Mr. Collins was not left long to the silent contemplation of his
successful love; for Mrs. Bennet, having dawdled about in the vestibule to
watch for the end of the conference, no sooner saw Elizabeth open the door
and with quick step pass her towards the staircase, than she entered the
breakfast-room, and congratulated both him and herself in warm terms on
the happy prospect of their nearer connection. Mr. Collins received and
returned these felicitations with equal pleasure, and then proceeded to
relate the particulars of their interview, with the result of which he
trusted he had every reason to be satisfied, since the refusal which his
cousin had steadfastly given him would naturally flow from her bashful
modesty and the genuine delicacy of her character.🔗
This information, however, startled Mrs. Bennet; she would have been glad
to be equally satisfied that her daughter had meant to encourage him by
protesting against his proposals, but she dared not believe it, and could
not help saying so.🔗
“But, depend upon it, Mr. Collins,” she added, “that Lizzy shall be
brought to reason. I will speak to her about it directly. She is a very
headstrong, foolish girl, and does not know her own interest but I will make
her know it.”🔗
“Pardon me for interrupting you, madam,” cried Mr. Collins; “but if she is
really headstrong and foolish, I know not whether she would altogether be
a very desirable wife to a man in my situation, who naturally looks for
happiness in the marriage state. If therefore she actually persists in
rejecting my suit, perhaps it were better not to force her into accepting
me, because if liable to such defects of temper, she could not contribute
much to my felicity.”🔗
“Sir, you quite misunderstand me,” said Mrs. Bennet, alarmed. “Lizzy is
only headstrong in such matters as these. In everything else she is as
good-natured a girl as ever lived. I will go directly to Mr. Bennet, and
we shall very soon settle it with her, I am sure.”🔗
She would not give him time to reply, but hurrying 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 which was not in the least altered by her
communication.🔗
“I have not the pleasure of understanding you,” said he, when she had
finished her speech. “Of what are you talking?”🔗
“Of Mr. Collins and Lizzy. Lizzy declares 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 an 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 Elizabeth 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. “Very well—and
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 again.”🔗
“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 her 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 as soon as may be.”🔗
Not yet, however, in spite of her disappointment in her husband, did Mrs.
Bennet give up the point. She talked to Elizabeth again and again; coaxed
and threatened her by turns. She endeavoured to secure Jane in her
interest; but Jane, with all possible mildness, declined interfering; and
Elizabeth, sometimes with real earnestness, and sometimes with playful
gaiety, replied to her attacks. Though her manner varied, however, her
determination never did.🔗
Mr. Collins, meanwhile, was meditating in solitude on what had passed. He
thought too well of himself to comprehend on what motives his cousin could
refuse him; and though his pride was hurt, he suffered in no other way.
His regard for her was quite imaginary; and the possibility of her
deserving her mother’s reproach prevented his feeling any regret.🔗
While the family were in this confusion, Charlotte Lucas came to spend the
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, for there is such fun
here! What do you think has happened this morning? Mr. Collins has made an
offer to Lizzy, and 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 Miss Lucas,” she added in a 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.🔗
“Aye, there she comes,” continued Mrs. Bennet, “looking as unconcerned as
may be, and caring no more for us than if we were at York, provided she
can have her own way. But I tell you, Miss Lizzy—if you take it 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 it 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, therefore, without interruption from any of
them, till they were joined by Mr. Collins, who entered the room with an
air more stately than usual, and on perceiving whom, she said to the
girls, “Now, I do insist upon it, that you, all of you, hold 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, whose enquiries after
herself and all her family were very minute, and then by a little
curiosity, satisfied herself with walking to the window and 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 duty of us all; the peculiar duty of a young man
who has been so fortunate as I have been in early preferment; and I trust
I am resigned. Perhaps not the less so from feeling a doubt of my positive
happiness had my fair cousin honoured me with her hand; for I have often
observed that resignation is never so perfect as when the blessing denied
begins to lose somewhat of its value in our estimation. You will not, I
hope, consider me as showing any disrespect to your family, my dear madam,
by thus withdrawing my pretensions to your daughter’s favour, without
having paid yourself and Mr. Bennet the compliment of requesting you to
interpose your authority in my behalf. My conduct may, I fear, be
objectionable in having accepted my dismission from your daughter’s lips
instead of your own. But we are all liable to error. I have certainly
meant well through the whole affair. 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.”🔗