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"You are too sensible a girl, Lizzy, to fall in love merely because you are warned against it. Therefore, I am not afraid of speaking openly," said Mrs. Gardiner at the first favourable opportunity of speaking alone.
"Seriously, I would have you be on your guard. Do not involve yourself or endeavour to involve him in an affection which the want of fortune would make so very imprudent. I have nothing to say against him. He is a most interesting young man. If he had the fortune he ought to have, I should think you could not do better. But as it is, you must not let your fancy run away with you. You have sense, and we all expect you to use it. Your father would depend on your resolution and good conduct, I am sure. You must not disappoint your father."
Mrs. Gardiner expected Mr. Bennet to value a man's finances above romantic love for his daughter.
"My dear aunt, this is being serious indeed."
"Yes, and I hope to engage you to be serious likewise."
"Well, then, you need not be under any alarm. I will take care of myself, and of Mr. Wickham too. He shall not be in love with me if I can prevent it."
"Elizabeth, you are not serious now."
"I beg your pardon, I will try again. At present I am not in love with Mr. Wickham; no, I certainly am not. But he is, beyond all comparison, the most agreeable man I ever saw and if he becomes attached to me, I believe it will be better that he should not. I see the imprudence of it. Oh! That abominable Mr. Darcy! We see every day that where there is affection young people seldom hold back from entering into engagements by lack of fortune. Therefore, how can I promise to be wiser than so many of my fellow creatures if I am tempted? How am I even to know that it would be wisdom to resist? All that I can promise you is not to be in a hurry. I will not be in a hurry to believe myself his first object. When I am in company with him, I will not be wishing. In short, I will do my best."
"It will be as well if you discourage his coming here so very often. At least, you should not remind your mother of inviting him."
"As I did the other day," said Elizabeth with a conscious smile. "Very true. It will be wise for me to refrain from that. But do not imagine that he is always here so often. It is on your account that he has been so frequently invited this week. You know my mother's ideas as to the necessity of constant company for her friends. But upon my honour, I will try to do what I think to be the wisest; and now I hope you are satisfied."
Her aunt assured her that she was, and Elizabeth thanked her for the kindness of her hints before they parted. A wonderful instance of advice being given on such a point, without being resented.
Mr. Collins returned soon after the Gardiners left with Jane. 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 often to say that she "wished they might be happy."
Thursday was to be the wedding day. On Wednesday Miss Lucas paid her farewell visit. Elizabeth was ashamed of her mother's ungracious and reluctant good wishes, and sincerely affected herself.
When Charlotte rose to take leave, Elizabeth accompanied her out of the room.
As they went downstairs together, Charlotte said,"I 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, to come to Hunsford."
Elizabeth could not refuse, though she foresaw little pleasure in the visit.
"My father and Maria are coming to me in March, and I hope you will consent to be of the party. Indeed, Eliza, you will be as welcome as either of them."
The wedding took place. The bride and bridegroom set off for Kent from the church door, and everybody had as much to say on the subject as usual.
Elizabeth soon heard from her friend. Their correspondence was as regular and frequent as it had ever been; that it should be equally unreserved was impossible. Elizabeth could never address her without feeling that all the comfort of intimacy was over. Though determined not to slacken as a correspondent, it was for the sake of what had been, rather than what was.
Charlotte's first letters were received with a good deal of eagerness. They could not but be curious to know how she would speak of her new home, how she would like Lady Catherine, and how happy she would dare pronounce herself to be.
When the letters were read, Elizabeth felt that Charlotte expressed herself on every point exactly as she might have foreseen. She wrote cheerfully, seemed surrounded with comforts, and mentioned nothing which she could not praise. The house, furniture, neighbourhood, and roads, were all to her taste, and Lady Catherine's behaviour was most friendly and obliging. It was Mr. Collins's picture of Hunsford and Rosings rationally softened. Elizabeth perceived that she must wait for her own visit there to know the rest.
Jane had already written a few lines to her sister to announce their safe arrival in London. When she wrote again, Elizabeth hoped it would be in her power to say something of the Bingleys.
Through the second letter, it was found Jane had been a week in town without either seeing or hearing from Caroline. She accounted for it, by supposing that her last letter to her friend from Longbourn had by some accident been lost. "My aunt is going tomorrow into that part of the town, and I shall take the opportunity of calling in Grosvenor Street."
She wrote again when the visit was paid, and she had seen Miss Bingley. "I did not think Caroline in spirits, but she was very glad to see me, and reproached me for giving her no notice of my coming to London. I was right; my last letter had never reached her. I inquired after their brother, of course. He was well, but so much engaged with Mr. Darcy that they scarcely ever saw him. I found that Miss Darcy was expected to dinner. I wish I could see her. My visit was not long, as Caroline and Mrs. Hurst were going out. I dare say I shall see them soon here."
