The Longbourn Letters: The Correspondence Between Mr Collins & Mr Bennet by Rose Servitova

Author:Rose Servitova [Servitova, Rose]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Pride and Prejudice & Related Fandoms, Others POV, Not in Amazon Library, To Transfer
ISBN: 9781911013754
Google: phxPtAEACAAJ
Amazon: 1911013750
Barnesnoble: 1911013750
Goodreads: 41207955
Publisher: Wooster Publishing
Published: 2017-05-02T04:00:00+00:00

Henry Bennet

Hunsford,

near Westerham,

Kent.

14th May, 1795

Dear Sir,

I hope this letter finds you and all your household well this fine summer day. I must confess I hardly know whether I come or go in recent times for with the impending arrival next week of the Reverend Edmund Smellie to Rosings, waiting on news regarding the health and mobility of the honourable Smock family, and an unfortunate incident which brought me into a most disagreeable situation, I hardly know where I am.

The incident I refer to took place last Tuesday teatime as I returned from an afternoon in the garden – Charlotte has been encouraging me to spend as much time in the fresh air as daylight allows, assuring me that it is now the fashionable practice of educated gentlemen. As I went to pick up my garden shears from the front lawn where I had left them not twenty minutes before, I found they had gone. Just at that moment, the blackguard, Joseph Bradford, was passing and made such a wave in my direction, bellowing “Are you looking for something, Mr Collins?” that I was convinced at once that he had stolen my shears. I ran immediately to Rosings, distressed and agitated, to inform her ladyship of this wrongdoing. As magistrate she was doubly furious, for this was no joke but a crime, and, therefore, she prepared at once to go to Bradford’s cottage that she might interrogate the culprit to his face (for it is few who do not break down and confess when confronted by her ladyship). I was ordered home to drink a glass of cognac to counter the effects of shock. Her ladyship promised to summons me to Rosings for dinner in the evening where she would inform me of the outcome of her investigation. I was very moved that she would condescend to act with such purpose and bring such trouble on herself on behalf of a lowly vicar and I must confess, sir, never was my loyalty and affection for her as great as it was at that moment, that it did bring tears to my eyes.

When I returned home, I consumed two glasses of cognac as ordered and, I must confess, their mellowing effect was felt almost immediately. I then proceeded to check on the boys and Charlotte who were all to be found at the front of the house playing skittles. Charlotte, alarmed at my appearance and smelling the liquor on my breath, demanded to know at once what I was about to make a display of myself in front of our boys, whereupon hearing of my troubles she declared that it was she who had removed the shears from the front lawn for fear the boys would find them and injure themselves. My shock was great and it was some moments before I could comprehend the seriousness of what I was hearing. I ran at once to Bradford’s cottage where I found I was too late – her ladyship, with raised voice, which

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.