Page:Jane Austen (Sarah Fanny Malden 1889).djvu/104

 attentions proceed from the impulse of the moment, or are the result of previous study?'

Their arise chiefly from what is passing at the time, and though I sometimes amuse myself with suggesting and arranging such little elegant compliments as may be adapted to ordinary occasions, I always wish to give them as unstudied an air as possible.

We feel, after this dialogue, that we know something of Lady Catherine as well as of Mr. Collins, and our acquaintance with both is allowed to increase. Mr. Collins fixes his intentions on Elizabeth, who, of course, refuses him; but she has an intimate friend, Charlotte Lucas, whose ideas about marriage are by no means as lofty as her own, and who is quite willing to accept a comfortable house and good income with Mr. Collins attached. She becomes Mrs. Collins, and Elizabeth, though shocked and grieved at the marriage, cannot refuse her friend's earnest entreaty to pay her a visit in her new home. During this visit she unexpectedly meets Mr. Darcy, who is Lady Catherine's nephew, and receives the offer from him which she refuses with such indignant surprise. She has travelled with Sir William and Maria Lucas—Charlotte's father and sister—and two days after their arrival the whole party are invited to dine with Lady Catherine, Darcy and his friend not having then arrived.

"Scarcely anything was talked of the whole day or next morning but their visit to Rosings. Mr. Collins was carefully instructing them what they were to expect, that the sight of such rooms, so many servants, and so splendid a dinner might not wholly overpower them. When the ladies were separating for the toilet, he said to Elizabeth—