Chapter Five

Two weeks later….

"Excuse me, what did you say, Mr. Collins?", blustered Edward Gardner.

These were the tones that Elizabeth heard, as she pressed her ear upon the door of her father's study, intently listening for anything, everything that would explain to her their new situation.

Elizabeth had always scolded Lydia and Kitty for listening at doors, but when they had sent her youngest cousin, Eliza Jane, to to tell her to come downstairs and listen to James Collins and their uncle speak in their Papa's study, Elizabeth could not resist, nor did she have the heart to scold them at this time. So she went, pushing them to the side and shushing their giggles, and shoved her ear into the door.

At first, their voices had been too quiet, low murmurings that she could not hear, especially with Lydia and Kitty giggling and whispering to themselves in her other ear, and she was about to push them away so she could hear better, when her uncle's scandalized tones reached her ears.

Elizabeth heard movement, realizing they were coming near the door, and so she quickly grabbed Lydia and Kitty by the hand, and dragged them from the door, and into the next room where they busied themselves in front of the fire, pretending as though they were doing some useful task or other. That did not matter, as her uncle and Mr. Collins took no notice of them, and carried on with their argument, moving into the dining room.

Of course, Elizabeth followed them to the door, listening in, and pushing Lydia and Kitty back.

"We most certainly shall not! My sister and her children are going through a tremendously difficult-."

Mr. Collins oily voice interrupted her uncle. Elizabeth shuddered to hear it. The two Mr. Collins', father and son, had arrived to Longbourn in the middle of the night, with no prior notice, excepting the letter that had been sent to them a fortnight ago.

The previous night…..

Jane's ankle was bothering her, causing her to toss and turn throughout the night. Subsequently, Elizabeth did not get any sleep at all. She would be more put out by this, if it were not for the fact that she knew that Jane was in a great deal of pain, a lot more pain than she let on. Especially for her to be physically tossing and turning with her sister in the bed beside her.

"Lizzie?" she heard Jane's soft, hesitant voice next to her.

Elizabeth turned her head to look at her sister,

"Do you need some laudanum, Jane?" she asked worriedly, as she saw that Jane was perspiring a great deal, her blonde hair plastered on her forehead and neck. Due to Jane's pain with her ankle, the laudanum was now kept within the confines of their room, for easy access. Lighting a candle, she went to the drawer that it was kept in. Pouring out a small amount into a glass with water, Elizabeth handed it to her sister, who drank it down gratefully. Going to the small, water filled basin, Elizabeth dipped the small rag in it, wrung it out, and attended to her sister.

"I am fine, Lizzie." Jane said in between gasps. "Just a little hot."

Elizabeth wiped her sister's face and neck, and waited for her to fall asleep, this time for good. Hearing her sister's breathing slow down, she was about to blow out the candle, and climb into bed next to her, when she heard a loud banging coming from outside. It must be the dreaded cousins, but it couldn't be! It was in the middle of the night.

Even so, Elizabeth knocked on the door of her aunt and uncle, waking her uncle to explain the situation. Pulling his robe on, he immediately went downstairs. Elizabeth went to her room and pulled her wrapper on quickly, before following her uncle's footsteps.

It seemed as though the entire household was awake, except Jane, and her Papa, of course. Uncle Gardner unlocked the door, and opened it to reveal a tall, reed thin man, and a younger, heavyset man who was a few inches shorter.

Due to his resemblance to her father, Elizabeth surmised that this must be the dreaded cousin, yet why had he arrived in the middle of the night, well past midnight?

Her uncle Gardner hadn't said a word. The man, James Thomas Collins' surveyed them all-all bleary eyed and somber, dressed in their night clothes-his eyes going narrow. His lip curled, as he brusquely said,

"Am I to assume that you lot want my heir and I to freeze outside the manor until Cousin Thomas. "-this was delivered with as much disgust and envy as one could muster in a name-dies on us?"

Elizabeth felt her uncle stiffen at the insult, and contained her own gasp. Papa had never spoken of his cousin, James Collins to her. The only information she had of him were things overheard at the door of his study, and delivered to herself and Jane, by way of Lydia and Kitty during their weekly jaunts to Meryton and the shops. Generally, the subject of his cousin had only been brought up when Mama would get worried about their futures after their papa died, and would thus require Papa to soothe her nerves. She had only known what Mama had said at the table some weeks before, when Uncle Gardner had told them all that he had written.

