Banishment
Chapter 2
The next morning, as soon as breakfast was over Mr. Bennet retired to his library as was his wont, careful not to say anything that Collins might even remotely interpret as an invitation for him to join him. He needed not fear his cousin’s desire to follow him into the library as Collins had no appreciation for the written word other than the Book of Common Prayer, and he was much more disposed to spend time with his fair cousins than to bury himself into a boring folio. However, the young ladies seemed to have different plans of their own.
Kitty and Lydia were sent to the nursery to practice their numbers and do the reading that Mr. Bennet had seen fit to allot to them, much to Mrs. Bennet’s disapproval as she considered it all a waste of time. She did not see any value in such pursuits but she did not dare openly disagree with her husband, as he insisted on the girls studying whatever he deemed appropriate for them to study, not that he paid much attention to their progress in doing so.
Mary wordlessly removed herself to the music room and started practicing a ponderous piece with such enthusiasm and volume that Mrs. Bennet, unable to outshout the noise, bid Elizabeth to close the door between the music room and the parlour.
Jane and Elizabeth promptly excused themselves to the still room where some dried lavender and rose petals were waiting since the fall to be urgently turned into fragrant oils.
“Jane and Lizzy are so very gifted with fragrances” Mrs. Bennet enthusiastically commented to Collins, who gratefully accepted the cup of tea she handed him.
“Indeed, a very commendable talent” he agreed. “It was only the other day that Lady Catherine mentioned it as one of the many accomplishments required of a proper gentlewoman. Her daughter, the exquisite Miss De Bourgh would undoubtedly be extremely gifted with similar talent as Miss Bennet and Miss Elizabeth, or I should say most likely an even greater one, if her health would allow her to attend to it…”
“Does Lady Catherine have any other family?” Mrs. Bennet interrupted what she feared was the beginning of another recitation of Lady Catherine’s and her daughter’s accolades.
“Unfortunately no, Miss de Bourgh is her Ladyship’s only child. It is one of the reasons why her Ladyship so very much looks forward to having a proper lady at the parsonage. The neighbourhood does not have many families that Lady Catherine and Miss de Bourgh may associate with, but with a gently bred lady as my wife she had promised that they shall visit her often. I am convinced that Miss Bennet’s beauty and…”
“Oh yes, dearest Jane!” Mrs. Bennet exclaimed. “She is very much admired wherever she goes and I do believe that she is just about to get engaged any day now, as she is very much admired by a gentleman in the neighbourhood” she fibbed.
“Oh” Collins’ disappointment was obvious, as he had set his sights on the stately beauty that was Miss Jane Bennet as soon as he had been introduced to his fair cousins.
“Now as to Lizzy or Mary, I can guarantee you that there is no prior attachment in either case” Mrs. Bennet took a sip of her tea, then she turned to stir the fire.
Collins considered the two younger girls. Miss Mary was still a child, and an unattractive one at that. Miss Elizabeth however, although she did not have the classical features of her elder sister, was devilishly pretty with her dark auburn hair and her large dark eyes, framed by lush eyelashes, and she had an extremely enticing figure. Although much lighter and on a smaller scale than Miss Bennet, Miss Elizabeth had a very pleasing lithe figure and a vitality that made her fairly glow. However, in his opinion she too was rather too young to marry, just like her younger sister was, as he did not think that she was yet eighteen. Furthermore, he was not sure that the lady even looked at him twice since he arrived.
“I am not sure that…”
“Oh, I am sure that either Lizzy or Mary will be grateful and honoured to become your wife, sir” Mrs. Bennet said offhand patting his arm reassuringly. “I know that they are both full young. Lizzy is seventeen and Mary is but fifteen, but they are both good and clever girls, fully trained to run a household” she continued, not allowing Collins to interrupt her. “Why, Lizzy is handling all the household accounts of Longbourn and she even helps her father with the estate accounts!” she boasted.
Collins was still not fully convinced that Miss Elizabeth was ready to marry but, should she agree, he was sure that she would do him credit. Her playing on the pianoforte the evening before left him entranced, even though he was not a great connoisseur of music and playing. He was sure that Lady Catherine would fully approve of her as his bride.
---$---
“Jane dearest, what is your opinion of Mr. Collins?” Elizabeth attacked the subject as soon as they were in the privacy of the still room.
Jane hesitated a moment before answering. “I think he is a good and decent man” she said carefully.
“I do agree with you on that” Elizabeth smiled. “But could you imagine him as your husband?”
