Page 28 of Aunt Felicity

P er prior agreement, the three Fitzwilliams joined the Bennets at Netherfield Park after leaving Mr Phillips’s office.

Richard was still reeling at the enormity of the gift he had received from his parents, Andy, and Uncle Robert. He had thought he would have many years before he would become the master of Longbourn, but now, as soon as the funds were deposited into the current owner’s bank account, he would be a landed gentleman.

The instant he entered the drawing room of his soon-to-be estate, Richard went directly to his uncle and clasped his hand, shaking it vigorously. “I do not have words to thank you for your generosity,” he stated warmly.

William was sitting next to his father and had no inkling of what had occurred. “What did Father do?” he enquired.

“Along with my parents and Andy, he contributed part of the purchase price for this estate. Within a sennight it will be mine,” Richard elucidated. “My parents and I were meeting with Mr Phillips to finalise the sale before we arrived here.”

“It is my pleasure, Richard. You know your Aunt Anne would have approved wholeheartedly, do you not?” Darcy replied once his son’s curiosity had been satisfied.

“Aye, I know Aunt Anne was never sanguine with my going into the army,” Richard recalled.

“You deserve it, Richard,” William stated as he clapped his cousin on the back. “If you require my assistance in learning how to manage your estate, it will be my great pleasure.” William knew his offer was not completely altruistic. Spending time assisting Richard would keep him near to his newly discovered cousin, Elizabeth.

“Fitzwilliam, did I hear correctly, you are my landlord?” Bingley queried.

“Within a few days, yes, I will be,” Richard responded. “Perhaps by then, I will have come to terms with my good fortune. At this moment, it seems like a dream.”

A quarter of an hour later, Bennet stood. “We have put off meeting the specimen of good sense who is my cousin long enough; we need to return to Longbourn and break the bad news to him,” he articulated.

“I am for London on the morrow to visit my solicitor about the settlements,” Bingley revealed as he looked at his fiancée lovingly, “and we are to deliver my younger sister to the doctor and men who will transport her to her new home. I should return from Town in less than a sennight.”

“We should discuss the date for our wedding when you return,” Jane suggested.

Soon enough, the coaches were on their way back to Longbourn.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

William Collins had been sitting and stewing in the drawing room while he waited for the family to return to the estate. ‘ They should have been ready to receive me on my arrival, ’ Collins told himself silently, not for the first time. He could not reconcile himself to the absolute ill-mannered behaviour of leaving him alone with no one to entertain him but the servants, including the rude housekeeper, whom he was determined to sack the minute the estate became his, as was his right.

If only Lady Catherine was here to put these Bennets in their place. She would ring a peal over their heads and demand they show him the respect that was due him as an honoured clergyman.

His ruminations about his beneficent patroness were interrupted when he heard the sound of carriages in the drive. Collins lumbered out of his chair to look out of the window facing the drive. There were three coaches of varying sizes and quality; one or two of them looked superior to that of Lady Catherine’s.

He watched as various men and women alighted from the conveyances. As disenchanted as he was at not being greeted or attended, when he saw the six young ladies, all of whom were extremely comely, none more so than the willowy blonde, his spirits lifted somewhat. He seemed to remember there being only five Bennet daughters, but it mattered not given how well they all looked.

Collins noted an older lady standing next to a younger one, both bearing a striking resemblance to the painting of the late Mrs Bennet. His ire was stoked when he saw how they were in no hurry to enter the house after making him wait on his own. They all seemed to be sharing some great joke rather than coming to beg his pardon for their sins against him. It took much longer than Collins thought it should have, but they eventually began to move towards the door to the manor house.

From the volume of the voices, it was obvious that those he had seen standing outside were now in the house. Still, no one had entered the drawing room. He felt like they were playing him for a fool, and no one did that to William Clem Collins!

Hence, by the time the door opened, Collins was seething with fury which exploded before all of those without entered the drawing room. “ HOW DARE YOU TREAT ME THUSLY !” Collins screamed. “ DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM ? I am not used to being treated with such blatant disrespect!”

“This oddity seems to have adopted some of Catherine’s favourite lines,” Felicity smiled.

“Who are you to address my wise patroness so informally?” Collins demanded. “You will use the correct form of her name and call her Lady Catherine. I did not address you, so wait until your betters speak to you before you dare speak to them.”

Elizabeth was standing next to Aunt Felicity and was about to issue a setdown to the corpulent specimen of a man with oily hair, that is what remained of it. She stopped when her aunt touched her arm and gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head.

