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Chapter XIII · Pride and Prejudice | Audiobook

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  Speaker 1: CHAPTER XIII I hope, my dear, said Mr. Bennet to
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  Speaker 1: his wife, as they were at breakfast the next morning,
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  Speaker 1: that you have ordered a good dinner to-day, because I
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  Speaker 1: have reason to expect an addition to our family party.
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  Speaker 1: Who do you mean, my dear? I know of nobody
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  Speaker 1: that is coming, I am sure, unless Charlotte Lucas should
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  Speaker 1: happen to call in, and I hope my dinners are
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  Speaker 1: good enough for her. I do not believe she often
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  Speaker 1: sees such at home. The person of whom I speak
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  Speaker 1: is a gentleman and a stranger. Mrs. Bennet's eyes sparkled.
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  Speaker 1: A gentleman and a stranger! It is Mr. Bingley, I
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  Speaker 1: am sure. Why, Jane, you never dropped a word of this,
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  Speaker 1: you sly thing. Well, I am sure I shall be
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  Speaker 1: extremely glad to see Mr. Bingley. But good Lord, how unlucky!
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  Speaker 1: There is not a bit of fish to be got today. Lydia,
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  Speaker 1: my love, ring the bell. I must speak to Hill
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  Speaker 1: this moment. It is not Mr. Bingley, said her husband.
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  Speaker 1: It is a person whom I never saw in the
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  Speaker 1: whole course of my life. This roused a general astonishment,
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  Speaker 1: and he had the pleasure of being eagerly questioned by
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  Speaker 1: his wife and five daughters at once. After amusing himself
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  Speaker 1: some time with their curiosity, he thus explained, About a
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  Speaker 1: month ago I received this letter, and about a fortnight
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  Speaker 1: ago I answered it, for I thought it a case
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  Speaker 1: of some delicacy and requiring early attention. It is from
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  Speaker 1: my cousin, Mr. Collins, who, when I am dead, may
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  Speaker 1: turn you all out of this house as soon as
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  Speaker 1: he pleases. Oh, my dear, cried his wife, I cannot
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  Speaker 1: bear to hear that mentioned. Pray do not talk of
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  Speaker 1: that odious man. I do think it is the hardest
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  Speaker 1: thing in the world that your estate should be entailed
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  Speaker 1: away from your own children. And I am sure, if
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  Speaker 1: I had been you, I should have tried long ago
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  Speaker 1: to do something or other about it. Jane and Elizabeth
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  Speaker 1: attempted to explain to her the nature of an entail.
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  Speaker 1: They had often attempted it before, but it was a
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  Speaker 1: subject on which Mrs. Bennet was beyond the reach of reason,
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  Speaker 1: and she continued to rail bitterly against the cruelty of
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  Speaker 1: settling an estate away from a family of five daughters,
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  Speaker 1: in favour of a man whom nobody cared anything about.
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  Speaker 1: It certainly is a most iniquitous affair, said Mr. Bennet,
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  Speaker 1: and nothing can clear Mr. Collins from the guilt of
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  Speaker 1: inheriting Longbourn. But if you will listen to his letter,
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  Speaker 1: you may perhaps be a little softened by his manner
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  Speaker 1: of expressing himself. No, that I am sure I shall not,
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  Speaker 1: and I think it was very impertinent of him to
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  Speaker 1: write to you at all, and very hypocritical. I hate
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  Speaker 1: such false friends. Why could not he keep on quarrelling
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  Speaker 1: with you, as his father did before him? Why, indeed,
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  Speaker 1: he does seem to have had some filial scruples on
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  Speaker 1: that head, as you will hear. Hunsford, near Westerham Kent,
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  Speaker 1: 15th October. Dear Sir, The disagreement subsisting between yourself and
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  Speaker 1: my late honoured father always gave me much uneasiness, and,
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  Speaker 1: Since I have had the misfortune to lose him, I
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  Speaker 1: have frequently wished to heal the breach, but for some
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  Speaker 1: time I was kept back by my own doubts, fearing
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  Speaker 1: lest it might seem disrespectful to his memory for me
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  Speaker 1: to be on good terms with anyone with whom it
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  Speaker 1: had always pleased him to be at variance. There, Mrs. Bennet.
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  Speaker 1: My mind, however, is now made up on the subject.
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  Speaker 1: For having received ordination at Easter, I have been so
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  Speaker 1: fortunate as to be distinguished by the patronage of the
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  Speaker 1: Right Honourable Lady Catherine de Bourgh, widow of Sir Louis
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  Speaker 1: de Bourgh, whose bounty and beneficence has preferred me to
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  Speaker 1: the valuable rectory of this parish, where it shall be
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  Speaker 1: my earnest endeavour to demean myself with grateful respect towards
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  Speaker 1: her ladyship, and be ever ready to perform those rites
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  Speaker 1: and ceremonies which are instituted by the Church of England.
