When Bingley and the Colonel arrived back at Netherfield, they were met by Miss Bingley who was not pleased that they had gone to Longbourn. She knew that the Bennets had no connections that would be useful to her intention of rising in society, so she did not want her brother to form an attachment to Miss Bennet, even if she thought that this lady was a pleasant person. She was just not good enough for her brother. She did not care what the Colonel did as he was only a second son and so was beneath her notice, even if his father was an Earl. If he were the Viscount, the situation would be quite different. She was even more upset when her brother told her that he and the Colonel were going to Longbourn to dine on the morrow and that no one else had been invited.
Darcy was curious about the Bennets, but he would not ask if they had learned anything about Mrs. Collins while Miss Bingley was present. He knew that if he did, it would unleash a torrent of insults and abuse from a jealous woman.
That evening, the Colonel asked his batman if he had found any information about Mrs. Collins.
"Well, Sir, I have tried to learn whatever I could about her without appearing to be too interested. No one is willing to say much about her, except that she is quite different now from what she was like before her marriage. She used to be quite lively but has been much quieter and withdrawn since then. She is well thought of by everyone and has had the responsibility for managing Longbourn ever since her father died. Apparently the estate was entailed to the male line and a distant cousin came to claim his inheritance as soon as he learned of her father's death. He brought his son with him and no one around here thought much of either of them. In fact, everyone seems to have disliked both of them intensely.
"I gathered that the son married her shortly after they arrived, even though the whole family was still in deep mourning. From what I heard, she was forced into the marriage as Collins Senior threatened to throw them all out of their home with nothing if she had refused. She had no choice in the matter as her mother insisted and she was only sixteen. It seems that she married him only to save her family.
Both Collinses died in an accident within a couple of months after her marriage, leaving Mrs. Collins with child. It seems no one regrets their deaths; in fact, everyone seems glad that they are gone. I did not hear how they died, but from what people hinted at, they were both heavy drinkers. Mrs. Collins is very well thought-of here.
"That is all I heard. I may be able to find more details if I keep asking."
"No, do not pester anyone for information. That tells me a lot about her." This gave the Colonel a lot to think about. From what he suspected about her marriage, he would have to be very patient and gentle with Mrs. Collins if he wanted to win her hand and estate. While she was not as wealthy as he would have preferred, her estate seemed to produce a reasonable income. In addition, her physical attributes were very enticing to him. Marrying her would certainly have its benefits. If her marriage had been as bad as it seemed, then he doubted that she would settle for anything less than a proper marriage, even if that.
The four gentlemen from Netherfield went out shooting early the next morning and were quite successful. Bingley and the Colonel sent their kill to Longbourn as they had promised. Miss Bingley was still unhappy that her brother had accepted the dinner invitation to Longbourn, but he would not be dissuaded from going no matter how hard she argued.
That evening, Bingley and the Colonel went to Longbourn as planned, leaving Darcy to face Miss Bingley's wrath with no help from anyone. When they arrived, they greeted Mr. and Mrs. Philips, the ladies' aunt and uncle, whom they had met quite briefly at the Assembly. After some polite conversation with them, the Colonel turned to Mrs. Collins. "Mrs. Collins, I would love to meet your son. Would you mind if I did?" The Colonel certainly knew how to impress the ladies.
Elizabeth was hesitant, but she knew that her son's exposure to men was generally limited to her uncles and male members of the staff, so meeting the Colonel might be good for him. She asked a maid to bring him down. When he came in with the maid, he was clearly shy to see two strange men, but his mother encouraged him to say hello to them.
The Colonel wanted desperately to make a good impression on both mother and son. "Hello, Tommy. I am pleased to meet you."
At first Tommy hid behind his mother's skirts, but his curiosity got the better of him. "Are you a soldier?" he asked as he was staring at the red coat.
"I am. I am a colonel in His Majesty's army. See my red coat and all the gold braid?" He reached his arm out to the boy to let him inspect the decorations on his sleeve. Tommy delicately traced some of the braid with his finger. The Colonel pointed to his chest. "These medals show that I fought those nasty French."
Tommy almost whispered. "You are like some of my soldiers with your red coat."
Elizabeth explained, "He has a set of toy soldiers that my father had when he was a boy."
"Do your red soldiers always win their battles?"
"Yes. Mama helps me by moving the enemy, but I always win."
"I would like to see your soldiers some time. May I?"
Elizabeth interrupted, "I am sure Tommy would like to show them to you, but not tonight. It is time for our dinner.
"Tommy, say good-bye to the Colonel."
He did and the maid took Tommy back up the stairs and everyone else went into the dining room.
The food was excellent and the conversation lively. The Colonel noticed that Mrs. Collins had reverted to her previous quiet self, but he managed to involve her in his discussions with Mr. Bingley and Mr. Philips to some extent.