“You must be William Collins,” Bennet stated. “One of my daughters became engaged to be married yester-evening, and we were visiting her fiancé’s house. I did not think I needed to defer the visit to wait on one who invited himself to my estate. How dare you , Sir? To speak to those you know not in that fashion is unacceptable, and unlike you, they are invited guests in my house.”

Although he was taken aback that the man who was obviously Cousin Bennet was not intimidated by his bluster, Collins knew he needed to maintain the initiative and make sure these people knew that trifling with him was unacceptable. “This estate will be mine soon enough. As the great Lady Catherine has told me, it is my right to visit my inheritance whenever I choose.” Collins paused as he remembered what his cousin said about one of his daughters being betrothed. “No daughter of yours is engaged until I have chosen which one will be my bride.” He did not know what he expected, but it was certainly not the laughter which greeted his pronouncement.

“Enough with this dunderhead,” Reggie drawled. “Bennet, as you appear to know who this man is, will you introduce us?”

“It is for me as the highest-ranking man to request the introduction. Just who are you to usurp my prerogative?” Collins demanded indignantly. “I am seriously displeased.”

Bennet ignored the idiot. “William Collins, rector of the parish of Hunsford, I present to you my brother-in-law and sister…”

“Your sister, the one who jilted my honoured father?” Collins looked at the woman who looked like the one in the portrait with disdain. “You do not deserve to be in the same room with me after leaving my father at the altar.”

“If your father told you that, then he lied to you. My father and his father attempted to arrange a marriage between us, but I refused to marry a violent brute. I left Longbourn a sennight or more before the date the late Mr Bennet set for the wedding. So please explain how I could have left him in the church when by then I was married to another?” Felicity questioned.

“You are dissembling. My father would never tell an untruth about that,” Collins insisted.

“You sycophantic fool, how dare you impugn my mother’s honour! I shall restrain myself, but I should drag you outside and thrash you, or better still call you out,” Richard thundered.

“And I would assist my cousin,” William added.

Collins began to sweat profusely. Both men were fit-looking and well-muscled. He knew not how to fight. If they called him out, he would be killed. Before he could formulate a reply, his cousin spoke.

“After you so rudely interrupted me, allow me to complete the introductions,” Bennet interjected. “As I was trying to say before, my brother-in-law and sister, Lord and Lady Matlock, who happen to be an earl and countess, so a little above you, I believe. The viscount is at his estate, but the man who is willing to thrash you is the Honourable Mr Richard Fitzwilliam, a former colonel in the regulars, so rather handy with a sword and pistol if you are called out. His sister, Lady Bethanne Fitzwilliam.” If it was possible, more sweat poured off the man, and he looked decidedly ill. “My wife, Mrs Frances Bennet, our daughters, Miss Jane Bennet, Miss Elizabeth, Miss Mary, and Miss Catherine. My youngest daughter is in the nursery. Lastly, our cousins by marriage, Mr Robert Darcy, the master of Pemberley, his son and heir, William Darcy, and last, but certainly not least, his daughter, Miss Georgiana Darcy.”

He had to fight to stay on his feet. How could he have insulted an earl and countess? Not only that, but this was his patroness’s brother…” Suddenly he remembered what Lady Catherine had said about the so-called countess. Before he spoke, Collins reminded himself to watch his words so that he would not be called out.

“Are you not the lady who usurped Lady Catherine’s rightful place as the Countess of Matlock?” Collins asked as diffidently as he was able. He was disconcerted as his question was again met with laughter.

“As you are a clergyman who has taken orders, I assume you attended university or a seminary?” Reggie barked. Collins allowed it was so. “Explain why you believe my sister’s fantasy? My wife and I were married when my brother passed away, and as I was next in line, that made my wife Lady Matlock. In what world would that make my sister the countess?” Reggie paused. “And pray tell, where do you get the idea that you are higher than anyone in this room? A clergyman is below a landed gentleman and barely above a tradesman. Or is that another pearl of wisdom my sister imparted?”

Collins did not know how to reply. What Lord Matlock was saying was not something he could refute, but how could it be that his patroness was wrong? She was never incorrect, was she? Then the name Darcy entered his consciousness. “Are you, Fitzwilliam Darcy, the betrothed of Miss Anne de Bourgh, the Rose of Kent?”

“Firstly, regardless of what my insane sister-in-law calls my son, my wife and I named him William. Secondly, my son is not now, nor has he ever been engaged to his cousin. Unless you want to be sued for slander, that is, if you live after my son calls you out, you will never repeat that tired old lie of hers again!” Robert Darcy growled. “How can you accept what she says as gospel without confirmation?”