Uncle Gardner motioned all of them to move away from the door to allow the two men inside. Mary had been nearest to the two men, and so Mr. Collins withdrew his coat, and thrust it in her arms. Elizabeth recoiled at the insult and blatant disrespect, and moved forward to tell him so, when her Aunt Gardner subtly moved forward, taking the coat from Mary's arms.

"I think you girls should get to bed, go on. We shall do proper introductions in the morning, I think. Go on."

With a meaningful look to Elizabeth, she then focused her attention on Mr. Collins and his son-who had been oddly quiet at this point.

Elizabeth sat on the divan, pretending to listen to the young Mr. Collins read to them aloud from Mr. Fordyce's Sermons. Although they, with the exception of the elder Mr. Collins and, perhaps Mary, were pretending to be interested and listening to the younger Mr. Collins read (even Lydia and Kitty, although they had been soundly chastised by their aunt when they had carried on with their giggling and whispering to each other) no one was listening. Elizabeth certainly wasn't. Their morning meal, and what had occurred afterwards still had Elizabeth on edge with dread for what would happen to them, especially after their aunt and uncle left for their home in Gracechurch street in a few short hours.

The day had begun as always, although Elizabeth was a bit tired, having been unable to fall asleep until the wee hours of the morning due to her fretting. It had evened out because her sister had slept in a bit later, due to the laudanum, and woke her up. She helped Jane dress in her newly dyed grey and white dress trimmed with lilac lace, and then they both went carefully down the stairs.

Taking in the scene at the dining room table, Elizabeth knew that their first impressions of the elder Mr. Collins would not be expunged. He sat at the head of the table, with his son and her uncle on either sides. Mama had been in her customary place, and did not look happier for it.

His son, she decided then, was a fool. While he certainly was not as bad as his father, nor quite so rude and angry, there was something desperately silly and foolish about him. No common sense. Something that he and his father had shared, no doubt, as he had openly gawked at Jane's leg, covered by her gown. She looked at her Uncle Gardner, a silent plea for help.

Elizabeth returned his look with one of her own, and began to sharply retort when her uncle involved himself, stating,

"Miss Bennet was injured in the carriage accident, as well you know, Mr. Collins. I informed you myself that her ankle had been crushed."

It was then, that the younger Mr. Collins spoke, his voice taking on an excited fervor.

"I would hope that the eldest Miss Bennet would thank our Lord God that her own life was not forfeit during such an adventure. Such a wonderful example of our Lord's graciousness and mercy, that he should spare her life, and-."

He looked at them all 'round the table, his voice growing more and more excited, until he reached his father's grim, unsmiling face, and grew silent.

Elizabeth could not forgive that, even as Jane reached under the table, and gently squeezed her hand in warning, her own face open and gentle, as she smiled beatifically at the father and son, along the table. She said, coolly,

"You are correct, Mr. Collins. I shall endeavor to remind my sister of that very thing, as our friends and neighbors speak of her as though she were not in front of them."

The younger Mr. Collins had blustered, only stopping, again, at a look that his father gave him. Elizabeth would have felt sympathy for him, if they were here under different circumstances. If her life had not been flung from one end to the other.

And now, as she pretended to listen to the meek, silly young man read the dreadfully boring Fordyce's Sermons she could not help but worry. As she had succinctly overheard through the walls of the study and sitting room, the elder Mr. Collins had ordered her aunt and uncle to vacate Longbourn this very day. Maria, their maid, had been dispatched to pack their things for them to leave after their mid-day meal. Not even Mrs. Bennet's overexcited pleadings and cries had convinced the miserly old man to allow her brother to stay.

Elizabeth let out a mournful sigh, remembering a time when Mama would do the same to Papa-he refusing to do something that she had asked, allowing herself to be worked up, before agreeing or presenting her with something better than what she had expected. Her excited shrieks would fill the entire house, a ritual that used to annoy Elizabeth, but now she wished for it, more than anything in the world.

