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Hunsford had been bought at the price of that young lady’s family. Lady Catherine’s laments over the loss of her obedient vicar – much more so than the current one – finally revealed that it was Collins who benefited from the Longbourn entail; he who was responsible for Miss Bennet and her family being cast out of their home.
    Darcy’s short acquaintance with the man during his visit at Rosings the previous year had given him a clear picture of the cold selfishness that guided his conduct, but he had not expected such callousness as this. Lady Catherine mentioned that within a se’nnight of learning of Mr Bennet’s demise he had sailed forth to claim his inheritance and had taken possession almost immediately. What the poor wretched widow and her daughters must have suffered, to lose their protector and discover that the next in line – a man of the cloth, no less – was so devoid of Christian compassion!
    To his disgust, Darcy had found himself brought face to face with Collins during his very brief stay with his friend. Bingley had called upon him in town and had chanced to find him at home, as Darcy had seen fit to spend a few days in Berkeley Square on his way from Rosings to Pemberley and attend to the neglected business that had accumulated in his absence. To please his friend, he had agreed to break his journey at Netherfield, the new estate where Bingley had established himself a few weeks prior, and give his opinion on its merits and potential for improvement.
    Bingley always said it had been his father’s dearest wish to see his line established as landowners, and thus give a sheen of old-fashioned respectability to a fortune made in trade. It seemed that the son was well on the way to finally fulfilling the paternal dream. He had not bought an estate at the drop of a hat, thank goodness, but had leased one with all his proverbially impulsive haste. His business agent had alerted him, he said, to a particularly tempting opportunity which he had been loath to miss, although he had originally intended to delay embarking upon the life of a country gentleman for at least another year.
    Shaking his head in amused exasperation at Bingley’s way of doing business, so unlike his own, Darcy had agreed to share the benefit of his experience. Little had he expected to find himself visiting in the area which Miss Bennet had once called home, nor to be subjected to the assiduous attentions of the new master of Longbourn.
    The man had come to call on the first morning of Darcy’s visit at Netherfield, to do his duty and welcome Bingley to the neighbourhood. He was thrilled beyond measure to discover that he could already claim an acquaintance with Mr Bingley’s friend and had presumed to impose upon Darcy and treat him as an equal. He was no longer a mere parson but a fellow landowner, and clearly expected to be treated as such by Lady Catherine’s nephew.
    Darcy had no intention to oblige. He would have disliked the man merely on grounds of their previous acquaintance, but knowing what he now knew of his role in dispossessing Miss Bennet and her family, the dislike had ripened into outright disgust. He coldly rejected Mr Collins’s invitation to call upon him at Longbourn, much as part of him would have been interested to see the place where his sister’s companion had spent her formative years.
    Nor was he willing to accede to Bingley’s suggestion that he extend his stay and attend the assembly planned for five days hence in the neighbouring town of Meryton. He had done his duty by his friend, had briefly examined Bingley’s new estate and had given his opinion, but there was nothing else to hold him in the environs. Bingley’s unmarried sister was as unappealing company as ever, with her ill-disguised determination to become the future mistress of Pemberley, Collins riled him greatly and, first and foremost, he was anxious to be home.
    He was eager to be reunited with Georgiana and see how she fared with