As his legs were about to buckle, Collins flopped into the nearest armchair. How could it be that her family refuted everything Lady Catherine claimed was fact? “B-but L-Lady C-Catherine is n-never wrong,” Collins stammered.

“No, my sister, whose correct form of address is Lady de Bourgh, is never right. Regardless of what she says, she is not a peeress, but a commoner, and you, Mr Collins, have been following a false prophet when you should be following the Father and the Son,” Reggie explained. “Do you know that she did not have the authority to appoint you to the living? Therefore, one word from me to the Bishop of Kent, and you will be removed from the parish.”

“H-how c-can that b-be?” Collins managed. “She owns Rosings Park.”

“Another one of her many lies,” Darcy responded. “Lord Matlock and I are the executors of her late husband’s will, and I can assure you in the most animated terms that Lady de Bourgh is not now, nor was she ever the owner of the estate. Since she turned five and twenty at the end of August, the estate has in fact been the property of Miss de Bourgh.”

Again, Collins was mute. He could not assimilate all of the information. He began to panic. If he was removed from Hunsford, what would he do for income until he inherited Longbourn?

Just then Frank Phillips was shown into the drawing room. Bennet made the introduction.

“Mr Collins, I believe you are under the misapprehension that you are the heir presumptive to this estate,” Phillips verified.

“What do you mean, misapprehension ? This is my birthright !” Collins yelled the last word. “I will not allow anyone to steal what is mine from me under any circumstance.”

“Mr Collins, you met my nephew, Mr Fitzwilliam, did you not?” Bennet queried and Collins nodded. “Surely you must see that a nephew is a much closer relation to me than you are. You are a very distant cousin. No one is stealing anything from you; one cannot rob you of what was never yours to begin with.”

“He cannot be the heir; he was born to your sister! The heir must be a male, the son of a male,” Collins almost screeched. “My father assured me it mattered not if your sister bore a son.”

“That is where both you and your father are in error,” Phillips stated calmly. “Mr Collins, have you ever read the document which governs the entail?”

“I have never seen it,” Collins claimed.

“Your father and his father before him had the document. If they did not pass it on to you, that would explain your never having seen it.” Phillips reached into his folio. “Here is a copy, and you will note it is stamped as a true and correct copy by the Court of Chancery.” Phillips handed the papers to an apprehensive William Collins. “Please open it to page six, clause twelve.”

He reluctantly opened the document to the page and read the clause the solicitor indicated. As he read that it mattered not if the heir was born of a male or female Bennet, as long as it was a male child, Collins felt like he wanted to cast up his accounts.

Not only could he lose his living, but the estate he had believed was his birthright was anything but.

“As far as my daughters are concerned, Jane’s engagement to Mr Bingley will stand,” Bennet told his shocked cousin. “Each of my daughters has the power to accept or reject a man who offers for them. I normally would not interfere, but in this case, I will, insofar as I would not approve of you as a suitor for any of my unmarried daughters.”

The blows just kept on landing. Just when he thought there were no more, another punch was thrown. As much as he did not want to own it, if he was stripped of his living, he would not be able to afford a wife.

“As the executors, my brother Darcy and I have received reports about the goings on in and around Rosings Park,” Reggie drawled. “Please tell me how you can allow one without any education nor a member of the clergy to write your sermons for you? Do you not know enough about the lessons in the Bible that the drivel my sister writes is contrary to the teachings in the Bible? Also, do you know that each time you break a parishioner’s confidence and report what has been said to you to my sister that you break church law?”

Again, he thought there could not possibly be more, but there was. “Lady Cath…Lady de Bourgh told me she would sack me if I did not follow her instructions,” Collins said by way of an excuse.

“Are you telling us that, in your opinion, my sister-in-law’s word overrides church law?” Felicity enquired. “You did study to be a clergyman, did you not?”

Collins did not know how to answer.

“Did they not teach you that when the appointment is legal, no one aside from your bishop may remove you?” Richard asked.

“That is unless you were aware that Lady de Bourgh was not authorised to prefer you to the living.” Reggie looked at the parson with steel in his eyes, until Collins looked away.

“No, my Lord, I did not know she was not permitted to prefer me to the living. I believed her when she told me that unless I obeyed her in all things without question, she would remove me from the parish and order the Bishop to never appoint me to another,” Collins reported, his eyes down.

“You will take a room at the Red Lion Inn, and one, or more, of our footmen will make sure you remain there until you are told differently. We need to travel somewhere,” Felicity instructed. “A decision about your future at Hunsford will be taken once we return.”

Collins nodded without saying a word. Once his trunk was repacked, the Bennet carriage conveyed him to the inn.