Chapter 11 #2
In the corner, Bennet had returned and taken up his chair once again.
He did not open his book immediately. Instead, he scanned the room, looking to see who was still in attendance and where they were.
He was startled to see Wickham sitting very close to his wife.
He became increasingly angry as he watched the pair of them flirting.
He could clearly see from the officer’s mien and frequent glances at Mrs. Bennet’s bosom what was going through his mind.
He had never seen his spouse of nearly five and twenty years behaving in such a manner with any man.
She had not flirted with him in at least a dozen.
What is she thinking? he wondered. He examined his wife’s features and thought he detected admiration for Wickham in her eyes.
Well. We cannot have that! He thought a while longer, his gaze never straying from his wife and her companion.
It occurred to him that he could not remember the last time he had shared a bed with her.
I wonder … yes, that must be it! She is in need of attention.
Well, if she gets that sort of consideration from anyone, it’s going to be me!
I am quite certain I can still summon charm enough to worm my way into her bed.
Jealousy now fully filling his heart and with a firm resolution to seduce his wife, Bennet bolted out of his chair and marched across the room to stand in front of Mrs. Bennet.
“Wife, I have need of you.” He took her hand and lifted her from her seat.
Turning to Wickham, he, forgetting his manners in his upset, said, “It is time for you to leave. I require a word with my wife.” He bowed.
“I trust you to see yourself out.” He pulled Mrs. Bennet toward the door by the hand he still held.
“Mr. Bennet,” his wife cried as she scurried along behind him, “what are you about? How could you be so abominably rude to one of our guests?”
He stopped in front of the door to his book room and turned to her.
“Do not think I did not see your behavior with that Wickham fellow,” he hissed as quietly as he could.
“In all these years of marriage I have never seen you flirt with another man. It occurs to me that you have forgotten to whom you are wed. I will not be cuckolded.” With that, he turned and tugged her into his library.
Her silence surprised him, but he did not expect it to last. He pulled her inside and shut the door behind her.
In the drawing room, the sound of the argument the master and mistress were having was quite clear, though the words themselves could not be made out.
The guests excused themselves and quietly departed, and the girls scattered to their separate amusements, most outside the house except for Mary, who instead decided this would be a good time to practice the pianoforte.
Eventually, her playing was interrupted by the sound of her mother screaming at her father before slamming the book room door and marching upstairs, wailing for her salts.
The girls did not see their parents the rest of the day, as both ordered supper trays brought to the room in which they were seated, Mrs. Bennet’s going to her chambers and Mr. Bennet’s going to his book room.
~~~***~~~
The next morning, the Bennet girls stood in the hall outside the breakfast room, whispering among themselves.
Mr. Collins was within, standing over the sideboard, and none of them wished to be in the same room with him, especially not alone.
Eventually, they heard their parents’ footsteps coming down the stairs.
They turned as one and hurried into the room to await their arrival.
A few minutes later, they, along with their cousin, watched with wide eyes as their mother fairly glowed, bestowing adoring looks in their father’s direction just about every other minute.
What was more shocking in their eyes was that he smiled fondly at her every time he caught one of the looks.
The girls ate in silence, watching the exchanges and communicating their wonder with each other with their own looks and head tilts.
Before he left the table after breaking his fast, Bennet loudly cleared his throat, catching the attention of all the ladies of his household.
“I am in receipt of some information that has startled and alarmed me about the officers of the nearby regiment.” He looked at each girl in turn, as well as his wife.
“I was uncertain what to do about it, but upon reflection, I have come to the conclusion that the best way to prevent anything untoward is to refuse them admittance.” When Lydia began to protest, he raised his hand.
“I am the head of this household and it will be as I say.” He looked sternly at his youngest. “Do you understand me?”
Collins could not hold his thoughts in any longer. “I am certain my young cousin will be eager to obey her most esteemed father in this regard.” He would have gone on longer, but Bennet cut him off with a sharp hand motion.
Lydia rolled her eyes at her cousin, then pouted, crossing her arms over her chest and glowering at her father, but she replied readily enough. “Yes, sir.”
Bennet nodded. “Very good. See that you obey.” He looked around the table again. “No officer is to be invited here or allowed on Longbourn property from this moment forth. Disobedience will result in a loss of pin money for the next quarter.”
The ladies remained silent. The only sounds to be heard were the servants moving about in other rooms. Even Mr. Collins seemed to be hesitant to say anything.
Bennet nodded. He took a final sip of his morning coffee and stood. “I will be in my book room if I am needed.” He walked to the other end of the table to bestow a kiss upon his wife’s lips and then turned toward the door.
Mrs. Bennet watched her husband leave the room with a soft smile on her lips.
She sighed before turning to her second daughter and becoming serious.
“Lizzy, I would have a word with you.” She opened her mouth to speak, but then frowned at her husband’s cousin.
“Mr. Collins, I require you to leave the room.” She waved toward the door.
“Perhaps you may visit with my husband in his book room.”
“Oh, but Mrs. Bennet, surely you will need my support to lend weight to whatever it is you wish to say to Miss Elizabeth.” He gave Lizzy a coy smile.
“After all, I am certain that your husband will soon see the wisdom of breaking her engagement to my esteemed patroness’ nephew, and then she will be married to me. ”
Mrs. Bennet gave him a look that her daughters knew well. “Mr. Collins! Leave!”
Collins’ eyes widened and he drew his head back. His mouth opened and closed. He swallowed. Then, he stiffened and stood. With a bow, he acquiesced to her desires. “Very well, then.” He spun on his heel and left the room.
Mrs. Bennet turned to her second daughter.
“I have it on good authority that Mr. Darcy is a heartless scoundrel,” she said urgently.
“He has ruined several other young ladies; I know you wish for faithfulness in a husband – you have said so repeatedly – and he is clearly not going to be so. I want you to go to your father right now and tell him you wish to break your engagement. Mr. Collins is prepared to marry you. He is a clergyman. He will not break a commandment like that.”
Elizabeth was stunned at her mother’s words, not because of their content but because the lady was still insisting on having her way.
“No, Mama. I will not. I do not know who told you such a thing about Mr. Darcy, but it is not true. He and I have discussed this already. I trust him. Furthermore, I have already told you multiple times that, even if I were to break my betrothal, I would never marry Mr. Collins. He is ridiculous and I cannot respect him.”
Mrs. Bennet pressed her lips together momentarily, but then tried again, repeating Wickham’s story about the living.
She and her second daughter ended in a huge argument, because she would not listen to Elizabeth’s insistence that she had heard Darcy’s side of the story and trusted him above the lieutenant, and Elizabeth would not even consider jilting her betrothed.
Though the other girls sat at first and watched in wonder, their heads bouncing back and forth between mother and sister, they eventually decided, one at a time, that perhaps discretion is the better part of valor and slipped away to gather in a different room.