Master of Longbourn Chapter 7 - Money and Manners, a pride and prejudice fanfic

~MoL~

Money and Manners

Longbourn – 1809

As soon as the ladies of Longbourn had calmed down, Collins and Phillips repaired to the library which had done double duty as Bennet's study.

Once the door was firmly closed behind them, Phillips told Collins, 'I dropped off one of the contracts with Roberts at the bank. He will ensure that Bennet cannot draw any of the estate funds from the estate account.'

'I just hope that there is enough in that account to pay any outstanding bills plus whatever we need to prepare for the winter.'

Phillips grinned. 'There should be enough and even a little bit left over. Bennet usually went on a buying spree after the harvest came in, stocking up on books to read over the winter. You timed your advent perfectly.'

'I just hope it is not too late already to restore the estate,' muttered Collins as he gathered the account books from the shelves.

The two men sat down to examine the books. After two hours of labour, Collins sat back in his chair and rubbed the bridge of his nose in the hope of warding off an incipient headache. 'It is about as bad as I expected.'

Phillips nodded in agreement. 'At least quarter day is at the end of the month, and you will receive the rents from the tenants.'

'Yes, but the ladies will not be happy. I expect to use the bulk of the funds to make the repairs which Bennet has neglected.' Collins shook his head in frustration. 'I do not understand it. Over the past fifteen years the income for the estate gradually dwindled, but the household expenses remained about the same, or even went up some years. The only area where expenses were reduced was in the maintenance of the estate. Is Bennet insane that he could not see the correlation between the lack of maintenance and the loss of income?'

'I am certain that he saw it but could not be bothered to do anything about it. That would have required effort on his behalf.'

'It seems to be up to me to make the effort now. I plan to cut household expenses as much as possible to free up funds to make at least essential repairs.'

Philips grinned. 'Have you already forgotten the extra clause in the contract? Bennet spent a significant amount of money on rare books, and he just agreed to allow you to sell them to affect the repairs to the estate which he neglected.'

'I confess that point had slipped my mind,' confessed Collins as he rubbed his temples.

'I thought that Gardiner could find you a buyer who is interested in rare books,' Phillips offered.

In response it was Collins' turn to suddenly grin. 'I think I know someone who would jump at the chance to add to his already extensive library. And he will not quibble about the cost.'

'Excellent. That will save time and effort. Then we can send him the leftovers which do not have any particular value.' Phillips nodded, feeling very pleased with himself for having thought of a way to make Bennet pay for his negligence. He changed the subject slightly. 'But I have to warn you, part of the estate income is two hundred pounds interest each year from Fanny's jointure. That is her pin-money, and you cannot touch it,' Phillips pointed out.

'I cannot understand how she can squander that much money each year. How many new dresses does she need?' Collins muttered, but after a moment he shrugged. 'As long as she does not expect the estate to supplement that amount the way it has happened, I will not argue about it.'

'I am glad you feel that way. But I would also like to mention that Gardiner kept suggesting that instead of leaving the money in the four percents, Bennet should invest her jointure in his business where he could double the return. Unfortunately, Bennet could never be bothered to make that change either.'

'Hmm, I will consider this.' Collins suddenly chuckled. 'Perhaps I could use that extra money to pay Bennet's stipend.'

Phillips joined in the laughter. 'That would be perfect.'

~MoL~

After Phillips left to return to his office, Collins requested Mrs Bennet's presence in the library.

He politely seated the lady, a gesture which she appreciated. She was less pleased when Collins started to speak. 'You heard Mr Phillips and me mention that Longbourn is not as profitable as it used to be.'

'Y-e-e-s,' Mrs Bennet answered uncertainly.

'We suspect that part of the reason is that your husband was a negligent manager of the estate, but the other part of the problem is that much needed maintenance was not carried out because there were insufficient funds. That in turn reduced the productivity of the estate which caused the income to decline even more.'

'If you want to know anything about the estate, you will have to speak to Mr Bennet,' Mr Bennet replied defensively.

'That will not be necessary. I know what the problem is… and how to fix it.' Collins paused to ensure he had Mrs Bennet's full attention when he said, 'I am afraid that you will have to cut back on household expenses. I was stunned to discover that despite Rosings being about three times the size of Longbourn, yet the household expenditure is virtually the same.'

Mrs Bennet remained mute but displayed a mulish expression.

Collins tried a different approach. 'One of the reasons your daughters do no have dowries is your irresponsible spending.'

'You cannot say that. It was Mr Bennet's responsibility to save money for our daughters.'

'He was unable to save anything because you both spent too much on entertaining and on fripperies.' Mrs Bennet opened her lips to protest further when Collins held up his hand to stop the flow of words. 'What Mr Bennet should have done is set a budget and to stop you spending. Did he ever ask you to moderate your expenses?'

'I thought he was just being mean and miserly…' Mrs Bennet refused to meet his eyes.

'So, your husband tried to set a budget, but you ignored it?'

'Well, I just thought that since I always was allowed to spend that much when we first married, he was trying to punish me for not producing an heir. He never said that we did not have enough money.'

'You argued?'

Mrs Bennet focused her gaze on the handkerchief she was twisting as her cheeks turned scarlet. She remembered the exceedingly loud arguments she had with her husband over the years, when she was determined that, since he was making her miserable, she was going to return the favour… threefold. Which included locking her bedroom door. She remained silent but eventually she nodded.

Collins huffed, 'Of all the stupid…' before he caught himself.

Mrs Bennet's head snapped up as she spat, 'Are you calling me stupid too?'

'I am calling what both you and your husband did stupid,' Collins shot back. 'A simple conversation could have fixed this. Instead, you were both too stubborn or lazy to discuss the problem rationally.'