"Something the matter, Miss Bennet?"

Elizabeth was jerked out of her musings with the question, asked by the elder Mr. Collins, in a tone dripping with insincerity.

Elizabeth gave him a smile that matched his own attitude, and replied in an equal tone, "Not at all Mr. Collins. However, Miss Bennet is getting a bit restless. I beg your leave to dress for a walk. Miss Bennet needs to exercise her ankle."

The elder Mr. Collins shrugged his shoulders and focused on the wall behind her, and so Elizabeth took that for permission, and got up, nearly dragging Jane with her. She had to leave this house, those people, else she did not know what she would do or say.

After assuring her Aunt Gardner that she would return before their mid-day meal, Elizabeth and Jane set off into the very woods that had upturned their lives. Elizabeth closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, breathing in the scents of the woods she'd traversed her entire life. It was a particularly beautiful fall day, and Elizabeth enjoyed the variety of colors that surrounded them. Jane walked steadily beside her, leaning heavily on her cane. Once Jane's breathing changed, she led them to a large rock for Jane to lean upon and rest.

"How are you feeling, Lizzie?"

Elizabeth turned to her sister, not even managing a smile for the one that Jane bestowed upon her, even more frequently since the accident.

"I'm worried, Jane. That is all. There is a reason we never heard much from this cousin, or his son for that matter. He treated Papa abominably, simply because Papa stood to inherit Longbourn, dared to marry Mama, or any woman for that matter, and try to conceive heirs. And I most certainly do not like how both dismissed your pain and what you have suffered! Even if they are to inherit-that does not mean they have a right to treat us or you like that! Papa is not dead yet!" she finished angrily.

Jane stood upright, and then leaned into Elizabeth with a soft sigh.

"I can only hope and pray, Lizzie, that Papa will wake up. That everything will be resolved for our own good, in the end. That is all we can do, Lizzie."

Elizabeth pressed a kiss into her sister's hair, desperately hoping that she would be correct, and that it would all work out to the betterment of their Mama and sisters. But that would not change what had happened-perhaps with Papa, but not with Jane.

Elizabeth hesitated for a moment, before saying softly,

"I-I wish that I had been in that carriage with Papa, Jane."

Jane tightened her grip around Elizabeth, wishing she could say what she wanted, without hurting her sister, without acknowledging her own hurt herself.

"Don't wish that, Lizzie. Things happen, because they are meant to. And there is nothing we can do about it. We can only choose how we handle the adversities that life, and, well God, " she added cheekily, hoping it would cause her sister to laugh, "brings to our paths."

Elizabeth and Jane walked for another ten minutes or so, until Elizabeth noticed that Jane was leaning more heavily on her cane, her breath coming out in short gasps. They went back, and Elizabeth went to help her sister into the house, when Jane waved her off.

"No, Lizzie, Mary can help me into the house. I'll sit on the divan, and do some reading. I know that is your favorite walk. Go. I am a poor companion for it now, if I ever was."

Elizabeth smiled gratefully at her sister. It was her favorite walk, one she had not taken in many weeks-at first, out of fear that it would remind her too much of what had happened, then, because it became a symbol of everything she now held over her elder sister.

"Yes, Jane, I shall-."

"No, you shall not."

Elizabeth frowned as she turned and faced the elder Mr. Collins, his voice oily-smooth and indulgent in the knowledge that he now held her fate within his hands. She held her temper in check, and smoothed her face of all disgust or anger.

"Mr. Collins?" she questioned quietly.

He studied her with a piercing gaze, intent on reminding her of her place, a fact she was not likely to forget as she listened to the clock tick, as her wait grew longer and longer. Finally, he deigned to answer her.

"Miss Bennet, it is not appropriate for a young woman of your-" here his mouth curled as though he tasted something particularly unpleasant- " stature to walk in the woods alone. As you are well aware, one might not know what could happen. If Cousin Bennet had been alone in those woods, who knows how long it would have taken him to be found, and what may have happened to him."

He finished his point with a sordid smile, as though he wished to elaborate.

"I thank you, sir, for your concern of my safety," she retorted icily, "although I would wish that you would address me properly, as Miss Elizabeth. Miss Bennet, as you see," she said, gesturing to a somber Jane behind her on the divan, "is seated right behind myself."

