Author's Note: Sorry for the wait; I just didn't have any spare time until this week, which is Spring Break for me. I will try to post three chapters in all this week, but they will probably not be edited very well. I've found that it's almost impossible for me to write new material when I only have a bit of time here and there, but I can edit old material a paragraph or two at a time, so I'll concentrate on getting chapters out with fewer drafts this week, and polish it up later. I really do appreciate your patience.


Chapter 29 - Collins

Longbourn, Hertfordshire, Oct 22, 1811

Kitty and Lydia slowed their mounts to a walk as they neared Longbourn, allowing the horses time to cool down. As they rode up to the stable, they could hear the voices of their sisters within.

"Thank you for inviting us to your lavish estate," joked Kitty as they entered the stable. "I have always wanted to see how the upper crust lives."

Lizzy laughed. "We are so glad you could find time to visit. We shall be serving tea in the Brown Parlor," she said, pointing to an empty stall.

Lizzy, Jane, and Mary were brushing their own horses down. "You just missed the neighbors," said Mary. "We had a nice ride with Miss Darcy, Mrs. Annesley, and Mr. Bingley. How goes the schoolroom?"

"There is very little left to do," said Lydia. "Truly, most of what we did today was inconsequential, just fiddling with details. But we have bigger news."

"Oh! Has Mr. Collins arrived?" asked Jane.

"I'm afraid so," said Kitty, with a glum face.

"I take it he is not a young Adonis?" Lizzy asked with a wry smile.

"Far from it. However…"

"However?"

"There was another passenger on the coach with him who might put Adonis to shame, though we did not get a close look at him," said Kitty. At Lizzy's raised eyebrow, she added, "We observed them from the window of the Assembly Hall while the coach was temporarily stopped across the street. Do not worry, we took care not to be seen."

"So then you didn't get a truly good look at Mr. Collins, either?"

"Perhaps not, but… he just seemed odd," Kitty answered. "You will see for yourself when he arrives."

"Lizzy, do you truly think that mama will make one of us marry him?" asked Lydia.

"Mama told me herself that she would not," said Lizzy, to everyone's relief. "I do not know how firm her resolve is, but I believe that our Academy session has made her less worried about our future. Still, we should give him a chance, for keeping Longbourn in the family is a worthwhile goal. I shall try to assess how sensible he is this evening, and we can talk more about it in Jane's room tonight?"

She made it a question to Jane, and Jane smiled and nodded. Her other sisters smiled as well, for they knew that Lizzy was very good at gauging a person's intelligence during conversation, even if she hadn't met the person before.

"How far behind you do you think Mr. Collins is?" asked Mary.

"I do not know whether all of the baggage atop the coach was his," said Kitty, "but if it is, it should take Mr. Bailey some time to transfer it to our wagon, for Mr. Collins does not appear to be the sort of man who is helpful when it comes to physical tasks."

"La, it looked as if he brought enough baggage to stay a month. And Mr. Bailey is using Buttercup to pull the wagon, so I would guess we have at least half an hour," said Lydia.

"Well, we should use that time to clean up and change out of our habits," said Lizzy. "We will help you curry your horses."

UI

The Netherfield riders were also attending to their horses. Darcy and Richard had ridden along with the others to Longbourn, but they had not accompanied them on their ride with the Bennet sisters. Instead, they had conferred with Mr. Bennet about the school that Miss Catherine and Miss Lydia were to teach, and then all three men had ridden to talk with Mr. McKenzie, the local vicar, and then with Colonel Forster. Georgiana could scarcely wait to hear what he had learned. Darcy had earlier sent to London not only for Georgiana's horse Snowflake, but also for horses for Mrs. Annesley and Georgiana's bodyguards. He now preferred for them all to ride to Longbourn rather than take a coach, because the Bingley sisters did not ride, except at a pace which barely exceeded a walk. Mary and Georgiana quickly formed a pact - Georgiana would help Mary with her horsemanship, while Mary would help Georgiana with her pianoforte technique.

"Brother, were you able to ask about the school and the soldiers?"

