PRIDE & PREJUDICE: JANE AUSTEN: CHAPTER TWETY

Mrs Bennet dwadled about in the vestibule to watch the end of the conference. Elizabeth opened the door and passed the staircase followed by Mr Collins.  She congratulated both of them, and Mr Collins received and returned the felicitation with equal pleasure; and then proceeded to relate the particulars.

The particulars, however startled Mrs Bennet. She did not believe the hope of Mr Collins that the refusal by Elizabeth was a natural flow from her bashful modesty and the genuine delicacy of her character.  But she assured him that she would speak to her daughter and will bring her to reason.

She did not give him time to reply, but hurried instantly to her husband, called out as she entered the library,  "Oh! Mr Bennet, you are wanted immediately; we are all in an uproar.  You must come and make Lizzy marry Mr Collins, for she vows she will not have him, and if you do not make haste he will change his mind and not have her."

Mr Bennet raised his eyes from his book as she entered, and fixed them on her face with a calm unconcern, unaltered by her communication.

"I have not the pleasure of understanding you," said he, when she had finished the speech.  "Of what are you speaking?"

"Of Mr Collins and Lizzy.  She declared she will not have Mr Collins, and Mr Collins begins to say that he will not have 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."

"Let her be called down.  She shall hear my opinion."

Mrs Bennet rang the bell, and Miss Bennet was summoned 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.  "Well - this offer of marriage you have refused?"

"I have sir."

"Very well.  We now come to the point.  Your mother insists upon your accepting it.  Is it not so, Mrs Bennet?"

"Yes, or I will never see her."

"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."

Elizabeth could not but smile at such a conclusion of such a beginning, but Mrs Bennet, who had persuaded herself that her husband regarded the affair as she wished 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 his husband, "I have two small favours to request.  First, that you will allow me the free use of my understanding on the present occasion; and secondly, of my room.  I shall be glad to have the library to myself."

Mrs Bennet however continued her pursuit in favour of Collins - Elizabeth marriage. She talked to Elizabeth again and again. Coaxed her and threatened her by turn.  She tried to secure Jane in her line.

Mr Collins, meanwhile, had been meditating in solitude what had happened. Though his pride was hurt, he suffered in no other way. He could not comprehend what could be the motive behind his cousin's refusal.

While the family were in this confusion, Charlotte Lucas came to spend a day with them.  She was met in the vestibule by Lydia, who, flying to her, cried in a half whisper, "I am glad you are come, there is such a fun here!  What do you think has happened this morning? Mr Collins had made an offer to Lizzy, but she will not have him."

Charlotte hardly had time to answer, before they were joined by Kitty, who came to tell the same news; and no sooner had they entered the breakfast room, where Mrs Bennet was alone, than she likewise began on the subject, calling on Miss Lucas for her compassion, and entreating her to persuade her friend Lizzy to comply with the wishes of all her family.  "Pray do, my dear Lucas," she added in melancholy tone, "for nobody is on my side, nobody takes part with me.  I am cruelly used, nobody feels for my poor nerves."

Charlotte's reply was spared by the entrance of Jane and Elizabeth.

"Ay, there she comes," continued Mrs Bennet, "looking as unconcerned as may be, and caring no more for us than we were at York, provided she can have her own way.  But I tell you Miss Lizzy - if you take into your head to go on refusing every offer of marriage in this way, you will never get a husband at all - and I am sure I do not know who is to maintain you when your father is dead.  I shall not be able to keep you - and so I warn you. I have done with you from this very day.  I told you in the library, you know, that I should never speak to you again, and you will find me as good as my word.  I have no pleasure in talking to undutiful children.  Not that I have much pleasure indeed, in talking to anybody.  People who suffer as I do from nervous complaints can have no great inclination for talking. Nobody can tell what I suffer!  But is always so. Those who do not complain are never pitied."

Her daughters listened in silence to this effusion, sensible that any attempt to reason with her or soothe her would only increase the irritation. She talked on without any interruption, till Mr Collins joined them.  On seeing him she said, "Now, all of you, hold on your tongues, and let me and Mr Collins have a little conversation together."

Elizabeth passed quietly out of the room, Jane and Kitty followed, but Lydia stood her ground, determined to hear all she could; and Charlotte, detained first by the civility of Mr Collins, and then by little curiosity, walked upto the window, pretending not to hear.  In a doleful voice Mrs Bennet began the projected conversation:  "Oh! Mr Collins!"

"My dear Madam," replied he, "Let us be for ever silent on this point.  Far be it from me," he presently continued, in a voice that marked his displeasure, "to resent the behaviour of your daughter.  Resignation to inevitable evils is the evil duty of us all," he continued his circuitous talk in which he hinted at his proposal and its refusal.  He ended his dialogue with, "My object has been to secure an amiable companion for myself, with due consideration for the advantage of all your family, and if my manner has been at all reprehensible, I here beg leave to apologise."

THE END 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

( 16 )CHARLES DICKENS: DAVID COPPERFIELD: CHAPTER 16: I AM A NEW BOY IN MORE SENSES THAN ONE

Next morning, after breakfast, I entered on school life again.  I went, accompanied by Mr Wickfield to the scene of my future studies- a grave building in a courtyard, with a learned air about it that suited very well to the stray rooks and jackdaws who came down from the Cathedral tower to walk with a clerkly bearing on the grass plot - and was introduced to my new master, Doctor Strong. Doctor Strong looked almost as rusty, to my thinking, as the tall iron rails and gates outside the house; and almost as stiff and heavy as the great stone urn that flanked them, and were set up, on the top of red brick wall, at regular distances all round the court, like sublimated skittles for Time to play at.  Doctor Strong was in his library, with his clothes not particularly well brushed, and his hair not particularly combed, his knee-small unbraced, his long black gaiters unbuttoned, and his shoes  yawning like two caverns on the hearth-rug.  Turning upon me a lustreless eye, t...
Read more

Sailing Around Erethraean Sea: Three

Updated 29/11/2024 Below the Calf-Eaters there is a little market-town on the shore after sailing about four thousand stadia from Berenice, called Ptolemais of Hunts, from which the hunters started for the interior under the dynasty of Ptolemies. This market town has true land to rtoise in small quantities; it is white and smaller in the shells. And here also is found a little ivory, like that of Adulis. But the place has no harbour, and is reached by small boats. 1. Calf-Eaters: Cattle rearing nomadic tribes. 2. Stadia is the plural of stadion. Ten  stadia= one mile. 3. Ptolemais of Hunts: Ptolemies Theron is the exact Greek term,  located at the Bay of Anfile or Amphila Bay on the coast of Eritrea. Facing the bay is Hando island. It is, in fact, a double bay, an inner bay within, between promontories M'edr and Lelisa. End of the Section 
Read more

Travels Of Marco Polo: Thirty

Now, let me tell of the beasts which his Majesty keeps for hunting.  Among these are Leopards and lynxes or stag-wolves well fitted for that purpose.  He has also many lions larger than those of Babylon of a beautiful hair and colour, striped length ways black red and white, and trained to catch stags, wild oxen, hogs, wild goats and asses; it is delightful to see one of these chases, where the hunters go out, carrying the lion in a cage, and with him a small dog.  They have likewise abundance of eagles, with which they capture hares, foxes and even wolves; those which are trained to catch these last are very large, and of great weight, so that no wolf can escape them. ____________________________________ 1. The lion here described by the author is manifestly the tiger. It is probable that tiger was unknown in Europe when Marco left, he might have viewed it as a variety of lion. 2. Lion and tigers are wild animals and cannot be domesticated. Still human societies used to ...
Read more