Resilience (Pride and Prejudice Variation)

Prologue

“Mr Collins, sir.” The butler of Rosings Park, Mr Torrens, bowed as he entered the study and announced the parson that Darcy had summoned that morning.

The clergyman was perfectly punctual, having arrived precisely at noon.

Anne told Darcy as much as she could about the man her mother had appointed to the living at Hunsford.

Darcy wondered if everything else she said about him was true.

The little he had heard so far urged him to view the pompous little man with distaste, but he reminded himself to keep an open mind.

Perhaps the man truly was only ignorant, as Anne supposed.

Perhaps he could be educated and improved.

“Mr Darcy!” the young man squeaked in anxiety. “Thank you for your invitation. I am at your convenience, sir. I humbly assure you that anything I can do, any service–”

“Indeed, Mr Collins, I thank you. May I offer you tea or coffee?”

At the other man’s demurral, Darcy nodded, dismissed Torrens, then took the measure of Mr Collins with a critical eye.

“I presume my aunt has spoken of me to you before?” Darcy asked. At his guest’s nod, he continued. “And what has my aunt told you about me?”

“Lady Catherine tells me that you are the son of her dearest sister, Lady Anne, the gentle and refined flower of Derbyshire, Mr Darcy!” Mr Collins supplied eagerly.

“Your father was the scion of a most powerful family of great wealth. You are the greatest example of gentlemanly virtue, and the fortunate betrothed of Miss de Bourgh, the delicate blossom of Kent!”

“I thought as much,” Darcy grumbled. “You must learn that if you are to remain at Hunsford, sir, you need the skill of sifting the wheat from the chaff, or my aunt will render your word unreliable.”

“You cannot mean that Lady Catherine told me falsehoods, sir!” Mr Collins objected.

“Not falsehoods precisely,” Darcy amended.

“It is true that my mother was everything good and gentle, and also true that the Darcys have always been wealthy and powerful, but what is more important is that they were kind people who undertook their duties thoughtfully, and with honour and Christian generosity.”

“Of course, sir.” Mr Collins sounded anything but certain.

“And that bit about me being the whatever of gentlemanly virtue, why that is utter codswallop, sir.” Darcy’s face was mutinous. He did not appreciate such flattery.

“And the part about Miss de Bourgh?” Mr Collins asked timidly.

“Well, I was not properly engaged to her until this morning, but I confess that you may now suppose a connection as much as you choose.” Darcy lifted a special license from the desk and passed it to Mr Collins.

“You will marry us on the garden terrace here at Rosings Park tomorrow at ten o’clock.

You may, of course, join us for a small celebratory breakfast when the ceremony is finished.

Lord and Lady Matlock arrive this afternoon with my cousin Lady Priscilla and Viscount Brisbane.

Lady Metcalf will also attend, and my friend, Mr Bingley, who will stand up with me. ”

“Congratulations, sir!” Mr Collins stood and bowed. “I should go home directly and write an appropriate sermon for the ceremony! You will want to see it, of course, Lady Catherine always likes to correct–”

“Mr Collins, that is just what I do not wish to do.” Mr Darcy’s face was forbidding. “Something from the Book of Prayer will certainly suffice. I have other concerns, and it remains to be seen whether you are capable of assisting me with those matters.”

“Please, Mr Darcy, I will be happy to assist you with anything in my power!” Mr Collins insisted.

Darcy rose from his chair and began to pace the room. “I was, as I said, not engaged to Anne until this very morning.” He took a breath and continued. “I was summoned to Rosings by my cousin Anne a month ago.”

“I recall your visit. Lady Catherine cancelled a dinner at Rosings to receive you.” Mr Collins nodded. “It was a surprise that you returned so soon after your previous visit.”

“What you are not aware of, is that the night before I arrived last month, my cousin Anne was almost kidnapped, and not for the first time since I left Rosings a fortnight before at Easter.”

“Kidnapped!” Collins yelped.

“Indeed, Mr Collins.” Mr Darcy turned and faced him. “On the morning of the twenty-second of April, two men attempted to take Anne from her phaeton. Only the fact that the grooms who follow her on horseback ride armed saved her.”

