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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; and 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; and when she
wrote again, Elizabeth hoped it would be in her power to say something of the Bingleys.
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Her impatience for this second letter was as well rewarded as impatience generally is. Jane had been a
week in town, without either seeing or hearing from Caroline. She accounted for it, however, by
supposing that her last letter to her friend from Longbourn, had by some accident been lost.
"My aunt," she continued, "is going to-morrow 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," were her words, "but she was very glad to see me, and reproached me for giving her no notice of
my coming to London. I was right, therefore; my last letter had never reached her. I enquired 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 soon see them 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.
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 a fortnight, and inventing every evening a fresh excuse for her, the visitor did at last
appear; but 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, I am sure, be incapable of triumphing in her better judgment, at my expence,
when I confess myself to have been entirely deceived in Miss Bingley's regard for me. But, my dear
sister, though the event has proved you right, do not think me obstinate if I still assert, that, considering
what her behaviour was, my confidence was as natural as your suspicion. I do not at all comprehend her
reason for wishing to be intimate with me, but 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 mean time. 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, and was in
every respect so altered a creature, that when she went away, I was perfectly resolved to continue the
acquaintance no longer. 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 intimacy 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; and though we know this anxiety to be quite needless, yet if
she feels it, it will easily account for her behaviour to me; and so deservedly dear as he is to his sister,
whatever anxiety she may feel on his behalf, is natural and amiable. I cannot but wonder, however, at her
having such fears now, because, if he had at all cared about me, we must have met long, long ago. He
knows of my being in town, I am certain, from something she said herself; and yet it should seem by her
manner of talking, as if she wanted to persuade herself that he is really 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. But 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. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]