Chapter 10

MORE than once did Elizabeth in her ramble within the Park,
unexpectedly meet Mr. Darcy. -- She felt all the perverseness
of the mischance that should bring him where no one else was
brought; and to prevent its ever happening again, took care
to inform him at first, that it was a favourite haunt of hers. --
How it could occur a second time therefore was very odd! --
Yet it did, and even a third.  It seemed like wilful ill-nature,
or a voluntary penance, for on these occasions it was not
merely a few formal enquiries and an awkward pause and then
away, but he actually thought it necessary to turn back and
walk with her.  He never said a great deal, nor did she give herself the trouble of talking or of listening much; but it struck
her in the course of their third rencontre that he was asking
some odd unconnected questions -- about her pleasure in
being at Hwnsford, her love of solitary walks, and her opinion
of Mr. and Mrs. Collins's happiness; and that in speaking of
Rosings and her not perfectly understanding the house, he
seemed to expect that whenever she came into Kent again she
would be staying there too.  His words seemed to imply it.
Could he have Colonel Fitzwilliam in his thoughts?  She supposed, 
if he meant any thing, he must mean an allusion to
what might arise in that quarter.  It distressed her a little, and
she was quite glad to find herself at the gate in the pales
opposite the Parsonage.
She was engaged one day as she walked, in re-perusing
Jane's last letter, and dwelling on some passages which proved
that Jane had not written in spirits, when, instead of being
again surprised by Mr. Darcy, she saw on looking up that
Colonel Fitzwilliam was meeting her.  Putting away the letter
immediately and forcing a smile, she said,
"I did not know before that you ever walked this way."
"I have been making the tour of the Park," he replied, "as
I generally do every year, and intend to close it with a call at
the Parsonage.  Are you going much farther?"
"No, I should have turned in a moment."
And accordingly she did turn, and they walked towards the
recommaage together.
"Do you certainly leave Kent on Saturday?" said she.
"Yes -- if Darcy does not put it off again.  But I am at his disposal.  He arranges the business just as he pleases."
"And if not able to please himself in the arrangement, he
has at least great pleasure in the power of choice.  I do not
know any body who seems more to enjoy the power of doing
what he likes than Mr. Darcy."
"He likes to have his own way very well," replied Colonel
Fitzwilliam.  "But so we all do.  It is only that he has better
means of having it than many others, because he is rich, and
many others are poor.  I speak feelingly.  A younger son, you
know, must be inured to self-denial and dependence."
"In my opinion, the younger son of an Earl can know very
little of either.  Now, seriously, what have you ever known of
self-denial and dependence?  When have you been prevented
by want of money from going wherever you chose, or procuring 
any thing you had a fancy for?"
"These are home questions -- and perhaps I cannot say that
I have experienced many hardships of that nature.  But in
matters of greater weight, I may suffer from the want of
money.  Younger sons cannot marry where they like."
"Unless where they like women of fortune, which I think
they very often do."
"Our habits of expence make us too dependant, and there
are not many in my rank of life who can afford to marry without 
some attention to money."
"Is this," thought Elizabeth, "meant for me?" and she
coloured at the idea; but, recovering herself, said in a lively
tone, "And pray, what is the usual price of an Earl's younger
son?  Unless the elder brother is very sickly, I suppose you
would not ask above fifty thousand pounds."
He answered her in the same style, and the subject dropped.
To interrupt a silence which might make him fancy her
affected with what had passed, she soon afterwards said,
"I imagine your cousin brought you down with him chiefly
for the sake of having somebody at his disposal.  I wonder he
does not marry, to secure a lasting convenience of that kind,
But, perhaps his sister does as well for the present, and, as she
is under his sole care, he may do what he likes with her."
"No," said Colonel Fitzwilliam, "that is an advantage which
he must divide with me.  I am joined with him in the guardianship 
of Miss Darcy."
"Are you, indeed?  And pray what sort of guardians do you
make?  Does your charge give you much trouble?  Young
ladies of her age, are sometimes a little difficult to manage, and
if she has the true Darcy spirit, she may like to have her
own way."
As she spoke, she observed him looking at her earnestly,
and the manner in which he immediately asked her why she
supposed Miss Darcy likely to give them any uneasiness, convinced her that she had somehow or other got pretty near the
truth.  She directly replied,
"You need not be frightened.  I never heard any harm of her;
and I dare say she is one of the most tractable creatures in the
world.  She is a very great favourite with some ladies of my
acquaintance, Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley.  I think I have
heard you say that you know them."
