It is a truth universally acknowledged that everybody likes to get something for nothing. And it’s equally true that it is more blessed to give than to receive, right? So I figured it would be fun all the way around to offer my Pride and Prejudice inspired short story Mr. Collins’s Last Supper free for three days!

Here’s what to do. If you have a Kindle (or a Kindle ap on another device) you will be able to download the story from Amazon at no charge this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (Feb 24, 25, & 26 of 2012). Follow this link to the page or shop directly from your Kindle. I hope you enjoy your free sample, and tell your friends about the give-away too!

Lest you feel too sad about Mr. Collins’s unhappy fate, I’ll leave you with a little reminder of his true character. Here’s what he considers kind condolence – a portion of the letter he sent to Mr. Bennet upon the traumatic elopement of his daughter Lydia with Mr. Wickham (without benefit of marriage, that is).

“Mrs. Collins and myself sincerely sympathize with you…in your present distress, which must be of the bitterest kind, because proceeding from a cause which no time can remove… The death of your daughter would have been a blessing in comparison of this. And it is the more to be lamented because there is reason to suppose..that this licentiousness of behaviour in your daughter has proceeded from a faulty degree of indulgence, though..I am inclined to think that her own disposition must be naturally bad… Howsoever that may be, you are grievously to be pitied, in which opinion I am not only joined by Mrs. Collins, but likewise by Lady Catherine and her daughter, to whom I have related the affair… Let me advise you then, my dear Sir, to console yourself as much as possible, to throw off your unworthy child from your affection forever, and leave her to reap the fruits of her own heinous offence.”  (Pride and Prejudice, chapter 48)

What grieving parent wouldn’t be comforted to receive such a letter? Hallmark really should have hired this guy to write sympathy cards, don’t you think?