Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 26

The quarrel over Mr. Collins's proposal was drawing to a close, and Elizabeth now had to endure only the unpleasant emotions which this incident necessarily brought her, and the occasional harsh words from her mother. .As for the gentleman himself, he vented his emotions not so much by embarrassment and frustration, or by trying to avoid her, but by grimace and resentful silence.He hardly said a word to her again, and all the thoughtful attention he had promised to her before was transferred for the rest of the day to Miss Lucas, who was very polite and polite. To be friendly with him, and to listen to him, was a timely excuse to the whole family, and to Elizabeth in particular.

Mrs. Bennet was in no way less ill-tempered or nervously afflicted the next day.Mr. Collins was in his angry arrogance.Elizabeth had hoped that his holiday would be cut short by his anger, but his plans did not seem to be affected in the least by it.He said he would leave until Saturday, but he still wanted to stay until Saturday.

After breakfast, the girls walked to Meryton to inquire whether Mr. Wickham had returned, and incidentally complained that he had not been able to attend the Netherfield ball.They met him as soon as they arrived in town, and he accompanied them to their aunt's house, where he shared his regret and uneasiness at not being able to go to the ball, and his concern for everyone. —However, he freely admitted to Elizabeth that his absence had been a necessity of his own.

"As the hour drew near," said he, "I felt more and more that I had better not see Mr. Darcy;—to spend hours with him in the same room, at the same party, that It would overwhelm me, and I was afraid that something else might happen at the party to upset more people."

She admired him for being so tolerant and tolerant.On the way back to Longbourn with them, Wickham and another officer, he paid her more attention, so that they both had an opportunity to discuss the matter fully, and to exchange civil compliments for a while.There were two advantages in his accompanying them home; Elizabeth felt that he would be doing her a personal favor, and that it was a perfect occasion to introduce him to her parents on such an occasion.

Not long after their arrival, Miss Bennet received a letter from Netherfield, which was promptly torn open, and contained a piece of neatly ironed letterhead, on which was A lady's beautiful smooth handwriting; Elizabeth saw her sister's face change as she read, and her eyes fixed on certain passages.Jane, however, soon regained her composure, bound the letter, and endeavored to take part in the conversation with her usual gaiety; and no sooner had he and his friend left than Jane gave Elizabeth a sign to go upstairs together, and when they were in their own room Jane produced the letter and said:

"The letter is from Caroline Bingley; and its content astonished me. By this time their party had left Netherfield, and was on their way back to the town; and There is no plan to come back. Now, you come and listen to what she has to say."

Then she read aloud the first sentence of the letter, to the effect that they had decided to start at once, go back to town to find her brother, and to dine in Grosvenor Street that very day, because Hurst Mr. has a residence there.This was followed by the words: "I can say that I have no regrets about leaving Hertfordshire, except that I miss your friendship, my dearest friend, however, we look forward to the near future when we We can communicate as pleasantly as before, and at the same time we can alleviate our pain of separation by regular and unreserved correspondence. I believe you will do this." Although Elizabeth was listening to these boastful words, , but in utter disbelief; though their sudden departure surprised her, she could not see that there was anything really to be sad about; their departure from Neesefeld did not stop Binger Mr. Lay was here again; and as to the loss of their association, she believed Jane would soon be less concerned about it, if only she could have Mr. Bingley's constant company.

"Unfortunately," said Elizabeth after a while, "you were not able to see off your friends before they left the country. We may not, however, hope for the pleasant occasion that Miss Bingley expected. Will the future come a little sooner than she expects? May we not hope that your intercourse as friends will be more satisfying with the addition of sisterhood? - Bingley Monsieur won't be deterred by them in London."

"Caroline says with certainty that none of them will be coming back to Hertfordshire this winter. I'll read it to you,--" he thought as my brother left us yesterday. Three or four days would suffice for his business in London, but he could not be so soon, as we judged, and at the same time we were sure that when Charles was in town, He was no longer ready to hurry away, so we decided to chase him there, so that he wouldn't have to suffer alone in that poor hotel. Many of my friends have gone to London for the winter; Hope, my dearest friend, to hear that you too intend to come to town, but I am disappointed. I sincerely hope that your Christmas in Hertfordshire will be as fulfilling as the season may bring. I hope you can make many boyfriends, so that you won't keep telling you to miss the three of us after we leave."

"Obviously," added Jane, "he won't be coming back this winter."

"It is evident that Miss Bingley did not think he should come back."

