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When Elizabeth opened the door, Mrs. Bennet entered the breakfast-room, and congratulated both him and herself in warm terms on the happy prospect or their nearer connection. Mr. Collins related the details of their interview.
“Mr. Collins,” said Mrs. Bennet, “I will speak to Lizzy about it directly. She is a very headstrong, foolish girl, and does not know her own interest but I will make her know it.”
“Pardon me for interrupting you, madam,” cried Mr. Collins; “but if she is really headstrong and foolish, I am not sure that she could be a very desirable wife to a man in my situation, who naturally looks for happiness in the marriage state.”
“Sir, you quite misunderstand me,” said Mrs. Bennet. “Lizzy is only headstrong in such matters as these. In everything else she is as good-natured a girl as ever lived. I will go directly to Mr. Bennet, and we shall very soon settle it with her, I am sure.”
She would not give him time to reply, but hurrying instantly to her husband. “Oh! Mr. Bennet, you must come and make Lizzy marry Mr. Collins.”
Mr. Bennet raised his eyes from his book as she entered, and fixed them on her face with a calm unconcern.
“Of what are you talking?” said he, when she had finished her speech.
“Of Mr. Collins and Lizzy. Lizzy declares she will not marry Mr. Collins, and Mr. Collins begins to say that he will not marry Lizzy.”
“And what am I to do on the occasion? It seems a hopeless business.”
“Speak to Lizzy about it yourself. Tell her that you insist upon her marrying him.”
“Call her. She shall hear my opinion.”
Mrs. Bennet rang the bell, and Miss Elizabeth was called to the library.
“Come here, child,” cried her father as she appeared. “I have sent for you on an affair of importance. I understand that Mr. Collins has made you an offer of marriage. Is it true?” Elizabeth replied that it was. “Very well – and this offer of marriage you have refused?”
“I have, sir.”
“Very well. Your mother insists upon your accepting it. Is it not so, Mrs. Bennet?”
“Yes, or I will never see her again.”
“An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. From this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents. Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do.”
Mrs. Bennet was excessively disappointed.
“What do you mean, Mr. Bennet, in talking this way? You promised me to insist upon her marrying him.”
“My dear,” replied her husband, “please, allow me to say what I think.”
While the family were in this confusion, Charlotte Lucas came in. She was met in the vestibule by Lydia, who cried in a half whisper, “I am glad you are come, for there is such fun here! What do you think has happened this morning? Mr. Collins has made an offer to Lizzy, and she will not marry him.”
Charlotte hardly had time to answer, before they were joined by Kitty, who came to tell the same news.
“Aye, there she comes,” said Mrs. Bennet, “I tell you, Miss Lizzy – if you take it into your head – I do not know who will maintain you when your father is dead. I shall not be able to keep you – and so I warn you. I have no pleasure in talking to undutiful children.”
Elizabeth passed quietly out of the room, Jane and Kitty followed her.
The next morning Mr. Collins was also in the state of angry pride. After breakfast, the girls walked to Meryton to inquire if Mr. Wickham returned. He joined them on their entering the town.
“I found,” said he, “that I had better not meet Mr. Darcy.”
Elizabeth highly approved his forbearance, and they talked a lot. Soon after their return, a letter was delivered to Miss Bennet; it came from Netherfield. The envelope contained a sheet of elegant, little paper. Elizabeth saw her sister’s face change as she read it. Jane said:
“This is from Caroline Bingley. The whole party have left Netherfield by this time, and are on their way to town – and without any intention of coming back again.”
Elizabeth saw nothing in it really to lament.
“It is unlucky,” said she, after a short pause, “that you should not be able to see your friends before they leave the country.”
“Caroline decidedly says that nobody will return into Hertfordshire this winter. I will read it to you. It is evident that her brother comes back no more this winter.”
“Why do you think so? He is his own master.”
“What do you think of this, my dear Lizzy?” said Jane.
“Is it not clear enough? Miss Bingley sees that her brother is in love with you, and wants him to marry Miss Darcy. She follows him to town in hope of keeping him there, and tries to persuade you that he does not care about you.”
Jane shook her head.
“Indeed, Jane, you ought to believe me. Miss Bingley, I am sure, is more anxious to get Miss Darcy for her brother.”
“But if he returns no more this winter… A thousand things may arise in six months!”
The Bennets were engaged to dine with the Lucases and again was Miss Lucas so kind as to listen to Mr. Collins. Elizabeth took an opportunity of thanking her. Charlotte’s kindness extended farther than Elizabeth could imagine. Next morning Mr. Collins hastened to Charlotte to throw himself at her feet.
