CHAPTER TWO Mr Bennet's own wealth and modest income was from family money, which, unfortunately for his five daughters, would go to their nearest male relation after their father's death and not to them. This relation was a cousin, whom they had never met. On their mother's side of the family there was a small amount of money, but after her father's death the family's business had gone to her sister's hus- band, Mr Philips, and not to Mrs Bennet. Mr and Mrs Phil- ips lived in the small town of Meryton, only about one mile from Longbourn, and so they saw their sister and her five daughters quite frequently. Their recent visit to Meryton had been more and more interesting for the younger Miss Bennets, Lydia and Catherine especially, because some young army officers had come to spend several months in the town and were going to be there for the whole winter. At every visit to their aunt's house the younger girls knew more about the officers' names and who they were and where they were staying. They could talk about nothing but the officers - even Mr Bingley and his fortune, the thought of which made their mother so cheerful, were uninteresting to them compared with the young army officers in their red coats. This was the subject of their conversation one day when a servant entered with a message for Jane from Mr Bingley's sisters at Netherfiled Hall. Mrs Bennet's eyes lit up with pleasure and she could not wait to hear what was in the note. It was an invitation to Jane to go for dinner with the two ladies, as Mr Bingley and his friend were go- ing to have dinner with the officers in Meryton and the la- dies would therefore be alone. It was impossible for Jane to have use of the carriage to take her to Netherfiled, and anyway Mrs Bennet wanted her to go on horseback. She thought it was likely to rain and she hoped that Jane would then have to stay at Nether- field for the night, and so would have a chance of being with Mr Bingley the following morning. So Jane set off on horseback and it did indeed start to rain hard before very long. Her mother was delighted. The rain continued all evening without a break; Jane certainly could not come back. But the next morning, at breakfast, a servant arrived from Netherfield with a note for Elizabeth from Jane. My dearest Lizzy, I am very unwell this morning, after getting wet through in the rain yesterday. My kind friends here will not hear of me returning home until I am better and they have sent for the doctor. I have a sore throat and a head- ache, but it is nothing serious. Yours, etc. Elizabeth, feeling really worried about her sister, decided to go to her at Netherfield immediately after breakfast, though her mother was against the idea. But Elizabeth was determined to go, so she set off on foot as soon as she was ready. It was muddy after all the rain and when she at last arrived at Netherfield Hall the bottom of her skirt was dir- ty, but her face was glowing after the exercise of the walk. The two ladies at Netherfield were amazed that she had walked three miles alone so early in the day, and in such bad weather, but Mr Darcy, though he said very little to her, thought how fine she looked after the fresh air of the walk. 25 27 Now that Jane was well again, the subject of a ball at Netherfield Hall was discussed. Mr Bingley was enthu- siastic about the idea, but Mr Darcy obviously was not. He had begun to feel the danger of paying Elizabeth too much attention. Jane was delighted to see her. She was not at all well. Elizabeth quietly looked after her sister all day; the doctor came and examined her, said that she had caught a violent cold and advised her to stay in bed. At three o'clock, when Elizabeth was about to return to Longbourn, Jane seemed so upset that she was leaving that Miss Bingley offered a room for Elizabeth to stay in and sent a servant to Long- bourn to fetch some more clothes for them both. So Elizabeth stayed for a few days at Netherfield, slow- ly nursing her sister back to health. At mealtimes she was often in the company of Mr Bingley, his sisters and Mr Darcy and was able to observe Mr Darcy more closely and to see the attention that Mr Bingley's unmarried, younger sister so constantly and carefully paid to him. But she also noticed how often Mr Darcy's eyes were fixed on her, and was unable to understand why. She found it very strange, but it did nothing to change her view of him. She liked him too little to care whether he liked her or not. In fact the only person whose company she really enjoyed at Ne- therfield was Mr Bingley's. He was obviously truly con- cerned about Jane's illness and frequently asked most sin- cerely how she was progressing After a few days Jane was able to get up again and Eliz- abeth wrapped her warmly against the cold and walked down to the living room with her, to join the other two la- dies. The gentlemen were not there at first, but when they came in it was easy to see how happy Mr Bingley was to see Jane well again, how careful he was to see that she was warm and comfortable in