Every object in the next day's journey was new and interesting to
Elizabeth; and her spirits were in a state of enjoyment; for she had
seen her sister looking so well as to banish all fear for her health,
and the prospect of her northern tour was a constant source of delight.
When
they left the high road for the lane to Hunsford, every eye was in
search of the Parsonage, and every turning expected to bring it in view.
The palings of Rosings Park was their boundary on one side. Elizabeth
smiled at the recollection of all that she had heard of its inhabitants.
At
length the Parsonage was discernible. The garden sloping to the road,
the house standing in it, the green pales, and the laurel hedge,
everything declared they were arriving. Mr. Collins and Charlotte
appeared at the door, and the carriage stopped at the small gate which
led by a short gravel walk to the house, amidst the nods and smiles of
the whole party. In a moment they were all out of the chaise, rejoicing
at the sight of each other. Mrs. Collins welcomed her friend with the
liveliest pleasure, and Elizabeth was more and more satisfied with
coming when she found herself so affectionately received. She saw
instantly that her cousin's manners were not altered by his marriage;
his formal civility was just what it had been, and he detained her some
minutes at the gate to hear and satisfy his inquiries after all her
family. They were then, with no other delay than his pointing out the
neatness of the entrance, taken into the house; and as soon as they were
in the parlour, he welcomed them a second time, with ostentatious
formality to his humble abode, and punctually repeated all his wife's
offers of refreshment.
Elizabeth was prepared to see him in his
glory; and she could not help in fancying that in displaying the good
proportion of the room, its aspect and its furniture, he addressed
himself particularly to her, as if wishing to make her feel what she had
lost in refusing him. But though everything seemed neat and
comfortable, she was not able to gratify him by any sigh of repentance,
and rather looked with wonder at her friend that she could have so
cheerful an air with such a companion. When Mr. Collins said anything of
which his wife might reasonably be ashamed, which certainly was not
unseldom, she involuntarily turned her eye on Charlotte. Once or twice
she could discern a faint blush; but in general Charlotte wisely did not
hear. After sitting long enough to admire every article of furniture in
the room, from the sideboard to the fender, to give an account of their
journey, and of all that had happened in London, Mr. Collins invited
them to take a stroll in the garden, which was large and well laid out,
and to the cultivation of which he attended himself. To work in this
garden was one of his most respectable pleasures; and Elizabeth admired
the command of countenance with which Charlotte talked of the
healthfulness of the exercise, and owned she encouraged it as much as
possible. Here, leading the way through every walk and cross walk, and
scarcely allowing them an interval to utter the praises he asked for,
every view was pointed out with a minuteness which left beauty entirely
behind. He could number the fields in every direction, and could tell
how many tress there were in the most distant clump. But of all the
views which his garden, or which the country or kingdom could boast,
none were to be compared with the prospect of Rosings, afforded by an
opening in the trees that bordered the park nearly opposite the front of
his house. It was a handsome modern building, well situated on rising
ground.
From his garden, Mr. Collins would have led them round his
two meadows; but the ladies, not having shoes to encounter the remains
of a white frost, turned back; and while Sir William accompanied him,
Charlotte took her sister and friend over the house, extremely well
pleased, probably, to have the opportunity of showing it without her
husband's help. It was rather small, but well built and convenient; and
everything was fitted up and arranged with a neatness and consistency of
which Elizabeth gave Charlotte all the credit. When Mr. Collins could
be forgotten, there was really an air of great comfort throughout, and
by Charlotte's evident enjoyment of it, Elizabeth supposed he must be
often forgotten.
She had already learnt that Lady Catherine was
still in the country. It was spoken of again while they were at dinner,
when Mr. Collins joining in, observed:
"Yes, Miss Elizabeth, you
will have the honour of seeing Lady Catherine de Bourgh on the ensuing
Sunday at church, and I need not say you will be delighted with her. She
is all affability and condescension, and I doubt not but you will be
honoured with some portion of her notice when service is over. I have
scarcely any hesitation in saying she will include you and my sister
Maria in every invitation with which she honours us during your stay
here. Her behaviour to my dear Charlotte is charming. We dine at Rosings
twice every week, and are never allowed to walk home. Her ladyship's
carriage is regularly ordered for us. I _should_ say, one of her
ladyship's carriages, for she has several."
"Lady Catherine is a very respectable, sensible woman indeed," added Charlotte, "and a most attentive neighbour."
"Very true, my dear, that is exactly what I say. She is the sort of woman whom one cannot regard with too much deference."
The
evening was spent chiefly in talking over Hertfordshire news, and
telling again what had already been written; and when it closed,
Elizabeth, in the solitude of her chamber, had to meditate upon
Charlotte's degree of contentment, to understand her address in guiding,
and composure in bearing with, her husband, and to acknowledge that it
was all done very well. She had also to anticipate how her visit would
pass, the quiet tenor of their usual employments, the vexatious
interruptions of Mr. Collins, and the gaieties of their intercourse with
Rosings. A lively imagination soon settled it all.
About the
middle of the next day, as she was in her room getting ready for a walk,
a sudden noise below seemed to speak the whole house in confusion; and,
after listening a moment, she heard somebody running upstairs in a
violent hurry, and calling loudly after her. She opened the door and met
Maria in the landing place, who, breathless with agitation, cried out--
"Oh,
my dear Eliza! pray make haste and come into the dining-room, for there
is such a sight to be seen! I will not tell you what it is. Make haste,
and come down this moment."
Elizabeth asked questions in vain;
Maria would tell her nothing more, and down they ran into the
dining-room, which fronted the lane, in quest of this wonder; It was two
ladies stopping in a low phaeton at the garden gate.
"And is this
all?" cried Elizabeth. "I expected at least that the pigs were got into
the garden, and here is nothing but Lady Catherine and her daughter."
"La!
my dear," said Maria, quite shocked at the mistake, "it is not Lady
Catherine. The old lady is Mrs. Jenkinson, who lives with them; the
other is Miss de Bourgh. Only look at her. She is quite a little
creature. Who would have thought that she could be so thin and small?"
"She is abominably rude to keep Charlotte out of doors in all this wind. Why does she not come in?"
"Oh, Charlotte says she hardly ever does. It is the greatest of favours when Miss de Bourgh comes in."
"I
like her appearance," said Elizabeth, struck with other ideas. "She
looks sickly and cross. Yes, she will do for him very well. She will
make him a very proper wife."
Mr. Collins and Charlotte were both
standing at the gate in conversation with the ladies; and Sir William,
to Elizabeth's high diversion, was stationed in the doorway, in earnest
contemplation of the greatness before him, and constantly bowing
whenever Miss de Bourgh looked that way.
At length there was
nothing more to be said; the ladies drove on, and the others returned
into the house. Mr. Collins no sooner saw the two girls than he began to
congratulate them on their good fortune, which Charlotte explained by
letting them know that the whole party was asked to dine at Rosings the
next day. _