Page 63 of His Pride and His Prejudice

Mr. Collins soon caught up with them and gestured to Rosings. “Cousin, you will have the honour of seeing Lady Catherine de Bourgh very soon,” he said. “She is all affability, and I suspect she will include you in every invitation with which she honours us during your stay here. Her behaviour to my dear Charlie is charming. We dine at Rosings twice every week and are never allowed to walk home. Her ladyship’s carriage is regularly ordered for us. I should say, one of her ladyship’s carriages, for she has several!”

And it was as if his words had conjured a member of her household because just moments later as they were inspecting a new plant that Mr. Collins was cultivating, a carriage arrived with an invitation to dine at Rosings the very next day.

“Lady Catherine seems to know the happenings of everything in Hunsford,” Charlie said. “Sometimes long before the rest of us do.”

Elliot grinned. “Perhaps she has spies on the high road watching out for the arrival of carriages!”

“Cousin!”

“I believe that is possible,” Charlie whispered. “She is a most active magistrate in her own parish, the minutest concerns of which are carried to her by my dear husband.” He lowered his voice still further so that Elliot had to lean in to catch the next words. “Whenever any of the cottagers are disposed to be quarrelsome, discontented, or too poor, she sallies forth into the village to settle their differences, silence their complaints, and scold them into harmony and plenty!”

“She sounds…charming,” Elliot said, and Charlie laughed.

“We are all obliged to think so.”

“Dinner at Rosings!” Sir William beamed in satisfaction. “Well done, Charlie!”

And Elliot could not help but think, well done, indeed!

Thirty-One

Mr. Collins had dearly hoped an invitation to Rosings would be forthcoming following the arrival of Sir William and Elliot Bennet, and he was in absolute triumph at it happening so very quickly. He was keen for his father-in-law and his cousin to see the grandeur of his patroness as well as her civility towards himself and his husband. It was not that Mr. Collins was vain—certainly not given his position in the clergy!—but he wanted an opportunity to show his family how highly he was regarded.

Mr. Collins was not to know that for Elliot that regard had already been secured once he had witnessed how well Mr. Collins was treating his friend. From the library room which Charlie had turned into his own particular space, to the affability of the single housekeep-come-cook they were able to afford, and through to the economy of household management that Charlie was a natural at and was therefore well supported in by his husband.

All was well.

Elliot was relieved.

“I confess,” Mr. Collins said as they readied themselves to leave for Rosings the next evening, “that I should not have been at all surprised by her ladyship’s asking us on Sunday to drink tea and spend the evening at Rosings. I rather expected, from my knowledge of her affability, that it would happen. But who could have foreseen such an attention as this? Who could have imagined that we should receive an invitation to dine there so immediately after your arrival!”

“I am the less surprised at what has happened,” replied Sir William. “About the court, such instances of elegant breeding are not uncommon.”

Scarcely anything had been talked of the whole day but their visit to Rosings. Mr. Collins carefully instructed them in what they were to expect, that the sight of such rooms, so many servants, and so splendid a dinner, might not wholly overpower them.

“Do not make yourself uneasy, my dear cousin, about your apparel,” he said. “Lady Catherine is far from requiring that elegance of dress in us which becomes herself and her daughter. I would advise you merely to put on whatever of your clothes is superior to the rest—there is no occasion for anything more. Lady Catherine will not think the worse of you for being simply dressed. She likes to have the distinction of rank preserved.”

Elliot nodded at this and not least because he would not have brought along fancy clothing even if he had them! For a visit in the country, he had packed his everyday wear with one, slightly more elegant suit and velvet cravat. The cravat was included only because it had been a gift from the eldest Gardiner uncle at their London stop over. It was a deep, royal blue and reminded Elliot of the night sky just as dusk approached.

While they were dressing, Mr. Collins came two or three times to their different doors, to recommend their being quick, as Lady Catherine very much objected to be kept waiting for her dinner.

“He is not wrong,” Charlie said as he came into Elliot’s room. “She is very punctual!”

“Everything I have heard about Lady Catherine makes her sound a delight!” Elliot said.

“Since I have been here, she has examined this house from top to bottom and advised me to do almost everything differently in my household management,” Charlie said. “There are faults in the arrangements of the furniture, the joints of meat we serve for dinner, the refreshments on offer…” He grinned. “It is as if she must always find something to complain about or be unsatisfied.”

“She sounds like my own mother!”

“No, Mrs. Bennet’s is to do with her nerves. Lady Catherine’s is to do with her station.”

“Are you happy regardless, Charlie?” Elliot asked.

“I am,” Charlie said. “It is such a relief to be able to manage my own household. I enjoy it immensely.”

“And Mr. Collins…”

“Perfectly manageable as well!”

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