“No, I don’t think that I could” Jane shook her head decidedly. “I would wish for my husband to have a… wider range of topics of conversation and maybe… less repetition of it?” she giggled.
“My thoughts exactly” Elizabeth grinned. “You know however that in light what Mr. Collins said at dinner, Mama will insist upon one of us marrying him.”
“I don’t think that Mama would insist if neither of us wishes to” Jane defended Mrs. Bennet.
“I on the other hand, am absolutely sure of it, Jane. For now, it is obvious that I am her choice of a sacrificial lamb. Have you not seen how she tried to push him to sit next to me and have me pay pointed attentions to him last night?”
“I did notice that. I also noticed that you would have none of it” Jane smiled mischievously. “But it is one thing for her to wish it and yet another for her to demand it. And while we are at it, what is your opinion of Mr. Collins?”
“Same as yours. You remember how we vowed to never marry for anything but love?” she looked intently at Jane, who nodded. “I am determined that I will not marry him as I cannot see myself falling in love with him. But will you promise me to do the same, should Mama shift her focus on you?”
“I do promise you that, Lizzy. I am just as determined as you are” Jane said decidedly.
“Even if she will claim that it is your duty to ‘save’ the family from the hedgerows?”
“Even then. I will rather enter into service than into a marriage where I cannot truly love my husband, or if he does not love me like I wish to be loved.”
Elizabeth gave a relieved sigh. “Thank you Jane. I was afraid that if I or Mary refuse him and not yield to her pressures, Mama might be able to coerce you to accept him.”
The discussion did much to reassure Elizabeth, although she was not entirely convinced that sweet Jane will be as strong against their mother’s cajoling and scolding as she professed herself to be. Unlike herself, Jane was not used to be on the receiving end of their mother’s ire.
---$---
“Miss Elizabeth, might I please have a word with you in private?” Collins requested solemnly.
Elizabeth cringed at her cousin’s words, but she had no choice but to comply. She had not expected him to address her so soon, but maybe it was for the best to be done with it she thought, having a good idea of what the purpose of his request might be. She nodded slightly and entered the parlour ahead of him.
Collins pushed the door shut, not quite closing it as to preserve propriety, then turned towards her with a look in his eyes that was at the same time eager and nervous.
“Cousin Elizabeth” he begun. “Ever since…”
“Mr. Collins, will you please allow me to say something first?” she interrupted him with her palm raised in front of him.
“Of course” Collins agreed, although quite surprised by her request.
“First, I wish to express my happiness in finally making your acquaintance sir. Ours is such a small family, even though we are five sisters. Besides our Aunt Philips, our Uncle Gardiner and yourself we have no other living blood relatives.”
Collins gave her a small smile. “This goes for me too, as I have even fewer relatives than you do.”
Elizabeth nodded with a kind smile. “I know that Mama is frightened because of the entail” she continued with a slight blush, “but the truth is that neither I nor any of my sisters are ready to marry at this time, no matter what Mama says.” Collins nodded thoughtfully. He had been thinking the same thing just this morning. With the exception of Miss Bennet, all the other girls were full young to enter the married state. “I do not mean any insult to you as I honestly respect you and care for you as a cousin, but…”
“I do understand you Cousin Elizabeth and no slight is perceived, I assure you” he said seriously.
Elizabeth smiled at him gratefully. “I only wanted to spare us the embarrassment of…”
“Of a premature proposal and a subsequent refusal” he said ruefully and she nodded. “I am sure that Lady Catherine will fully understand that my cousins are too young to marry at this time. However, we could have a long engagement” he brightened with the thought which he believed to be brilliant.
Elizabeth bit her lip. She had to make him understand that her reluctance was not only because of her age, but wished to do so delicately, without hurting his feelings, especially that he had showed himself rather reasonable.
“I am sorry Mr. Collins, but I don’t think we should make such a decision now. As I said, I am not considering marriage at all at this time and we do not know what shall the future bring in three or four years. Furthermore, I must confess that I do not think that the life of the wife of a clergyman would suit me.”
“I am sure that with Lady Catherine’s help and guidance you would make a wonderful wife for any man, especially a clergyman like me, for I know that she would dote on you as you are wise beyond your years Cousin, and she is such a kind and condescending lady. I would like to speak with your esteemed father as to our future…”
“I would rather if you would not” Elizabeth said more sharply than she intended.
