Chapter 8 #2
“I do not think all of you are under the same danger, but you are not safe. As I said I will stay here and sleep by the fire. Do not worry about me, I will be well. Just snuff the last candle out on your bedside table and go to sleep. God willing, nothing will happen and I prove to be just an old fool worried unnecessarily for his daughter’s safety.
” He lowered himself and kissed her forehead, “but if I am right and do nothing and, God forbid, harm comes to you through my neglect, I would not be able to live with myself.”
“Very well, I hope you are wrong, Papa, but I am grateful for your care either way.”
Mr Bennet found a blanket and made himself comfortable in the armchair facing the fireplace. As cosy as he was he must stay alert; but before long the warmth and every whisper the old house made as it settled, lulled him to sleep.
As it was, it did not take long for his suspicions to be proven right.
Once the house was completely quiet and the darkest of night had descended upon it, the door to Elizabeth’s chamber opened quietly and the corpulent frame of Mr Collins stealthily entered the room.
He held a candle in his hand and with a predatory gleam in his eyes he turned and closed the door, locking it behind him.
The man approached the bed quietly, put the candle down on the nearest bedside table and without ceremony flipped the blanket from her, exposing her body to his wolfish gawking.
Elizabeth opened her eyes and turned to him half asleep and completely confused.
He lurched and clamped one hand over her mouth to prevent her from screaming. He then took a piece of cloth from his pocket and started to wrap it over her mouth, roughly pinning her down on the bed with one knee over her shoulder.
He was so focused that he failed to see a figure behind him towering over him like an avenging angel.
Mr Bennet tapped his cousin firmly on the shoulder and took a step back.
Mr Collins turned abruptly and stared directly into the barrel of a Flintlock Pistol.
“Mr Collins,” Mr Bennet said calmly, “what a surprise to see you here, in my daughter’s bedchamber… and in the dead of night!”
Using all her strength Elizabeth pushed his leg from over her shoulder and scrambled from the bed, pulling the cloth from over her mouth and letting it fall around her neck like a scarf. She stood against the wall panting, looking absolutely terrified, as white as a ghost.
Mr Bennet looked at his daughter’s state of dread and felt like pulling the trigger, to dispatch the miscreant to his maker. He had to breathe deeply in and out several times to get his equilibrium back.
Soon he was in control again, he said firmly to give his daughter something to focus on other than the evil man in her room; “Elizabeth, please go and find John and ask him to fetch Sir William. It is a pity we have to wake our local magistrate up at this time of the night but he will bring the sheriff with him. This scum will have a very different accommodation tonight from what he believed even half an hour ago.”
Mr Collins took a step towards Elizabeth trying to grab her arm to stop her from doing her father’s bidding, but Mr Bennet took one of his own and pressing the weapon onto the man’s temple, he hissed, “make one false move and I will ventilate your head… permanently.”
Elizabeth ran out of the room and Mr Collins swallowed convulsively as if he was having a fit. He swayed on his feet and as he tried to sit on the bed, Mr Bennet swept his right foot behind his ankles bringing the large and heavy man down hard on his haunches.
“You are not seating your filthy carcass on my daughter’s bed, you swine.”
Mr Collins started to cry, “Mr Bennet, I… I… I do not know what came over me, I… I beg you for a little mercy.”
“Save your breath to cool your porridge, Collins, for I am not interested in your babblings. I never thought I would ever see the day when my father’s prophecy would come true, under my own roof, no less.
That we needed not concern ourselves with the Collins for they would ruin themselves without our intervention.
What he did not know is that the new generation of Collins is not only greedy, ignorant and corrupt, but they are also idiots, lascivious and crude.
Did you really think I would leave my daughter unprotected, after witnessing how you could not turn your debauched eyes away from her all evening? ”
“I… I… did not…”
“Spare me, I say.” Mr Bennet yelled, “Do not tempt me to shoot you. At least with the magistrate and the sheriff, you should walk out of here alive.”
The unfortunate would be rapist said no more and soon after, Sir William and Mr Borrer arrived to access the situation and make sure a crime had been committed.
“He is your heir, and a parson? How absolutely disgraceful,” Sir William said shaking his head disgusted.
“Sir,” Mr Collins addressed the magistrate.
“Do not bother, sir.” Mr Borrer said firmly, “tomorrow we will take the testimony of Mr Bennet and the young lady, your intended victim. We will present the evidence to the judge and then you will have a chance to defend yourself. But let me tell you right now; the fact that she has bruises on her arms and shoulders, has your cravat still hanging around her neck, and that you were found in her bedroom and only stopped at gun point, are circumstances highly against you.”
The two officials led Mr Collins out of Longbourn and into a prison wagon to start a night that would drastically change the future of many people.