"I know them a little.  Their brother is a pleasant gentleman-
like man -- he is a great friend of Darcy's."
"Oh!  yes," said Elizabeth drily -- "Mr. Darcy is uncommonly
kind to Mr. Bingley, and takes a prodigious deal of care
of him."
"Care of him! -- Yes, I really believe Darcy does take care
of him in those points where he most wants care.  From something that he told me in our journey hither, I have reason to
think Bingley very much indebted to him.  But I ought to beg
his pardon, for I have no right to suppose that Bingley was the
person meant.  It was all conjecture."
"What is it you mean?"
"It is a circumstance which Darcy of course would
not wish to be generally known, because if it were to
get round to the lady's family, it would be an unpleasant
thing."
"You may depend upon my not mentioning it."
"And remember that I have not much reason for supposing
it to be Bingley.  What he told me was merely this; that he
congratulated himself on having lately saved a friend from
the inconveniences of a most imprudent marriage, but without mentioning names or any other particulars, and I only
suspected it to be Bingley from believing him the kind of
young man to get into a scrape of that sort, and from knowing
them to have been together the whole of last summer."
"Did Mr. Darcy give you his reasons for this interference?"
"I understood that there were some very strong objections
against the lady."
"And what arts did he use to separate them?"
"He did not talk to me of his own arts," said Fitzwilliam
smiling.  "He only told me, what I have now told you."
Elizabeth made no answer, and walked on, her heart swelling 
with indignation.  After watching her a little, Fitzwilliam
asked her why she was so thoughtful.
"I am thinking ofwhat you have been telling me," said she.
"Your cousin's conduct does not suit my feelings.  Why was
he to be the judge?"
"You are rather disposed to call his interference officious?"
"I do not see what right Mr. Darcy had to decide on the
propriety of his friend's inclination, or why, upon his own
Judgment alone, he was to determine and direct in what
manner that friend was to ie happy." "But," she continued,
recollecting herself, "as we know none of the particulars, it is
not fair to condemn him.  It is not to be supposed that there
was much affection in the case."
"That is not an unnatural surmise," said Fitzwilliam, "but
it is lessening the honour of my cousin's triumph very sadly."
This was spoken jestingly, but it appeared to her so just a
picture of Mr. Darcy, that she would not trust herself with an
answer; and, therefore, abruptly changing the conversation,
talked on indifferent matters till they reached the parsonage.
There, shut into their own room, as soon as their visitor left
them, she could think without interruption of all that she had
heard.  It was not to be supposed that any other people could
be meant than those with whom she was connected.  There
could not exist in the world two men, over whom Mr. Darcy
could have such boundless influence.  That he had been concerned 
in the measures taken to separate Mr. Bingley and
Jane, she had never doubted; but she had always attributed
to Miss Bingley the principal design and arrangement of them.
If his own vanity, however, did not mislead him, he was the
cause, his pride and caprice were the cause of all that Jane had
suffered, and still continued to suffer.  He had ruined for a
while every hope of happiness for the most affectionate,
generous heart in the world; and no one could say how lasting an 
evil he might have inflicted.
"There were some very strong objections against the lady,"
were Colonel Fitzwilliam's words, and these strong objections
probably were, her having one uncle who was a country
attorney, and another who was in business in London.
"To Jane herself," she exclaimed, "there could be no possibility of objection.  All loveliness and goodness as she is!  Her
understanding excellent, her mind improved, and her manners
captivating.  Neither could any thing be urged against my
father, who, though with some peculiarities, has abilities
which Mr. Darcy himself need not disdain, and respectability 
which he will probably never reach."  When she
thought of her mother indeed, her confidence gave way a little,
but she would not allow that any objections there had material
weight with Mr. Darcy, whose pride, she was convinced,
would receive a deeper wound from the want of importance
in his friend's connections, than from their want of sense;
and she was quite decided at last, that he had been partly
governed by this worst kind of pride, and partly by the wish
of retaining Mr. Bingley for his sister.
The agitation and tears which the subject occasioned,
brought on a headache; and it grew so much worse towards
the evening that, added to her unwillingness to see Mr. Darcy,
it determined her not to attend her cousins to Rosings, where
they were engaged to drink tea.  Mrs. Collins, seeing that she
was really unwell, did not press her to go, and as much as
possible prevented her husband from pressing her, but Mr. 
Collins could not conceal his apprehension of Lady Catherine's
being rather displeased by her staying at home.