A Plethora of Peers Chapter 18 - Collins, a pride and prejudice fanfic

~~PoP~~

Collins

By the time the party at Netherfield went to bed, the rain had stopped and by the late morning of the following day, the road had dried out enough that, provided they were careful, the Bennet sisters could take their gig back to Longbourn.

They arrived safely and Mrs Bennet was pleased to welcome her granddaughters and discuss the events of the last couple of days. They were nearly finished when they were joined by Mr Bennet.

'I am pleased that you have returned to the bosom of your family, and I am delighted to say that your timing is perfect,' he declared with twinkling eyes after they had exchanged greetings. Before the sisters could ask for the cause of his delight, he turned to Mrs Bennet. 'I hope, my dear, that you have ordered a good dinner to-day, because I have reason to expect an addition to our family party.'

'And whom are you expecting?' Mrs Bennet enquired.

'Do you remember that letter I mentioned from our cousin, William Collins who wanted to visit?'

'The one who was writing to extend an olive branch because he was the heir presumptive to Longbourn?'

'Indeed. I responded that at present was not a convenient time, but it seems his patroness, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, insisted that he not delay in his endeavours.' Mr Bennet waved a document. 'Thanks to the rain, his letter was delayed. It preceded its sender by mere hours.'

~PoP~

While many things could be said against Mr Collins, at least he was punctual. He arrived barely five minutes before the stipulated time of four o'clock.

Collins was a young man of five and twenty, tall and heavy-set with a grave demeanour.

Bennet went into the foyer to greet the visitor, but instead of mouthing empty civilities he asked, 'Which part of no did you not understand? I told you this was not a good time for you to visit.'

Collins drew himself up to his full height and endeavoured to look imposing, but due to Bennet being equally as tall the attempt was a failure. 'Surely, as the heir to the estate I must always be welcome. After all, does not the comfort and security of your ladies depend on my goodwill?'

'Do you truly believe that threatening my ladies is a good way to ensure your welcome?' Bennet asked coldly.

The look of confusion Collins gave Bennet was quite sincere as the young man exclaimed, 'But I was not threatening the ladies. I was pointing out that I will be their benefactor and expected some gratitude in return as is my due. My esteemed patroness, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, assured me that it must be so. Especially as I plan to select my bride from your daughters to ensure that the estate remains in the family.'

Seeing that his cousin was as absurd as Bennet had assumed from his letter, but also that Collins was sincere in his concern, Bennet softened slightly. 'We shall discuss this after you refresh yourself. Hill will show you to your room.'

In answer to this suggestion, Collins thanked Bennet with great relief and followed Hill upstairs.

~PoP~

Collins appeared much more relaxed and comfortable when Hill escorted him into the library where Bennet awaited him and offered him refreshments from the tea tray which had just been delivered.

The pastries which accompanied the tea were much to Collins' liking and he tucked into them with a hearty appetite.

Bennet watched him for a minute before he returned to the earlier subject. 'We need to address the information which you lack.' He paused until Collins swallowed the large bite he was chewing before he added, 'You claim to be the heir of Longbourn, but you are merely the heir presumptive. My son James is the heir apparent and in about a fortnight he will reach his majority and break the entail. At which point you will not be an heir at all.'

'That cannot be. I was told that you only had daughters. My father never mentioned that you had a son,' Collins cried in disbelief.

'Your father did not know I had a son.'

'Why would you have everyone believe that you did not have a son?

'Because your father tried to kill me, the one time we met.'

'There must be some mistake. Surely, my father would not have done such a thing. Perhaps you misconstrued some words?'

'Your father arrived at Longbourn shortly after my brother's death and intimidated my mother and the new widow, who was carrying my brother's children. The ladies were frightened by his harassment and to ensure their safety, my mother sent for me. On my arrival encountered your father and in answer to his claims, I pointed out that I was ahead of him in the line of succession. He flew into a rage and claimed that he could change that. Whereupon he pulled a knife and lunged at me.' Bennet raised a cynical brow. 'I would consider that a quite unequivocal indication of his intentions.'

'Surely not.'

'There were witnesses to his attack which is on record with the magistrate. Feel free to inquire into your father's shame.'

'But that does not explain you keeping the existence of your son a secret.'

'It was done to ensure my son's safety. Since your father tried to kill me, I was afraid that he would try for my son.'

'But where has your son been all these years?'

'James has been raised by my late wife's parents.'

With a fierce expression of concentration, Collins cogitated on the information for several minutes while he cleared the plate of all edibles and finished his tea. Eventually he swallowed the last morsel and asked, 'I have no wish to offend you, but how do I know that your claim of having a son is not a ruse to put me off? I have heard that some men will go to great lengths to remain in control of their possessions.'

'The reason I wished for you to come at a later date was so that you could meet my son and heir.' Bennet shrugged and reached for a book which he had taken from the shelves in preparation for this interview. 'In the meantime, you might find this entry enlightening.' He handed his copy of the seventh edition of Debrett's to Collins.

Collins gingerly accepted the volume and opened it at the bookmarked page. His eyes got ever bigger as he read the entry for Viscount Markwell. Eventually he looked at his host. 'Please accept my most humble apologies. I had not realised that you were related to the peerage.'

'Only through my wife, but this gives enough information of the family to prove that I have indeed a son.'

'It does indeed. Although I confess that I do not understand why you did not mention this in your letter.'

'Since your father was so very determined to claim what was never his, I did not know what your attitude would be. I felt that if I simply provided the information in a letter, you might consider that I was only trying to cheat you out of your inheritance.'

