The Unraveling of Mr Darcy by Valerie Lennox

Author:Valerie Lennox [Lennox, Valerie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Punk Rawk Books
Published: 2018-08-19T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Upon Elizabeth’s first arriving at Hunsford, Mr. Collins was indeed his loquacious self, showing off this and that bit of the parsonage, and explaining at some point or other what Lady Catherine had told him about this room or that. But once Lady Catherine had been brought up, a pall seemed to settle over Mr. Collins features, and he actually fell silent for some time.

It was not until later, at dinner, that he admitted that he was quite concerned for Lady Catherine, who was not herself as of late. Apparently, the Collins family was used to being invited to dine at Rosings on a somewhat regular basis.

“It is not, you must understand,” said Mr. Collins, “as if it is a schedule, or something that we depend upon, for we could not expect that of Lady Catherine, who is such a great woman, after all.”

However, according to both Collins and Charlotte, two weeks had passed without an invitation, and Lady Catherine was also in poor spirits when she attended services.

“Others may not notice it,” said Mr. Collins. “She is a lady of the utmost politeness and stature, and she is not one to wear her heart on her sleeve, so to speak. But I have paid quite close attention to Lady Catherine over the years in which I have known her, and I can see it. I have spoken to Mrs. Collins about it on many occasions, have I not, dear?”

“Oh, indeed, Mr. Collins,” agreed Charlotte, who looked up from cutting her meat with an angelic smile to answer, and then returned to what she was doing. Elizabeth had noted it was much the way with them. Charlotte often added only short proclamations of agreement to any conversation with her husband. But then, he was rather given to filling any silence with the sound of his own voice, so it was likely the path of least resistance for Charlotte, and there was peace in the household. Elizabeth marveled at the strength of her friend. She would not have been able to do it herself. She was too headstrong. That was why Elizabeth was convinced that she would never marry.

Mr. Collins was speaking again. “However, I have seen that she is much quieter than usual, not offering her opinion on matters as she usually does. Why on many occasions, she has given Mrs. Collins advice on her dress or hair style, which Mrs. Collins was quite happy to receive, but there has been none of that as of late, which vexes us both greatly.”

“Yes, I have been despondent over the lack of direction,” said Charlotte, who looked up and smiled again, but Elizabeth could see some amusement in the smile.

Ah, so that was the way of it. Elizabeth began to get a notion of the character of Lady Catherine, and she thought it was no wonder that she and Collins got on so well with her. They were made for each other, weren’t they? Both people who believed to know better than everyone else what others should be doing.

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