Chapter 21. Jane’s Easter Visit to Hunsford
The weather in March varied from spring to winter but transportation across southern England was easy when Mrs Gardiner, Jane and Elizabeth travelled from London to Kent.
They arrived at the parsonage in Hunsford on a Wednesday afternoon and quickly found that Mr Collins was not at home.
A maid with matted hair and dirty dress served them tea made with old leaves and lukewarm water in the dark and musty parlour.
There were no biscuits, the cream was curdled, and the sugar was hardened.
When she examined the teacups, Mrs Gardiner found they were dirty.
“Where is Mr Collins?” Jane asked the maid.
The girl placed her hand on her hip and replied, “How am I to know? His high and mightiness...”
“Enough!” Mrs Gardiner commanded. “Come girls!”
A thunderstorm struck the kitchen at the parsonage in the next hour that set the maids scrambling as the ladies took hold of the servants and the parsonage.
Elizabeth went through the pantry with the cook, throwing out spoiled and moulded grain, flour and dried fruit.
“You could kill the vicar and his guests with this grain!” Elizabeth hissed. “And the magistrate would send you to hang in Canterbury Square for it! We shall feed this to the hens.”
“The coop is empty miss,” the cook explained.
“There are no hens or cocks?” Elizabeth asked with surprise.
“Mr Collins likes chicken pie, and he ordered the housekeeper to butcher all the birds for pies this winter.”
“So, there are no eggs? No hens to lay eggs?”
“Where is the soap?” Jane asked the maid-of-all-work. “We will get these dishes clean or there’ll be no supper for anyone!”
Mrs Gardiner cornered the housekeeper against the servant’s dining table and questioned the woman closely on her experience and future wishes to remain employed at the parsonage.
“But madam, Mr Collins contradicts all of my directions to the maids,” the housekeeper complained.
“When I have the maids clean the fireplaces early in the morning, he tells me that they should lay the fires during his breakfast. Then he complains when the rooms are not warm when he rises from breaking his fast.”
“My niece and I will handle her fiancé,” Mrs Gardiner assured the housekeeper. “Now, when was the last time you did a wash of the bedding?”
The woman’s face grew pale.
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When Mr Collins made an appearance at his parsonage, he found the entire household in an uproar with Elizabeth and a maid moving the carpets from the parlour to the garden for beating, and the furniture in the parlour all moved to one side of the room as Mrs Gardiner directed the housekeeper and two young girls on their knees in scrubbing the floor.
He fled to the kitchen for a pot of tea only to discover Miss Bennet–his fiancé–assisting a maid and another girl scrubbing every surface with lye soap amid stacks of clean dishes on the tables and sinks.
“Mr Collins, I hope you are well this afternoon,” Jane said, and Mr Collins was aghast to find his fiancée–a lady–helping to clean the kitchen.
“Miss Bennet, what is the meaning of this?”
Jane looked surprised but addressed Mr Collins calmly, “Sir, I am setting this house to rights! If I am to be mistress here, it will be clean and orderly. That way when you come home, I can offer you hot tea with fresh biscuits, good meals and an orderly house.”
Standing in the doorway of the kitchen, Mrs Gardiner remained silent, but she was pleased with her niece’s statement. Mr Collins fumbled about for a moment before Mrs Gardiner took him in hand and sent him to his study with the promise of tea in a short while.
“I brought that tin of biscuits from London,” she reminded Jane when the tea tray was prepared.
“Shall I take it to him?”
“No Jane,” Aunt Gardiner answered gently. “Send the housekeeper to deliver this tray.”
Supper that evening was a little fresh meat, cheese and bread. Everyone retired early with little conversation.
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