Chapter 9 #2
Collins spun and glared at his wife. She did not deny that what her brother said was the truth; all she did was look away, as she could not hold his eye.
His wife had just committed the worst sin against him she could.
She had humiliated him before her brother, a woman who he did not recognise, and some of the servants.
He wanted to punish her there and then, as was his right, but looking at the brother, Collins could see the man was fitter and stronger than himself.
“Did she lie about her dowry as well? She told me it is five thousand pounds,” Collins wanted to know. ‘If she dissembled about that too, she will be very sorry,’ he thought.
“No, in that, she did not mislead you.” Gardiner answered the question narrowly, purposefully not mentioning what would happen when the will was read.
“I assume my sister was so intent on making sure she remained in this house that she was too much of an imbecile to demand that there be a settlement drafted before she married you. You are both disgusting. Marrying less than a fortnight after your husband.” Gardiner glared at his sister.
“And your cousin,” he speared Collins with a look of pure disdain, “was called home to God. Tell me, how are you being received in the neighbourhood?”
Both Collinses looked away momentarily. They had dismissed Mr Pierce’s warnings, but they had been completely shunned.
No one was at home to them; there were no callers at Longbourn, and the merchants would not allow them into their shops.
The only way they could make purchases was to send servants into Meryton to do it for them, and it was only for coin.
Not a single tradesman would extend credit to Collins regardless of what estate he would eventually be master of.
“I had to marry because of the unfair way our late father and that cruel husband of mine treated me. I hope he is in hell where he belongs,” Fanny screeched.
“The treatment was commensurate with your dishonourable actions,” Gardiner interjected.
She looked at the woman she assumed was her brother’s wife. “Can you not see what kind of terrible man you have married in my brother?” Fanny sneered. “Just wait, he will treat you just as badly as well.”
“If you want to see the worst kind of woman, look in the mirror. I married the best of men,” Maddie shot back. “You disgust me.”
Fanny looked back to her husband to defend her, but he said and did nothing.
The things that Fanny said and what he believed she had done led Gardiner to reach a decision. “You are no longer my sister, and as such, I will never acknowledge this man as my brother. Now, Mrs Collins, I will ask one more time, where are my wards?” Gardiner demanded.
“What do you mean that my daughters are your wards?” Fanny enquired nastily, ignoring Edward’s question.
“What do you think it means? Surely you cannot be so much of a simpleton as not to understand what the word implies. I am their guardian. Now, I demand to know where my wards are!” Gardiner said in a low voice with barely controlled fury.
She knew that she could never admit to the truth.
All Fanny had to do was keep to what she had told the magistrate.
“It is as I told Mr Long; I was coming to see you after Mr Bennet died. Even without knowing you were to be their guardian, I felt they needed to be with you, so I made for London. At a rest stop, the coachman drove away with them in the carriage.”
“Liar! You forget; Fanny, I know you, and I know when you are prevaricating. Tell me the truth now,” Gardiner demanded. His sister cowered, and Gardiner came as close to striking a female as he ever had. He could not, though, and even as she shrunk back in fear, his sister did not change her lie.
A maid entered the parlour and whispered to Mrs Hill. “Mr and Mrs Gardiner, your chambers are ready for you,” the housekeeper stated.
“You will not remain in my house,” Collins insisted as his wife nodded.
“Do I need to remind you that until Mr Phillips arrives and reads the will you are not the master here, and as I am sure your very honest wife told you, Mrs Hill is the acting mistress. We have permission from the estate’s mistress, and that is all we need to remain here for now,” Gardiner retorted.
“As such, there is nothing you may do until the will is read.”
If Collins had been angry at his wife’s lying to him, he was now that much more furious, as he was humiliated again. He was standing, his hands made into fists, looking for a release of his anger.
“Lead on, Mrs Hill,” Maddie sang.
As soon as the door was closed, Fanny knew she needed to placate her husband.
She stood and approached him regardless of the foreboding look on his face.
She was about to reach out to take his hand when she began to speak.
“Now you see what kind of people…” Whatever else she was about to say was lost when she was knocked back onto the settee when her cheek was caught by a glancing blow from a fist. No matter how bad things were between her and Mr Bennet, he had never raised his hand to her.
Edward had come close today, but he had not hit her.
She had been married less than ten days, and her new husband had just struck her.
“Why?” was all Fanny could manage. She was in such a state of shock she had not allowed herself to cry yet.
“You lied to me and left me to be humiliated by your brother and his wife. You are lucky I did not do more. Do not ever lie to me again, do you understand?” Collins hissed. The release of his frustrations had helped somewhat.
Fanny was thinking about excuses, but she knew that if she used one, there was a good chance her husband would strike her again.
In that moment, it hit Fanny that in aligning herself with Clem Collins, she may have made a worse mistake than when she compromised Mr Bennet.
She had to go to speak to Edward when she could.
Surely her brother had not meant what he had said to her, had he?
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“I spoke to the coachman; he has sent ahead to ensure there are horses to swap every two hours. At this pace, we will be in Meryton on Saturday,” Phillips told his wife as they departed from the second stop they had made so far that day.
“It is hard to believe we will never see Thomas again, and what of those darling little girls? I remember a few times Mamma, Papa, and I called at Longbourn after they were born. What little beauties the older two are. We never saw the babe; Mary you said?” Agatha watched as her husband nodded.
“I am sure she will be just as pretty as her older sisters.” She paused.
“Did Mrs Bennet not know that Mr Gardiner would be their guardian if Thomas went to his final reward?”
“As far as I know, no. Bennet never spoke to her more than absolutely necessary.” Phillips paused. “Agatha, I need to inform you of something, which may answer a question you had regarding why Bennet never pursued you.”
“Tell me, Frank. I do not pine for him. Had I not been in love with you, I would not have accepted a courtship, not to mention an engagement. However, I would be prevaricating if I said I never asked myself why he seemed to withdraw from me. I know that the then Miss Gardiner compromised him, but I always wondered why he did not refuse to marry her.”
“You know that Mr Henry Bennet, Bennet’s late father, was taken before he turned thirty, do you not?
” Phillips watched Agatha nod. “He had a disease of the heart…” Phillips explained that right before he withdrew from her, Bennet discovered he had the same ailment.
“After seeing his mother waste away from a broken heart, he felt he could not subject you to the same fate. You have the right of it; he could have refused to gratify Gardiner’s demands… ” He told the rest of the story.
“Am I to understand that he married her because he did not love Miss Gardiner, hence, he cared not what happened to her after he was gone? Further, it was his one chance to keep the estate from that brutish distant cousin of whom he spoke?”
“You are right.” Phillips cogitated about the best way to say the next.
“Bennet’s selfless sacrifice when he walked away from you ended up with me finding the love of my life.
When we make decisions, we never know what the ramifications will be.
All I know is that I will forever be grateful you did not have an understanding with anyone when we got closer and that you are now my wife. ”
“I too do not have any regrets, Frank.” Agatha snuggled up to her husband and felt secure in the welcoming circle of his arms.