the best place by the fire and how he scarcely spoke to anyone else in the room. Elizabeth, working at her sewing in another corner of the room, was delighted to watch them together. The next morning, as agreed by the two sisters, Elizabeth wrote to their mother asking for the carriage to be sent to fetch them the next day. Mr Bennet's reply, however, was that they could not possibly have the carriage before Tues- day, so Elizabeth encouraged Jane to ask Mr Bingley if they might borrow his carriage to take them home. The master of the house was clearly sorry to hear that they were thinking of leaving Netherfield and tried several times to persuade Jane that she was not yet well enough to make the journey. But Jane was firm when she knew she was right, and on the Sunday, after church, they were driv- en home in Mr Bingley's carriage. Mr Darcy, for one, was not sorry to hear that the two Miss Bennets were leaving- Elizabeth had been at Netherfield long enough. She at- tracted him more than he liked. He had scarcely spoken more than ten words to her in the whole of Saturday; even when they had been alone together for almost half an hour, he had kept his nose steadily in his book and would not even look at her. Elizabeth was perfectly happy to leave Netherfield, and the two sisters' arrival back at Longbourn on the Sunday morning was a surprise to their family. Their mother, of course, was not happy that her plan to keep Jane and Mr Bingley together as long as possible had not worked, and she did not welcome them at all heartily. 29 31 'I hope, my dear,' said Mr Bennet to his wife at breakfast the following morning, that you have ordered a good din- ner today, because we are going to have a visitor.' 'Who do you mean, my dear? I know of no plans for anyone to visit us today.' "The person I am talking about is a gentleman and a stranger.' Mrs Bennet's eyes shone at the thought of a strange gentleman, a possible catch for one of her daughters. 'I have had a letter from my cousin, Mr Collins. He, as you know, my dear, is the person who will have this house and all the family money when I am dead.' Oh! My dear,' cried his wife, 'please do not even men- tion that horrible person to me. It is the most terrible thing that your own poor children will be left without a thing in the world because of that awful man.' 'It is certainly not a fortunate arrangement, I agree, but it is not the fault of the gentleman in question, my dear. And, if you will listen, you will perhaps agree that Mr Collins's letter to me is very polite and that he himself seems to be concerned about the future happiness of our daughters. The letter was long and very respectful. Mr Bennet read it out to them all. Mr Collins was a clergyman in the Church of England. His church was in the village of Huns- ford, In Kent, and Bourgh. She had kindly agreed that he could take some holiday to visit members of his family, and Mr Collins had decided that he should try to get to know his cousins, the Miss Bennets. He asked if he could come to stay for a week at Longbourn, and would arrive that very Monday, at four o'clock in the afternoon. 'At four o'clock, therefore,' said Mr Bennet, folding up the letter again, we must expect to welcome this gentle- man into our house. He seems to be a very respectable young man and I am sure we will have pleasure getting to know him.' Elizabeth did not like the style of the letter, however, it was too heavy and she did not think Mr Collins sounded a very sensible young man. To Lydia and Catherine the let- ter from this unknown cousin was not interesting in any way. Their heads were too full of the young army officers in Meryton. As for Mrs Bennet, Mr Collins's letter had made her feel better about him. He may indeed be a possibility for one of her daugh- ters, and she was more quickly willing to welcome him than her husband or daughters had expected her to be. Mr Collins arrived exactly on time and was received most politely by the whole family. He was a tall, heavy looking young man of five and twenty years old. He be- haved in a serious way and his manners were very careful and slow. He admired every room and everything he saw in the house, not least the five daughters of the family, whose beauty he had heard of many times before. It soon became clear that he had come to visit them with the idea of finding a wife, since his employer, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, had advised him to marry as soon as he possibly could. It seemed that he tried to follow Lady Catherine's advice in all things, to please her wherever he could. She was obviously an extremely important person. 