Miss Lucas Read online

  Miss Lucas

  a Pride and Prejudice Variation

  Miss Lucas by AV Knight

  © 2018 AV Knight

  All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

  Cover by AV Knight.

  For my Kindred Spirits

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER ONE

  The Lucas siblings acknowledged that breakfast was a matter best handled between themselves. With their parents abed, Charlotte was content to listen to her younger siblings’ laughter while they concerned themselves more with getting water on one another than doing the dishes. The routine was so well fixed in Charlotte’s mind that at the strange sight of a parson creeping down the lane she stuttered to a stop and stared.

  Mr. Collins had only one reason for sneaking away from the Bennet household so discourteously early, and Charlotte would not allow the liveliness of her siblings or the detritus leftover from breakfast to tempt him into hesitation. She could scarce believe the he showed by coming at all but if Mr. Collins was given half a moment’s contemplation Charlotte was certain he would tuck tail and run.

  Years of experience with much younger siblings kept Charlotte from rushing out the door. Her haste would be to their curiosity like the scent of a fox to a hound. Instead, she slipped on her shawl and took advantage of young Thomas’ splash and Maria’s shriek to slip outside.

  Though Mr. Collins was conceited, narrow-minded, and obsequious, he was also in an excellent situation located not so far from Lucas Lodge as to hamper visits from Charlotte’s siblings. Most important of all, Mr. Collins had crept out of Longbourn to propose to Charlotte before he left Hertfordshire, and from the disinterested desire of an establishment, Charlotte was going to accept him.

  “Mr. Collins!” Charlotte greeted him with false surprise and the kind of enthusiasm reserved for people she liked. “How lovely to see you this morning.”

  “Miss Lucas.” He swept into a grand, off-balance bow. “The pleasure is all mine. I was on my way to Lucas Lodge with the hope that you might do me the honor of granting me a private audience. I must consider it a sign from on high that have I discovered you here, already in private, and so proceed with my purpose is seeking you out.”

  Charlotte gave Mr. Collins an encouraging smile, pleased with his directness, but still took a few steps up the lane so the conversation might not proceed in clear view of the Lodge’s windows.

  “In the hope that I might avoid another misunderstanding, I have made my attentions towards you as direct as I feel is appropriate for a man in my position and a lady of your exquisite reputation. I now feel free to declare that almost as soon as I genuinely made your acquaintance I have considered you the ideal companion of my future life. However,” the man stopped and Charlotte could almost see him wishing he had a lectern to lean upon, “before I am run away my affection for you, I believe that you are owed the reasons behind my pursuit of marriage with such single-minded purpose.”

  That was perhaps the most polite way Mr. Collins could say he felt the need to justify proposing to two women within the span of one week. Charlotte had a moment’s surprise at his consideration, only to realize from Mr. Collins’ practiced air that at least part of his words were precisely the same as those he had delivered to Elizabeth.

  “The first of my reasons for marrying is that my marriage is the particular advice and recommendation of the very noble Lady Catherine de Bourgh whom it is my honor to call patroness. Second, I think it right for every clergyman in such easy circumstances as myself to set the example of matrimony in his parish. And third, I entered Hertfordshire convinced that marriage would add greatly to my happiness, which truth I have only grown more certain of now that I have met you, my dear Miss Lucas.

  “On the very Saturday night before I left Hunsford—between our pools at quadrille, while Mrs. Jenkinson was arranging Miss de Bourgh’s footstool—Lady Catherine said, ‘Mr. Collins, you must marry. A clergyman like you must marry.’ She bid me choose a gentlewoman for her sake, and for my own, that I might choose an active, useful sort of person, not brought up high, but able to make a small income go a good way. She shared with me this advice and then urged me to bring the woman to Hunsford as soon as I could and Lady Catherine would deign to visit her.

  “My dear Miss Lucas, you must know that you so perfectly suit Lady Catherine’s recommendations for my future wife that I almost feel as though you were brought into being by her very words. Not that I, in any way, seek to discount the influence of your own good parents, your father who is the epitome of what it means to be a gentleman and your mother who has shown me nothing but the kindest sort of attention. But it is your economy, your tender care for your young siblings and your neighbors, and your forbearance despite your position in life that are all most appealing to me. Despite recent events, I am certain that my hand is worthy of acceptance and that the establishment I can offer, as well as my situation in life with such connections as the family of De Bourgh, are highly desirable. Amidst these and your other highly amiable qualifications, I consider you a most appealing choice of wife.”

