Chapter 25

Mr. Collins spent a week declaring his love and imagining a happy future. When Saturday came, he had to leave his lovely Charlotte. But having wedding preparations to think about made the parting less painful. He could expect that soon after he returned to Hertfordshire, a date would be set that would make him the happiest man in the world. As before, he said a solemn goodbye to his relatives at Longbourn. He wished his pretty cousins health and happiness once again. And he promised to send their father another letter of thanks.

The next Monday, Mrs. Bennet had the pleasure of welcoming her brother and his wife. As always, they came to spend Christmas at Longbourn. Mr. Gardiner was a sensible, gentlemanly man. He was far better than his sister, both by nature and by education. The ladies of Netherfield would have found it hard to believe that a man who did business and could see his own warehouse from his house could be so cultured and pleasant. Mrs. Gardiner, who was several years younger than Mrs. Bennet and Mrs. Philips, was a friendly, clever, and elegant woman. The nieces at Longbourn loved her very much. She was especially close to the two eldest. Jane and Elizabeth often stayed at their aunt's house when they went to London.

The first thing Mrs. Gardiner did after arriving was to hand out gifts and describe the latest fashions. Once that was done, an easier task waited for her. Now it was her turn to listen. Mrs. Bennet had many grievances to share and many complaints to make. She said that since she had last seen her sister-in-law, the whole family had been treated very unfairly. Two of her daughters had come close to marrying, but in the end nothing had come of it.

She went on, "I don't blame Jane. She would have gotten Mr. Bingley if she could. But Lizzy! Oh, sister-in-law! It hurts me so much to think that if that girl had not been so stubborn, she would be Mrs. Collins by now. He proposed to her right here in this room, and she refused him. Because of that, Lady Lucas got to marry off a daughter before I did. And Longbourn is still stuck with the entail to a male heir. The Lucases are truly cunning, sister-in-law. They only think of what they can gain. I am sorry to say it, but it is true. With things going so wrong even in my own family, and neighbors who put their own interests ahead of mine, my nerves are bad and my health is poor. Still, it is a great comfort that you came just at this time. And I am so glad to hear about the long sleeves."

Mrs. Gardiner already knew most of this from the letters Jane and Elizabeth had exchanged with her. She gave her sister-in-law a brief reply, then changed the subject out of pity for her nieces.

Later, when she was alone with Elizabeth, her aunt talked more about the matter. "It seems it would have been a good match for Jane. It's a pity it fell through. But this sort of thing happens far too often. A young man like the Mr. Bingley you describe falls in love easily with a pretty girl he has known only a few weeks. Then, if some chance event separates them, he forgets her all too easily. That kind of fickleness is common."

"That is a fine comfort, in its way," said Elizabeth. "But it doesn't fit our case. We are not suffering because of chance. It isn't common for friends to interfere and persuade a young man of good fortune to forget a girl he was passionately in love with only a few days before."

"But the phrase 'passionately in love' is so common, so vague, and so unclear that it hardly tells us anything. It is used for true, deep affection, and it is used just the same for a feeling that grew after only half an hour's acquaintance. How passionate was Mr. Bingley's love, exactly?"

"I have never seen a feeling grow with more promise. He became quite indifferent to everyone else and was completely absorbed in Jane alone. It grew clearer every time they met. At his own ball, he offended two or three young ladies by not asking them to dance. I spoke to him twice, and he did not even answer. Could there be a better sign than that? Isn't becoming rude to everyone the very essence of love?"

"Oh, yes! If that is the kind of love I think he felt. Poor Jane! I am sorry, because with her nature she may not get over it quickly. It would have been better if it had happened to you instead, Lizzy. You would have laughed it off and recovered much faster. But do you think Jane would agree to come back with us? A change of scene might help, and perhaps getting away from home for a while would do her the most good."

Elizabeth was delighted with this idea. She felt sure that Jane would agree to it readily.

Mrs. Gardiner added, "I hope thoughts of this young man won't affect Jane's decision. We live in a very different part of London, and we know completely different people. As you know, we rarely go out. Unless he actually comes to visit Jane, the two of them are very unlikely to meet."

"That is completely impossible. He is under his friend's watch now. Mr. Darcy would never allow him to go and visit Jane in that part of London! My dear aunt, how could you think such a thing? Mr. Darcy may perhaps have heard of a place called Gracechurch Street. But if he ever set foot there, he would feel that a month of washing could not clean off the dirt of it. And Mr. Bingley, I am quite sure, never takes a step without him."

"Then so much the better. I hope they never meet at all. But doesn't Jane correspond with his sister? Miss Bingley will hardly be able to stay away."

"She will end the connection completely."

But Elizabeth was only pretending to be sure — sure that Caroline would end the connection, and, more importantly, sure that Bingley would be kept from seeing Jane. When she looked closely at her own worried feelings about it, she realized she did not think all hope was lost. Bingley's affection might return. His friends' influence might be pushed aside by the more natural power of Jane's charm. At times, she even thought this was quite likely.

Miss Bennet gladly accepted her aunt's invitation. Thinking of the Bingley family, only one thought came to her mind: since Caroline did not live in the same house as her brother, Jane could sometimes spend a morning with her without any fear of meeting him.

The Gardiners spent a week at Longbourn. Between the Philips family, the Lucas family, and the officers, there was not a single day without some engagement. Mrs. Bennet worked so hard to keep her brother and his wife entertained that the family never once sat down to dinner alone. Whenever people gathered at Longbourn, a few officers always joined them, and Mr. Wickham was always one of them. On these occasions, Mrs. Gardiner, made watchful by Elizabeth's earlier enthusiastic praise of Wickham, observed the two of them closely. From what she saw, she did not think they were seriously in love. But their fondness for each other was clear enough to make her a little uneasy. She decided to speak to Elizabeth about it before leaving Hertfordshire, and to point out how imprudent it would be to encourage such an attachment.

Besides his natural charm, Wickham had one more way to please Mrs. Gardiner. Before her marriage, ten or twelve years earlier, she had lived for quite a while in the very part of Derbyshire where Wickham grew up. So the two of them had many mutual acquaintances. Wickham had rarely gone back there since Mr. Darcy's father died five years before, but he was still able to give her fresher news of old friends than she could learn any other way.

Mrs. Gardiner had seen Pemberley, and she knew the reputation of the late Mr. Darcy very well. So the two of them had endless things to talk about. She compared her own memory of Pemberley with Wickham's detailed descriptions. Praising the character of the late owner, as he deserved, pleased them both. When she heard how the present Mr. Darcy had treated Wickham, Mrs. Gardiner tried to recall any reputation of his boyhood character that would match it. At last she said she clearly remembered hearing, long ago, that Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy had been known as a very proud and ill-natured boy.