Collins nodded as he slowly digested the words. 'I believe that Lady Catherine de Bourgh would have advised me that such was the case and would have urged me to come here to declare you a fraud.'

Bennet noticed that Collins was even more downcast than he had expected. 'Look, I am sorry that you have had your hopes dashed as far as your expectations are concerned, but you still have a comfortable living at Hunsford,' he tried to cheer up the young man, although privately he thought that it must be difficult having to deal with an interfering busybody like Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

Collins returned the effort with a forlorn look as he said, 'Lady Catherine awarded me the living only until I should inherit Longbourn. What am I to do?'

'Cousin, a living is always granted for life. I cannot imagine that Lady Catherine can change that.'

'But I signed a document to say that the living is only until I come into my inheritance.'

'Since you will never inherit Longbourn, I suppose you have to content yourself with having the living of Hunsford for life.'

'But–'

'If the lady has any issues with the arrangement, you can point out that you were only the heir presumptive. There was never any guarantee that you would inherit Longbourn… there were only your father's misguided hopes.'

Collins' demeanour slowly brightened. 'Are you saying that Lady Catherine cannot take away the living?'

'Once a patron has granted the living it is for life. The only one who can take it away is your bishop if you do not perform your duties as per church strictures.'

'That changes everything,' gasped Collins as his eyes lit up.

'Well. Now that we have this cleared up, I suppose that I had better introduce you to my family,' suggested Bennet and Collins was only too happy to agree. He was going to consider his situation based on this new information when he was at leisure.

~PoP~

As soon as Collins was introduced to the ladies, he decided that while Lady Catherine de Bourgh had been incorrect in her advice regarding his inheritance and his living, her command that he should marry one of his cousins had great merit.

Both young ladies were lovely, but the elder was the more striking in appearance which pleased him greatly, as it was only proper that the elder should receive his first attention.

It was not long before he congratulated Mrs Bennet on having such lovely granddaughters and he did not doubt her seeing them all in due time well disposed of in marriage. 'Perhaps sooner than they might expect,' he added with a pointed look at Elizabeth.

Elizabeth nobly refrained from rolling her eyes at the comment as she had suspected that Collins had come to Longbourn to marry either herself or Mary to make them every possible amends for his mistaken belief of being the heir of their home.

Bennet also noticed the look and reminded of the same olive branch Collins had planned to extend to his family, he thought to prevent any more disappointed hopes, by saying, 'While I hope that Elizabeth would remain in my company for many years to come, I doubt that Mr Darcy will so patiently indulge her old father.'

'Are you speaking of Mr Darcy of Pemberley in Derbyshire?' Collins enquired in surprise.

'That is indeed the gentleman who is currently courting Elizabeth.'

'But that cannot be! Lady Catherine de Bourgh informed me that Mr Darcy, who is her most distinguished nephew, is engaged to her own daughter, Miss de Bourgh.'

'Mr Collins, you cannot believe that Mr Darcy would be so dishonourable as to court a lady if he was already engaged to someone else,' Bennet pointed out.

'But Lady Catherine–'

'Is wrong to express her wishes as fact,' Elizabeth interjected. 'Mr Darcy has mentioned that his aunt has long desired him to marry his cousin, but neither he nor Miss de Bourgh are so inclined. Especially as Miss de Bourgh would be unlikely to survive producing an heir for Pemberley. It is most remiss of Lady Catherine to wish her daughter to put herself into such danger.'

While Collins wanted to argue in favour of his patroness's wishes, the last point raised by Elizabeth, indelicate though it was, carried great weight with him. 'Perhaps Lady Catherine is unaware of the potential danger to her daughter having survived her duty quite unscathed,' he murmured.

Before Collins could transfer his attention to Mary, Mrs Bennet gushed, 'You are quite correct in your estimate that my granddaughters are likely to make advantageous matches. Even though Mary is still quite young, having been presented only six months ago, she has already caught the attention of the younger son of the Earl of Matlock, who is Lady Catherine de Bourgh's brother, I believe.'

Mary blushed prettily but was grateful to her grandmother for having averted a potential awkwardness with their cousin. 'It is early days yet, but the Colonel is all that is charming.'

'But enough of our situation. Tell us, how do you like your parish? Do you find that Kent is a congenial as I have been led to believe?' Mrs Bennet changed the subject deftly.

For the rest of the evening, the family pleasantly discussed safe subjects. By the time Collins retired, he was becoming reconciled to his changed situation.

It was a shame that both his cousins appeared to have suitors, but considering their connections it would have been unlikely that he would have had a chance with either of them.

On the other hand, knowing that Lady Catherine had no power to oust him from his position was most reassuring. Perhaps he was not constrained to follow all her demands and he would be able to minister to his parishioners rather than having to kowtow to her.

~PoP~

A/N:

Dear guest from the peanut gallery – I appreciate your comments, but I applied some poetic licence.

I know that a solicitor is not in trade, but Caroline likes to look down on people… any excuse will do.

I am also aware that in canon, Bingley is 22. I made him just a little older (24) to create enough of a gap to explain Caroline being the baby of the family and overly indulged. He is still too immature for Mary, but just old enough to start standing up to Caroline – at least enough to bicker with her.

I know that Mary does not yet own Netherfield outright until her majority, but her father allows her the responsibility, the same way as he allowed Elizabeth to look after Longbourn. It saves him the bother to do so.

Btw this is a first draft. During editing I often tone down the arguments – not enough to change the message but to make them a little more appropriate. But, I figure that my characters are human and fallible…

~~PoP~~