In as short a time as Mr. Collins’s long speeches would allow, everything was settled between them to the satisfaction of both; and as they entered the house he earnestly asked her to name the day that would make him the happiest of men. But Miss Lucas, who accepted him from the pure desire of an establishment, cared not how soon that establishment would happen.
Mr. Collins’s present circumstances made it a most eligible match for her, to whom they could give little fortune. The whole family was overjoyed on the occasion. The boys and the girls were relieved: Charlotte would not die an old maid. Charlotte herself was tolerably composed. Mr. Collins, to be sure, was neither sensible nor agreeable; his society was irksome, and his attachment to her must be imaginary. But still he would be her husband. And marriage in general was the only provision for well-educated young women of small fortune.
When Elizabeth learned about Charlotte’s marriage, she could not help crying out:
“Engaged to Mr. Collins! My dear Charlotte – impossible!”
“Why should you be surprised, my dear Eliza? I see what you are feeling,” replied Charlotte. “You must be surprised, very much surprised – so lately as Mr. Collins was wishing to marry you. But when you have had time to think it over, I hope you will be satisfied with what I have done. I am not romantic, you know; I never was. I ask only a comfortable home; and considering Mr. Collins’s character, connection, and situation in life, I am convinced that my chance of happiness with him is as fair as most people can boast on entering the marriage state.”
Elizabeth quietly answered, “Undoubtedly;” and after an awkward pause, they returned to the rest of the family. Charlotte did not stay much longer, and Elizabeth was then left to reflect on what she had heard. Charlotte the wife of Mr. Collins was a most humiliating picture!
Elizabeth was sitting with her mother and sisters, reflecting on what she had heard, when Sir William Lucas himself appeared, sent by his daughter, to announce her engagement to the family.
Elizabeth mentioned 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.
Mr. Bennet’s emotions were much more tranquil on the occasion. He discovered that Charlotte Lucas, whom he had been used to think tolerably sensible, was as foolish as his wife, and more foolish than his daughter!
Between Elizabeth and Charlotte there was a restraint which kept them mutually silent on the subject; and Elizabeth felt that no real confidence could ever subsist between them again. Her disappointment in Charlotte made her turn to her sister. Bingley had now been gone a week and nothing more was heard of his return.
Jane was in a great distress of Mr. Bingley’s continued absence. Day after day passed away without bringing any news of him.
Even Elizabeth began to fear that his sisters would be successful in keeping him away. 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.
Miss Bingley’s letter arrived, and put an end to doubt. The very first sentence said that all settled in London for the winter, and concluded that her brother was regretting because he did not have time to pay his respects to his friends in Hertfordshire before he left the country.
Hope was over, entirely over. Miss Darcy’s praise occupied the main part of the letter.
Elizabeth’s heart was divided between concern for her sister, and resentment against all others. To Caroline’s assertion of her brother’s affection to Miss Darcy she paid no attention. That he was really fond of Jane, she doubted no more.
A day or two passed before Jane had courage to speak of her feelings to Elizabeth:
“Oh, I wish my dear mother had more command over herself! She can have no idea of the pain she gives me by her continual reflections on Mr. Bingley. But I hope it cannot last long. He will be forgotten, and we shall all be as we were before.”
Elizabeth looked at her sister with incredulous solicitude, but said nothing.
“You do not believe 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. Thank God! I have not that pain.”
“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. His sisters influence him.”
“I cannot believe it,” replied Jane; “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. Beyond a doubt, they do wish him to choose Miss Darcy. If they believed him attached to me, they would not try to part us; if he were so, they could not succeed. Let me take everything in the best light, in the light in which it may be understood.”
From this time Mr. Bingley’s name was scarcely ever mentioned between them.
Mrs. Bennet still continued to wonder. Elizabeth tried 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. Mrs. Bennet’s best comfort was that Mr. Bingley must come again in the summer.
Mr. Wickham’s society dispelled the gloom of the Longbourn family. They saw him often, and to his other recommendations was now added that of general unreserve. What Elizabeth had already heard, his claims on Mr. Darcy, and all that he had suffered from him, was now openly acknowledged; and everybody was pleased to know how much they had always disliked Mr. Darcy before they had known anything.
Miss Bennet was the only person who could admit there might be any excuse for Mr. Darcy, unknown to the society of Hertfordshire – but by everybody else Mr. Darcy was condemned as the worst of men.
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