Chapter XIII — Pride and Prejudice

The law that passes your home to a male heir stays abstract until a named cousin arrives with apologies and a travel date. At breakfast Mr. Bennet teases that a gentleman stranger is coming; Mrs. Bennet assumes Bingley and orders fish. He reveals a letter from Mr. Collins, the heir who may turn them out of Longbourn when he dies. Mrs. Bennet rails against entailment; Jane and Elizabeth try again to explain that the settlement cannot be undone.

Mr. Bennet reads Collins's letter aloud: healing the old family quarrel, ordination at Easter, patronage of Lady Catherine de Bourgh, the Hunsford living, and an olive branch despite being next in the entail. He proposes a visit from Monday, November 18th through the following Saturday. Elizabeth is struck by his deference to Lady Catherine and his plan to christen, marry, and bury parishioners on demand. Mr. Bennet hopes for a fool: servility mixed with self-importance. Mary praises the prose; Lydia and Kitty care only that he will not come in a red coat.

Collins arrives punctually, tall and formal, praising the daughters' beauty and hinting at good marriages. He discusses the entail with Mrs. Bennet while admiring hall and dining room as if they were already his. When he asks which cousin cooked dinner, she snaps; he begs pardon and apologizes for a quarter of an hour.