Chapter 37

The two gentlemen left Rosings the next morning. Mr. Collins waited near the gate to say goodbye to them. Thanks to this, he could bring home the happy news that both men looked very healthy. He said that, even after the sad parting they had just had at Rosings, they seemed as cheerful as could be expected. Then he hurried to Rosings to comfort Lady Catherine and her daughter. When he came back, he brought word that Lady Catherine was very bored. So she wanted everyone to come and have dinner with her. Mr. Collins was extremely pleased.

Elizabeth could not help thinking about Lady Catherine. If Elizabeth had wished, she might by now have been introduced as her future niece. How angry would Lady Catherine have been, if that had happened? The thought made her smile without meaning to. 'What would she have said? How would she have acted?' Elizabeth amused herself alone with such thoughts.

The first topic was how much smaller the party at Rosings had become. "I assure you, I feel this very deeply," said Lady Catherine. "No one feels the loss of my friends as much as I do. I am especially fond of those two young men. And I know how especially fond they are of me! They were so sorry to leave! But it is always this way. Dear Colonel Fitzwilliam kept up his spirits fairly well until the very last moment. But Darcy seemed to feel it most of all. He seemed to feel it even more than last year. His attachment to Rosings clearly grows deeper every year."

At this point, Mr. Collins added a compliment and a hint of his own. The mother and daughter received them kindly, with smiles.

After dinner, Lady Catherine said that Miss Bennet looked out of spirits. And she soon explained the reason herself. She added that Miss Bennet did not seem to want to go home so soon.

"Then you must write to your mother and ask to stay a little longer. I am sure Mrs. Collins would be very glad to have your company."

"Thank you so much for your kind invitation, ma'am," Elizabeth answered. "But I cannot accept it. I must be in London by next Saturday."

"Then you will have stayed only six weeks. I expected you to stay two months. I told Mrs. Collins so before you even arrived. There is no reason at all to leave so soon. Mrs. Bennet could surely spare you for two more weeks."

"But my father could not. In his letter last week, he asked me to hurry home."

"Oh, if your mother can spare you, your father can spare you too. A daughter is never so important to a father, after all. If you stay a full month longer, I could take one of you to London myself. I am going to London for a week in early June. Since Dawson does not mind sitting on the box of the barouche, there would be room for one of you. And truly, if the weather stays cool, since neither of you is very large, I would not mind taking both of you."

"You are very kind indeed, ma'am. But I think we must keep to our original plan."

Lady Catherine seemed to give up the point. "Mrs. Collins, you must send a servant with them. You know I always say exactly what I think. I cannot bear the idea of two young women traveling alone, changing horses by themselves. It is a most improper thing. Someone must certainly be sent with them. I dislike that sort of thing more than anything in the world. A young woman should always be properly protected and attended, according to her station. When my niece Georgiana went to Ramsgate last summer, I made sure she took two menservants with her. It would not have been proper for Miss Darcy, daughter of Mr. Darcy of Pemberley and Lady Anne Darcy, to travel in any other way. I am extremely careful about such matters. Mrs. Collins, you must send John with the young ladies. I am glad I thought to mention it. It would truly hurt your reputation to send the two of them alone."

"My uncle is going to send a servant to fetch us."

"Oh! Your uncle! Does he keep a manservant? I am very glad someone has thought of this. Where will you change horses? Ah, Bromley, of course. If you mention my name at the Bell Inn, you will be well looked after."

Lady Catherine still had many more questions to ask about the journey. This time she did not answer all of them herself, so Elizabeth had to pay attention. Elizabeth thought this was fortunate. With her mind so full of other thoughts, she might otherwise have forgotten where she was. She had to save her deep thinking for the times when she was alone. Whenever she was alone, Elizabeth gave herself over to her thoughts as if they were her greatest comfort. She never missed a single day of her solitary walk, where she could give herself over to all the strange pleasure that came from unpleasant memories.

She soon knew Mr. Darcy's letter almost by heart. Elizabeth studied every single sentence. Her feelings toward the man who had written it sometimes swung between two extremes. When she recalled the manner of his proposal, she still felt full of anger. But when she thought of how unjustly she had accused and scolded him, her anger turned against herself. She felt sorry for his disappointed feelings. She was grateful for his affection, and she respected his character on the whole. But she still could not think well of him. She did not regret refusing him, not even for a moment. She had not the slightest wish to see him again. Her own past conduct was a constant source of irritation and regret. The unhappy faults of her family gave her a far more painful feeling than that. There was no hope that they would improve. Her father was content to laugh at them. He would never try to restrain the wild, careless behavior of his youngest daughters. Her mother's own manners were themselves far from correct. So she never noticed at all that such behavior was wrong. Elizabeth had often tried, together with Jane, to check Kitty and Lydia's thoughtlessness. But what hope was there of improvement, when their mother encouraged them to do as they pleased? Kitty, weak-spirited, easily irritated, and completely led by Lydia, always felt insulted whenever her sisters gave her advice. Lydia, headstrong and careless, would hardly listen to them at all. Both girls were ignorant, idle, and full of vanity. As long as there was even one officer in Meryton, they would flirt with him. And as long as they could walk from Longbourn to Meryton, they would go there forever.

Her worry about Jane still ruled her mind more than anything. Thanks to Mr. Darcy's explanation, Bingley had won back all the good opinion she had once had of him. This made what Jane had lost feel even more painful. It had also become clear that Bingley's affection had been sincere. If it could not be called a fault to trust a friend's word completely, then there was nothing at all wrong in his conduct. It had been a situation good and desirable in every way, one that seemed to promise happiness. How painful it was to think that Jane had been robbed of it by her own family's foolishness and lack of manners!

To these memories was added the discovery of Wickham's true character. Her cheerful spirits, which had rarely failed her before, were now badly shaken. It was easy to guess that even keeping up a pretense of good humor had become almost impossible for her.

During their last week there, engagements at Rosings were just as frequent as they had been at first. The final evening, too, was spent there. Lady Catherine once again asked in great detail about the journey. And she gave instructions on the best way to pack. She insisted so strongly that there was only one correct way to lay out dresses. When Maria came back, she felt she had to undo everything she had packed that morning and start her trunk over from the beginning.

When they parted, Lady Catherine, in the most gracious manner, wished them a comfortable journey. And she invited them to come to Hunsford again the next year. Miss de Bourgh made the effort to curtsy to both of them and even held out her hand.