PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 27

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• Author: Jane Austen

WITH no greater events than these in the Longbourn family, and otherwise
  diversified by little beyond the walks to Meryton, sometimes dirty and
  sometimes cold, did January and February pass away. March was to take
  Elizabeth to Hunsford. She had not at first thought very seriously of
  going thither; but Charlotte, she soon found, was depending on the plan,
  and she gradually learned to consider it herself with greater pleasure
  as well as greater certainty. Absence had increased her desire of seeing
  Charlotte again, and weakened her disgust of Mr. Collins. There was
  novelty in the scheme; and as, with such a mother and such uncompanionable
  sisters, home could not be faultless, a little change was not unwelcome
  for its own sake. The journey would moreover give her a peep at Jane;
  and, in short, as the time drew near, she would have been very sorry
  for any delay. Every thing, however, went on smoothly, and was finally
  settled according to Charlotte's first sketch. She was to accompany
  Sir William and his second daughter. The improvement of spending a night
  in London was added in time, and the plan became perfect as plan could
  be.

  The only pain was in leaving her father, who would certainly miss her,
  and who, when it came to the point, so little liked her going that he
  told her to write to him, and almost promised to answer her letter.

The farewell between herself and Mr. Wickham was perfectly friendly;
  on his side even more. His present pursuit could not make him forget
  that Elizabeth had been the first to excite and to deserve his attention,
  the first to listen and to pity, the first to be admired; and in his
  manner of bidding her adieu, wishing her every enjoyment, reminding
  her of what she was to expect in Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and trusting
  their opinion of her -- their opinion of every body -- would always
  coincide, there was a solicitude, an interest which she felt must ever
  attach her to him with a most sincere regard; and she parted from him
  convinced that, whether married or single, he must always be her model
  of the amiable and pleasing.

Her fellow-travellers the next day were not of a kind to make her
  think him less agreeable. Sir William Lucas and his daughter Maria,
  a good humoured girl, but as empty-headed as himself, had nothing to
  say that could be worth hearing, and were listened to with about as
  much delight as the rattle of the chaise. Elizabeth loved absurdities,
  but she had known Sir William's too long. He could tell her nothing
  new of the wonders of his presentation and knighthood; and his civilities
  were worn out like his information.

It was a journey of only twenty-four miles, and they began it so early
  as to be in Gracechurch-street by noon. As they drove to Mr. Gardiner's
  door, Jane was at a drawing-room window watching their arrival; when
  they entered the passage she was there to welcome them, and Elizabeth,
  looking earnestly in her face, was pleased to see it healthful and lovely
  as ever. On the stairs were a troop of little boys and girls, whose
  eagerness for their cousin's appearance would not allow them to wait
  in the drawing-room, and whose shyness, as they had not seen her for
  a twelvemonth, prevented their coming lower. All was joy and kindness.
  The day passed most pleasantly away; the morning in bustle and shopping,
  and the evening at one of the theatres.

Elizabeth then contrived to sit by her aunt. Their first subject was
  her sister; and she was more grieved than astonished to hear, in reply
  to her minute enquiries, that though Jane always struggled to support
  her spirits, there were periods of dejection. It was reasonable, however,
  to hope that they would not continue long. Mrs. Gardiner gave her the
  particulars also of Miss Bingley's visit in Gracechurch-street, and
  repeated conversations occurring at different times between Jane and
  herself, which proved that the former had, from her heart, given up
  the acquaintance.

Mrs. Gardiner then rallied her niece on Wickham's desertion, and complimented
  her on bearing it so well.

"But, my dear Elizabeth," she added, "what sort of girl is Miss
  King? I should be sorry to think our friend mercenary."

"Pray, my dear aunt, what is the difference in matrimonial affairs,
  between the mercenary and the prudent motive? Where does discretion
  end, and avarice begin? Last Christmas you were afraid of his marrying
  me, because it would be imprudent; and now, because he is trying to
  get a girl with only ten thousand pounds, you want to find out that
  he is mercenary."

"If you will only tell me what sort of girl Miss King is, I shall
  know what to think."

"She is a very good kind of girl, I believe. I know no harm of her."

"But he paid her not the smallest attention, till her grandfather's
  death made her mistress of this fortune."

"No -- why should he? If it was not allowable for him to gain my
  affections, because I had no money, what occasion could there be for
  making love to a girl whom he did not care about, and who was equally
  poor?"

"But there seems indelicacy in directing his attentions towards her,
  so soon after this event."

"A man in distressed circumstances has not time for all those elegant
  decorums which other people may observe. If she does not object to it,
  why should we?"

"Her not objecting, does not justify him. It only shews her being
  deficient in something herself -- sense or feeling."

"Well," cried Elizabeth, "have it as you choose. He shall be mercenary,
  and she shall be foolish."

"No, Lizzy, that is what I do not choose. I should be sorry, you
  know, to think ill of a young man who has lived so long in Derbyshire."

"Oh! if that is all, I have a very poor opinion of young men who
  live in Derbyshire; and their intimate friends who live in Hertfordshire
  are not much better. I am sick of them all. Thank Heaven! I am going
  to-morrow where I shall find a man who has not one agreeable quality,
  who has neither manner nor sense to recommend him. Stupid men are the
  only ones worth knowing, after all."

"Take care, Lizzy; that speech savours strongly of disappointment."

Before they were separated by the conclusion of the play, she had
  the unexpected happiness of an invitation to accompany her uncle and
  aunt in a tour of pleasure which they proposed taking in the summer.

"We have not quite determined how far it shall carry us," said Mrs.
  Gardiner, "but perhaps to the Lakes."

No scheme could have been more agreeable to Elizabeth, and her acceptance
  of the invitation was most ready and grateful. "My dear, dear aunt,"
  she rapturously cried, "what delight! what felicity! You give me fresh
  life and vigour. Adieu to disappointment and spleen. What are men to
  rocks and mountains? Oh! what hours of transport we shall spend! And
  when we do return, it shall not be like other travellers, without being
  able to give one accurate idea of any thing. We will know where we have
  gone -- we will recollect what we have seen. Lakes, mountains, and rivers
  shall not be jumbled together in our imaginations; nor, when we attempt
  to describe any particular scene, will we begin quarrelling about its
  relative situation. Let our first effusions be less insupportable than
  those of the generality of travellers."

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1. Ebooks list page : 81
2. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 23
3. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 40
4. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 41
5. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 42
6. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 45
7. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 46
8. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 47
9. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 48
10. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 49
11. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 50
12. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 51
13. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 52
14. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 53
15. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 54
16. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 55