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Pride & Prejudice – page 249

Pride and Prejudice

Mr. Collins returned into Hertfordshire soon after

it had been quitted by the Gardiners and Jane; but as

he took up his abode with the Lucases, his arrival was

no great inconvenience to Mrs. Bennet. His marriage

was now fast approaching, and she was at length so far

resigned as to think it inevitable, and even repeatedly

to say, in an ill-natured tone, that she “wished they

might be happy.” Thursday was to be the wedding day,

and on Wednesday Miss Lucas paid her farewell visit;

and when she rose to take leave, Elizabeth, ashamed

of her mother’s ungracious and reluctant good wishes,

and sincerely affected herself, accompanied her out of

the room. As they went downstairs together, Charlotte

said:

“I shall depend on hearing from you very often,

Eliza.”

“That you certainly shall.”

“And I have another favour to ask you. Will you

come and see me?”

“We shall often meet, I hope, in Hertfordshire.”

“I am not likely to leave Kent for some time. Promise

me, therefore, to come to Hunsford.”

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