“But Lady Catherine said nothing!” Mr Collins exclaimed. “She ought to have called for the magistrate, sent out riders to search the roads, groundskeepers to search the outbuildings, surely!”

“My aunt is afraid to draw even more attention to Anne’s sizable fortune,” Darcy answered sensibly.

“You must be aware that there are few inheritances to match Anne’s when it comes to heiresses.

But it does not end there. On the night of the first of May, a kitchen maid was apparently bribed to add a drop of laudanum to everyone’s late evening beverage, as well as to the tea the servants shared before they went up to bed.

The kitchen maid did not realise that my aunt and the butler did not drink any tea before retiring that night.

Men entered Rosings Park in the night, Mr Collins, and only the fact that my aunt’s maid fell asleep while brushing her mistress’s hair saved my cousin.

My aunt found the butler, who had also surmised that something was wrong, and the two of them hid with Anne, who was unconscious, in a secret passage that few know of until morning. ”

“On a Sunday, no less!” Mr Collins gasped. “Scandalous! Lady Catherine is a hero!”

“My aunt may indeed have merits I never thought to attribute to her. Anne certainly owes her mother her life,” Darcy acknowledged.

“What it amounts to, Mr Collins, is that my cousin is in danger from heiress snatchers. If they are willing to enter her very home and take her by force or stealth, the only way she will be safe is if she marries.”

He stopped pacing by the window and looked out, folding his hands behind his back.

“I never thought I would consider marrying Anne. There was never any cradle betrothal. Only an idle fancy shared by our mothers. And there is also the fact that though I do not wish to marry for some years, I also do very much need an heir. Anne cannot give me one without it costing her life, which I will not risk, and neither of us is willing to share a bed with the other, we have too much familial affection between us. I could no more take her to bed than I could my own dear sister.”

He shook his head. “Anne has implored me to consider the match, due to the fact that she is unlikely to live for many more years. There have been many attempts to compromise me, in London and visiting friends in the country. I am always hunted, never safe. Now, poor Anne is hunted inside her own home.”

Darcy sighed. “I called my London physician, my uncle’s London physician, and even summoned my physician from Derbyshire.

They all agree. Anne will not live to see thirty, and being a year older than I, in all likelihood has fewer than four or five years left.

Very likely not even close to that many.

If she passed in her sleep before the festive season, it would not surprise me. ”

He shuddered. “I feel dirty for even having to consider such things, marrying my cousin, whom I do not love, with the expectation that she will die and leave me a great fortune that I do not need and cannot possibly manage alone. But if I do not do it, Anne will be hounded to her grave. Or worse, forced into marriage with a brute who will abuse her and rush her into an even earlier grave. Anne wishes to remain here, as she always has. I will have a reprieve from my own pursuers, and she can spend the rest of her days in peace. Who am I to deny her such a request? She is not asking me to live here with her, though I will, of course, come as often as I am able.”

“Is it spiritual advice you require, Mr Darcy?” Mr Collins asked. “If you are concerned about your mortal soul, I assure you that doing as your aunt commands and saving your cousin from pain and suffering is noble indee–”

“That is not what I require, Mr Collins.” Mr Darcy turned back to the clergyman sharply.

“Anne tells me that you are entirely my aunt’s creature.

I have no use for that. I have need of a man of God who will commit to his duty, serve his parishioners, and to be a friend to myself and the future Mrs Darcy, not who will serve only Lady Catherine. ”

“I…er…” Mr Collins stammered. “But Lady Catherine…”

“Is not the owner of this estate, nor did she have the authority to appoint you, Mr Collins.” Mr Darcy frowned at him as the man appeared as if he meant to object again.

“Rosings Park and the fortune of Sir Lewis was left solely to Anne, who came into her inheritance last year when she turned twenty-five. Lady Catherine has her widow’s portion, which is generous, and the use of the dower house and de Bourgh House in Bath for her lifetime, unless she is invited to share Rosings Park with Anne, which of course she will be unless she becomes impossible to manage.

She never had any right to appoint you as rector here before Easter.

Only Anne’s signature with that of the bishop protects your right to this living, Mr Collins, and so far, you do not have that.

It can be arranged for you to obtain it, if you are willing to submit to a course of self-improvement. ”

Mr Collins gasped, open-mouthed. “Self-improvement?”