennet. The entail is broken, Mr. Bennet owns Longbourn outright.”

“What if the third party does not transfer the property back?”

“This is the difficulty; the third party must be someone you trust absolutely.”

“And what of Mr. Collins in all this?”

“He is not involved. He would have to be informed at some point, so that he does not appear on your doorstep after your father dies, claiming Longbourn as his property.”

“Could he not then sue to reclaim title?”

“He could, but it would be in vain, as the records would show that title had been transferred to the third party and then back to Mr. Bennet. At this point, it would properly belong to whoever Mr. Bennet designated as his heir.”

Elizabeth thought it over for a long minute.

Mr. Darcy, thinking perhaps she had not understood, said, “It is complex; perhaps if I draw it out on a piece of paper –“

Impatiently, she shook her head. “No, no, I understand the mechanics. It is the morality of the ploy with which I am concerned.”

“Ah. I understand,” Mr. Darcy said, leaning back in his seat.

“He is the rightful heir, after all, is he not?” Elizabeth addressed her father.

“He is, of course, and had he proved to be a sensible man, I would not stoop to an action such as this. It sits ill with me, Lizzy, of course it does! But think of our tenants, our neighbours, not to mention your mother and sisters!”

“Alas, if only you had thought of my mother and sisters earlier!” she shot back. “We might have saved enough – no, no. I apologise, Mr. Darcy, for subjecting you to an old family argument.” Her face was red. She looked back at her father. “You wish my opinion?”

“I do,” he replied, leaning forward.

“Very well. It is a very difficult thing to do. We are discussing stealing – for there can be no other word for it – a man’s lawful inheritance.”

“It is stealing, there is no doubt about it, but evidently it has been done before. Is that not right, Mr. Darcy?”

“Many times,” Mr. Darcy replied.

“Murder has been committed many times, and that does not make it right,” Elizabeth said, testily.

Mr. Darcy interjected, “May I ask as to how, precisely, you are related to Mr. Collins?”

Mr. Bennet leant back in his chair. “My grandfather, Arthur Bennet, had two sons. The eldest was my father, Henry Bennet; the younger was named Joshua.”

“So Joshua was your uncle,” Mr. Darcy said, nodding. “Go on.”

“Joshua was not allowed to inherit, of course, being the younger son, so he went into the law profession. He married a woman named Janet Collins, and as she was her parents’ only child, her parents begged Joshua to change his name to Collins. There was no good reason not to do so, so he obliged them. Joshua had a son, named George Collins. George is our Mr. Collins’ father.”

Mr. Darcy asked, “You have your baptism records? And that of your father as well?”

“Certainly,” Mr. Bennet replied.