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21 August 1811

Hunsford Parsonage

Hunsford, near Westerham

Kent

Dear Sir,

The disagreement subsisting between yourself and my honoured father always gave me much uneasiness, and since I have left his home, I have frequently wished to heal the breach; but for some time, I was kept back by my own doubts, fearing lest it might seem disrespectful to the past interactions between Bennets and Collinses for me to be on good terms with anyone with whom he has been at variance.

My mind, however, is now made up on the subject, for having received full ordination, I was so fortunate as to be distinguished by the patronage of the Right Honourable Lady Catherine de Bourgh, widow of Sir Lewis de Bourgh, whose bounty and beneficence preferred me to the valuable rectory of this parish, where it shall be my earnest endeavour to demean myself with grateful respect towards my patroness and be ever ready to perform those rites and ceremonies which are instituted by the Church of England.

As a clergyman, moreover, I feel it is my duty to promote and establish the blessing of peace in all families within the reach of my influence; and on these grounds I flatter myself that my present overtures are highly commendable, and that the circumstance of my being the heir presumptive of the Longbourn estate due to the entail instituted by our mutual ancestor will be kindly overlooked on your side and not lead you to reject the offered olive branch.

I cannot be otherwise than concerned at being the means of injuring your daughters, who I assume are amiable, and beg leave to apologise for it, as well as to assure you of my readiness to make them every possible amends, but of this hereafter.

If you should have no objection to receive me into your house, I propose myself the satisfaction of waiting on you and your family on Monday the 18th day of November 1811, by four o’clock, and shall probably trespass on your hospitality till the Saturday sennight following, which I can do without any inconvenience, as my patroness is far from objecting to my occasional absence on a Sunday, provided that the curate is available to do the duty of the day.

I remain, dear sir, with respectful compliments to your lady and daughters, your well-wisher and friend,

William Bennet Collins

As much as she did not mind partaking in harmless fun at her mother’s expense, Elizabeth did not like cruelty. Telling Mamma on the very day the man, who had written his letter almost three months past, was to arrive, smacked of Papa wanting to humiliate Mamma rather than make sport. She looked at her mother and saw how her pallor had turned ashen.

“How could you wait until the day the man is to arrive to inform me?” Fanny asked with tears running down her cheeks.

Bennet realised that he may have crossed the line from amusement to heartlessness in his desire to make sport of his wife. The looks being directed at him by his daughters, Lizzy included, told him he had gone too far. “Mrs Bennet, I apologise; I should have given you more notice. Be that as it may, the peace-making gentleman will be arriving at Longbourn this afternoon.”

“Based on his letter, he cannot be a very sensible man,” Elizabeth opined.

“Indeed, my hope is that he will be anything but,” Bennet smirked. “I wonder what he means by amends.” He suspected that his cousin meant to look for a bride among the daughters of Longbourn, but given his misjudgement regarding the timing of revealing the man coming to his home, Bennet decided not to throw any more fuel on the fire he had already ignited, which had caused an attack of his wife’s nerves.

However, Elizabeth was able to discern what their distant cousin was alluding to; knowing how her mother would react, she said nothing aloud. She would wait and see if she was correct when this Mr Collins arrived.

Chapter 10

As he passed the gateposts marking the entrance to Longbourn, William Collins noted the rusting gates that, if he was correct, had not been closed in many a year. What he saw of the gates fit with what Father had related to him about the indolence of his cousin, Thomas Bennet. It was not anything critical and certainly not something that could be used to trigger some of the clauses in the entail, but if it was indicative of the way his cousin managed the estate, that would be a very different case which would lead to some rather serious conversations.

He drove his gig down the gravel-covered drive with Vulcan trotting comfortably behind him. As he did, William looked at the surface of the drive. It could use some care and added gravel, but there was no blatant neglect he could see.

As he looked around, he noted that the park was well maintained. There was a little wilderness on one side of it, something of which he approved. That reminded him that Miss de Bourgh had ordered her gardeners to undo the rigid uniformity Lady Catherine had demanded. As such, Rosings Park’s formal gardens were already far more pleasing to the eye.

During the fifty-mile drive from his parsonage, William Collins had considered his decision of how he should present himself to his cousins. Should he be a simpleton or his true self? He decided to keep to the former, or a version thereof, for at least a few days. His reason was based on his belief that this way he would discover more about his cousins’ true characters, formulated on the way they treated one they thought was not as intelligent as themselves.

In his letter, he had hinted at making amends, which he was sure his cousin would correctly interpret as William looking for a bride. That was true to a certain extent. Unless he found one of his cousins compatible with him, one who he could love, respect, and esteem, just like he saw in the example of his parents and now with Clem and Bethany, he would not offer for any of them.

Even if he did not marry one of his cousin’s daughters, as a Christian, an ordained clergyman, and a man of honour, William would never allow the widow and any unmarried daughters to be homeless and enter into genteel poverty when Cousin Bennet was called home to God.

As he had said in his conversation with Keating that first Sabbath they had shared a meal, what kind of hypocrite would he be if he ever treated anyone in that fashion, let alone his own family?

When the house came into view, he noted it was a three-storey structure built with beige rectangular stone. There were a fair number of windows he could see. He guessed that Longbourn had enough windows to pay the higher window tax of nine and twenty pounds per annum. He was pleased to see that none of the windows had been bricked over to pay less tax. The façade of the house was not completely covered with ivy, but there was a fair amount growing, all of which had been trimmed away from the front door and from the windows he could see at first glance. Perhaps things were not as bad as he had feared they would be. Only time would tell.

When he stopped the gig, there were no members of the family waiting for him. He supposed part of the reason was he had said he would arrive about four in the afternoon, and he had reached his destination at half after two. There was a groom who held the horse’s bridle as the gig came to a halt. William sprang down from the gig and walked to where the groom was holding the carriage horse.

“Please untether my stallion and take him to the stables, assuming you have an open stall?” William enquired. “If not, I will stable him at the inn I saw in Meryton.”

“Aye, Sir, we ‘ave open stalls,” the groom responded.