Mr Collins wasn't sure this was a good idea at all. His father had spoken to him about his cousin Mr Bennet on numerous occasions. They had been the best of friends for years, both anticipating with great joy the day that Collins Sr would join his cousin at school. It wasn't until he had been there for a few weeks that he started to see the cracks in Bennets veneer. Small things at first bothered Collins Sr about his friend, stories not quite matching up on retelling, missed appointments to have dinner, never introducing him to his friends, but nothing you could ever point to and say that was the cause of unrest. Until the rumours reached him. His cousin had, it seemed been telling quite a few stories about him. Boyhood tails they were, except most if not all of them were completely new to Collins Sr. They had an element of truth here, a bit of common remembrance there but never the truth, never anything that would make him look like anything other than a bumbling, grasping, mean spirited man. It crushed him. But even then, he could have moved forward, proved his academic rigor, gotten to know other like-minded young men who weren't in his cousin's circle, but that was never going to be. It seems a word in the right ear can turn even the most intelligent man against you, after all, the stories can't all have been wrong about him.
This effectively ruined any chance Collins Sr had of making something of himself. But it did make him cruel, lashing out at anyone, trying to get a single soul to listen to HIS story and believe him. In a way all of this was worth it in the end, one night at a party hosted for the graduating class Collins confronted Bennet about what he'd done. It turns out that Bennet was furious that his father liked Collins Sr better than him. He'd known them both all their lives and was the only person to ever punish Bennet for the stories he would tell to make people act how he wanted them to. He had decided to get his revenge by showing his father how wrong he was. Obviously the fact that no one in Cambridge thought well of his cousin, as well as Collins Sr's erratic behaviour over the last few years would validate Bennet in his father's eyes. That the man in question overheard the entire conversation was a complication that Bennet had not forseen. His father's wrath would have been a tale for generations if it had not occurred in the privacy of there own home, even if he had wanted to expose his son, he could not do so without bringing shame and gossip on his family name. Bennet Sr helped Collins Sr find a place as a clergyman, introduced him to some acquaintances that lead to him finding and marrying a lovely woman willing to believe his tale of woe and mitigate some of his more vengeful thoughts. This was also when the entail on Longbourn was established.
By the end of his life Collins Sr was an excellent clergyman, helping where he could, giving sound council where he couldn't. But most important was the fact that he would not have to worry about his wife and son after his demise. Mrs Collins was in fact the daughter of an impoverished Earl. The eldest of 3 children her brother Fredrick took it on himself to improve their lot in life seeing as their father couldn't look at a racehorse without losing money. Life was not kind to the new Earl when he got his chance to improve Hempsworth. He was able, with help from friends in trade to make his estate solvent again but died of tuberculosis before he could enjoy the fruits of his labours. The Estate passed to his younger brother, but a sizable amount of money plus some investments were set aside for his beloved sister and her family. Both siblings followed their late brothers' example and continued to invest their money as much as they were able. This made some (although not as many as they would have expected) look down on them but as living with money was infinitely better than living with nothing, they found they could bare it quite happily.
While discussing his will with his wife Mrs Collins pointed out to her husband that he was in fact in a much better position than Mr Bennet Sr could ever have imagined. They did not need Longbourn having purchased their own small estate which was currently being rented by a lovely family just outside Bath. After a lot of prayer Mr Collins decided that the entail should be broken, after all it was in no way certain that Mr Bennet's family would take after their father, punishing them for his misdeeds seemed most unfair. However, even though he had improved in most way Mr Collins Sr was nothing if not indolent with regards to his personal affairs, with the unfortunate consequence that he died before ever making more than general enquiries to his solicitor about the issue of the entail. Mr Collins, who followed his father into the church knew all the particulars and was more than willing to fulfil his fathers wishes on this subject. He had no wish to associate himself with his cousin or his family and this was a very convenient way to cut the connection for good.
Mrs Collins being moved by her husband's willingness to forgive such a person decided to put aside some of her investments to be sold and divided between the Bennet girls on her death. In this she may have been more generous than was usual given that she was grieving her husband and was not completely of sound mind. The investments were set aside, already having made quite a lot of capital, and the papers were all written up. Unfortunately, Mrs Collins followed her husband to the grave only 3 years later. Mr Collins, having no notion of his mothers leaving anything to the Bennet girls was very surprised by the whole turn of events, even more so when the investments were sold, and the final amount was revealed. In his own grief he briefly thought it was an unfair waste of his inheritance but on reflection was quite at peace with the decision made by his mother. He still had an estate of his own, albeit rented at present, a living he was happy with or could at the very least tolerate until something better became available. He had no shortage of ready money from the investments left to himself from his mother and he was in a better position than most could boast. The only problem was that due to the amount being given over he felt he had to take the papers to Mr Bennet personally so they could be countersigned by his own solicitors. In a fit of pique, he decided to write a letter which would show him to be the kind of man his father could have been if not for his mother and Mr Bennet Sr's intervention, hoping this would be enough for his cousin to refuse to see him. Then it would have to be done through the solicitors and no one could say he hadn't tried.
Mr Collins sighed as Longbourn came into view. He could just make out 7 people standing waiting to receive him, there was no turning back now. They couldn't all be bad surely?
