Chapter Twenty #2
Both Mr. Darcy and Mr. Collins looked horrified at the thought of conversing with each other.
One because the man was a sycophantic fool, the other because his patroness was livid over the fact her nephew should have married her daughter.
However, neither lady gave them the chance to decline their suggestion as they linked arms and continued down the path, heads close together.
Elizabeth began to explain the true financial condition of Longbourn and what Charlotte could expect to find when her uncle finally passed on to his eternal reward.
***
Darcy watched his wife as she strolled off with Miss Lucas, then turned his attention to Mr. Collins, who also watched the ladies. He struggled to think of something to say when Richard came to his rescue.
“You know Lady Catherine?”
“I do,” Mr. Collins replied, and then his eyebrows rose, as though realizing for the first time that his cousin Jane was walking arm in arm with a gentleman. “Cousin Jane, I am pleased to see you again.”
“How is it that you know Lady Catherine?” Richard asked again.
“I am the rector at Hunsford. Her ladyship is my patroness.” The heavyset man rocked back on his heels; his manner strangely nervous. “What business do you have, asking about Lady Catherine?”
“She is my aunt.”
“You are a Darcy?”
“No, I am Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam.”
Mr. Collins’s eyes rounded in surprise or horror; Darcy couldn’t quite tell.
“You are the son of Earl Matlock.”
The parson bowed so low in greeting that Darcy was convinced his nose touched the ground and prepared himself to grab the funny little man in case he toppled over.
“Mr. Collins, my cousin is not royalty. You do not need to genuflect in his presence,” he admonished.
“I am honored you are here. I have been told so much about your family. Lady Catherine is prodigiously proud of them… rather, she is proud of most of your family...”
The sentence trailed off and Mr. Collins began to turn pale. He cast his gaze longingly after his betrothed and cousin.
“Does she still go on about that cradle betrothal?” Richard asked.
Mr. Collins dragged his attention back to the colonel.
“She is most adamant and very distraught over the whole thing. She has written an expose about Cousin Elizabeth for The Gazette. She says she does not care how much it costs to purchase a whole page…” Mr. Collins’s voice trailed off when he saw the look on Darcy’s face.
“Oh, dear me. I should not have said anything.”
“But you have Mr. Collins, and I demand you tell me everything my aunt has planned, for not only does this concern me, but also your cousin, Mrs. Darcy. It will be her name dragged through the mud, and her family will be hurt. Can you live with yourself if that happened?”
“I… I… She will release me from my living!”
Jane stepped forward and laid a hand on Mr. Collin’s arm.
“Mr. Collins. Standing before you are two very powerful men. I do not believe they will allow their aunt to hurt you in any way, and as a Christian and spiritual leader of your flock, you must see that no harm comes to others.”
The parson continued to open and close his mouth like a fish gasping for air out of water.
“Mr. Collins, I am privy to information you are not.” Richard began.
“My father, Earl Matlock, was the executor of the late Sir Lewis de Bourgh’s will.
Although Aunt Catherine tends to rule Rosings Park, she has no authority.
My cousin Anne is the legal owner as she came into her inheritance upon her majority.
Also, the living at Hunsford can only be removed by the archbishop, so if my aunt threatened you with that, rest easy. ”
Mr. Collins swallowed hard, looked at both men, swallowed again, and then began to speak.
“She wrote all about the compromise and painted the picture that Cousin Elizabeth set out to trap you on the terrace, with lurid details of her gown being torn and her bosoms exposed to the gaze of everyone who came outside after the fact.”
“That is all?” Darcy demanded, feeling Mr. Collins was not being entirely truthful. When the man swallowed again, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down, he knew there was more.
“If this fails to entice you to divorce my cousin, she has hired some men to…” He began to perspire profusely. “They are to take her to an unknown location, keep her there for some time so that her reputation would be thoroughly ruined, and in disgust, you would cast her off.”
Darcy grabbed the man by his neckcloth and dragged him up to his face. In his fury, he did not even register the weight of the man, nor the fact his toes barely touched the ground.
“You were going to stay silent and allow all of this to happen!”
He flung the man from him in disgust and Collins fell to the ground, trembling. He awkwardly rose to his feet and reached inside his greatcoat.
“No! I wrote you an anonymous letter.” He pulled out a letter and handed it to Darcy, the envelope quivering in his hand, he trembled so hard. “It details everything. I was going to post it from London on our way to Kent tomorrow.”
Darcy snatched the missive from his hand, seeing his name and direction on the front of the envelope.
“You have earned yourself a reprieve, Collins,” he snarled and stuffed the letter in his coat pocket. “I will read this tonight and if I am not satisfied you have revealed all her plans, do not show up for your wedding because Miss Lucas will be made a widow before the day is over.”
“Everything is in there. Even more than what I have told you,” Collins said, wringing his hands. “I would never have allowed her to hurt my cousin.”
“Does Anne know what her mother is about,” Richard asked.
“Absolutely not!” Mr. Collins drew back in revulsion. “She is delighted with the fact Mr. Darcy has married and can now pursue… Oh dear, I was not supposed to talk about that either.”
“You are having an exceedingly difficult day, are you not, Mr. Collins?”
Jane’s soft voice cut through the tension.
“Indeed, I am.”
Darcy decided to take some pity on the man.
“Mr. Collins, if what you have assured us is true, I will make it my mission to ensure Aunt Catherine never finds out how I discovered her nefarious plans.”
“I can help with that, Mr. Collins,” Richard added.
“In my line of work, I come across all sorts of unsavory characters. If pushed for details, I will let slip that some ne’er do well sold her out for clemency.
She will believe such gobble-dee-goo because she thinks none of her servants would ever betray her confidences. ”
“Some of what I shared was not told to me in confidence. I was working in the northeast corner of my garden and overheard some men talking. They, of course, had no idea I was behind the hedgerows and talked openly about what she had ordered them to do. I believe they were looking forward to the task.”
Dread and fury fought for purchase in Darcy’s gut. It was imperative he discover what Aunt Catherine planned.
“I must go and read this letter. Richard, would you and Miss Bennet please escort my wife back to Longbourn?”
“Of course.”
“Do not let her out of your sight. I have a bad feeling about all this.”
Darcy turned back toward the manor while Richard and Jane, along with Mr. Collins, hurried to catch up to Elizabeth and Miss Lucas.