[Pride and Prejudice] Crossing into Elizabeth

As soon as she finished speaking, Mary turned around and left. Mrs. Bennet called her anxiously from behind, but Mary ignored her.

Mrs. Bennet groaned, "What's going on?"

Elizabeth didn't know what was going on, but it was obvious that this was the end of Mr. Collins' proposal.

Mr. Collins would no longer be her brother-in-law. Thinking of this, Elizabeth felt a lot lighter all over her body.

Mr. Collins was still angry and haughty at breakfast the next day. He hardly spoke to Mr. Bennet. It was much less. Once Mr. Collins quieted down, the whole dining table became much quieter.

But Mr. Collins seemed to have something to say to Mary. As soon as breakfast was over, he said to Mary in front of everyone, "Dear cousin Mary, may I have a word with you?"

But Mary refused to listen to him at all, like the plague, she said hastily that she had something to do, and hurried up the stairs.

Mr. Collins was astonished, his face flushed and pale.

Mrs. Bennet wiped her mouth with a handkerchief, and only complained: "What are you doing, kid?"

If it had been yesterday, Mrs. Bennet would never have reacted like this. She would have told Mary first, and then comforted Mr. Collins in a soft voice. Mr. Collins softened the breath.

But now things have changed, Mr. Collins is no longer her future son-in-law, and Mrs. Bennet doesn't care whether Mr. Collins is wronged or not.

Elizabeth quickly said to Mr. Collins: "Mary is working too hard. She just bought a bunch of new books, and she hasn't had time to read them yet. She must be going to read them now. Mr. Collins, if you have something to tell me, I will tell Mary. .”

Mr. Collins said angrily: "I want to thank you, cousin Elizabeth, but since cousin Mary doesn't want to hear it, it's better not to force her... I just want to explain to her what happened last night. , and Mr. Bennet expressly rejected me..."

As Mr. Collins spoke, he deliberately glanced at Mr. Bennett. Mr. Bennett seemed to find it very interesting, and nodded to Mr. Collins with a smile.

Mr. Collins immediately looked back, and then said to Elizabeth: "Please give my regards to Cousin Mary, I wish her happiness, and hope she finds a suitable husband as soon as possible...Of course, the most important thing is to let Mr. Bennet see It must be eye-catching, which I think is particularly important in your residence."

Elizabeth involuntarily glanced at Mr. Bennet. Mr. Bennet was listening to Mr. Collins with interest. After noticing Elizabeth's eyes, he gave her an interesting look back.

"...I'll pass on your words to Mary, Mr. Collins."

After Elizabeth finished speaking, Mr. Bennet also said to Mr. Collins: "Nephew, I am worried that yesterday's incident will make you unhappy. You will not leave early because of this, will you? If this is the case, we will be too sorry. "

Mr. Bennet said this half for fun, and half because he really wanted Mr. Collins to leave quickly. Although Mr. Collins lived in their house brought him a lot of fun, he also had a lot of trouble. What Mr. Bennet hated most was that Mr. Collins always went to the study to disturb him. He usually found a quiet place in the study, but since Mr. Collins came, this quietness has to be disturbed from time to time.

Mr. Collins immediately said: "That's not true. I will leave your mansion at ten o'clock next Tuesday morning according to the original plan. This matter has been agreed upon."

After saying this, Mr. Collins kept silent again to Mr. Bennet, who looked very angry, but refused to leave them, go somewhere else, and stay in the same room with them. , did not seem to cause any embarrassment to Mr. Collins.

Soon after breakfast, Charlotte came to visit, and Mrs. Bennet hated to see her. Although Mr. Collins could not be her son-in-law, Mrs. Bennet could not let others take advantage of her.

As soon as Charlotte entered the door, Mrs. Bennet immediately said in a strange way: "Oh, isn't this Miss Lucas? You came to see our Lizzie again? It's really strange. You have been very close recently, and I have never seen you like this before." .”

Elizabeth was afraid of embarrassing Charlotte, so she quickly talked to her to save her from having to deal with Mrs. Bennet.

Mr. Collins also immediately talked to Charlotte. He had already held back his words, just to maintain his anger and not to talk like before.

Mr. Collins said hello to Charlotte, and immediately after that he greeted everyone in the family, from Mr. Lucas to Charlotte's youngest brother.