33 35 It also quite soon became clear that Mr Collins was not, as Elizabeth had guessed, a very sensible young man. He was clearly not at all clever, and yet he seemed to think quite highly of himself. He was a peculiar mixture of pride and over-polite-ness, of self-importance and shyness. But having now a comfortable house very near Lady Cathe- rine's great house, Rosings Park, and having a good in- come from the church at Hunsford, Mr Collins had decid- ed to marry. He intended to choose one of the Bennet daughters for his wife, and so at the same time to make the Bennet family feel better about the future loss of the Long- bourn house and all the family money. This had been his plan in coming to stay and it did not change after meeting the young ladies in question. He found the eldest Miss Bennet's lovely face absolute- ly charming, and so it was Jane that he chose first. But the next morning before breakfast Mrs Bennet made it clear to him that her eldest daughter's future interests lay else- where, so Mr Collins quickly changed his plans from Jane to Elizabeth, even while Mrs Bennet was putting some wood on the fire. Elizabeth, next to Jane in birth and beau- ty, was a natural second choice after Jane, of course. Mrs Bennet took note of the way Mr Collins seemed to be thinking and wondered if she would soon have two daugh- ters married. The idea pleased her and she started to like this young man, whom she had not even liked to speak of the day before, very much indeed. After breakfast the young ladies set off to walk into Meryton together to visit Mrs Philips, their aunt, and Mr Collins was invited to go with them. As they walked down the main street of Meryton, they met some of the young army officers who Lydia and Catherine had been getting to know. They were introduced to a new young officer who had just arrived in the town, a Mr Wickham, and the young ladies all thought he was very handsome and com- pletely charming. He made such pleasing conversation as they walked on together down the street towards the Phil- ips's house. Just then they heard the sound of horses, and saw Mr Bingley and Mr Darcy riding along the street. Seeing the group of young ladies, the two gentlemen rode towards them and greeted them politely. Mr Darcy was trying hard not to look too much at Elizabeth, to look elsewhere, when his eyes fell on the new young officer, Mr Wickham. Eliz- abeth happened to be watching them both as they saw each other, so she saw the effect of the meeting. Both changed colour; one looked white and the other red. Mr Wickham touched his hat; Mr Darcy was just able to re- turn the greeting, but most unwillingly. What could be the meaning of it? It was impossible to imagine; it was impos- sible not to want to know. The next day Mr Collins and the five young ladies were invited to spend the evening at their aunt's, in Meryton. Some of the officers were to be there, and they were all pleased to hear too. When he came in, every female eye was on him, but Elizabeth was the happy woman he even- tually sat down next to and with whom he began an agree- able conversation. 37 39 After some time she was able to bring the name of Mr Darcy into their conversation and asked Mr Wickham if he knew that gentleman well. 'Yes, indeed,' replied the young man, I have know Mr Darcy family all my life. Do you know Mr Darcy well yourself, may I ask?' 'As well as I would ever wish to,' answered Elizabeth. 'I have spent several days in the same house as him at Ne- therfield, and I find him very disagreeable. People do not much like him in this neighbourhood, you know. They find him bad-tempered and proud. 'I should not give my opinion of him. I have known him too well and too long,' replied Mr Wickham. 'But I cannot pretend to be sorry that people do not like him here. His behaviour towards me has been most unfair in the past, even though his father was always very good to me. His father wanted to leave me some money when he died, but this Mr Darcy, his son, made sure that the money did not all come to me and his father's wishes were never put in writing, so I have no hope from the law. I never intended to join the army, but as you can see, I have had to. It is a very sad story and I cannot think well of Mr Darcy.' Elizabeth was horrified to hear this awful story. She was amazed to think that a man as gentle and pleasant as Mr Bingley could have such a proud, hard friend, but Mr Wickham told her that Mr Darcy could be very agreeable and friendly towards people if he chose to be; that he could be a very interesting and pleasant companion if he wished, especially with people such as Mr Collins's em- ployer, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, who was as rich he was. Lady Catherine, it seemed, was Mr Darcy's aunt. It was likely that Mr Bingley simply did not know what sort of man his friend really was, Elizabeth thought, and she began to suspect that Lady Catherine herself might be as proud and disagreeable as her nephew, in spite of all the good things the foolish Mr Collins continually said about her. Elizabeth went away at the end of the evening with her head full of Mr Wickham's sad history, and could think of nothing else all the way home, though there was no time to mention anything of it to any of her sisters, be- cause neither Lydia nor Mr Collins were silent once on the whole journey back to Longbourn House. 41 43
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