PRIDE & PREJUDICE: JANE AUSTEN: CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

Next morning. Elizabeth was sitting by herself, and writing a letter to Jane.  Charlotte and Maria were gone on business into the village, when she was startled by a ring at the door, the certain signal of a visitor. As she had heard no carriage, she thought it not unlikely to be Lady Catherine, and under that apprehension was putting away the unfinished letter, when the door opened, and, to her surprise, Mr Darcy entered the room.

He seemed astonished too on finding her alone, and apologized for his intrusion by letting her know that he thought all the ladies were to be within.

They sat down. After pleasantries about Rosings, they were sinking into dead silence.  She thought of when she had seen him last in Hertfordshire, and feeling curious to know what he would say on the subject of their hasty departure, she observed:

"How very suddenly you all quitted Netherfield last November, Mr Darcy! It must have been a most agreeable surprise to Mr Bingley to see you all  so soon; for, if I recollect right, he went but the day before.  He and his sisters are well, I hope, when you left London?"

"Perfectly so, I thank you."

She found that she was to receive no other answer, and after a short pause, added:

"I think I have understood that Mr Bingley has not much idea of ever returning to Netherfield again."

"I have never heard him say so; but it may probable that he may spend very little of his time there in the future.  He has many friends, and is at a time of life when friends and engagements are continually increasing."

"If he means to be little at Netherfield it would be better for the neighborhood that he should give up the place entirely, for then we might possibly get a settled family there.  But, perhaps, Mr Bingley does not take so much for the convenience of neighborhood as for his own, and we must expect him to keep it or quit it on the same principle."

"I should not be surprised," said Mr Darcy, "if he were to give it up as soon as any eligible purchase offers."

Elizabeth made no answer.  She was afraid of talking longer of his friend; and having nothing else to say, decided to leave the trouble of finding a subject to him.

He took the hint, and soon began with, "This seems a very comfortable house.  Lady Catherine, I believe, did a great deal to it when Mr Collins first came to Hunsford."

"I believe she did - and I am sure she could not have bestowed her kindness on a more grateful object."

"Mr Collins appears to be very fortunate in his choice of a wife."

"Yes, indeed, his friends may well rejoice in his having met with one of the very few sensible women who would have accepted him, or have him made happy.  My friend has an excellent understanding - though I am not certain that I consider her marrying Mr Collins as the wisest thing she ever did.  She seems perfectly happy, however, in a prudential light it is certainly a very good match for her."

"It must be very agreeable for her to be settled within so easy a distance of her own family and friends"

"An easy distance, do you call it?  It is nearly fifty miles."

"And what is fifty miles of good road? Little more than half a day's journey. Yes I call it a very easy distance."

"I should never have considered the distance as one of the advantages of the match," cried Elizabeth.  "I should never have said Mrs Collins was settled near her family."

"It is a proof of your own attachment to Hertfordshire.  Anything beyond the very neighborhood of Longbourn, I suppose, would appear far."

As he spoke there was a sort of smile which Elizabeth fancied she understood; he must be supposing her to be thinking of Jane and Netherfield, and she blushed as she answered.

"I do not mean to say that a woman may not be settled too near her family.  The far and near must be relative, and depend on many varying circumstances.  Where there is a fortune to make the expenses of traveling unimportant, distance becomes no evil.  But that is not the case here, Mr and Mrs Collins have a comfortable income, but not such a one as will allow of frequent journeys - and I am persuaded my friend would not call herself near her family under less than half the present distance."

Mr Darcy drew his chair a little towards her, and said, "You cannot have a right to such very strong local attachment.  You cannot have been always at Longbourn."

Elizabeth looked surprised.  The gentleman experienced some change of feeling; he drew back his chair, took a newspaper from the table, and glancing over it, said, in a colder voice:

"Are you pleased with Kent?"

A short dialogue on the subject ensued, on either side, calm and concise - and soon put an end to by the entrance of Charlotte and her sister, just returned from walk.  The tete-a-tete surprised them.  Mr Darcy related the mistake which had occasioned his intruding on Miss Bennet, and after sitting a few minutes longer without saying much to anybody, went away.

"What can be the meaning of this? said Charlotte, as soon as he was gone.  My dear, Eliza, he must be in love with you, or he would have never called us in this familiar way"

But when Elizabeth told of his silence; it did not seem very likely, even to Charlotte's wishes, to be the case; and after various conjectures, they could only suppose his visit to proceed from the difficulty of finding anything to do, which was the more probable from the time of the year.  All field sports were over.  Within doors there was Lady Catherine, books, and a billiard-table, but gentlemen cannot always be within doors; and in the neatness of the parsonage, or the pleasantness of walk to it, or of the people who lived in it, the two cousins found a temptation from this walking tither almost every day.  They called at various times of morning, sometimes seperately, sometimes together, and now and then accompanied by their aunt.  Colonel Fitzwilliam came, because he had a pleasure in their society.

But why Mr Darcy came so often to the parsonage, it was more difficult to understand.  It could not be for society, as he frequently stay there ten minutes together without opening his lips, and when he spoke, it was not his choice, but a propriety out of necessity.  Charlotte knew what to make of him.  She would liked to have believed this change the effect of love, and the object of that love her friend Eliza.  She set herself seriously to work to find it out.  She watched him whenever they were at Rosings, and whenever he came to Hunsford, but without much success. He looked at her friend a great deal, but the expression of that look was disputable.  It was an earnest, steadfast gaze, but she often doubted whether there were much admiration in it, and sometimes it seemed nothing but absence of mind.

She had once or twice suggested to Elizabeth the possibility of his being in love with her, but Elizabeth always laughed at the idea.

THE END