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Chapter 33
More than once did Elizabeth, in
her ramble within the park,
unexpectedly meet Mr. Darcy. She
felt
all the perverseness of the mischance that should bring him where no
one else
was brought, and, to prevent its ever happening again, took care to
inform him
at first that it was a favourite haunt of hers.
How it could occur a second time, therefore, was
very odd! Yet it
did, and even a third. It
seemed like wilful ill-nature, or a
voluntary penance, for on these occasions it was not merely a few
formal
inquiries and an awkward pause and then away, but he actually thought
it
necessary to turn back and walk with her.
He never said a great deal, nor did she give herself
the trouble of
talking or of listening much; but it struck her in the course of their
third
rencontre that he was asking some odd unconnected questions-- about her
pleasure in being at Hunsford, her love of solitary walks, and her
opinion of
Mr. and Mrs. Collins's happiness; and that in speaking of Rosings and
her not
perfectly understanding the house, he seemed to expect that whenever
she came
into Kent again she would be staying there too.
His words seemed to imply it.
Could he have Colonel Fitzwilliam in his thoughts? She supposed, if he meant
anything, he must
mean an allusion to what might arise in that quarter.
It distressed her a little, and she was quite
glad to find herself at the gate in the pales opposite the Parsonage.
She was engaged one day
as she walked in
perusing Jane's last letter, and dwelling on some passages which proved
that
Jane had not written in spirits, when, instead of being
again surprised
by Mr.
Darcy, she saw on looking up that Colonel Fitzwilliam was meeting her. Putting away the letter
immediately and
forcing a smile, she said:
"I did not know before
that you
ever walked this way."
"I have been making the
tour of the
park," he replied, "as I generally
do every year, and intend to close it with a call at the Parsonage. Are you going much
farther?"
"No, I should have
turned in a
moment."
And accordingly she did
turn, and they
walked towards the Parsonage together.
"Do you certainly leave Kent
on
Saturday?" said she.
"Yes-- if Darcy does not
put it off
again. But I am at
his disposal. He
arranges the business just as he
pleases."
"And if not able to
please himself
in the arrangement, he has at least pleasure in the great power of
choice. I do not
know anybody who seems more to enjoy
the power of doing what he likes than Mr. Darcy."
"He likes to have his
own way very
well," replied Colonel Fitzwilliam.
"But so we all do.
It is
only that he has better means of having it than many others, because he
is
rich, and many others are poor. I
speak
feelingly. A
younger son, you know, must
be inured to self-denial and dependence."
"In my opinion, the
younger son of
an earl can know very little of either.
Now seriously, what have you ever known of
self-denial and
dependence? When
have you been prevented
by want of money from going wherever you chose, or procuring anything
you had a
fancy for?"
"These are home
questions-- and
perhaps I cannot say that I have experienced many hardships of that
nature. But in
matters of greater
weight, I may suffer from want of money.
Younger sons cannot marry where they like."
"Unless where they like
women of
fortune, which I think they very often do."
"Our habits of expense
make us too dependent,
and there are not many in my rank of life who can afford to marry
without some
attention to money."
"Is this," thought Elizabeth,
"meant
for me?" and she coloured at the idea; but, recovering herself, said in
a
lively tone, "And pray, what is the usual price of an earl's younger
son? Unless the elder brother is very
sickly, I suppose
you would not ask above fifty thousand pounds."
He answered her in the
same style, and
the subject dropped. To
interrupt a
silence which might make him fancy her affected with what had passed,
she soon
afterwards said:
"I imagine your cousin
brought you
down with him chiefly for the sake of
having someone at his disposal.
I
wonder he does not marry, to secure a lasting convenience of that kind. But, perhaps, his sister
does as well for the
present, and, as she is under his sole care, he may do what he
likes with her."
"No," said Colonel
Fitzwilliam, "that is an advantage which he must divide with me. I am joined with him in
the guardianship of
Miss Darcy."
"Are you indeed? And pray what sort of
guardians do you
make? Does your
charge give you much
trouble? Young
ladies of her age are sometimes
a little difficult to manage, and if she has the true Darcy spirit, she
may
like to have her own way."
As she spoke she
observed him looking at
her earnestly; and the manner in which he immediately asked her why she
supposed Miss Darcy likely to give them any uneasiness, convinced her
that she
had somehow or other got pretty near the truth.
She directly replied:
"You need not be
frightened. I never
heard any harm of her; and I dare say
she is one of the most tractable creatures in the world. She is a very
great
favourite with some ladies of my acquaintance, Mrs. Hurst and Miss
Bingley. I think I
have heard you say
that you know them."
