Elizabeth was sitting with her mother and sisters, reflecting on what
she had heard, and doubting whether she was authorised 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-gratulation 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 not you know that Mr. Collins wants to marry Lizzy?"
Nothing
less than the complaisance of a courtier could have borne without anger
such treatment; but Sir William's good breeding 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 endeavoured to put a stop to the exclamations of
her mother and sisters 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 that 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 the
mischief; and the other that she herself had been barbarously misused by
them all; and on these two points she principally dwelt during the rest
of the day. Nothing could console and nothing could 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.
Bennet'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; nor could Elizabeth persuade her
to consider it as improbable. 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. Bennet the comfort of having a daughter well married; and she
called at Longbourn rather oftener than usual to say how happy she was,
though Mrs. Bennet'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
fonder 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
more 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 twelvemonth's 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 the view of
enjoying her society that he had been so ready to close with their 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 passed away without bringing any other
tidings of him than the report which shortly prevailed in Meryton of his
coming no more to Netherfield the whole winter; a report which highly
incensed Mrs. Bennet, and which 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 occurring. 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 this 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 she 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 would think herself very ill used. It needed all Jane's steady
mildness to bear these attacks with tolerable tranquillity.
Mr.
Collins returned most punctually on 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 love-making 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.
Bennet 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 that
they were talking of the Longbourn estate, and resolving to turn herself
and her daughters out of the house, as soon as Mr. Bennet were dead.
She complained bitterly of all this to her husband.
"Indeed, Mr.
Bennet," 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 her 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. Bennet, and therefore, instead of making any answer, she went on as before.
"I cannot bear to think that they should have all this estate. If it was not for the entail, I should not mind it."
"What should not you 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. Bennet, 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 all for the sake of Mr. Collins
too! Why should _he_ have it more than anybody else?"
"I leave it to yourself to determine," said Mr. Bennet. _