Page:Jane Austen (Sarah Fanny Malden 1889).djvu/102

 invites himself to stay with them. He is kindly received, and after dinner the conversation turns upon his good fortune in having been presented to his living by Lady Catherine de Bourgh. "Mr. Collins was eloquent in her praise She had been graciously pleased, to approve of both the discourses which he had already had the honour of preaching before her. She had also asked him twice to dine at Rosings, and had sent for him only the Saturday before to make up her pool of quadrille for the evening. Lady Catherine was reckoned, proud by many people he knew, but he had never seen anything but affability in her. She had always spoken to him as she would to any other gentleman; she made not the smallest objection to his joining in the society of the neighbourhood, nor to his leaving his parish occasionally for a week or two to visit his relations. She had even condescended to advise him to marry as soon as he could, provided he chose with discretion; and had once paid him a visit in his humble parsonage, where she had perfectly approved all the alterations he was making, and had even vouchsafed to suggest some herself—some shelves in the closet upstairs.

That is all very proper and civil, I am sure,' said Mrs. Bennet, 'and I daresay she is a very agreeable woman. It is a pity that great ladies in general are not more like her. Does she live near you, sir?'

The garden, in which stands my humble abode, is separated only by a lane from Rosings Park, her ladyship's residence.'

I think you said she was a widow, sir? Has she any family?'

She has one only daughter, the heiress of Rosings, and of very extensive property.'