"I was," said Darcy as he stood back to allow Paulo, now Netherfield's assistant groom, to remove Georgiana's saddle. "And, my clever girl, it appears that you were right. Miss Catherine and Miss Lydia are to teach only girls and young women. The vicar will teach the boys and young local men, and he believes there will not be over ten children in the class you wish to help with. The soldiers will not be taught at all, or at least not formally. Colonel Forster says that the soldiers will be far too busy training to have time for school, unless they can arrange to be taught by their more literate fellows on their own time. He did allow that it might be a wise investment to supply primers and tablets and the like, but the important point is that I see no impediment to your assisting the Bennet sisters, provided you are properly chaperoned and guarded. Even though they will not be in the classroom, there will still be some rough men on the streets of Meryton, but as I said last night, that is no different from London."

Georgiana, not wishing to embarrass her brother in front of a groom, restrained herself from leaping at him for a hug, but could not suppress something like a squeak of delight. "Oh, thank you, brother! May I start right away?"

Darcy lifted his saddle off his horse and handed it to Paulo. "We will need to consult with Miss Catherine and Miss Lydia, of course, to see what their schedule is, and with Mrs. Annesley to see how best to integrate this new task into your own lessons. But other than that, you may begin as soon as you wish. We are invited to dinner at Longbourn tomorrow to meet their cousin, and perhaps you can discuss it with your friends then."

It made Darcy's heart ache in a good way to see the width of Georgiana's smile. It had been far too long since her smiles were genuine.

UI

The Bennet sisters quickly changed out of their riding habits and were assembled in the parlor when the wagon could be seen approaching on the drive. Mr. Bennet, to the surprise of all, chose to go outside to greet his cousin, so the women of the house followed him.

While it was still not what anyone would call graceful, Mr. Collins' dismount from the wagon after it pulled up to Longbourn's front steps was considerably more dignified than his exit from the coach in Meryton. As usual, Lizzy stood behind Jane and Lydia, her two tallest sisters, so that her close observation of Collins would not be so apparent to him.

Mr. Collins had been immensely pleased to see that his relations came out to greet him. Even more pleasing were the size and condition of the estate which would one day be his. But most pleasing of all was the sight of the five Bennet sisters. They ranged in looks from tolerable to stunning, and he could scarcely believe his good fortune. While he did not quite leer at them, his eyes did linger on Jane's face and Lydia's bosom, and Lizzy was not favorably impressed.

"I am gratified, cousin, at this most courteous greeting as I appear at the behest of my most august patroness, the Right Honorable Lady Catherine de Bourgh."

Everyone but Collins jumped a bit as Buttercup whinnied loudly, rolling her eyes in terror.* Collins merely made an excessively low bow, and then smiled broadly at the Bennet sisters, again not quite leering.

Mr. Bennet was no more impressed with Collins than was Lizzy, but he bowed in return and said, "You are welcome, sir, and I hope your stay will be enjoyable." He then made the introductions to the rest of his family.

Mrs. Bennet, who had always judged men almost entirely by their looks, was disappointed. Collins had bowed over her hand when he was introduced to her, and she was repelled not only by his unattractive features, but the unpleasant odor that emanated from him.

"Mr. Collins," she said, "I know you must wish to freshen up after your long journey. Would you care for tea and sandwiches afterward? I should tell you that dinner will not be for three hours, for we have invited my sister and her husband to dinner to meet you, and he works until five o'clock."

"You are most gracious, Mrs. Bennet. I should enjoy sandwiches very much." The Bennets would soon learn that Collins was a creature more stomach than man, and would never turn down a chance to eat.

After Mrs. Hill showed Collins to his room, Mrs. Bennet asked Lizzy to accompany her to Mr. Bennet's study. Curious, Lizzy said, "Of course, mama."

She knocked on the study door, and Mr. Bennet said, "Come in, Lizzy!" He was momentarily surprised to see that Mrs. Bennet was with her, for he had expected that Lizzy must want to discuss Collins with him, but he recovered quickly and said, "What can I do for you, my dears?"