  Mr. Collins patiently waited for Charlotte to smile at his choice of compliments, ignorant that he had more lauded her inability to refuse him than her character. “I feel, my dear Miss Lucas, that I ought to explain to you why my views towards matrimony were directed to Longbourn in particular instead of my own neighborhood. Considering that I am to inherit the Longbourn estate after the death of my honored uncle, I believed that as a clergyman I could not satisfy myself without first seeking out a wife from among his daughters. It is the duty of any man of respectability to see to it that the loss to them might be as little as possible, and that I might go forward in my position in the church with the certainty that I have done my utmost to repair the relationship that was left damaged upon the death of my own father. Please rest assured that my cousin Elizabeth was very clear that my offer to her was so sufficient a recompense between our families that I might take possession of Longbourn estate with no feeling of self-reproach. Considering that my uncle supported her in her decision to reject my proposal, I must accept her judgment on the situation as accurate and consider the matter between our families resolved.”

  Charlotte exploited the brief pause. “After a lifetime spent with the Bennet family, I can assure you that if Mr. Bennet considered matters between you unsettled, he would told you so himself.” Mr. Collins nodded in agreement and Charlotte seized both the man’s arm and the opportunity, escorting him further down the road to broach his favorite topic in the world: Lady Catherine. There was no better way to capture Mr. Collins’ attention, and allowing him to mull on whether or not he had done everything in his power to repair his familial relationship would only invite him to change his mind.

 
“I must confess that after all you have said of Lady Catherine she seems like she would be the best of neighbors.” Charlotte allowed the false implication that she was eager for the prospect.

  “Her notice and kindness truly are beyond compare. Her manners are beyond anything I can describe, all affability and condescension, and she has spoken to me as though I were any other gentleman and not just a parson in her employ.”

  Mr. Collins assumed such an unusual solemnity when discussing the lady that Charlotte gave his arm a gentle squeeze to affirm her point. She declared that she was certain Lady Catherine held him in the same high esteem. “After all, how could she not well regard such a fine gentleman?”

  Mr. Collins’ body stuttered to a stop and Charlotte’s stride carried her out of his grip before she realized she’d left him behind. “Mr. Collins?”

  The man devoted all his focus to his feet and murmured, “Yes, Lady Catherine, she was quite pleased with my decision to make amends with my father’s brother after all that had passed between them. For a clergyman to be a proper example to his flock he must live the word to its fullest measure, which means repairing familial relationships wherever possible. After all, as Lady Catherine assured me, I cannot counsel my congregation about their circumstances if I have not tended to my own. It struck both Lady Catherine and myself as the best course of action to repair my familial relationship by seeking out one of my uncle’s daughters so that the reunification of our families could be both spiritual and literal.”

  Mr. Collins’ potential proposal slipped away with every word he spoke. He had been given his patronesses’ permission—no doubt couched as a blessing—not to marry just anyone, but to marry one of the Bennet girls. Mr. Collins’ fervent desire to align his will with Lady Catherine’s could not be achieved without knowing how her will might be changed when presented not with a Bennet sister as a bride, but with a Miss Lucas, a girl unknown to either party before his arrival in Hertfordshire.

  While Mr. Collins had all but declared his intention to marry Charlotte not scarce ten minutes ago, intention meant nothing. In good conscience, Mr. Collins could walk back to Longbourn and propose to one of the remaining Bennet sisters to ensure Lady Catherine would be happy with him. Mary would undoubtedly have the man, or if she could stop crying enough to hear her mother’s words, Kitty would easily be pressured to accept.

  Charlotte tucked her hand back through the crook of Mr. Collins’ arm and let it linger a moment too long in the guise of a tug to get him walking. “It was a noble impulse of you to seek to right the divide between your families in such a way. But no one would be able to doubt that you have done your utmost to repair the relationship. I believe that you and I have the kind of friendship where we can be perfectly honest with one another Mr. Collins, do we not?”

  The man stopped and turned to her with more solemnity than she thought him capable. “I am honored with your trust in me, Miss Lucas.”

  Charlotte respected that trust with the same honesty she would have given Elizabeth. “As you yourself told me, you proposed to Eliza in good faith and with the certainty that not only could you be happy together in marriage but also that you would go beyond the requirements of a husband and tend to her family. For all that I consider Elizabeth my dearest friend, in many respects she is still quite young. She failed to recognize your goodness and the value of the offer you made her. It is not your responsibility to make her understand what she has given up. I believe that you have done more than anyone could expect of you. You went so far that even Mr. Bennet, a party to the dissolution of your familial relationship, considered marriage unnecessary for reconciliation. The divide between your father and your uncle must be considered beyond repaired by your diligent service to your uncle’s family.”

  Charlotte rested her hand on Mr. Collins shoulder so the weight of it might draw his attention back from the dirt at his feet. “Mr. Collins, I say this with all the sincerity of my heart, both as a father’s child and as a friend to the Bennet family: there is nothing more anyone could ask of you.”

  Were Mr. Collins a more practical man she would give him the added truth that she doubted that in Mr. Bennet’s mind anything had been broken when he ceased to have contact with his brother and that the whole family would likely consider Mr. Collins’ abrupt and permanent departure the best thing he could do to improve their inter-family relationship. As it was, she had shown him respect by giving any truth at all.