The elder Mr. Collins said nothing but strode out of the room, and yelled "William!"

Elizabeth frowned, not knowing why he was calling his son, although noting that it was the first time that she had heard him refer to him by name.

He turned to her saying abruptly, "You are now a member of my household, Miss Bennet. You will behave accordingly, and that starts by being escorted when you are not within this house. My heir will escort you on this walk."

The younger Mr. Collins, although she had surmised from their second meeting that he was a fool, she had not paid much attention to due to the more present threat that was his father, arrived looking shamelessly out of breath. Had he ran down the stairs? Elizabeth glanced over to the elder Mr. Collins, noting how his face darkened even as he looked over his own son.

"You will escort Miss Bennet on her walk. Go."

The breathless Mr. Collins gave her what could only be loosely described as a grin, and offered his arm. Taking it gingerly, Elizabeth wondered what she had gotten herself into.

Elizabeth sat between Jane and Mary, her eyes focused on the few slices of pheasant that she had mindlessly cut into small, bite sized pieces. She did not feel like eating, her stomach rolling as she tried to force a small piece down her throat. Immediately after her walk with the younger Mr. Collins, she had tried to go directly to his father, who had ensconced himself in her Papa's study. He had not wanted to hear what she had to say, and had ordered her from the study. She did not know what to do, or who to go to. Mama surely would not be of much help, as they were both under the same rule.

The table was silent, not even Lydia and Kitty doing their usual giggling and whispering among themselves, when they were not fighting that very instant. Beside Jane, Mama was glaring mutinously at her own plate, having been supplanted by the younger Mr. Collins, who chewed noisily, making small hums of pleasure at the rich food. Elizabeth shuddered, as she felt his eyes upon her. She glanced away at the elder Mr. Collins, who ate very little, and focused more on his wine glass, his eyes already growing bloodshot.

Draining the rest of his glass, the elder Mr. Collins brusquely motioned for Mr. Hill to refill his glass, and then abruptly addressed those seated,

"I suppose now that the Gardner's,"-he said the name as particularly repugnant word- "are gone, we can discuss the changes that I am going to implement in this household."

It was Elizabeth's turn to curl her lip.

"And what sort of changes would you be making, sir?" she asked boldly, looking him straight in the eye, refusing to back down from his tone.

"Didn't my heir inform you, Miss Bennet?"

He watched with satisfaction as her face went white with barely subdued rage. She kept her tongue, though. Although it was too little, too late for that sort of thing. She had already opened the floodgates. Well, it would not be happening again. Not unless she wanted her twit of a mother, cripple elder sister, and silly, nitwitted younger sisters to be able to live in his estate. He had waited over twenty years to have his due, and he wasn't going to let some female upstart gain threshold over him. His heir, useless as he was, would need to be taught how to handle her. Keeping her burdened with his child, year after year, would be an excellent start.

First, the old fool upstairs would have to pass on from this world, and then their plan could move forward. If it came to pass that the old man was taking too long to pass, he could help him. It would even be seen as a mercy, for Thomas Bennet was not truly alive in any sense. A mummer's life. If he did not naturally pass within the time it took to train a wife, he would explore alternate means of gaining his due.

However, there were still things he could do, as the defacto head of household. And it seemed that Miss Bennet would need the extra time in order to teach her her place. It seemed the walk with his heir had done absolutely nothing but raise her ire. He could not blame her, for his heir was foolish, but in a way that could be manipulated and used for his own good. In time, she would realize, no matter how foolish, it was not her place to question, but obey. Not if she wanted her family to survive.

Gesturing for his wine glass to be filled again, he tipped it back with the ease of a man who had been drinking to the excess, for many years. A coughing fit overtook him, and he hastily withdrew his handkerchief from his pocket, to collect the excess phlegm. Afterwards, he barked at his heir to get him his pipe, and some tobacco. The foolish boy did so, the only useful thing he was able to do-obey a direct order.

With his pipe lit, and smoke filling his lungs, he exhaled a pleasure filled sigh, and gave Miss Bennet a smile. A genuine, pleasure filled smile.