Closing the door, Mrs. Bennet said, "I want you to tell me again, we do not need to worry if Mr. Collins evicts us from this house."

Lizzy smiled and guided her mother to the chair in front of her father's desk. She went to a shelf and took a wax tablet and stylus, then fetched a smaller chair and sat down next to her mother.

"No, mama, we do not need to worry. Do you remember that your 5000 pounds, plus the 15,000 pounds we will get from the sale of papa's books and wine, will pay you 2000 pounds per year if invested with my uncle?"

Mrs. Bennet looked confused, and Lizzy quickly laid her hand on her mother's arm and said, "It is all right mama, no one can be expected to remember a deluge of new facts, even when they were understood at the time. You simply need to be reminded. Let us calculate the interest on your dowry again."

She took the tablet and stylus and said, "Remember, we took the 5000 and divided by 100 - which is just removing two zeroes - to make 50, and multiplied by the interest rate. Uncle Edward pays us 10%, so that makes 500 pounds, yes?"

Mrs. Bennet nodded, now remembering the exercise they had done earlier that month.

"Now we add the 15,000 from papa's books to your 5000, so we start with 20,000 instead of 5000. But the interest is calculated in the same way. We take two zeroes off of 20,000 to get 200, multiply it by 10, and get 2000. That is how I came up with that number."

"I see it now, Lizzy, thank you. So our income will be 2000 pounds a year, even without Longbourn?"

"That is what your income would be if all of your daughters were married, and you lived by yourself. But you asked me a different question today. You asked what we would have if we were evicted, but we were all still together. And if that happened, we would earn more."

Her mother looked confused again.

"You see, mama, if none of us were married, then we would still have our dowries, yes? They are currently a total of 25,000 pounds in government bonds, earning five percent. Do you remember when we showed you the bonds?"

Mrs. Bennet nodded.

"So we do the calculation for the bonds the same way, only the interest rate is different. We take two zeroes off of 25,000, giving 250. We multiply that by five, because they earn five percent interest, and we get 1250. We add that to the 2000 you would earn if you lived alone, and we get 3250 if none of us is married.

"3250 pounds a year? With no estate?"

"Yes, mama. And it would probably go up every year, for our expenses should be no more than 1000 pounds, allowing us to increase our savings by over 2000 pounds each year. So the answer to your question is, unless Mr. Collins is much more capable than he looks, we will be making more money than he will after he evicts us, for I expect the income of Longbourn Estate will decline under his management."

Mrs. Bennet looked satisfied, but a bit dazed. When Lizzy had explained things before, she thought she had understood everything, but she now realized that she had missed some important implications. She had thought of the dowries as lump sums, not as assets that returned a sizeable increase each year. It had not occurred to her that their wealth would actually grow each year even if they were cast out of their home.

Lizzy continued, "I suggest that it would not be prudent to inform Mr. Collins of the dowries, for although I may be mistaken, the way he looks at us makes me think that he would not be above compromising one of us to force a marriage in order to get an extra bonus when he inherits, and he will certainly have many opportunities for compromise while residing under our roof."

She looked at her father. "Papa, do you think that we can assign some servants to stay awake in shifts in the guestroom at the end of the hall, just in case Mr. Collins walks in his sleep?"

Mr. Bennet looked grim. "Yes, Lizzy, I think that is an excellent idea. And do you think that you girls might consider doubling up while he is here?"

Lizzy considered this. "I do. I think that Mary and I are small enough to share a bed. We could move Kitty's and Lydia's bed into Jane's room. If Hill had it done while Mr. Collins is occupied downstairs, perhaps during dinner, he need never know."

Mr. Bennet stood. "So be it."


*If you hadn't guessed, this is another of my snappy topical references to a 50-year-old movie, in this case Young Frankenstein, wherein the horses fear the name "Frau Blucher." As with the huge tracts of land, I put these in just for fun, but do let me know by review or PM if they annoy you, or if they take you out of the story.

Author's Note: Thanks so much to everyone who follows, favs, or comments. Corrections and constructive criticism are warmly welcomed!

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