Rebellion at Longbourn

Collins’s brows drew together as if he listened to someone speak a foreign language, but she hastened on, unwilling to allow interruptions.

She tapped her finger on the page. “This article by Thomas Coke, the noted agriculturist, explains how the Norfolk four-crop system is a vast improvement on the customary three-crop system. The greatest benefit is that you are not required to leave fields fallow for a year. Using the Norfolk four-course system, fields would be sown with wheat one year, turnips in the next, followed by barley in the third, and clover in the fourth. This produces two cash crops and two animal feed crops. Since Longbourn does not have many cattle, we could sell the fodder for a profit. None of the fields must be fallow since alternating the crops ensures that vital nutrients are replenished in the soil.”

Collins appeared about to ask a question, but Mary raced ahead, opening a book to a picture depicting a large wooden contraption, a little taller than a spinning wheel. “Seed drills sow seeds more evenly and at a greater depth than sowing them by hand. This ensures that the seeds are distributed evenly and are covered by soil, preventing them from being eaten by birds and animals. As a result, more seeds take root and grow, so more plants grow and flourish—”

Collins’s officiousness finally overcame his reluctance to interrupt a woman. “Cousin, this is all very interesting, and I am quite gratified that you are taking an interest in…farming.” He said it as if Mary had suddenly developed an unhealthy obsession with sewers. “But Longbourn simply does not have the funds to invest in unproven theories.”

“But they are not unproven!” Mary objected. “If you would read—”

Collins waved this away. “Anyone may write anything in a book or journal. How would we know the truth of his words?”

Mary gaped, flummoxed at the idea that scientists might lie about their results.

“This seed drill would not be cheap even if we could locate one,” Collins continued. “Furthermore, if we tried this four-crop system and it failed, Longbourn stands to lose quite a bit of money!”

“We could test the system in a few fields to start,” Mary suggested. “Spring planting will begin soon. Now is the perfect time—”

Collins shook his head with the patient condescension of a parent denying a child who requested another sweet. “The system might work well in Norfolk, but there is no evidence it would flourish in a climate like Hertfordshire’s.”

“They are not so different—” Mary said.

Collins spoke over her. “I refuse to experiment with my own fields.”

“It is not an experiment!” Elizabeth exclaimed. “It is common practice on many estates.” Unfortunately, nobody near Meryton yet practiced the method, so she could not point to their neighbors as examples.

Collins arched a brow. “And yet your father did not implement it.”

Although it felt disloyal to her father, Elizabeth had prepared for this argument. “My father did not…expect Longbourn to yield the profits that you do.” It was a diplomatic way to say her father had been a bit lazy, and Collins was rather greedy.

Collins shook his head in a mockery of sympathy at her grief. “No, your father was too lenient with the tenants. Such was the reason why Longbourn was a shambles when I took possession. An enterprise such as this must be run with a firm hand.” Elizabeth would have bet money that he was quoting Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

She pressed her lips together and resisted the impulse to argue with him over a claim she had heard many times before. Longbourn had fared well under her father’s ownership. To be sure, he had taken a rather laissez faire attitude toward much of the estate’s operations. It could have been more profitable if he had expended more effort, but he had treated his tenants fairly and everyone had prospered.

But Collins was determined to portray her father’s ownership as nearly ruinous to Longbourn and view his arrival as the estate’s salvation. This narrative served him well—at least in his own mind—allowing him to justify many of his actions. As with so many other things, it was difficult to discern if the man actually believed his reasoning or was merely using it as a convenient justification for his actions.

“These articles are quite compelling. If you would—” Mary pointed to the journal.

Their cousin bestowed the sort of smile one gives a child who endeavors to read a book that is beyond her ability. “I am quite impressed with your efforts, Cousin. But perhaps your time would be better occupied with needlework, pianoforte practice, or Fordyce’s sermons.” Mary seemed crestfallen. Elizabeth knew that after they retreated from the room, she would need to reassure her sister that an interest in farming was not unfeminine but quite admirable.

But Elizabeth was not quite ready to wave the white flag. “Cousin, Mary can explain the diagram—” Elizabeth attempted to draw his attention to the book.

Collins crossed his arms over his chest. “Lady Catherine does not use such a seed drill contraption or any newfangled farming methods. If tried and true methods are good enough for her, they are certainly sufficient for Longbourn.”

Elizabeth sighed inwardly. When Collins invoked Lady Catherine de Bourgh as his authority, it was a sure sign of impending stubbornness.

“If the old ways are good enough for Rosings Park, they are certainly good enough for Longbourn,” Collins declared. Elizabeth could not help recalling the gaunt and unhappy tenants at Rosings Park.

“Longbourn has not the means for such risky endeavors,” he continued, settling back in his chair and stroking his gold pocket watch as the light from the window glistened off the embroidery in his waistcoat. Although Elizabeth had not seen the estate’s accounts recently, she had been familiar enough with them during her father’s time to know what it could and could not afford. And gold pocket watches fitted into the latter category.

No doubt Lady Catherine had advised Collins on the purchase of the clothing and the watch; they helped him play his part as lord of the manor. Certainly fancy clothes, expensive carriages, and fine wines were well within Lady Catherine’s means, but Longbourn was a far smaller estate. It was not equal to a similarly lavish lifestyle.

Flush with his newfound wealth, Collins had spent profligately and was now in debt. But he would not cease spending lavishly. Elizabeth had tried to delicately hint that he should moderate his spending and then explained it to him in plain words, but the only result was that he had further reduced the allowances he granted to the Bennet sisters. She had overheard Charlotte pleading with her husband to spend less, but he had told her not to worry.

Elizabeth shuddered when picturing how much money he had already spent, and undoubtedly she did not know the whole of it. Only a fortnight ago he had returned from a lengthy visit to Lady Catherine’s townhouse in London, where he had joined a gentlemen’s club and may have partaken in gambling.

Since he would not decrease his spending, she had hoped at least he would embrace the idea of increasing the estate’s income. But now Collins gave her a patently false smile. “Your concern for Longbourn does you credit, Cousin. However, as a woman, you naturally do not understand such things. It is all accounted for in the ledgers.” He gestured vaguely toward his desk, which was entirely empty. “It has to do with credits and debits…profits and so on.”