Nodiver d.o.o. · Pride & Prejudice · page 113 of 640

Pride & Prejudice – page 113

Pride and Prejudice

“Though it is difficult,” said Jane, “to guess in what

way he can mean to make us the atonement he thinks

our due, the wish is certainly to his credit.”

Elizabeth was chiefly struck by his extraordinary

deference for Lady Catherine, and his kind intention

of christening, marrying, and burying his parishioners

whenever it were required.

“He must be an oddity, I think,” said she. “I cannot

make him out. There is something very pompous in

his style. And what can he mean by apologising for

being next in the entail?We cannot suppose he would

help it if he could. Could he be a sensible man, sir?”

“No, my dear, I think not. I have great hopes of

finding him quite the reverse. There is a mixture

of servility and self-importance in his letter, which

promises well. I am impatient to see him.”

“In point of composition,” said Mary, “the letter

does not seem defective. The idea of the olive-branch

perhaps is not wholly new, yet I think it is well

expressed.”

To Catherine and Lydia, neither the letter nor its

writer were in any degree interesting. It was next to

impossible that their cousin should come in a scarlet

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