PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 23

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ELIZABETH was sitting with her mother and sisters, reflecting on what
  she had heard, and doubting whether she were 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 all the mischief; and the other, that she herself
  had been barbarously used by them all; and on these two points she principally
  dwelt during the rest of the day. Nothing could console and nothing
  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 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 dishonourable to the stability of her lover, she could not prevent
  its frequently recurring. 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 suspence 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 should 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 the 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 any thing 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 my 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 any thing at all."

"Let us be thankful that you are preserved from a state of such insensibility."

"I never can be thankful, Mr. Bennet, for any thing about the entail.
  How any one 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.

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1. Ebooks list page : 81
2. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 58
3. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 44
4. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 42
5. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 41
6. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 40
7. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 39
8. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 38
9. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 11
10. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 12
11. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 45
12. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 46
13. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 49
14. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 57
15. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 56
16. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 55