Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen,
Read by S.
D.
Hudson Chapter 23 Elizabeth was sitting with her mother and sisters,
Reflecting on what she had heard,
And doubting whether she were authorized to mention it,
When Sir William Lucas himself appeared,
Sent by his daughter to announce her engagement to the family.
With many compliments to them and much self-congratulation on the prospect of a connection between the houses,
He unfolded the matter,
To an audience not merely wondering,
But incredulous,
For Mrs.
Bennet,
With more perseverance than politeness,
Protested he must be entirely mistaken,
And Lydia,
Always unguarded and often uncivil,
Boisterously exclaimed,
Good Lord Sir William,
How can you tell such a story?
Do you not know that Mr.
Collins wants to marry Lizzie?
Nothing less than the complacence of a courtier could have borne without anger such treatment,
But Sir William's good breathing carried him through it all,
And though he begged leave to be positive as to the truth of his information,
He listened to all their impertinence,
With the most forbearing courtesy.
Elizabeth,
Feeling it incumbent on her to relieve him from so unpleasant a situation,
Now put herself forward to confirm his account,
By mentioning her prior knowledge of it from Charlotte herself,
And endeavored to put a stop to the exclamations of her mother and sister,
By the earnestness of her congratulations to Sir William,
In which she was readily joined by Jane,
And by making a variety of remarks on the happiness that might be expected from the match,
The excellent character of Mr.
Collins,
And the convenient distance of Hunsford from London.
Mrs.
Bennet was in fact too much overpowered to say a great deal,
While Sir William remained,
But no sooner had he left them,
Than her feelings found a rapid vent.
In the first place,
She persisted in disbelieving the whole of the matter.
Secondly,
She was very sure that Mr.
Collins had been taken in.
Thirdly,
She trusted they would never be happy together,
And fourthly,
That the match might be broken off.
Two inferences,
However,
Were plainly deduced from the whole.
One,
That Elizabeth was the real cause of all the mischief,
And the other,
That she herself had been barbarously used by them all,
And on these two points,
She principally dwelt the rest of the day.
Nothing could console and nothing appease her,
Nor did that day wear out her resentment.
A week elapsed before she could see Elizabeth without scolding her,
A month passed away before she could speak to Sir William or Lady Lucas without being rude,
And many months were gone before she could at all forgive their daughter.
Mr.
Bennett's emotions were much more tranquil on the occasion,
And such as he did experience,
He pronounced to be of a most agreeable sort.
For it gratified him,
He said,
To discover that Charlotte Lucas,
Whom he had been used to think tolerably sensible,
Was as foolish as his wife,
And more foolish than his daughter.
Jane confessed herself a little surprised at the match,
But she said less of her astonishment than of her earnest desire for their happiness.
Kitty and Lydia were far from envying Miss Lucas,
For Mr.
Collins was only a clergyman,
And it affected them in no other way than as a piece of news to spread at Meryton.
Lady Lucas could not be insensible of triumph on being able to retort on Mrs.
Bennett the comfort of having a daughter well married,
And she called at Longbourn while the oftener than usual to say how happy she was,
Though Mrs.
Bennett's sour looks and ill-natured remarks might have been enough to drive happiness away.
Between Elizabeth and Charlotte,
There was a restraint which kept them mutually silent on the subject,
And Elizabeth felt persuaded that no real confidence could ever subsist between them again.
Her disappointment in Charlotte made her turn with fond regard to her sister,
Of whose rectitude and delicacy she was sure her opinion could never be shaken,
And for whose happiness she grew daily more anxious,
As Bingley had now been gone a week,
And nothing was heard of his return.
Jane had sent Caroline an early answer to her letter,
And was counting the days till she might reasonably hope to hear again.
The promised letter of thanks from Mr.
Collins arrived on Tuesday,
Addressed to their father,
And written with all the solemnity of gratitude which a twelve months abode in the family might have prompted.
After discharging his conscience on that head,
He proceeded to inform them,
With many rapturous expressions,
Of his happiness in having obtained the affection of their amiable neighbour Miss Lucas,
And then explained that it was merely with a view of enjoying her society,
That he had been so ready to close with a kind wish of seeing him again at Longbourn,
Whither he hoped to be able to return on Monday fortnight,
For Lady Catherine,
He added,
So heartily approved his marriage,
That she wished it to take place as soon as possible,
Which he trusted would be an unanswerable argument with his amiable Charlotte,
To name an early day for making him the happiest of men.
