It was now only two weeks until Collins was due to arrive to take possession of Longbourn. Mrs. Philips was visiting her sister and listening to her complaints. "I cannot tell you, dear sister, how much I have been suffering. I had cramps and bloating; my breasts are tender; now I am sick almost every morning. I tell you it is just how I felt when I was expecting, but I know it is my mourning for my dear Mr. Bennet."
Mrs. Philips was struck by a thought, "Fanny, those certainly all sound like a woman who is increasing. Is it possible? Have your monthly courses been regular? Did Mr. Bennet come to visit you just before he passed?"
Mrs. Bennet's face suddenly expressed some very deep thoughts. She turned white, then very red. "They have continued, but not as regular as they had been, but I have not had any for several months. I thought it was just a sign of my change of life. I did have relations that might have done it." Mrs. Philips did not notice that her sister said 'I' in her sentence and not 'we.' Mrs. Bennet was lucky as she would find it very difficult to explain to anyone, even her sister, what she had done in Brighton. It would also have raised serious problems if it became known that the child might not be her husband's. She then remembered that she had told Mrs. Gardiner that she had not been with her husband for a long time. She could only hope that either this information would be discounted as not being accurate or would not be held against her by her sister-in-law.
"If I am with child, and it is a son, then he will inherit Longbourn and not Mr. Collins! What should we do? Mr. Collins will be here in just two weeks!"
"I had better get home and talk to Mr. Philips. He will know what to do. Meanwhile, you should talk to the apothecary to confirm your suspicions. It is very important that we know for sure."
Mrs. Philips returned home right away and told her husband of their suspicions. Mr. Philips immediately realized the importance of this information. If a son was born within nine months of the father's death, that child was legally the heir and Collins would not be able to contest it. He and his wife went back to Longbourn to see that the apothecary had just finished meeting with Mrs. Bennet.
Mr. Philips met him with, "Mr. Jones, please tell us the news. This is very important, as I am sure you realize."
"Yes, I understand that the entail is involved if it is a son. In my professional opinion, Mrs. Bennet is about 11 or 12 weeks pregnant. The child should be born next May. She should feel quickening in about a month and that will confirm my diagnosis. What are you going to do about Mr. Collins and the entail?" Everyone, including the apothecary, knew about the entail and the difficulties facing the Bennet ladies.
"If it is a son, then he will inherit immediately and Collins will only be next in line after him. If it is a daughter, nothing changes and Collins will be the Master of Longbourn. I will write to him at once. This is a difficult legal situation as we will not know the facts until May."
Philips wrote to Collins informing him of the likely pregnancy and the possibility that a son might be born who would displace Collins as the inheritor of the Longbourn estate. As Philips was very sympathetic to the Bennets, he worded his letter carefully to make Collins worry. He pointed out that, if a son was born and Collins had possession of the estate, he would be held liable for all revenues that had accrued while Longbourn was in his possession. He also pointed out that Collins would be evicted from Longbourn and would have no place to live if he gave up his Hunsford parish. He suggested, since the legal question of ownership of Longbourn would be settled in May, that Collins delay taking possession of the estate until then. He also suggested that, if a daughter was born, the Bennets would pay rent to him for the next months until they removed from the estate.
When Collins shared this letter with his wife, she thought that it contained both good news and bad news. The slight good news was that there was to be another Bennet, perhaps a son who would eliminate her friends' uncertainty over whether they would lose their home and only source of income. The bad news, of course, was that, if a son was born, Charlotte would likely never become Mistress of Longbourn. Collins decided that he must again seek the counsel of his esteemed patroness, so he immediately took this letter to her.
Lady Catherine, upon reading the letter from lawyer Philips was pleased that she might not lose her valuable parson as she had not yet found a substitute that equaled his obsequiousness and obedience to her slightest whim. She had decided that a temporary curate would be used when Collins left for Hertfordshire until a suitable parson that met her expectations could be found. However, she had not been satisfied with the applicants so far. She was not pleased at the possibility of having to make a quick decision about a curate as she was not sure how this person might respond to her suggestions that were, in fact, orders that she expected would be obeyed without question. She decided to tell Collins that he should agree with the plan that the Bennets be allowed to remain in possession of Longbourn until the birth and that, if a daughter were born, they would pay him rent for the months since Mr. Bennet's death. Of course, Collins agreed with his patroness and sent off the necessary letter of agreement to Philips.