Charlotte was not impatient at all, and answered Mr. Collins one by one with a pleasant face. Then Charlotte started another conversation. She knew that Mr. Collins would return to his own house in three or four days, so she asked him this question. How long will it take on the journey, is the journey hard, is it necessary to prepare for the sermon immediately after returning home, is it complicated, and Charlotte has not forgotten Mrs. Collins’ benefactor, Mrs. Catherine. She asked Mr. Collins and Mrs. Catherine I don't often go to listen to his sermons.

In a few moments Mr. Collins was delighted by Charlotte.

Elizabeth felt that Charlotte was absolutely sure of Mr. Collins, and that Mr. Collins could not get out of Charlotte's grasp.

By this time Lydia and Kitty had packed up, and the two of them were going out. Lydia said excitedly, "We're going to Aunt Philip. Aunt Philip has the best news. Come here for the latest news about our troops stationed here, Mom, we won’t be back at noon, don’t wait for us to eat.”

Mrs. Bennet was annoyed, so she babbled: "I only know how to run out all day, and I don't care about the house at all."

Lydia didn't care what Mrs. Bennet was talking about behind her, she pulled Kitty and ran away without a trace.

As soon as Lydia and Kitty were gone, there was another visitor from Longbourne, who was first noticed by Mr. Collins, who exclaimed: "Mr. Bingley's carriage is coming, I saw his carriage coming through the garden Well, well, their carriage stopped before Cousin Kitty and Cousin Lydia...'

Elizabeth walked over to take a look, and it was indeed Mr. Bingley's carriage. Lydia and Kitty, after a few words with the people in the carriage, hurried out again, and the carriage continued to drive this way. come over.

Elizabeth was worried about being seen, so she quickly walked away two steps.

Mrs. Bennet called to Elizabeth: "Is it Mr. Bingley's carriage? Has Mr. Darcy come?"

Charlotte was surprised when she heard Mr. Darcy's name, and she couldn't help but look at Elizabeth.

Elizabeth caught her friend's gaze, and had to explain to her in a flustered state: "Mr. Darcy came to Netherfield two days ago as a guest."

While talking, the guests came in, and Mr. Darcy did too.

This time Mrs. Bennet became more energetic. She was very worried that what happened yesterday would make Mr. Darcy unhappy, but now that Mr. Darcy came to visit their house again as if nothing had happened, Mrs. Bennet got up quickly Welcome the guests loudly, with more enthusiasm than yesterday.

"Mr. Darcy, you are here," said Mrs. Bennet loudly. "I didn't expect you to come here today, oh--see what I'm saying, I'm not saying you're not welcome, I'm more than welcome. Well, you're very welcome in our family! Mr. Bennet too! He told me you were here yesterday, but he's not here now—"

Mrs. Bennet said to Elizabeth: "Lizzie, go and call your father and tell him that Mr. Darcy is here."

Elizabeth was ordered to go.

Mr. Darcy could only watch Elizabeth out of his sight, and he would have liked to say to Mrs. Bennet that he did not mind Mr. Bennet's presence, and that he had not come to see Mr. Bennet—of course he could not. Having said that, so Mr. Darcy just sighed in his heart, watched Mrs. Bennet send Elizabeth away, and continued to listen to Mrs. Bennet's chatter.

Jane looked at Elizabeth's figure going further and further away, told everyone that she and Elizabeth were going to call Mr. Bennet, and then chased after Elizabeth.

It took a long time for Jane to catch up with Elizabeth after leaving the living room. The main reason was that Elizabeth walked too fast. lookout.

Jane caught up with Elizabeth panting. She was not as light as Elizabeth, and she didn't like to walk around as much as she did. After chasing after such a long distance, she couldn't even speak out of breath.

"...Lizzie, you...why are you leaving so fast? I called you several times before you heard."

Elizabeth said vaguely: "I... was thinking about other things just now, why did you come here?"

"Let me ask you." Jane rested for a while, and she could speak clearly, she looked straight at Elizabeth, "Mr. Darcy made an appointment to come over for dinner yesterday, why did you go to Lucas' cabin? "

Mrs. Bennet said that Elizabeth had an appointment with Charlotte a long time ago, so she had to go—this kind of rhetoric may be able to deceive others, but Jane did not believe it, mainly because it was not like Elizabeth would do it at all. It would be a disrespect to Mr. Darcy, and even if the relationship between Elizabeth and Charlotte is really agreed in advance, as long as you tell Charlotte about the guests at home, Charlotte will definitely don't mind.

Jane wondered why Elizabeth insisted on going to other people's homes when Mr. Darcy came to visit...it seemed to be avoided on purpose.

Jane watched Elizabeth's expression implicitly, as if trying to read something from her face.