Chapter 10 #2
The result was that Collins was obese in the extreme.
At least, the seminary had cured him of a habit he had picked up from his father which was bathing infrequently.
Bishop Lankershim stressed that there were many religious texts connecting a pure spirit with cleanliness.
As it caused Collins to bathe daily, the Bishop never mentioned that many of the sources were from other religions not recognised by the Church of England.
In the years since he and his Bennet cousin traded those acrimonious letters, Collins had not heard from, or about, his cousin. As long as the man obeyed him and did not remarry and beget a son, it was better this way.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
March 1810
A month before Easter, Bishop Lankershim finally felt Collins was ready to act as a fully-fledged, ordained clergyman.
Collins was not the most learned man, but in the Bishop’s mind, he would minister to his flock well and be a credit to both himself and the Church of England.
On this day the Bishop had received a letter from Lady Catherine de Bourgh, the mistress of Rosings Park, in which she requested three or four men as she needed to chuse one to fill the living in the Hunsford Parish which was in her advowson.
Bishop Lankershim sent three well qualified men, and as an afterthought, he added Collins to the group who would travel to Rosings Park to meet with Lady Catherine.
He did not think a clergyman only recently having taken orders would be awarded the living, but he thought it would be good for Collins to gain the experience of what it was like to seek a living.
There was some critical information of which the Bishop was unaware.
Collins tended to be sycophantic with those of rank, especially with women.
He had kept himself in check during his studies after advice on that subject from Mr Davidson.
Also, Bishop Lankershim could not have known that Lady Catherine was looking for an obsequious man who would follow her every order and worship the ground upon which she walked.
When Bishop Lankershim was advised that Lady Catherine had selected and immediately awarded the living to Collins, it had raised his eyebrows.
When the other three men reported back about what Lady Catherine was seeking, it was too late.
Collins was already appointed, and unless he committed misconduct that was reported to the diocese, or was discovered by another clergyman, he would not be able to dismiss Collins from his position.
All Bishop Lankershim could do was pray that Collins would be a credit to the Church of England.
For his part, Collins thought he had died and gone to heaven. Lady Catherine de Bourgh, a peer of the realm, had shone her beneficence upon him and appointed him to the living in her gift.
With the income from the glebe, tithing, and other sources of income, the living was worth four hundred pounds per annum, and all he had to do was pay half of it to Lady Catherine.
Two hundred pounds was almost ten times what he had previously earned in a year.
Not only that, but when he mentioned that he had the remains of his legacy in the bank, the great lady had condescended to accept the funds and invest them for him. What could have been better?
What Collins did not know was rather than claim half of his money, his patroness was supposed to add two hundred pounds per annum to it.
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Frank Phillips had loved his late wife, Hattie, but it was nothing to what he felt for his new wife, Charlotte. It was not her age or looks which attracted him, but her mind.
In many ways, Charlotte was the opposite of Hattie, she was intelligent, circumspect, practical, and best of all, she was not a gossip.
The best thing Phillips had been gifted by Charlotte was a son, Lawrence William, named for his late and living grandfathers, who Charlotte had delivered on the third day of November 1809.
He, of course, did not hold it against the late Hattie because He made her as she was, but the fact that he had sired a child proved that whatever the issue had been, it had not been with him.
Charlotte Phillips could not have been happier, she loved her husband, had a good home, was financially far better off than she had imagined she would be when she accepted Frank, and best of all, she was a mother.
She had never thought the intense love she felt for her son was possible, but it had begun the first instant she had held Lawrence.
Mama had been with her for her lying-in and the birthing.
Charlotte could not but smile when she thought how happy Mama and Papa were to be grandparents.
Her brothers and Maria were no less pleased to be uncles and an aunt.
Although as they promised, they would not address her as ‘Aunt Charlotte’, her relationship with Jane and Eliza was as strong as it had ever been.
Even though they were not related by blood, they, and their younger three sisters, considered Charlotte’s son to be a cousin and Mr Bennet—she could not bring herself to call him Thomas as he had offered—counted Lawrence as a nephew.