  Collins blushed at Charlotte’s compliment and his sputtered gratitude was enough to rekindle her hope that she’d convinced him of Lady Catherine’s approval. But then his spine steeled and his blushes faded, and the same surprising show of will that had brought him to her door was now about to carry him away from it. “You do me a great credit with your praise, Miss Lucas. And praise means so much more when it comes from the mouth of a woman such as you, one whose name is unimpeachable and whose good opinion is sought by everyone who knows her.

  “If I may have your leave to speak to you with the same forthrightness as you have shown me. Your good opinion on how I have comported myself with my cousins is priceless, not the least of which because of your long and profound relationship with my cousins. I have heard it said that there is no one in the world who knows the Bennet family as well as Miss Lucas, and to hear from you that I have done well by them is such a relief that I can barely speak it. If you, of all people, believe that I have done my utmost, then I can be certain that when I return to Lady Catherine I will be able to acquit myself in her eyes as well.

  “For you must know, my dear Miss Lucas, how highly I value your opinion in all things. In truth, there is only one woman in the world whose opinion I value more. Despite the sweet words you have spoken to spare me the pain of what I must do and how genuinely you believe in my own goodness, you and I both must be aware that I cannot speak the words that my heart would bid me share without first returning to Kent and acquitting myself, not only in my mind but also through the words of my eminent patronesses’ lips so I might be certain that I have done precisely what she would expect of me. Lady Catherine is so clever, with so much knowledge of the world that I would be ashamed to press forward in any way only to return to my parsonage and discover that there was some extra step that I ought to have taken but failed to do so in my ignorance. For did we not just discuss the youth of my dear cousin Elizabeth, you and I, and how the impulsivity of her decisions may lead her to regret in the future? To the esteemed Lady Catherine, you and I are just as young and naive, and I would have neither of us make a decision that so venerated a lady might look at with the same degree of disappointment as you and I perceive in Elizabeth.”

  Charlotte did not know Lady Catherine, and from what she had heard she did not care for the woman’s opinion at all. Charlotte bit back the urge to behave like Lydia Bennet, baring her teeth and throwing a tantrum when she didn’t get her way. Charlotte wasted only a moment on frustration before she assured Mr. Collins that she agreed with him entirely. Since Charlotte had not expected Mr. Collins to appear on her lane and half propose this morning, she chose to take heart that he had come so close. Lady Catherine could have no objections to Charlotte, the Lucases would voice no objections to the match, and every day between Mr. Collins’ proposal to Elizabeth and his proposal to Charlotte was another to make both his proposal and her acceptance look less desperate. It was a perfectly practical decision on his part, and Charlotte would not fault him for it, no matter how humiliating it would be to wait upon the condescension of Mr. Collins.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Mr. Collins left the next morning, as intended. Elizabeth arrived so early at Lucas Lodge that she must have departed Longbourn mere moments after the man’s carriage turned the corner. She swept into the sitting room, complaining that, “His parting words to us were a declaration to father about how overjoyed he would be to come visit us all again before Christmas!” Lizzy did not notice the trail of amused Lucas siblings she left in her wake.

  “Fat
her managed to convince him that a clergyman ought not be away from his parish at such a time, but that only delayed him until the new year! Lydia nearly told Mr. Collins directly that we didn’t want him back, but Jane managed to stop her. This is terrible Charlotte! How are we to reason with a man so oblivious?”

  Charlotte smiled, both at Elizabeth’s dramatics and that Mr. Collins’ determination had lasted the night. “Do think for a moment, Lizzy, that you are the first family he has had since his own father passed. Perhaps he is simply rejoicing too much in the newfound connection to think that there’s a possibility you might not want his company just as much as he wants yours.”

  Elizabeth dropped to an empty chair. “It would be one thing if he was thinking of another visit in the summer, for that would give us all sufficient time to recover. But to come back little more than a month after he’s left is too soon, even for relatives one likes. Were Mr. Collins possessed of a bit more common sense I would think he purposefully ignored the warnings father gave him about not wanting offend Lady Catherine by being away too often. I confess to you Charlotte,” Elizabeth leaned in to make her point, “I’m concerned that Mr. Collins has the notion that if he gives me time enough to contemplate then I will rethink my refusal.”

  “I doubt there is a man in the world who would willingly subject himself to the humiliation of being refused in matrimony a second time, Lizzy, not even for your charms. If anything, I imagine that when the new year arrives Mr. Collins will find himself inevitably delayed by the demands of his parish and unable to come until summer.”

  “You think he was trying to be polite?”

  “By declaring Longbourn too great to resist for more than a month?” Charlotte’s tone deemed it obviously impossible. “I find politeness far more likely than a man so new to his position willing risk his patroness’ displeasure by leaving on two lengthy visits so close together. And you can comfort yourself Lizzy, that even if Mr. Collins were intending to come back and renew his proposals to you, I cannot imagine that a woman of Lady Catherine de Bourgh’s standing would allow him to do so, even if you prostrated yourself at his feet and declared your most abiding love for him.”