"Why do you think so? He must do it himself.—He is his own master. You don't know the whole story, though. I'd like to read the passage that hurts me the most. Listen. I don't want to have any reservations about you.' Mr. Darcy longed to see his sister, and, indeed, we almost equally longed to see her again. I think that Georgiana Darcy, in beauty, No one could compare with her in elegance and attainment of wit; and the emotion she had excited in Louisa and I was now sublimated, a very interesting sublimation, for we boldly expected her to be in the near future. I will be our sister-in-law in the future. I don't know if I have mentioned to you my feelings in this matter before, but I don't want to leave the country without telling you about them, I I believe you will not think them unreasonable. My brother has long been interested in her, and he will have the opportunity to see her often and get along with her more closely. Both families look forward to this door. The marriage will work, and I think I have no sisterly preference when I say that Chalice could captivate any woman. For there were so many favorable conditions to make the marriage possible, and none Any factor is against it, and therefore, my dearest Jane, I sincerely hope that this agreeable thing will come to pass, and can you say I am wrong?'

"What do you think of this last sentence, my dear Lizzy?"--said Jane, having read the passage, "isn't that clear enough?--Isn't it already clear, Carol? Since Lin doesn't expect and don't want me to be her sister-in-law? Is it clear that she is absolutely sure that her brother has no interest in me at all? If she suspects that I have loving feelings for him, isn't she trying to persuade me ( Kindest!) to myself? Can there be any other explanation in the matter?"

"Yes, there could be; mine is quite a different point of view.—Would you like to hear it?"

"Of course I would."

"It only takes a few words to make it clear. Miss Bingley found her brother in love with you, but it was Miss Darcy she wanted him to marry. She followed him back to town in the hope that You can stop him there, and then she tries to persuade you how and why he doesn't love you."

Jane shook her head.

"You should really believe me, Jane.—any man who has seen you both together will doubt his affection for you. I am sure Miss Bingley would not." Doubt. She's not that stupid. If she could see that Darcy loved her half as much as she loved herself, she'd give herself a dowry. The thing is, we're not rich enough, not rich enough in their family's eyes. Glory; she longed to have Miss Darcy marry her brother, because after such a marriage between two families it was easier to make a second; There is no doubt an element of ingenuity in her idea, and I daresay she would have succeeded had Miss de Bourgh not been interposed. But, my dear Jane, you must not be so infuriated by Bingley The lady tells you that her brother loves Miss Darcy, take it seriously, Bingley will not change your love for you since Tuesday, don't think she will have so much ability to persuade him To love her friend, Miss Darcy, instead of you."

"If we were of the same opinion about Miss Bingley," replied Jane, "your statement of all this might give me a great deal of reassurance. But I know that your grounds are shaky. Caroline will not intentionally deceive anyone; all I can hope in the matter is that she may be deceived herself."

"That's all right.--since you don't want to be comforted by my opinion, you can think of something more pleasing to you. Believe she's deluded anyway. You Now that you have done your best for her, don't worry any more."

"But, my dear sister, even in the best light, I can be happy with him, and I can be happy at the thought of marrying a man whose sisters and friends would like him to marry another?"

"You must make up your own mind," said Elizabeth, "and if you think twice that the pain of offending his two sisters outweighs the happiness of being his wife, I advise you It's better to give up on him."

"How can you say that?" said Jane, smiling slightly. "You know, of course, that I should not hesitate to marry him, though their objections should have pained me so much."

"I didn't think you would hesitate either;—if that's the case, I don't have to worry too much about your situation."

"But if he doesn't come back this winter, my choice will never be of use again. Anything can happen during those six months!"

Elizabeth did not bother to believe the idea that he would not return.In her opinion, this was just the expression of Caroline's own wishful thinking. She never thought that whether these thoughts were expressed openly or in a subtle way, they would have an impact on such a completely independent young man. any impact.

She set forth her views on the subject as forcefully as possible to her sister, and she soon found, to her delight, that her sister took her word for it.Jane was not of that gloomy disposition, and Elizabeth's persuasion gradually made her see hope that Mr. Bingley would return to Netherfield to make all her wishes come true, although sometimes this hope also Will become shaken by her emotional lack of self-confidence.

The two sisters agreed to tell their mother only that the family had departed, so as not to worry her about Mr. Bingley's conduct; When they got along more and more harmoniously, these ladies unfortunately left them.After some grief, however, she was comforted by the thought that Mr. Bingley would soon be returning to dine at Longbourne, and at last she was able to announce with pleasure that he had been invited to dine only once. For a light meal, she also has to prepare carefully and serve two full dishes.

(End of this chapter)