Before they were separated by the conclusion of the play,she had the unexpected happiness of an invitation to accompany her uncle and aunt in a tour of pleasure which they proposed taking in the summer.
‘We have not quite determined how far it shall carry us,’said Mrs Gardiner,‘but perhaps to the Lakes.’
No scheme could have been more agreeable to Elizabeth,and her acceptance of the invitation was most ready and grateful.‘My dear,dear aunt,’she rapturously cried,‘what delight!What felicity!You give me fresh life and vigour.Adieu to disappointment and spleen.What are men to rocks and mountains?Oh!what hours of transport we shall spend!And when we do return,it shall not be like other travellers,without being able to give one accurate idea of any thing.We will know where we have gone-we will recollect what we have seen.Lakes,mountains,and rivers shall not be jumbled together in our imaginations;nor,when we attempt to describe any particular scene,will we begin quarrelling about its relative situation.Let our first effusions be less insupportable than those of the generality of travellers.’
Chapter 28
Every object in the next day's journey was new and interesting to Elizabeth;and her spirits were in a state for enjoyment;for she had seen her sister looking so well as to banish all fear for her health,and the prospect of her northern tour was a constant source of delight.
When they left the high road for the lane to Hunsford,every eye was in search of the Parsonage,and every turning expected to bring it in view.The palings of Rosings Park was their boundary on one side.Elizabeth smiled at the recollection of all that she had heard of its inhabitants.
At length the Parsonage was discernible.The garden sloping to the road,the house standing in it,the green pales and the laurel hedge,everything declared that they were arriving.Mr Collins and Charlotte appeared at the door,and the carriage stopt at a small gate,which led by a short gravel walk to the house,amidst the nods and smiles of the whole party.In a moment they were all out of the chaise,rejoicing at the sight of each other.Mrs Collins welcomed her friend with the liveliest pleasure,and Elizabeth was more and more satisfied with coming,when she found herself so affectionately received.She saw instantly that her cousin's manners were not altered by his marriage;his formal civility was just what it had been,and he detained her some minutes at the gate to hear and satisfy his inquiries after all her family.They were then,with no other delay than his pointing out the neatness of the entrance,taken into the house;and as soon as they were in the parlour,he welcomed them a second time with ostentatious formality to his humble abode,and punctually repeated all his wife's offers of refreshment.
Elizabeth was prepared to see him in his glory;and she could not help fancying that in displaying the good proportion of the room,its aspect and its furniture,he addressed himself particularly to her,as if wishing to make her feel what she had lost in refusing him.But though every thing seemed neat and comfortable,she was not able to gratify him by any sigh of repentance;and rather looked with wonder at her friend that she could have so cheerful an air,with such a companion.When Mr Collins said any thing of which his wife might reasonably be ashamed,which certainly was not unseldom,she involuntarily turned her eye on Charlotte.Once or twice she could discern a faint blush;but in general Charlotte wisely did not hear.After sitting long enough to admire every article of furniture in the room,from the sideboard to the fender,to give an account of their journey,and of all that had happened in London,Mr Collins invited them to take a stroll in the garden,which was large and well laid out,and to the cultivation of which he attended himself.To work in his garden was one of his most respectable pleasures;and Elizabeth admired the command of countenance with which Charlotte talked of the healthfulness of the exercise,and owned she encouraged it as much as possible.Here,leading the way through every walk and cross walk,and scarcely allowing them an interval to utter the praises he asked for,every view was pointed out with a minuteness which left beauty entirely behind.He could number the fields in every direction,and could tell how many trees there were in the most distant clump.But of all the views which his garden,or which the country,or the kingdom could boast,none were to be compared with the prospect of Rosings,afforded by an opening in the trees that bordered the park nearly opposite the front of his house.It was a handsome modern building,well situated on rising ground.
From his garden,Mr Collins would have led them round his two meadows,but the ladies,not having shoes to encounter the remains of a white frost,turned back;and while Sir William accompanied him,Charlotte took her sister and friend over the house,extremely well pleased,probably,to have the opportunity of shewing it without her husband's help.It was rather small,but well built and convenient;and everything was fitted up and arranged with a neatness and consistency of which Elizabeth gave Charlotte all the credit.When Mr Collins could be forgotten,there was really a great air of comfort throughout,and by Charlotte's evident enjoyment of it,Elizabeth supposed he must be often forgotten.She had already learnt that Lady Catherine was still in the country.It was spoken of again while they were at dinner,when Mr Collins joining in,observed,