Mr.
Collins's return into Hertfordshire was no longer a matter of pleasure to Mrs.
Bennet.
On the contrary,
She was as much disposed to complain of it as her husband.
It was very strange that he should come to Longbourn instead of to Lucas Lodge.
It was also very inconvenient and exceedingly troublesome.
She hated having visitors in the house,
While her health was so indifferent,
And lovers were of all people the most disagreeable.
Such were the gentle murmurs of Mrs.
Bennet,
And they gave way only to the greater distress of Mr.
Bingley's continued absence.
Neither Jane nor Elizabeth were comfortable on this subject.
Day after day he passed away,
Without bringing any other tidings of him than the report which shortly prevailed in Merriton,
Of his coming no more to Netherfield the whole winter.
A report which highly incensed Mrs.
Bennet,
And she never failed to contradict as a most scandalous falsehood.
Even Elizabeth began to fear,
Not that Bingley was indifferent,
But that his sisters would be successful in keeping him away.
Unwilling as she was to admit an idea so destructive of Jane's happiness,
And so dishonorable to the stability of her lover,
She could not prevent its frequently recurring.
The united efforts of his two unfeeling sisters,
And of his overpowering friend,
Assisted by the attractions of Miss Darcy,
And the amusements of London,
Might be too much,
She feared,
For the strength of his attachment.
As for Jane,
Her anxiety under the suspense was of course more painful than Elizabeth's,
But whatever she felt she was desirous of concealing.
And between herself and Elizabeth therefore,
The subject was never alluded to.
But as no such delicacy restrained her mother,
An hour seldom passed in which he did not talk of Bingley,
Express her impatience for his arrival,
Or even require Jane to confess that if he did not come back,
She should think herself very ill-used.
It needed all Jane's steady mildness to bear these attacks with tolerable tranquility.
Mr.
Collins returned most punctually on the Monday fortnight,
But his reception at Longbourn was not quite so gracious as it had been on his first introduction.
He was too happy,
However,
To need much attention,
And luckily for the others,
The business of lovemaking relieved them from a great deal of his company.
The chief of every day was spent by him at Lucas Lodge,
And he sometimes returned to Longbourn only in time to make an apology for his absence,
Before the family went to bed.
Mrs.
Bennett was really in a most pitiable state.
The very mention of anything concerning the match threw her into an agony of ill-humour,
And wherever she went,
She was sure of hearing it talked of.
The sight of Miss Lucas was odious to her.
As her successor in that house,
She regarded her with jealous abhorrence.
Whenever Charlotte came to see them,
She concluded her to be anticipating the hour of possession,
And whenever she spoke in a low voice to Mr.
Collins,
Was convinced they were talking of the Longbourn estate,
And resolving to turn herself and her daughters out of the house as soon as Mr.
Bennett were dead.
She complained bitterly of all this to her husband.
Indeed,
Mr.
Bennett,
Said she,
It is very hard to think that Charlotte Lucas should ever be mistress of this house,
That I should be forced to make way for her,
And live to see her take my place in it.
My dear,
Do not give way to such gloomy thoughts.
Let us hope for better things.
Let us flatter ourselves,
That I may be the survivor.
This was not very consoling to Mrs.
Bennett,
And therefore,
Instead of making any answer,
She went on as before.
I cannot bear to think they should have all this estate.
If it was not for the entail,
I should not mind it.
What should you not mind?
I should not mind anything at all.
Let us be thankful that you are preserved from a state of such insensibility.
I never can be thankful,
Mr.
Bennett,
For anything about the entail.
How anyone could have the conscience to entail away an estate from one's own daughters,
I cannot understand.
And for all the sake of Mr.
Collins too,
Why should he have it more than anyone else?
I leave it to you to determine,
Said Mr.
Bennett.
Chapter 24.
Miss Bingley's letter arrived,
And put an end to doubt.
The very first sentence conveyed the assurance of their being all settled in London for the winter,
And concluded with her brother's regret at not having had time to pay his respects to his friends in Hertfordshire before he left the country.
Hope was over,
Entirely over,
And when Jane could attend to the rest of the letter,
She found little except the professed affection of the writer that could give her any comfort.
Miss Darcy's praise occupied the chief of it.
