Chapter 21

by Jane Austen

　　The discussion of Mr. Collins's offer was now nearly at an end,and Elizabeth had only to suffer from the uncomfortable feelingsnecessarily attending it, and occasionally from some peevishallusions of her mother. As for the gentleman himself, hisfeelings were chiefly expressed, not by embarrassment ordejection, or by trying to avoid her, but by stiffness of mannerand resentful silence. He scarcely ever spoke to her, and theassiduous attentions which he had been so sensible of himselfwere transferred for the rest of the day to Miss Lucas, whosecivility in listening to him was a seasonable relief to them all, andespecially to her friend.The morrow produced no abatement of Mrs. Bennet's ill-humouror ill health. Mr. Collins was also in the same state of angrypride. Elizabeth had hoped that his resentment might shorten hisvisit, but his plan did not appear in the least affected by it. Hewas always to have gone on Saturday, and to Saturday he meantto stay.After breakfast, the girls walked to Meryton to inquire if Mr.Wickham were returned, and to lament over his absence fromthe Netherfield ball. He joined them on their entering the town,and attended them to their aunt's where his regret and vexation,and the concern of everybody, was well talked over. ToElizabeth, however, he voluntarily acknowledged that thenecessity of his absence had been self-imposed."I found," said he, "as the time drew near that I had better notmeet Mr. Darcy; that to be in the same room, the same partywith him for so many hours together, might be more than I couldbear, and that scenes might arise unpleasant to more thanmyself."She highly approved his forbearance, and they had leisure for afull discussion of it, and for all the commendation which theycivilly bestowed on each other, as Wickham and another officerwalked back with them to Longbourn, and during the walk heparticularly attended to her. His accompanying them was adouble advantage; she felt all the compliment it offered toherself, and it was most acceptable as an occasion of introducinghim to her father and mother.Soon after their return, a letter was delivered to Miss Bennet; itcame from Netherfield. The envelope contained a sheet ofelegant, little, hot-pressed paper, well covered with a lady's fair,flowing hand; and Elizabeth saw her sister's countenance changeas she read it, and saw her dwelling intently on some particularpassages. Jane recollected herself soon, and putting the letteraway, tried to join with her usual cheerfulness in the generalconversation; but Elizabeth felt an anxiety on the subject whichdrew off her attention even from Wickham; and no sooner hadhe and he companion taken leave, than a glance from Janeinvited her to follow her upstairs. When they had gained theirown room, Jane, taking out her letter, said, "This is fromCaroline Bingley; what it contains has surprised me a good deal.The whole party have left Netherfield by this time, and are ontheir way to town-- and without any intention of coming backagain. You shall hear what she says."She then read the first sentence aloud, which comprised theinformation of their having just resolved to follow their brotherto town directly, and of their meaning to dine in GrosvenorStreet, where Mr. Hurst had a house. The next was in thesewords: "I do not pretend to regret anything I shall leave inHertfordshire, except your society, my dearest friend; but wewill hope, at some future period, to enjoy many returns of thatdelightful intercourse we have known, and in the meanwhile maylessen the pain of separation by a very frequent and mostunreserved correspondence. I depend on you for that." Tothese highflown expressions Elizabeth listened with all theinsensibility of distrust; and though the suddenness of theirremoval surprised her, she saw nothing in it really to lament; itwas not to be supposed that their absence from Netherfieldwould prevent Mr. Bingley's being there; and as to the loss oftheir society, she was persuaded that Jane must cease to regardit, in the enjoyment of his."It is unlucky," said she, after a short pause, "that you shouldnot be able to see your friends before they leave the country.But may we not hope that the period of future happiness towhich Miss Bingley looks forward may arrive earlier than she isaware, and that the delightful intercourse you have known asfriends will be renewed with yet greater satisfaction as sisters?Mr. Bingley will not be detained in London by them.""Caroline decidedly says that none of the party will return intoHertfordshire this winter. I will read it to you:" 'When my brother left us yesterday, he imagined that thebusiness which took him to London might be concluded in threeor four days; but as we are certain it cannot be so, and at thesame time convinced that when Charles gets to town he will bein no hurry to leave it again, we have determined on followinghim thither, that he may not be obliged to spend his vacant hoursin a comfortless hotel. Many of my acquaintances are alreadythere for the winter; I wish that I could hear that you, my dearestfriend, had any intention of making one of the crowd-- but ofthat I despair. I sincerely hope your Christmas in Hertfordshiremay abound in the gaieties which that season generally brings,and that your beaux will be so numerous as to prevent yourfeeling the loss of the three of whom we shall deprive you.' ""It is evident by this," added Jane, "that he comes back no morethis winter.""It is only evident that Miss Bingley does not mean that heshould.""Why will you think so? It must be his own doing. He is hisown master. But you do not know all. I will read you thepassage which particularly hurts me. I will have no reservesfrom you."" 