Chapter 23
Dining Room
Longbourn
That Evening
The Longbourn dining table was graced by the finest efforts of the cook and her underlings.
Lady Bennet, never one to stint on dinner anyway, had ordered a lavish meal to greet the heir of Longbourn.
Elizabeth was not surprised because Lady Bennet always liked to show off her hospitality even to less distinguished guests than the future master of the estate.
In the past, Lady Bennet had spent too much, and Elizabeth had been forced to impose a food budget for her mother.
No longer did delivery wagons roll into Meryton from London, filled with expensive foodstuffs destined for Longbourn.
Lady Bennet had resigned herself to purchasing whatever was in season from the farmers and hunters of their own borough.
Mr. Collins did not seem at all averse to sampling the local delicacies.
An unprepossessing young man of some twenty-five summers and already showing an inclination towards corpulence, he had been devouring his dinner in generous portions and consuming a great deal of the local wine.
It was rather impressive, then, that he had not only eaten more than anyone else at the table, but talked more than all of them put together, which was quite remarkable considering the entire family was present.
Miss Fairchild was habitually reticent, and Sir Thomas could rarely be counted on for any contribution if the subject of the conversation was not astronomy.
Mary, likewise, was not prone to garrulousness, but Lydia and Kitty were never short of chatter, and Lady Bennet could hold forth on various inconsequentialities with the best of them.
Elizabeth herself had been rendered mute by their cousin's flow of obsequious eloquence.
He was in admiration of all that he saw; the furnishings, the draperies, the carpet, the decorations, and the daughters of the house all showed an exquisiteness of taste that could not help but please the beholder.
Elizabeth was not gratified by his fulsome compliments, especially since she fancied she detected in his eye a proprietary gleam that did not endear him to her at all.
Now it seemed as though Mr. Collins had at last exhausted his flow of flattery aimed at his astonished cousins and had passed on to a subject that was plainly a favorite with him.
It appeared that he could speak without ceasing or weariness of his idolized patron, Lady Catherine de Bourgh of Rosings, no matter how bored became his listeners became, who did not have the advantage of that lady's acquaintance.
“I declare I have never met with such affability and condescension in all my life!” Mr. Collins declared, his face shiny from either eating too much, or from enthusiasm, or perhaps both.
“She has graciously approved both of the sermons which I have preached before her and has invited me to dine at Rosings, her magnificent estate, several times already! I am truly most grateful!”
“Do you live near Rosings, sir?” Elizabeth asked courteously. Her father had nobly done his duty by greeting their guest and coming to dinner with the family, but his brow was furrowed and she was quite confident that he was thinking about Saturn or something of the sort.
“The garden in which stands my humble abode is separated only by a lane from her Ladyship’s residence,” Mr. Collins said, beaming.
“I think you said she was a widow, sir?” Lady Bennet said. “Has she any family?”
“She has only one daughter, the heiress of Rosings and of very extensive property.”
“Ah,” cried Lady Bennet, shaking her head, “then she is better off than many girls. And what sort of young lady is she? Is she handsome?”
“She is a most charming young lady, indeed. Lady Catherine herself says that, in point of true beauty, Miss de Bourgh is far superior to the handsomest of her sex; because there is that in her features which marks the young woman of distinguished birth. She is unfortunately of a sickly constitution, which has prevented her making that progress in many accomplishments which she could not otherwise have failed of, as I am informed by the lady who superintended her education and who still resides with them. But she is perfectly amiable and often condescends to drive by my humble abode in her little phaeton and ponies.”
“Has she been presented?” his hostess continued. “I do not remember her name among the ladies at court.”
Mr. Collins sighed and said, “Her indifferent state of health unhappily prevents her being in town, and by that means, as I told Lady Catherine myself one day, has deprived the British Court of its brightest ornament. Her Ladyship was immediately pleased with the idea, and you may imagine that I am happy on every occasion to offer those little delicate compliments which are always acceptable to ladies. I have more than once observed to Lady Catherine that her charming daughter seemed born to be a duchess and that the most elevated rank, instead of giving her consequence, would be adorned by her. These are the kinds of little things that please her Ladyship, and it is a sort of attention that I conceive myself peculiarly bound to pay.”
Lydia choked at this statement, and Elizabeth turned a reproving look in her youngest sister’s direction. Yes, Mr. Collins was very foolish, but it would not be courteous at all to laugh at him openly.
Lydia returned her gaze and made an apologetic expression, and Elizabeth relaxed and turned back to Mr. Collins as Jane said, “It seems a wonderful situation, sir.”
“It is, it is!” Mr. Collins answered. “Now, may I inquire as to whether any of my cousins play music? Lady Catherine is of the view that every young lady should learn how to play the pianoforte and the harp. How about you, Miss Bennet?”
“I do not play or sing,” Jane said composedly, and Mr. Collins’s face fell.
After a moment’s cogitation he said, “Well, perhaps it does not matter so very much. You are obviously a very handsome lady, Cousin, and I daresay given the circumstances of Longbourn’s entail, you have learned how to cook and clean and make a small income go a long way? ”
Lady Bennet gasped, and her eyes bulged.
“Cook and clean? My girls? My dear Mr. Collins, we have servants that can do their own work! As for a small income, well! Two thousand pounds a year at Longbourn and another fifteen hundred from Emerald Island means we have quite a substantial income, thank you very much!”
