Chapter 44
Mr. Collins arrived at Huntsford, only to be immediately summoned to Lady Catherine's side. He entered her presence, rejoicing at being reunited with his patroness, espousing the benefits of having returned to Rosings, and finally lamenting how unsuitable it would have been to find a bride in Hertfordshire. To his misfortune and Lady Catherine's agitation, he had begun his speech detailing, in generalities, the impossibility of marrying one of the young ladies in such a county, and had not yet started sharing the specifics of his eventful escapade at his cousin's estate.
"Mr. Collins! Am I to understand that you find fault with my judgment to send you to your cousins to acquire a bride? Such implications are not befitting a man of your station. I know what is proper and shall instruct you. It is only fitting to marry one of your cousins. Your future estate is entailed to you, removing it from the line that it was intended for. It is most honorable to make recompense. Upon my word," declared her ladyship, banging her walking stick upon the floor while sitting on her throne-like chair. "You are a most ungrateful, disobedient sort of man. I am ashamed of you. Willfully disregarding advice from your betters to pursue your own paths which is disgraceful to the office which you hold."
Collins began sputtering women's names at a very rapid pace. Her ladyship was hardly sparing even an ear to listen. Upon receiving her parson's letter, just yesterday, her ladyship had dispatched her own letter, in regards to Miss Bingley, instructing her nephew that such assumptions must be universally contradicted at once and that no good could come from residing with tradespeople, as proper distinction between the ranks must be discernable. To condescend to remain in such a household, with such people, it was not to be borne. He was to think on what he owed himself and all his family. He must quit that house at once and find amusements elsewhere, among persons with connections not so decidedly below his own. Her Ladyship's instructions to her nephew were detailed and dictatorial, she would brook no argument that he would immediately detach himself from the social climber and her entire family. Heaven and earth, to have the potential for such rumors flying around London. The younger generation knew not how to conduct themselves.
Lady Catherine, not deciphering anything of his mutterings, and thinking little, in general, of interrupting her lessers, proceeded to ignore him and announce "A tradeswoman having the presumption to intimate a connection with my nephew, to have the audacity to imply that she would become a relation. It is not to be borne. Mr. Collins, I will not have my parson spreading such gossip. You will return to Huntsford until I summon you. I warn you, speak nothing of this nonsense. I will not allow it." She waved her hand to dismiss him.
Mr. Collins, finally understanding that he had better come to the point of the matter, blurted, rather abruptly, "But your nephew has proposed to my cousin, and just hours after I had made her a most desirable offer of matrimony, she rejected me at least thrice and her father refused to lead her to reason."
Her ladyship's eyes grew, then focused in on him, the silence deafening. Feeling her cold stare he began to change color, wondering if he was guilty of an mistake, but ultimately deciding this could not be kept from her ladyship.
"Do you mean to suggest that my nephew is engaged to your cousin? It can not be so! He is engaged to my daughter, now what have you to say?"
Mr. Collins, desperate to find words, began to stutter, eventually forcing out a few phrases, "Your ladyship must stop them, to increase his ardor, she has refused him. I can only attribute it to her wish of increasing his love by suspense, according to the usual practice of elegant and artful females. I cannot be otherwise than concerned at being the means of injuring your amiable daughter, and beg leave to apologize for it, as well as to assure you of my readiness, that I was fully willing to make my cousins every possible amends She has mettled with my own sensibilities, I know as much, having suffered so myself, that your nephew can not be blamed. I have, therefore, made haste to arrive at your side, hoping to do all that is my Christian duty, in reporting to you, knowing that your ladyship would intervene, saving your nephew from her allurements and ceasing this courtship which is so far beneath him."
"Mr. Collins, was it not you who was to marry your cousin?" He bobbed his head and she continued, "Had you done as I have instructed you, this false proposal could not have taken place. You will marry your cousin, Mr. Collins, I will see to it." What was her nephew about, proposing to her parson's cousin? She must have taken him in. It was not to be born, this disgraceful alliance would never take place, this young lady would come to know the sphere she belongs in, she ought not have the presumption to aspire to such a match. "You will tell me all," she said glaring at her parson, in every way blaming the messenger.
Collins quit Lady Catherine's company after relaying the whole of the tale of his many proposals, his cousin's arts and allurements, and the meddling siblings in trade who had rejected his other proposal and stolen his bride. Unable to store his thoughts in any way, they often escaped his mouth before he thought on them. Ignoring her ladyship's warning, he spread his tale throughout the county making it all the harder to acquire for himself his own bride.
Lady Catherine summoned her servants and prepared to depart for Hertfordshire. Her nephew would not be deprived of her guidance, which he was clearly in need of. This young woman was wholly unsuitable to join her family, his union with Anne was determined upon while they were in their cradles. This young woman, without fortune or family, would not be the ruin of her plans. Her arts and allurements would not hold against reason, what he owed himself and all his family.
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