Collins gave a rather exasperated sigh. He really thought that he would rather like to have his cousin as his wife and, although he agreed that at the present time she was perhaps rather young and not fully understanding her best interests, he did not see why they could not marry in a year when she will be eighteen, or even in two if she insisted to wait longer.
“Mr. Collins” Elizabeth resumed more softly. “You mentioned yesterday that Lady Catherine wishes you to marry as soon as it may be because she wishes for suitable company for her daughter and herself. I am sure she did not mean to have you engaged for years before that actually happens. Besides, I am afraid I might be too… independent for Lady Catherine’s liking.”
“You make a good point about the long engagement cousin, and I will have to ask Lady Catherine about it. As to her not liking you, I think there is little danger of that. Lady Catherine is a very strong and very independent lady herself. I am sure she would value the same qualities in you. She is such a kind and condescending lady…”
Elizabeth ceased to listen to the list of Lady Catherine’s accomplishments which immediately flowed from her cousin’s lips. Instead, she congratulated herself for successfully defusing a potentially very awkward situation, at least for the time being. She had to admit to herself that she was surprised to find Mr. Collins so reasonable and at that moment, she felt real cousinly affection for the man, no matter how ridiculous his adulation of that patroness of his was, how his longwinded speeches bored her almost to tears or how offensive to her senses his lack of personal hygiene was. Deep down, he was a good man after all.
---$---
Mrs. Bennet was besides herself with rage. Collins quitted Longbourn not half an hour ago, still very much an unattached bachelor. She had overheard all of his and Elizabeth’s discussion and could not believe her daughter’s betrayal.
As soon as his interview with Elizabeth was concluded, Collins had gone to his room to pack his belongings.
Mrs. Bennet grabbed Elizabeth’s arm as she tried to slip out of the room and go past her mother.
“Just what are you thinking that you are doing Miss Lizzy?” Mrs. Bennet hissed, squeezing her daughter’s arm with such force that Elizabeth was sure she will bruise. “You will go after Mr. Collins right now and tell him that you have reconsidered. Take his offer of a prolonged engagement if you so wish, but marry him you shall!”
“I shall do no such thing” Elizabeth retorted. “I do not know the man, but I am sure that he will never be someone I shall consider to spend the rest of my life with.”
“What possible reasons could you have not to accept him?” Mrs. Bennet was besides herself. “He has a good living and he is the heir of this estate. With your hoydenish ways and your bluestocking tendencies, be thankful that he at least considers you. You will not get another marriage proposal from anyone else, I am sure. And do not think that I shall support you once your father dies! If you refuse to do your duty by me , I have no duty to you!”
“How can you expect me to enter into a marriage arrangement with a man I have not known for a full day yet?” Elizabeth was outraged.
“What difference does it make?” Mrs. Bennet scoffed. “He is a very eligible man and that is the end of it. That will not change, no matter how long you have known him.”
“Whenever I will marry, if I will marry at all, it will be to a man whom I will respect and love with all my heart!” Elizabeth replied heatedly.
“Pish-posh! What does love have to do with marriage?” her mother shrieked.
“Obviously nothing as far as you are concerned ma’am. Did you even like my father when you married him?“ Elizabeth spat, all too aware that her parents barely tolerated each other.
“Your impertinence is intolerable!” Mrs. Bennet hissed.
“So is your disregard of the felicity of anyone other than yourself!” Elizabeth countered and ran to her room, soundly slamming the door behind her.
---$---
“Mr. Bennet! You must make Lizzy marry Mr. Collins!” Mrs. Bennet screeched at her unhelpful husband. “After you die, he will throw me out of Longbourn before you are cold in your grave if he does not marry one of our daughters. Lizzy must marry him!”
“The man is gone, so this seems to be a hopeless business” Mr. Bennet said placidly, returning his eyes to his book.
“This is not to be bourn!” she insisted. “You must make her marry him and you must write to him that he must return and marry her.”
“I shall do no such thing” Mr. Bennet said in a decided tone. “Although I will admit that he showed more sense than I initially credited him with, he is still not the man I would wish for as a son-in-law.”
“Your wishes are irrelevant” his wife scoffed. “It is not you who will be forced into the hedgerows once he inherits.”
“Nor shall you be. The dower house is a far cry from the hedgerows.”
“The dower house?!” Mrs. Bennet’s voice rose to a pitch that even her husband did not think her capable to reach. “I am the mistress of Longbourn. I shall not live in the dower house.”