Naturally, the Bennets were pleased when Philips told them that Collins had agreed to let them stay. However, problems with the management of the estate quickly rose their ugly heads. It was now near the end of the harvest and questions about the sale of the produce and animals had to be answered. Legal responsibility for the estate had been assigned to Mr. Bennet's brothers-in-law, Gardiner and Philips, so it was really up to them to look after the day-to-day affairs. As Gardiner was in London, that duty mainly fell on Philips, but he, in turn, was busy with his law practice and did not have much time to look after Longbourn.
Thus, Elizabeth took on more and more responsibility for the running of the estate with only an occasional meeting with her Uncle Philips who consistently confirmed the decisions that she had already made. While she had always been quite extensively involved with the tenants and their concerns, there were many areas where her father had not included her, especially in the financial aspects of the estate's income and expenses. She could not turn to her other close relative, Mr. Bingley, as he was just learning how to run his own estate with minimal input from anyone else. Elizabeth had to make decisions based on her common sense, which, fortunately, was quite good. She may have made mistakes this first harvest that cost them money, but she learned from them and never repeated them in future years.
Elizabeth consulted with her Uncle Philips about the necessity of saving money for the rentals that would need to be paid if her mother produced another daughter. They carefully calculated the amount that was needed to be saved and where expenditures could be cut. Elizabeth was surprised, when she reviewed the past financial records, how much her father had spent on port and new books for himself and how much money her mother had wasted on frivolous purchases. When they made their decisions on what to do, Elizabeth asked Mr. Philips if he would take responsibility for restricting the pin money given to each Bennet, as she did not want her sisters or her mother to keep pestering her for an increase or to cover over-expenditures.
Mr. Philips convened a meeting of Mrs. Bennet and the four sisters who were living at Longbourn. "I called this important meeting to discuss where we can save enough money to pay Collins the rent that will be owed to him if a daughter is born. You know that we have no choice in this; rents for these months must be paid if that happens. One of the areas of expenditure that we will need to reduce is the amount of pin money given to each of you. I will tell you right now that you must not overspend as I will not cover any excess bills. We just have to save the money." Philips did not mention that one obvious saving was that they no longer had to pay out Jane's pin money as all her needs were now the responsibility of her husband. He also did not mention the savings that would occur as Mr. Bennet's extravagances were no longer a concern.
Naturally, three of the sisters and their mother complained loudly about how this was simply not possible for them, but Mr. Philips held fast. They barely noticed that Lizzy did not complain; if they did notice, they assumed that she was because she never overspent her allowance. They did not realize that it was her plan and not their uncle's. One of the results of this meeting was the increasing confidence that Philips had with Elizabeth. He began to realize just how intelligent and firm she was. Therefore, he decided to give her almost complete control of the management of the estate with only cursory oversight by him. He wrote to Mr. Gardiner the full details of what they had decided and the increased duties he had given to Elizabeth. Gardiner, knowing Elizabeth's capabilities, concurred with all these decisions. In any case, his own growing business meant that he could not possibly go to Longbourn to sort out minor problems with the estate. The uncles did not concern themselves that this added responsibility placed on Elizabeth would restrict her free time that she had enjoyed in the past.
The first bit of good news came just before that Christmas of 1812 when Mrs. Bennet felt the quickening that confirmed that she was indeed expecting. Whenever she thought of the baby, her mind immediately thought of the events that led to its conception. She regretted the loss of her husband, but she smiled whenever she thought of how dashing Wickham had looked in his red coat, and without it. While her memory of the details of what had taken place that night were not perfectly clear because of all of the punch that she had drunk, she certainly remembered the main event. That was the first time in many years that she had felt young again and did not regret the fun that they had that night. She hoped that she would have a son who would be tall, dark-haired, and handsome. She wondered if she could get away with naming him George. Fortunately, she was just wise enough not to speak a word about this to anyone after her slip with Mrs. Gardiner. If she happened to feel the slightest twinge of guilt about what she had done, she blamed all the punch that she had drunk. While she did regret the loss of her husband of so many years, she did not miss his constant teasing and disparaging of her and her youngest daughters.