Elizabeth shook her head over this letter. It convinced her that accident only could discover to Mr. Bingley her sister's being in town.
Continued letters revealed that four weeks passed away, and Jane saw nothing of him.
She endeavoured to persuade herself that she did not regret it, but she could no longer be blind to Miss Bingley's inattention. After waiting at home every morning for two weeks, and inventing every evening a fresh excuse for her, the visitor did at last appear. The shortness of her stay, and yet more, the alteration of her manner would allow Jane to deceive herself no longer. The letter which she wrote on this occasion to her sister will prove what she felt.
"My dearest Lizzy will, be incapable of triumphing in her better judgement, at my expense. I confess to have been entirely deceived in Miss Bingley's regard for me. But, my dear sister, the event has proved you right. But do not think me obstinate if I still assert that my confidence was as natural as your suspicion, considering her behaviour. I do not at all comprehend her reason for wishing to be friendly with me. If the same circumstances were to happen again, I am sure I should be deceived again. Caroline did not return my visit till yesterday; and not a note, not a line, did I receive in the meantime. When she did come, it was very evident that she had no pleasure in it. She made a slight, formal apology, for not calling before, said not a word of wishing to see me again. She was in every respect so altered a creature that when she went away, I resolved not to continue the acquaintance. I pity, though I cannot help blaming her. She was very wrong in singling me out as she did; I can safely say that every advance to friendship began on her side. But I pity her because she must feel that she has been acting wrong and because I am very sure that anxiety for her brother is the cause of it. I need not explain myself farther. Though we know this anxiety to be quite needless, yet, it will easily account for her behaviour to me. So deservedly dear as he is to his sister, whatever anxiety she must feel on his behalf is natural and amiable. I cannot but wonder, however, at her having any such fears now, because, if he had at all cared about me, we must have met, long ago. He knows of my being in town, I am certain, from something she said herself. Yet it would seem, by her manner of talking, as if she wanted to persuade herself that he is partial to Miss Darcy. I cannot understand it. If I were not afraid of judging harshly, I should be almost tempted to say that there is a strong appearance of duplicity in all this. I will endeavour to banish every painful thought and think only of what will make me happy, your affection, and the invariable kindness of my dear uncle and aunt. Let me hear from you very soon. Miss Bingley said something of his never returning to Netherfield again, of giving up the house, but not with any certainty. We had better not mention it. I am extremely glad that you have such pleasant accounts from our friends at Hunsford. Pray go to see them, with Sir William and Maria. I am sure you will be very comfortable there.—Yours, etc."
This letter pained Elizabeth; but her spirits returned as she considered that Jane would no longer be duped, by Miss Bingley. All expectation from Mr. Bingley was now absolutely over. She would not even wish for a renewal of his attention. His character sunk on every review of it. As a punishment for him, as well as a possible advantage to Jane, she seriously hoped he might really soon marry Mr. Darcy's sister, as by Wickham's account, she would make him abundantly regret what he had thrown away.
Mrs. Gardiner reminded Elizabeth of her promise concerning that gentleman and required information.
Elizabeth had such to send as might rather give contentment to her aunt than to herself. His apparent partiality had subsided, his attentions were over, he was the admirer of some one else. Elizabeth was watchful enough to see it all, but she could see it and write of it without material pain. Her heart had been but slightly touched, and her vanity was satisfied with believing that she would have been his only choice, had fortune permitted it.
The sudden acquisition of ten thousand pounds was the most remarkable charm of the young lady to whom he was now rendering himself agreeable. Elizabeth, less clear-sighted in this case than in Charlotte's, did not quarrel with him for his wish of independence. Nothing, on the contrary, could be more natural. While able to suppose that it cost him a few struggles to relinquish her, she could very sincerely wish him happy.
All this was acknowledged in a letter to Mrs. Gardiner. After relating the circumstances, she thus went on, "I am now convinced, my dear aunt, that I have never been much in love. Had I really experienced that pure and elevating passion then I should at present detest his very name, and wish him all manner of evil? But my feelings are not only cordial towards him; they are even impartial towards Miss King. I cannot find out that I hate her at all, or that I am in the least unwilling to think her a very good sort of girl. There can be no love in all this. My watchfulness has been effectual. Though I certainly should be a more interesting object to all my acquaintances were I distractedly in love with him, I do not regret my comparative insignificance. Importance may sometimes be purchased too dearly. Kitty and Lydia take his defection much more to heart than I do. They are young in the ways of the world, and not yet open to the mortifying conviction that handsome young men must have something to live on as well as the plain."