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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 Hunsford, 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 Parsonage

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 left 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 of what 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 left 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 be 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 her 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. .

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