"I know them a little. Their brother is a
pleasant gentlemanlike
man-- he is a great friend of Darcy's."
"Oh! yes," said Elizabeth
drily;
"Mr. Darcy is uncommonly kind to Mr. Bingley, and takes a prodigious
deal
of care of him."
"Care of him! Yes, I really believe
Darcy does take care of
him in those points where he most wants care.
From something that he told me in our journey
hither, I have reason to
think Bingley very much indebted to him.
But I ought to beg his pardon, for I have no right
to suppose that
Bingley was the person
meant. It was all
conjecture."
"What is it you mean?"
"It is a circumstance
which Darcy
could not wish to be generally known, because if it were to get round
to the
lady's family, it would be an unpleasant thing."
"You may depend upon my
not
mentioning it."
"And remember that I
have not much
reason for supposing it to be Bingley.
What he told me was merely this: that he
congratulated himself on having
lately saved a friend from the inconveniences of a most imprudent
marriage, but
without mentioning names or any other particulars, and I only suspected
it to
be Bingley from believing him the kind of young man to get into a
scrape of
that sort, and from knowing them to have been together the whole of
last
summer."
"Did Mr. Darcy give you
reasons for
this interference?"
"I understood that there
were some
very strong objections against the lady."
"And what arts did he
use to
separate them?"
"He did not talk to me
of his own
arts," said Fitzwilliam, smiling. "He only told me what I have now
told you."
Elizabeth made no
answer, and walked on, her heart swelling with indignation. After watching her a
little, Fitzwilliam
asked her why she was so thoughtful.
"I am thinking of what
you have
been telling me," said she. "Your cousin's conduct does not suit my
feelings. Why was
he to be the
judge?"
"You are rather disposed
to call
his interference officious?"
"I do not see what right
Mr. Darcy
had to decide on the propriety of his friend's inclination, or why,
upon his
own judgement alone, he was to determine and direct in what manner his
friend
was to be happy. But,"
she
continued, recollecting herself, "as we know none of the particulars,
it
is not fair to condemn him. It
is not to
be supposed that there was much affection
in the case."
"That is not an
unnatural
surmise," said Fitzwilliam, "but it is a lessening of the honour of
my cousin's triumph very sadly."
This was spoken
jestingly; but it
appeared to her so just a picture of Mr. Darcy, that she would not
trust
herself with an answer, and therefore, abruptly changing the
conversation
talked on indifferent matters until they reached the Parsonage. There, shut into her own
room, as soon as
their visitor left them, she could think without interruption of all
that she
had heard. It was
not to be supposed
that any other people could be meant than those with whom she was
connected. There
could not exist in the
world two men over whom Mr. Darcy could have such boundless influence. That he had been concerned
in the measures
taken to separate Bingley and Jane she had never doubted; but she had
always
attributed to Miss Bingley the principal design and arrangement of them. If his own vanity, however, did not mislead him, he
was the cause, his
pride and caprice were the cause, of all that Jane had suffered, and
still
continued to suffer. He
had ruined for a
while every hope of happiness for the most affectionate, generous heart
in the
world; and no one could say how lasting an evil he might have inflicted.
"There were some very
strong
objections against the lady," were Colonel Fitzwilliam's words; and
those
strong objections probably were, her having one uncle who was a country
attorney, and another who was in business in London.
"To Jane herself," she
exclaimed, "there could be no possibility of objection; all loveliness
and
goodness as she is!-- her understanding excellent, her mind improved,
and her
manners captivating. Neither
could
anything be urged against my father, who, though with some
peculiarities, has
abilities Mr. Darcy himself need not disdain, and respectability which
he will
probably never reach." When
she
thought of her mother, her confidence gave way a little; but she would
not
allow that any objections there had material weight with Mr. Darcy,
whose
pride, she was convinced, would receive a deeper wound from the want of
importance in his friend's connections, than from their want of sense;
and she
was quite decided, at last, that he had been partly governed by this
worst kind
of pride, and partly by the wish of retaining Mr. Bingley for his
sister.
The agitation and tears
which the
subject occasioned, brought on a headache; and it grew so much worse
towards
the evening, that, added to her unwillingness to see Mr. Darcy, it
determined
her not to attend her cousins to Rosings, where they were engaged to
drink
tea. Mrs. Collins,
seeing that she was
really unwell, did not press her to go and as much as possible
prevented her
husband from pressing her; but Mr. Collins could not conceal his
apprehension
of Lady Catherine's being rather displeased by her staying at home.
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