Chapter 5

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 paling of Rosings Park was their boundary
 on one side.  Elizabeth smiled at the recollection of all she had 
 heard of its inhabitants.
  At length the Parsonage was discernable.  The garden 
sloping to the road, the house standing in it, the green pales, 
and the laurel hedge, everything declared they were arriving.  
Mr.  Collins and Charlotte appeared at the door, and the 
carriage stopped by the 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 enquiries 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 healthfulnes"
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
 Her ng 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,
"Yes, Miss Elizabeth, you will have the honour of seeing
Lady Catherine de Bourgh on the ensuing Sunday at church,
and I need not say you will be delighted with her.  She is all
affability and condescension, and I doubt not but you will be
honoured with some portion of her notice when service is
over.  I have scarcely any hesitation in saying that she will
include you and my sister Maria in every invitation with
which she honours us during your stay here.  Her behaviour
to my dear Charlotte is charming.  We dine at Rosings twice
every week, and are never allowed to walk home.  Her ladyship's carriage is regularly ordered for us.  I should say, one
of her ladyship's carriages, for she has several."
"Lady Catherine is a very respectable, sensible woman
indeed," added Charlotte, "and a most attentive neighbour."
"Very true, my dear, that is exactly what I say.  She is the
sort of woman whom one cannot regard with too much
deference."
The evening was spent chiefly in talking over Hertfordshire 
news, and telling again what had been already written;
and when it closed, Elizabeth in the solitude of her chamber
had to meditate upon Charlotte's degree of contentment, to
understand her address in guiding, and composure in bearing
with her husband, and to acknowledge that it was all done very
well.  She had also to anticipate how her visit would pass, the
quiet tenor of their usual employments, the vexatious interruptions 
of Mr. Collins, and the gaieties of their intercourse
with Rosings.  A lively imagination soon settled it all.
About the middle of the next day, as she was in her room
getting ready for a walk, a sudden noise below seemed to
speak the whole house in confusion; and after listening a
moment, she heard somebody running up stairs in a violent
hurry, and calling loudly after her.  She opened the door, and
met Maria in the landing place, who, breathless with agitation, 
cried out,
"Oh, my dear Eliza!  pray make haste and come into the
dining-room, for there is such a sight to be seen!  I will not
tell you what it is.  Make haste, and come down this moment."
Elizabeth asked questions in vain; Maria would tell her
nothing more, and down they ran into the dining-room, which
fronted the lane, in quest of this wonder; it was two ladies
stopping in a low phaeton at the garden passinee.
"And is this all?" cried Elizabeth.  "I expected at least that
the pigs were got into the garden, and here is nothing but
Lady Catherine and her daughter!"
"La!  my dear," said Maria quite shocked at the mistake, "it
is not Lady Catherine.  The old lady is Mrs. Jenkinson, who
lives with them.  The other is Miss De Bourgh.  Only look at
her.  She is quite a little creature.  Who would have thought she
could be so thin and small!"
"She is abominably rude to keep Charlotte out of doors in
all this wind.  Why does she not come in?"
"Oh!  Charlotte says, she hardly ever does.  It is the greatest
of favours when Miss De Bourgh comes in."
"I like her appearance," said Elizabeth, struck with other
ideas.  "She looks sickly and cross. -- Yes, she will do for him
very well.  She will make him a very proper wife."
It dnd Charlotte were both standing at the passinee in
conversation with the ladies; and Sir William, to Elizabeth's
high diversion, was stationed in the doorway, in earnest contemplation of the greatness before him, and constantly 
bowing whenever Miss De Bourgh looked that way.
At length there was nothing more to be said; the ladies
drove on, and the others returned into the house.  Mr. Collins
no sooner saw the two girls than he began to congratulate
them on their good fortune, which Charlotte explained by
letting them know that the whole party was asked to dine at
Rosings the next day.