Her many attractions were again dwelt on,
And Caroline boasted joyfully of their increasing intimacy,
And ventured to predict the accomplishment of the wishes which had been unfolded in her former letter.
She wrote also with great pleasure of her brothers being an inmate of Mr.
Darcy's house,
And mentioned with rapture some plans of the latter with regard to new furniture.
Elizabeth,
To whom Jane very soon communicated the chief of all this,
In silent indignation.
Her heart was divided between concern for her sister and resentment against all the others.
To Caroline's assertion of her brothers being partial to Miss Darcy,
She made no credit.
That he was really fond of Jane,
She doubted no more than she had ever done,
And much as she had always been disposed to like him,
She could not think without anger,
Hardly without contempt,
On that easiness of temper,
That want of proper resolution,
Which now made him the slave of his designing friends,
And led him to sacrifice his own happiness to the caprice of their inclinations.
Had his own happiness,
However,
Been the only sacrifice,
He might have been allowed to sport with it,
Whatever manner he thought best.
But her sister's was involved in it,
As she thought he must be sensible himself.
It was a subject,
In short,
On which reflection would be long indulged,
And must be unavailing.
She could think of nothing else.
And yet,
Whether Bingley's regard had really died away,
Or was suppressed by his friend's interference,
Whether he had been aware of Jane's attachment,
Or whether it had escaped his observation,
Whichever were the case,
Though her opinion of him must be materially affected by the difference,
Her sister's situation remained the same,
Her peace equally wounded.
A day or two passed before Jane had courage to speak of her feelings to Elizabeth,
But at last on Mrs.
Bennet's leaving them together,
After a long irritation than usual about Netherfield and its master,
She could not help saying,
Oh,
That my dear mother had more command over herself!
She can have no idea of the pain she gives me by her continual reflections on him.
But I will not repine,
It cannot last long.
He will be forgot,
And we shall be all as we were before.
Elizabeth looked at her sister with incredulous solicitude,
But said nothing.
You doubt me,
Cried Jane,
Slightly colouring,
Indeed you have no reason.
He may live in my memory as the most amiable man of my acquaintance,
But that is all.
I have nothing either to hope or fear,
And nothing to reproach him with,
Thank God,
I have not that pain.
A little time therefore,
I shall certainly try to get the better.
With a stronger voice she soon added,
I have this comfort immediately,
That it has not been more than an error of fancy on my side,
And that it has done no harm to anyone but myself.
My dear Jane,
Exclaimed Elizabeth,
You are too good.
Your sweetness and disinterestedness are really angelic.
I do not know what to say to you.
I feel as if I have never done you justice or loved you as you deserve.
Miss Bennet eagerly disclaimed all extraordinary merit,
And threw back the praise on her sister's warm affection.
Nay,
Said Elizabeth,
This is not fair.
You wish him to think all the world respectable,
And are hurt if I speak ill of anybody.
I only want to think you perfect,
And you set yourself against it.
Do not be afraid of my running into any excess,
Of my encroaching on your privilege of universal goodwill.
You need not.
There are few people whom I really love,
And still fewer of whom I think well.
The more I see of the world,
The more I am dissatisfied with it,
And every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters,
And all the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of either merit or sense.
I have met with two instances lately,
One I will not mention.
The other is Charlotte's marriage.
It is unaccountable in every view it is unaccountable.
My dear Lizzie,
Do not give way to such feelings as these.
They will ruin your happiness.
You do not make allowance enough for difference of situation and temper.
Consider Mr.
Collins's respectability,
And Charlotte's prudent steady character.
Remember that she is one of a large family,
That has to fortune it is a most eligible match,
And ready to believe for everybody's sake that she may feel something like regard and esteem for our cousin.
To oblige you,
I would try to believe almost anything,
But no one else could be benefited by such a belief as this.
For were I persuaded that Charlotte had any regard for him,
I should only think worse of her understanding than I do now of her heart.
My dear Jane,
Mr.
Collins is a conceited pompous,
Narrow-minded,
Silly man.
You know he is as well as I do,
And you must feel as well as I do,
That the woman who marries him cannot have a proper way of thinking.
You shall not defend her,
Though it is Charlotte Lucas.
You shall not,
For the sake of one individual,
Change the meaning of principle and integrity,
Nor endeavor to persuade yourself or me that selfishness is prudence and insensibility of danger,
Security for happiness.