With the Bingleys living so close to Longbourn, visits there were made almost daily by at least one of the Bennets. Jane found that her mother too often bothered the staff by ordering them around, often in contradiction to orders they had received from their real mistress. This upset Jane as she did not want to cause problems with the relationship she had with her mother, but hoped that it would not continue for much longer as she became less mobile because of her increasing size.
The visits from Elizabeth were much more welcome as they still shared almost all their secrets. While Elizabeth kept nothing back, Jane was too reticent to talk about the joys she was experiencing every night with her husband. Just thinking of them made her blush. Lizzy did raise the issue once. "Jane, please tell me about having a husband. Mother seems to say that the marital obligations of a wife are onerous and simply must be endured. Is that right?"
Jane blushed red when she thought of the delights that she had experienced and was continuing to enjoy. "Lizzy, you know I cannot talk of what happens between a husband and wife. When you become betrothed, I will tell you everything. I can only say that, in my limited experience, Mother is not correct; far from it. It is amazing! Of course, I have a loving and gentle husband, so that may make a difference. Never once have I ever regretted being his wife and never have I only submitted to his attentions as Mother says that is a wife's lot. Do you remember the vow that we made that we would marry only for the deepest love? Follow it and you should also have what I have. A loving husband is wonderful and worth waiting for!"
While Elizabeth was happy for her sister, she had begun to worry if she would ever enjoy such a deep love from a good man as there were no such men available in Meryton and she now knew that her responsibilities for Longbourn would likely prevent her from finding someone suitable. She was in a quandary; if her Mother produced a son, her responsibilities for Longbourn would continue to tie her to the estate. If another daughter, then she would likely end up living in London with the Gardiners where there would be more potential husbands. This situation would be best for her, but not for her family.
Christmas came and Mrs. Bennet was obviously beginning to show her pregnancy. Much of the planning for the special events of the season fell on her daughters, especially Elizabeth. Somehow, the girls managed not to overspend their pin money by much, so Uncle Philips did not need to refuse their pleas very often. The Bingleys invited them all to Netherfield for Christmas dinner, where she and Bingley announced that she was also expecting and should deliver in June, just a month after her mother's due date.
After Christmas was the slowest season for the estate as the tenants only had their animals to care for in the dead of winter. Elizabeth kept busy checking on all the tenants to make sure they were not lacking for anything serious. While few of them mentioned it, they definitely found that they preferred having her as their principal manager as Mr. Bennet had tended to ignore them for extended periods of time and did not pay attention to their concerns. Miss Elizabeth actually took the time to ask them about how they could each improve the yields that might be possible for the acres assigned to them. She received some very good suggestions from them, which did not surprise her as they knew their farms much better than anyone else. She learned which plants produced the most revenue and which were needed to feed their animals. She invested money in some of the improvements that they wanted; those that seemed most likely to be most worthwhile in terms of yield and profits. While she was not used to making such profit and loss decisions, once again her common sense proved its worth.
Spring finally came, and with it a busy time on the estate. Elizabeth found that she could not take the time to walk to each of the farms, so she had an old dog cart rehabilitated so she could drive it herself with only one horse. She spent the time saved by talking to each tenant to ensure they all had sufficient seed for planting and feed for their animals that would last until hay could be harvested. The tenants had to divide their time between planting their fields and tending to all the newly-born animals. Of course, her close attention to the tenants made her very popular with them as she tried not to interfere with their daily operations while listening to their concerns. However, she was firm enough not to let any of them get away with trying to cheat her. One tenant who tried found that she had a temper and the will to enforce her rules. The tenants also found that she had the full support of her uncles, who were the actual trustees for the estate, so they quickly learned to heed her instructions.