'Mr. Darcy is impatient to see his sister; and, to confess thetruth, we are scarcely less eager to meet her again. I really donot think Georgiana Darcy has her equal for beauty, elegance,and accomplishments; and the affection she inspires in Louisaand myself is heightened into something still more interesting,from the hope we dare entertain of her being hereafter oursister. I do not know whether I ever before mentioned to youmy feelings on this subject; but I will not leave the countrywithout confiding them, and I trust you will not esteem themunreasonable. My brother admires her greatly already; he willhave frequent opportunity now of seeing her on the mostintimate footing; her relations all wish the connection as much ashis own; and a sister's partiality is not misleading me, I think,when I call Charles most capable of engaging any woman'sheart. With all these circumstances to favour an attachment, andnothing to prevent it, am I wrong, my dearest Jane, in indulgingthe hope of an event which will secure the happiness of so many?' ""What do you think of this sentence, my dear Lizzy?" saidJane as she finished it. "Is it not clear enough? Does it notexpressly declare that Caroline neither expects nor wishes me tobe her sister; that she is perfectly convinced of her brother'sindifference; and that if she suspects the nature of my feelings forhim, she means (most kindly!) to put me on my guard? Canthere be any other opinion on the subject?""Yes, there can; for mine is totally different. Will you hear it?""Most willingly."You shall have it in a few words. Miss Bingley sees that herbrother is in love with you, and wants him to marry Miss Darcy.She follows him to town in hope of keeping him there, and triesto persuade you that he does not care about you."Jane shook her head."Indeed, Jane, you ought to believe me. No one who has everseen you together can doubt his affection. Miss Bingley, I amsure, cannot. She is not such a simpleton. Could she have seenhalf as much love in Mr. Darcy for herself, she would haveordered her wedding clothes. But the case is this: We are notrich enough or grand enough for them; and she is the moreanxious to get Miss Darcy for her brother, from the notion thatwhen there has been one intermarriage, she may have lesstrouble in achieving a second: in which there is certainly someingenuity, and I dare say it would succeed, if Miss de Bourghwere out of the way. But, my dearest Jane, you cannot seriouslyimagine that because Miss Bingley tells you her brother greatlyadmires Miss Darcy, he is in the smallest degree less sensible ofyour merit than when he took leave of you on Tuesday, orthat it will be in her power to persuade him that, instead of beingin love with you, he is very much in love with her friend.""If we thought alike of Miss Bingley," replied Jane, "yourrepresentation of all this might make me quite easy. But I knowthe foundation is unjust. Caroline is incapable of wilfullydeceiving anyone; and all that I can hope in this case is that sheis deceiving herself.""That is right. You could not have started a more happy idea,since you will not take comfort in mine. Believe her to bedeceived, by all means. You have now done your duty by her,and must fret no longer.""But, my dear sister, can I be happy, even supposing the best, inaccepting a man whose sisters and friends are all wishing him tomarry elsewhere?""You must decide for yourself," said Elizabeth; "and if, uponmature deliberation, you find that the misery of disobliging histwo sisters is more than equivalent to the happiness of being hiswife, I advise you by all means to refuse him.""How can you talk so?" said Jane, faintly smiling. "You mustknow that though I should be exceedingly grieved at theirdisapprobation, I could not hesitate.""I did not think you would; and that being the case, I cannotconsider your situation with much compassion.""But if he returns no more this winter, my choice will never berequired. A thousand things may arise in six months!"The idea of his returning no more Elizabeth treated with theutmost contempt. It appeared to her merely the suggestion ofCaroline's interested wishes, and she could not for a momentsuppose that those wishes, however openly or artfully spoken,could influence a young man so totally independent of everyone.She represented to her sister as forcibly as possible what she felton the subject, and had soon the pleasure of seeing its happyeffect. Jane's temper was not desponding, and she wasgradually led to hope, though the diffidence of affectionsometimes overcame the hope, that Bingley would return toNetherfield and answer every wish of her heart.They agreed that Mrs. Bennet should only hear of the departureof the family, without being alarmed on the score of thegentleman's conduct; but even this partial communication gaveher a great deal of concern, and she bewailed it as exceedinglyunlucky that the ladies should happen to go away just as theywere all getting so intimate together. After lamenting it,however, at some length, she had the consolation that Mr.Bingley would be soon down again and soon dining atLongbourn, and the conclusion of all was the comfortabledeclaration, that though he had been invited only to a familydinner, she would take care to have two full courses.