“Yet, even if Lizzy were to marry Collins, this is where you will end up once I am dead” he replied calmly. “Do you think for a moment that Lizzy would allow you to continue to lord over her once she becomes the rightful mistress of Longbourn?”
“Of course she will! It is her duty as my daughter” Mrs. Bennet smirked.
“Maybe if you would have shown her more kindness and consideration for all her life, she might have but as you have not, she holds you in very little esteem, I assure you Madam. Now I must insist that you vacate my library. As I informed you many times before Madam, you are not to ever enter it without an explicit invitation from me” Mr. Bennet dismissed his wife with a displeased grimace.
---$---
Even though Mr. Bennet’s remark about Lizzy not being disposed to allow her to continue as the undisputed mistress of Longbourn once Mr. Collins inherited gave her pause, Mrs. Bennet did not give up on the idea of Lizzy marrying the man. Mr. Collins seemed to be a man with little spine and a forceful character like that of his patroness, could easily manipulate him. Well, she had as forceful a character as any, so she was sure she will be able to control him and have Lizzy overruled when the time comes. Therefore, she kept badgering Lizzy to change her mind and Mr. Bennet to write to his cousin that the marriage is on. When Lizzy did not show any intention of giving in to her demands she kept berating her loudly, putting the whole household in an uproar.
After two weeks of acrimonious exchanges between Mrs. Bennet and Elizabeth on the topic of the latter’s adamant refusal to agree to marry Collins, arguments during which Mr. Bennet assiduously hid in his book room and did nothing to put an end to them, the tension at Longbourn had escalated to unbearable heights. In the end, no longer able to bear the poisonous atmosphere that his wife created, Mr. Bennet called Elizabeth to his library.
“My dearest Lizzy, I am afraid that there is no hope of soon calming your mother’s nerves while the two of you are under the same roof. She needs some time to calm down and get over her disappointed hopes. I think you should go and visit the Gardiners for a while” he shook his head sadly, not quite able to meet his daughter’s eyes.
“Are you sending me away?” Elizabeth asked incredulously. “Are you agreeing with what she says?”
“No, I am not. But there will be no peace at Longbourn as long…”
“No sir, there will be no peace at Longbourn as long as you do nothing to broker it, but you will let her get away with anything as long as you can hide in your book room and ignore everything that is happening outside of it” Elizabeth said bitterly. “You know what sir? I shall leave Longbourn and I will be glad to do so. But not for a visit with the Gardiners. As of tomorrow, Longbourn is no longer my home.”
“Lizzy, please…”
“I am determined Sir . You may have all the peace in the world as far as I am concerned. I shall no longer disrupt the tranquillity of Longbourn. Enjoy it for as long as it lasts but I warn you sir, it shall not be long unless you do something to promote it. Now I need to go pack” she said with finality and, with a final fiery glare at her father she left the room, ignoring his pleas for her to stay and continue the discussion.
Mr. Bennet buried his face in his hands. This encounter went as bad as it could go. She had called him ‘Sir’, not ‘Papa’ as she had done for all of her life. He just lost the love and the respect of his favourite child because he could not control his shrew of a wife. Elizabeth was right. He always chose to hide into his library rather than try and rein in his flighty, selfish, loud and ungovernable wife. It had been so much easier to let her do whatever she wished instead of trying to restrain her. And now he had just lost his precious Lizzy because of his indolence and unwillingness to face conflict. He knew that he could do little to mend it now. He should have considered Lizzy’s fiery temper, pride and stubbornness before he spoke. Her feelings had been hurt one too many times. He was well aware that Mrs. Bennet disparaged her at every turn and made her life almost unbearable at Longbourn. Yet, it was him who had hurt her the most, and not only just now but over all those years by never protecting her from her mother’s spite.
He knew his daughter well enough to know that once she made up her mind about something there was almost impossible moving her. He had known very well how badly Fanny treated Lizzy ever since she had been born, yet he did nothing about it because he could not be bothered and he was not willing to listen to his wife’s loud and strident complaints all day long. Now Lizzy was determined to leave them all behind forever and in all honesty, he could not blame her. All he could hope was that in a few months, once she was away for long enough from them all and time and distance will somewhat soothe Elizabeth’s hurt feelings, he could try to go and reason with her, convincing her to return home.
Which of his children will he lose next, he wondered? He felt his failure as a father most keenly and hoped against hope that once her hurt and anger abated, Lizzy will relent and return to Longbourn, even though deep down he felt that there was little chance of that. He feared that Elizabeth’s wounds were too deep and of a too long duration for her to easily overcome them.