I must think your language too strong in speaking of both,
Replied Jane,
And I hope you will be convinced of it by seeing them happy together.
But enough of this.
You alluded to something else.
You mentioned two instances.
I cannot misunderstand you,
But I entreat you,
Dear Lizzie,
Not to pain me by thinking that person to blame,
And saying your opinion of him is sunk.
We must not be so ready to fancy ourselves intentionally injured.
We must not expect a lively young man to be always so guarded and circumspect.
It is very often nothing but our own vanity that deceives us.
Women fancy admiration means more than it does.
And men take care that they should.
If it is designedly done,
They cannot be justified,
But I have no idea of there being so much design in the world as some persons imagine.
I am far from attributing any part of Mr.
Bingley's conduct to design,
Said Elizabeth,
But without scheming to do wrong or to make others unhappy,
There may be error,
And there may be misery.
Thoughtlessness,
Want of attention to other people's feelings,
And want of resolution will do the business.
And do you impute it to either of those?
Yes,
To the last.
But if I go on,
I shall displease you by saying what I think of persons you esteem.
Stop me whilst you can.
You persist then in supposing his sisters influence him?
Yes,
In conjunction with his friend.
I cannot believe it.
Why should they try to influence him?
They can only wish his happiness,
And if he is attached to me,
No other woman can secure it.
Your first position is false.
They may wish many things besides his happiness.
They may wish his increase of wealth and consequence.
They may wish him to marry a girl who has all the importance of money,
Great connections,
And pride.
Beyond a doubt,
They do wish him to choose Miss Darcy,
Replied Jane.
But this may be from better feelings than you are supposing.
They have known her much longer than they have known me.
No wonder they love her better.
But whatever may be their own wishes,
It is very unlikely they should have opposed their brothers.
What sister would think herself at liberty to do it,
Unless there was something very objectionable?
If they believed him attached to me,
They would not try to part us.
If he were so,
They could not succeed.
But supposing such an affection,
You make everybody acting unnaturally and wrong,
And me most unhappy.
Do not distress me by the idea.
I am not ashamed of having been mistaken,
Or at least it is slight.
It is nothing in comparison of what I should feel in thinking ill of him or his sisters.
Let me take it in the best light,
The light in which it should be understood.
Elizabeth could not oppose such a wish,
And from this time Mr.
Bingley's name was scarcely mentioned between them.
Mrs.
Bennet still continued to wander and repine at his returning no more,
And though a day seldom passed in which Elizabeth did not account for it clearly,
There seemed little chance of her ever considering it with less perplexity.
Her daughter endeavoured to convince her of what she did not believe herself,
That his attentions to Jane had been merely the effect of a common and transient liking,
Which ceased when he saw her no more.
But though the probability of the statement was admitted at the time,
She had the same story to repeat every day.
Mrs.
Bennet's best comfort was that Mr.
Bingley must be down again in the summer.
Mr.
Bennet treated the matter differently.
So,
Lizzie,
Said he one day,
Your sister is crossed in love,
I find.
I congratulate her.
Next to being married,
A girl likes to be crossed in love a little now and then.
It is something to think of and gives her a sort of distinction amongst her companions.
When is your turn to come?
You will hardly bear to be long outdone by Jane.
Now is your time.
Here are officers enough,
Ad meritum,
To disappoint all the young ladies in the country.
Let Wickham be your man.
He is a pleasant fellow and would jilt you creditably.
Thank you,
Sir,
But a less agreeable man would satisfy me.
We must not all expect Jane's good fortune.
True,
Said Mr.
Bennet,
But it is a comfort to think that whatever kind may befall you,
You have an affectionate mother who will always make the most of it.
Mr.
Wickham's society was a material service in dispelling the gloom which the late perverse occurrences have thrown on many of the Longbourn family.
They saw him often,
And to his other recommendations was now added that of general unreserve.
The whole of what Elizabeth had already heard,
His claims on Mr.
Darcy and all that he had suffered from him,
Was now openly acknowledged and publicly canvassed,
And everybody was pleased to think how much they had always disliked Mr.
Darcy before they had known anything of the matter.
Miss Bennet was the only creature who could suppose there might be any extenuating circumstances in the case,
Unknown to the society of Hertfordshire.
Her mild and steady candour always pleaded for allowances and urged the possibility of mistakes.
But by everybody else,
Mr.
Darcy was condemned as the worst of men.
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