“Emerald Island?” Mr. Collins repeated in bewilderment, turning to look at Sir Thomas. “What is Emerald Island?”
Sir Thomas was obviously still deep in thought, so Elizabeth said, “It is an island in Essex which is owned by the Bennet family, Mr. Collins.”
“It is part of the entail?” Mr. Collins demanded, his small eyes sparkling greedily.
“No, it is not,” Elizabeth said coolly. “My father acquired it many years ago, and it is not entailed.”
“Oh,” Mr. Collins said in a disappointed tone, and at this moment, Sir Thomas lifted his gaze from his plate of beef and potatoes and said, “Not that I own it anymore. Lizzy does.”
“What?” Lady Bennet cried out. “What?”
Elizabeth groaned.
***
Drawing Room
Ten O’clock at Night
Lady Bennet stalked up and down the carpet, her still handsome face twisted in a scowl.
She simply could not believe that Sir Thomas had given Emerald Island to Elizabeth!
She loved Lizzy, of course she did, but why should the island go to the second daughter of Longbourn instead of Longbourn’s mistress?
Sir Thomas had said something about her own struggles with mathematics, but that did not mean that she could not be owner of Emerald Island!
She had three daughters who were very good at maths, and they could help her!
She had said exactly that, and Sir Thomas had merely stared at her in bewilderment before rising from the table and explaining that he had some calculations to complete regarding the position of one of Jupiter’s moons, of all things, and that he needed Mary.
He and Mary had then departed the dining room and locked themselves in the library.
Moments later, Elizabeth had also retreated from the room, and Lady Bennet had been so discombobulated that she had not asked where her second daughter was going.
She still did not know, because she had sent servants to hunt for Elizabeth in every nook and cranny of the house and had come up empty.
Likely that conniving Lizzy had gone to visit the Lucases or something of the sort!
Oh, how maddening it was to be married to an eccentric scientific genius!
He was simply not a practical man, not at all.
When she thought of how hard she worked here at Longbourn to manage the house and the children!
It was such an insult to her to give away the family’s other estate to Elizabeth.
She would understand Jane, since she was the eldest daughter, along with being the kindest and most beautiful, but Lizzy?
“It is absolutely insupportable!” she exclaimed for at least the tenth time.
The clock on the mantle struck ten o’clock, and Kitty and Lydia and Miss Fairchild, who were meekly sitting on the couch in the corner, looked up.
“Mamma, we are tired and are going to bed,” Lydia said.
She turned a glare at her youngest children and then, at Kitty’s look of alarm, forced herself to smile. It was not her younger girls’ fault that Elizabeth and Sir Thomas had plotted against her in such a way.
“By all means, my dears, go to bed,” she said.
The girls rose from the corner of the room and hurried away, leaving Jane, who had been working on her embroidery hoop, alone in the room.
“My dear Jane,” Lady Bennet said as the door closed. “I am so very sorry about this dreadful situation. So unkind of Sir Thomas and so conniving of Lizzy, to…”
To her considerable surprise, her usually docile daughter lifted a hand and said, “Mamma, stop. I will not have you insulting Lizzy in such a way.”
Lady Bennet blinked. “My dear Jane, whatever are you speaking of? Is it not obvious how very unfair this is? Why should Lizzy …?”
“Because she has been managing both Longbourn and Emerald Island for years,” Jane said, her brow furrowed.
“Do you not understand that? Father and Mary are too busy with the heavens to pay any attention to what is happening on the island, and you and I have no head for figures, and Kitty is too young to manage Mr. Wallace and the tenants. Elizabeth has been rushing back and forth between two estates, and writing endless letters, and managing tenants and fishermen, and she most definitely deserves Emerald Island. More than that, she has been responsible for increasing the income of Emerald Island and, to some extent, Longbourn. We will all be better off with Lizzy in charge of the island after Father dies!”
Lady Bennet blinked again and said, “But surely she could help me with such tasks without actually owning the estate!”
Jane shook her head and said, not unkindly, “Mamma, you know that if you were in charge of the accounts, you would spend it all on gowns and nice food.”
“I would not!”
“You would,” Jane said and rose to her feet and hurried over to take her mother’s hands in her own. “I am not trying to insult you, Mamma. You spend more money on your daughter’s clothes than on yourself, and you are a wonderful hostess who wishes for all her guests to enjoy meals at your table.”
Lady Bennet grimaced. “And what is wrong with that?”
“Nothing, so long as you do not spend more than the estate can support. The last thing any of us want is for Emerald Island to be crippled by debt. Now, if I may make a suggestion, should you not go to your bedchamber? You have had a shock, after all.”
Lady Bennet had a strong inclination to keep arguing, but Lizzy was nowhere to be found, and Sir Thomas was either in bed or concealed in the library.
“Where is Mr. Collins?” she demanded, looking around vaguely as if the man might be hiding in the corner. The last time she had seen him was at the dinner table, and she had not given him one thought since the shocking news that Elizabeth was mistress of Emerald Island.
“I overheard him saying that he was fatigued after his journey from Kent and that he wished to retire to his bedchamber immediately,” Jane said smoothly.
“Oh, my dear Jane!” Lady Bennet exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. “This is so embarrassing! Poor Mr. Collins. He will inherit Longbourn after your father dies, and I have ignored him since dinner. Oh Jane!”
“Come to bed, Mamma,” Jane said again, this time more firmly, and she gently grasped her mother’s right hand and pulled her toward the door. “Come to bed.”