When the ladies left the three gentlemen to their port, the Colonel used this opportunity to question Mr. Philips about his niece.
"Mr. Philips, you must have noticed that I find Mrs. Collins to be a fascinating lady and I would like to know more about her. However, it seems that no one is willing to say much about what happened to her over the past four years since her father died."
Mr. Philips had certainly noticed the attention that Bingley was paying to Jane and the Colonel to Elizabeth. Ever since Mr. Bennet's death, he had been heavily involved in the affairs of Longbourn and his Bennet relatives. He was not about to say much to these gentlemen as he did not know them. He felt responsible for the Bennets as their nearest relation and would never jeopardize them in any way. He had to word his response very carefully.
"Colonel, you have to understand that Bennets have lived at Longbourn for many generations and are well respected in this area. There had never been any improper incidents about any of them that I have ever heard of. You are not known here, so everyone will protect them and their privacy. If any of the Bennets want to tell you their story, that is up to them." He then just sat there, sipping his port, looking directly at the Colonel in a challenging manner. He was not worried about offending these gentlemen as his primary concern was this family.
This lack of response and attitude was unusual for the Colonel as he was used to being obeyed and treated with great respect as the son of an earl and an officer in His Majesty's army. However, he did not dare argue with this important uncle if he wanted to have any chance of winning Mrs. Collins's approval. Mr. Philips just made him more curious about what happened to her.
"I understand your reticence, Mr. Philips. However, I will be patient and will wait for Mrs. Collins to decide if she will tell me her story. I will be here for almost a full month."
"Where will you be posted then?" Mr. Philips was glad to change the direction of their conversation.
"I have not heard. I expect that the continent is the most likely place, but we have been hearing that those pesky Americans have been making trouble recently, especially in the wilds close to our Canadian territories. They have even stirred up the natives to attack our outposts if they are not well defended. Fighting there is much different from on the continent; the natives do not fight like the French. They are much more dangerous as they know the territory much better than we do."
The gentlemen spoke about the war on both continents and the effects on trade until it was time to rejoin the ladies.
When the gentlemen went into the sitting room where the ladies were drinking tea, Bingley went to sit near Jane and engaged her in a quiet conversation. Mr. Philips begged Elizabeth to entertain them on the piano. The Colonel was entranced at how much feeling she put into her music. He thought he could listen to her for hours. He thought how pleasant life with her would be if her obvious passion for music implied that she would be passionate in other areas. He would love to find out, but he knew that he would have to be patient.
Over the next several days the Netherfield party was invited to different gatherings at neighbouring houses. Of course the Bennets were almost always there as they were well liked by everyone in the area. Many of these gatherings included dinner, where Bingley usually managed to sit by Jane and the Colonel by Elizabeth. Darcy watched both couples and realized that these gentlemen seemed to be developing close relationships to those ladies. He did not interfere, but after listening in on their conversations he began to realize that Mrs. Collins was an exceptional lady because of her intelligence, breadth of knowledge, wit, and lively personality, which seemed to be recovering since his first encounters with her.
He also began to appreciate how attractive she was, especially her fine eyes. He envied his cousin's ability to converse so easily with such a remarkable lady. However, he hoped that his cousin was not building up her expectations that he might not be able to satisfy. He was well aware of his cousin's financial situation and his need to marry a lady with significant assets. He was still unsure if Longbourn's income would be sufficient to support the lifestyle he was used to or if it even would be available to him if he married Mrs. Collins.
Darcy worried about this developing relationship as he knew that Richard was used to living a luxurious lifestyle that was financed by the Earl's generous allowance to him. This allowance would most likely end when he married, so he needed to marry a lady with a significant dowry or income. From his assessment of Longbourn's earnings capability, he expected this was only in the range of two to three thousand pounds per annum. This income was already supporting the whole Bennet family and, in any case, was supposed to be for the benefit of young Master Thomas Collins. He expected that his guardians would not allow this income to be diverted to support anyone else.
For her part, Elizabeth did not realize that her friendship with the Colonel was drawing her out of her fear of men that she had felt for the past several years. With the introduction of these newcomers to the area, there were more frequent gathering and invitations which she now was less reluctant to accept than she had in the past.
With his developing respect for Mrs. Collins, Darcy worried that his cousin's attentions to her could not end well. He hoped that nothing serious would develop in the month that the Colonel would be with them. He decided that he had to get to know her better so he could do whatever he could to minimize the unfortunate results that must certainly occur when Richard returned to his duties, especially if he made any commitments to her. Darcy decided that he wanted to meet her without his cousin, so he continued to ride out early in the mornings in hopes that he would encounter her. So far, he had not met her after that first meeting at Oakham Mount. He was not aware that she had changed her usual habit of where she walked after her first encounter with him.