The same was true of the Gardiners, the lack of blood ties did not stop them still considering the Phillips family related to them. Unlike with Mr Bennet, Charlotte had no pause in calling the Gardiner parents Maddie and Edward.
She supposed that her reluctance to use Mr Bennet’s familiar name stemmed from her many years of being his oldest two daughters’ good friend.
In May upcoming, Charlotte would be six and twenty.
Before Frank began to call on her, given the dearth of young men in the neighbourhood and thanks to the war with the Corsican Tyrant—as Eliza called him—coupled with the fact that her family never travelled outside of the area of Meryton, Charlotte had been convinced that by the time she was the age she was now, she would be well and truly on the shelf.
Thankfully, that was not the case. She was no longer a burden to her family.
Had she still been, Charlotte could have imagined being desperate enough to accept any offer made for her, regardless of compatibility.
She was snapped out of her thoughts when Nurse brought Lawrence to her.
“The little mite jus’ woke up from ‘is nap,” Nurse reported. “I believe ‘e needs ‘is mama to feed ‘im. ‘E is changed and dry.”
Charlotte reached out and took her precious son from Nurse. As soon as his hazel eyes alighted on her, Lawrence began to coo. “Thank you, Nurse,” Charlotte said as she held her son. Even before Nurse left the parlour, pulling the door closed behind her, Charlotte had her son at her breast.
She loved her mother, but she had rejected the advice about leaving her son’s feeding to a wet nurse.
God had given every woman the ability to feed their own children, so Charlotte refused to reject His gifts.
In addition, she was certain that the time she fed Lawrence bonded them even closer.
She looked down contentedly as her son suckled happily.
She hoped for more children. Unlike what Mama had told her before the wedding, the act of making them was neither a chore nor was it unpleasant. She would not complain, however, if it was another year or so before she became with child again.
A few minutes after she moved her son to her other breast, he smiled up at her. That told Charlotte he was sated—for now. She placed a cloth over her shoulder and then after covering herself, she rested him on her shoulder patting his back until he emitted a series of belches.
As was her wont, Charlotte did not ring for Nurse to come take Lawrence after she had fed him. Rather, she held him on her lap and bounced him up and down. Her son squealed with delight, his arms flailing about wildly.
Yes, God had been very good to her and Frank.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Like Jane had when she was eighteen, Elizabeth had come out into the local society a year earlier, shortly after she turned eighteen.
Neither of the eldest Bennet sisters had felt an attraction to a member of the opposite sex.
They also felt no pressure to marry the first man who came along.
Papa had explained that they each had a dowry of more than five and twenty thousand pounds, even though he only let it be known that they had two thousand pounds each, and as such, even if they never married, they would be well taken care of.
He also told them that he would never force them to gratify a compromise, if anyone was dishonourable enough to attempt such.
That was not a serious concern thanks to the protection of John Biggs, Brian Johns, and their men whenever any of the sisters left the manor house.
As all five Bennet sisters had vowed they would only marry for the deepest love and respect, knowing that they had no imperative to marry, allowed them to look to fulfil that aim.
When Jane was nineteen, the tenant who was leasing Netherfield Park, a man closer to forty years than thirty, had been attracted to her.
Jane had not been at all interested in him, but the man did not take the hints.
So it was when he arrived at Longbourn with some poetry he wrote, and requested a private interview with Miss Bennet, he had been shown to the master’s study.
Bennet had not minced his words when he spoke, plainly telling the man to cease importuning his daughter and never return.
Bennet threatened to set Biggs and Johns on the man if he ever approached his daughter again.
The man had lost all of his colour, and in his haste, the rejected suitor had left the page with his verses on Bennet’s desk.
Within a sennight, he had left Netherfield Park.
Later that day, Bennet had read the worst poetry ever written to his daughters for their mutual amusement.
In July of the current year, Mary would turn eighteen and have her local coming out as well.
She was more serious, but she was no less beautiful than her older sisters.
She was very close to Jane and Lizzy and knew that they would be there to support her at her first ball as she was somewhat nervous about making her debut.
Approaching the ages of sixteen and fourteen respectively, Kate and Lydia were in no hurry to enter society. Mrs Dudley was no longer their governess. Like Miss Jones, she was a companion to the girls.