'Oh.'

Collins sighed. 'My apologies, I should not have snapped at you. I let my frustrations get the better of me.'

As Collins considered the matter further, he came to the conclusion that Bennet was the main culprit in this situation. The arguments with his wife gave Bennet the perfect excuse to shift the blame for their impecunious state to her. Yet, as the master of the house, Bennet had had the power to stop his wife from overspending, but he could never be bothered to exert himself.

'You should try twenty years of frustration,' muttered Mrs Bennet under her breath, cutting into his musings. But the immediate apology Collins had offered did much to restore Mrs Bennet's spirits. After a minute of thought she said, 'I am afraid that I too was at fault. I am accustomed to a situation where I am being ridiculed on a daily basis.' She grimaced and sighed. 'But this neither here nor there. We were speaking of money. You said that our household expenses are the same as a great household like Rosings? How can that be?'

Seeing that Mrs Bennet was inclined to be reasonable, Collins spent some time explaining what he had discovered. When he mentioned the apparently exorbitant amount spent on decorating the house, he was startled when Mrs Bennet laughed.

'I am sorry, Mr Collins, while it is true that in the early years of my marriage, I did spend significant amounts of money on decorating the house, it was more than ten years ago when I had achieved the look I wanted for the house. But since I had that argument with my husband about money and seeing how much he spent on books, I kept buying things for the house. Mostly paintings and knickknacks. As we do not have enough walls for all those pictures, most of them are stored away in the attic.'

'Are you saying that you have thousands of pounds worth of pictures stored?' Collins gasped in disbelief.

'Yes. What of it?'

'Are you particularly attached to those pictures and whatnot?'

'Not really, as I did not choose most of them. From time to time, I gave money to my brother, and he purchased things for me. I quite like two or three of the paintings, but the rest I only bought to spend money and vex my husband.'

Collins did some quick calculations in his head. According to Phillips the money in the estate account would more than cover any outstanding bills. The rents coming in at the end of the month would cover much of the essential maintenance to be carried out. Bennet's books should provide sufficient funds to rejuvenate the estate.

Therefore, with a small smile he said, 'Since you are not attached to those things, if you were to sell them, you should have at least small dowries for your daughters.'

Mrs Bennet's jaw dropped as the words sunk in. After a minute's stunned cogitation, she closed her mouth until a small giggle escaped her.

Collins' smile got wider as he said, 'While your excessive spending secured potential funds for your daughters' future, it contributed to Longbourn becoming less than it could be. Although, I doubt that your husband would have used the extra funds to benefit Longbourn, so perhaps everything has turned out for the best.'

The beaming smile from Mrs Bennet clearly showed the beauty of the lady, which had been overpowered by worry for more than a decade.

~MoL~

Collins was grateful that the first interview with Mrs Bennet had gone better than he expected. Taking advantage of the lady's now cheerful mood, he raised another subject.

'Now, since I have taken on the responsibility of looking after your daughters, I need to ensure that they are a credit to the family,' he said carefully.

Mrs Bennet's smile became even brighter. 'There is no need for you to worry about that. They are all quite beautiful as I am certain that you can see for yourself. Even Mary, when she takes the trouble to present to advantage is quite lovely.'

'I am not concerned about their looks. Do you not remember the discussion we had the other day when I asked about Cousin Jane's accomplishments?'

'Surely you were only being modest thinking that you did not deserve the most beautiful girl in the county. After all, at the time you were only a parson, not the master of an estate,' declared Mrs Bennet. 'And all that talk about accomplishments was just to put me off.'

Mrs Bennet smiled fondly at the man who showed concern for her daughters, rather than belittling them. She was therefore confused when Collins asked, 'Would you really want to inflict husbands like Mr Bennet on your daughters?

'Good heavens no.'

Collins spoke slowly and carefully to drive home his point. 'The only kind of man who is prepared to marry a woman purely for her beauty is someone like Mr Bennet.'

'But…'

'No, Mrs Bennet. I must insist that your daughters learn to at least act like ladies and manage an household, including budgeting,' he said. giving her a pointed look. 'It would be to their advantage to learn how to play music or sing, to provide entertainment for the family in the evening. Of course, sewing is an essential skill and embroidery a benefit. Also, they must be able to fulfill the duties of the mistress of an estate.'

'You keep talking about the duties of the mistress of an estate as if it were different from running a house,' complained Mrs Bennet.

'The mistress of an estate is not only in charge of the house, she must also visit the tenants–'

Mrs Bennet interrupted in a huff. 'Surely you cannot expect my daughters to socialise with the hoi polloi. It was bad enough when they were children and Lizzy insisted on playing with the tenants. Next thing you know you will want me to invite them to tea.'

Collins shook his head in frustration. 'Those are not the kind of visits I mean. A good mistress will go and speak to the tenants on a regular basis to find out if there are any problems which need attention.'

'Is that what Jane and Mary were doing?' Mrs Bennet muttered but motioned for Collins to continue, which he did… at length.

Mrs Bennet's eyes got bigger and bigger the longer Collins spoke. When eventually Collins stopped speaking, Mrs Bennet sat for some time in silence. 'I never knew that the mistress had so many responsibilities. How are the girls and I ever to learn?' The last part of her speech came out in a wail.

That was the opening, Collins had hoped for. 'By restricting your spending in other areas, you can hire a governess or companion to teach your daughters the skills which they do not currently have. There is no rule which says that you cannot listen in on their lessons.'

'Do you have answers for everything?'

'Not everything perhaps, but Lady Catherine de Bourgh was very attentive to my education when it came to estate matters,' Collins replied with a fond smile.

~MoL~