PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 28

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• Author: Jane Austen

EVERY object in the next day's journey was new and interesting to Elizabeth;
  and her spirits were in a state for enjoyment; for she had seen her
  sister looking so well as to banish all fear for her health, and the
  prospect of her northern tour was a constant source of delight.

  When they left the high-road for the lane to Hunsford, every eye was
  in search of the Parsonage, and every turning expected to bring it in
  view. The palings of Rosings Park was their boundary on one side. Elizabeth
  smiled at the recollection of all that she had heard of its inhabitants.

At length the Parsonage was discernable. The garden sloping to the
  road, the house standing in it, the green pales and the laurel hedge,
  everything declared that they were arriving. Mr. Collins and Charlotte
  appeared at the door, and the carriage stopped at a small gate, which
  led by a short gravel walk to the house, amidst the nods and smiles
  of the whole party. In a moment they were all out of the chaise, rejoicing
  at the sight of each other. Mrs. Collins welcomed her friend with the
  liveliest pleasure, and Elizabeth was more and more satisfied with coming,
  when she found herself so affectionately received. She saw instantly
  that her cousin's manners were not altered by his marriage; his formal
  civility was just what it had been, and he detained her some minutes
  at the gate to hear and satisfy his enquiries after all her family.
  They were then, with no other delay than his pointing out the neatness
  of the entrance, taken into the house; and as soon as they were in the
  parlour, he welcomed them a second time with ostentatious formality
  to his humble abode, and punctually repeated all his wife's offers of
  refreshment.

Elizabeth was prepared to see him in his glory; and she could not
  help fancying that in displaying the good proportion of the room, its
  aspect and its furniture, he addressed himself particularly to her,
  as if wishing to make her feel what she had lost in refusing him. But
  though every thing seemed neat and comfortable, she was not able to
  gratify him by any sigh of repentance; and rather looked with wonder
  at her friend that she could have so cheerful an air, with such a companion.
  When Mr. Collins said any thing of which his wife might reasonably be
  ashamed, which certainly was not unseldom, she involuntarily turned
  her eye on Charlotte. Once or twice she could discern a faint blush;
  but in general Charlotte wisely did not hear. After sitting long enough
  to admire every article of furniture in the room, from the sideboard
  to the fender, to give an account of their journey, and of all that
  had happened in London, Mr. Collins invited them to take a stroll in
  the garden, which was large and well laid out, and to the cultivation
  of which he attended himself. To work in his garden was one of his most
  respectable pleasures; and Elizabeth admired the command of countenance
  with which Charlotte talked of the healthfulness of the excercise, and
  owned she encouraged it as much as possible. Here, leading the way through
  every walk and cross walk, and scarcely allowing them an interval to
  utter the praises he asked for, every view was pointed out with a minuteness
  which left beauty entirely behind. He could number the fields in every
  direction, and could tell how many trees there were in the most distant
  clump. But of all the views which his garden, or which the country,
  or the kingdom could boast, none were to be compared with the prospect
  of Rosings, afforded by an opening in the trees that bordered the park
  nearly opposite the front of his house. It was a handsome modern building,
  well situated on rising ground.

From his garden, Mr. Collins would have led them round his two meadows,
  but the ladies, not having shoes to encounter the remains of a white
  frost, turned back; and while Sir William accompanied him, Charlotte
  took her sister and friend over the house, extremely well pleased, probably,
  to have the opportunity of shewing it without her husband's help. It
  was rather small, but well built and convenient; and everything was
  fitted up and arranged with a neatness and consistency of which Elizabeth
  gave Charlotte all the credit. When Mr. Collins could be forgotten,
  there was really a great air of comfort throughout, and by Charlotte's
  evident enjoyment of it, Elizabeth supposed he must be often forgotten.
  She had already learnt that Lady Catherine was still in the country.
  It was spoken of again while they were at dinner, when Mr. Collins joining
  in, observed,

"Yes, Miss Elizabeth, you will have the honour of seeing Lady Catherine
  de Bourgh on the ensuing Sunday at church, and I need not say you will
  be delighted with her. She is all affability and condescension, and
  I doubt not but you will be honoured with some portion of her notice
  when service is over. I have scarcely any hesitation in saying that
  she will include you and my sister Maria in every invitation with which
  she honours us during your stay here. Her behaviour to my dear Charlotte
  is charming. We dine at Rosings twice every week, and are never allowed
  to walk home. Her ladyship's carriage is regularly ordered for us. I
  should say, one of her ladyship's carriages, for she has several."

"Lady Catherine is a very respectable, sensible woman indeed," added
  Charlotte, "and a most attentive neighbour."

"Very true, my dear, that is exactly what I say. She is the sort
  of woman whom one cannot regard with too much deference."

The evening was spent chiefly in talking over Hertfordshire news,
  and telling again what had been already written; and when it closed,
  Elizabeth, in the solitude of her chamber, had to meditate upon Charlotte's
  degree of contentment, to understand her address in guiding, and composure
  in bearing with her husband, and to acknowledge that it was all done
  very well. She had also to anticipate how her visit would pass, the
  quiet tenor of their usual employments, the vexatious interruptions
  of Mr. Collins, and the gaieties of their intercourse with Rosings.
  A lively imagination soon settled it all. About the middle of the next
  day, as she was in her room getting ready for a walk, a sudden noise
  below seemed to speak the whole house in confusion; and after listening
  a moment, she heard somebody running up stairs in a violent hurry, and
  calling loudly after her. She opened the door, and met Maria in the
  landing place, who, breathless with agitation, cried out,

"Oh, my dear Eliza! pray make haste and come into the dining-room,
  for there is such a sight to be seen! I will not tell you what it is.
  Make haste, and come down this moment."

Elizabeth asked questions in vain; Maria would tell her nothing more,
  and down they ran into the dining-room, which fronted the lane, in quest
  of this wonder; it was two ladies stopping in a low phaeton at the garden
  gate.

"And is this all?" cried Elizabeth. "I expected at least that the
  pigs were got into the garden, and here is nothing but Lady Catherine
  and her daughter!"

"La! my dear," said Maria quite shocked at the mistake, "it is
  not Lady Catherine. The old lady is Mrs. Jenkinson, who lives with them.
  The other is Miss De Bourgh. Only look at her. She is quite a little
  creature. Who would have thought she could be so thin and small!"

"She is abominably rude to keep Charlotte out of doors in all this
  wind. Why does she not come in?"

"Oh! Charlotte says, she hardly ever does. It is the greatest of
  favours when Miss De Bourgh comes in."

"I like her appearance," said Elizabeth, struck with other ideas.
  "She looks sickly and cross. -- Yes, she will do for him very well.
  She will make him a very proper wife."

Mr. Collins and Charlotte were both standing at the gate in conversation
  with the ladies; and Sir William, to Elizabeth's high diversion, was
  stationed in the doorway, in earnest contemplation of the greatness
  before him, and constantly bowing whenever Miss De Bourgh looked that
  way.

At length there was nothing more to be said; the ladies drove on,
  and the others returned into the house. Mr. Collins no sooner saw the
  two girls than he began to congratulate them on their good fortune,
  which Charlotte explained by letting them know that the whole party
  was asked to dine at Rosings the next day.

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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