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  Speaker 1: As a clergyman, moreover, I feel it my duty to
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  Speaker 1: promote and establish the blessing of peace in all families
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  Speaker 1: within the reach of my influence. And on these grounds
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  Speaker 1: I flatter myself that my present overtures of goodwill are
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  Speaker 1: highly commendable, and that the circumstance of my being next
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  Speaker 1: in the entail of Longbourn estate will be kindly overlooked
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  Speaker 1: on your side, and not lead you to reject the
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  Speaker 1: offered olive branch. I cannot be otherwise than concerned at
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  Speaker 1: being the means of injuring your amiable daughters, and beg
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  Speaker 1: leave to apologise for it, as well as to assure
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  Speaker 1: you of my readiness to make them every possible amends.
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  Speaker 1: But of this hereafter, if you should have no objection
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  Speaker 1: to receive me into your house, I propose myself the
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  Speaker 1: satisfaction of waiting on you and your family, Monday, November 18th,
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  Speaker 1: by four o'clock, and shall probably trespass on your hospitality
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  Speaker 1: till the Saturday send-night following, which I can do without
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  Speaker 1: any inconvenience, as Lady Catherine is far from objecting to
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  Speaker 1: my occasional absence on a Sunday, provided that some other
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  Speaker 1: clergyman is engaged to do the duty of the day.
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  Speaker 1: I remain... Dear Sir, with respectful compliments to your lady
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  Speaker 1: and daughters, your well-wisher and friend, William Collins. At four o'clock, therefore,
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  Speaker 1: we may expect this peacemaking gentleman, said Mr. Bennet, as
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  Speaker 1: he folded up the letter. He seems to be a
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  Speaker 1: most conscientious and polite young man, upon my word. and,
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  Speaker 1: I doubt not, will prove a valuable acquaintance, especially if
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  Speaker 1: Lady Catherine should be so indulgent as to let him
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  Speaker 1: come to us again. There is some sense in what
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  Speaker 1: he says about the girls, however, and, if he is
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  Speaker 1: disposed to make them any amends, I shall not be
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  Speaker 1: the person to discourage him. Though it is difficult, said Jane,
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  Speaker 1: to guess in what way he can mean to make
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  Speaker 1: us the atonement he thinks our due, the wish is
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  Speaker 1: certainly to his credit. Elizabeth was chiefly struck with his
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  Speaker 1: extraordinary deference for Lady Catherine and his kind intention of christening,
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  Speaker 1: marrying and burying his parishioners whenever it were required. He
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  Speaker 1: must be an oddity, I think, said she. I cannot
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  Speaker 1: make him out. There is something very pompous in his style.
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  Speaker 1: And what can he mean by apologising for being next
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  Speaker 1: in the entail? We cannot suppose he would help it,
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  Speaker 1: if he could. Can he be a sensible man, sir? No,
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  Speaker 1: my dear, I think not. I have great hopes of
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  Speaker 1: finding him quite the reverse. There is a mixture of
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  Speaker 1: civility and self-importance in his letter which promises well. I
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  Speaker 1: am impatient to see him. In point of composition, said Mary,
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  Speaker 1: his letter does not seem defective. The idea of the
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  Speaker 1: olive branch perhaps is not wholly new, yet I think
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  Speaker 1: it is well expressed. To Catherine and Lydia, neither the
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  Speaker 1: letter nor its writer were in any degree interesting. It
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  Speaker 1: was next to impossible that their cousin should come in
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  Speaker 1: a scarlet coat. and it was now some weeks since
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  Speaker 1: they had received pleasure from the society of a man
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  Speaker 1: in any other colour. As for their mother, Mr Collins's
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  Speaker 1: letter had done away much of her ill will, and
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  Speaker 1: she was preparing to see him with a degree of
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  Speaker 1: composure which astonished her husband and daughters. Mr Collins was
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  Speaker 1: punctual to his time, and was received with great politeness
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  Speaker 1: by the whole family. Mr. Bennet indeed said little, but
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  Speaker 1: the ladies were ready enough to talk, and Mr. Collins
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  Speaker 1: seemed neither in need of encouragement nor inclined to be
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  Speaker 1: silent himself. He was a tall, heavy-looking young man of
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  Speaker 1: five and twenty. His air was grave and stately, and
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  Speaker 1: his manners were very formal. He had not been long
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  Speaker 1: seated before he complimented Mrs. Bennet, on having so fine
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  Speaker 1: a family of daughters, said he had heard much of
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  Speaker 1: their beauty, but that, in this instance, fame had fallen
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  Speaker 1: short of the truth, and added that he did not
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  Speaker 1: doubt her seeing them all in due time well disposed
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  Speaker 1: of in marriage. This gallantry was not much to the
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  Speaker 1: taste of some of his hearers, but Mrs. Bennet, who
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  Speaker 1: quarrelled with no compliments, answered most readily, You are very kind, sir,
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  Speaker 1: I am sure, and I wish with all my heart
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  Speaker 1: it may prove so, for else they will be destitute enough.
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  Speaker 1: Things are settled so oddly. You allude, perhaps, to the
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  Speaker 1: entail of this estate. Ah, sir, I do indeed. It
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  Speaker 1: is a grievous affair to my poor girls, you must confess.
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  Speaker 1: Not that I mean to find fault with you, for
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  Speaker 1: such things, I know, are all chance in this world.
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  Speaker 1: There is no knowing how estates will go when once
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  Speaker 1: they come to be entailed. I am very sensible, madame.
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  Speaker 1: of the hardship to my fair cousins, and could say
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  Speaker 1: much on the subject, but that I am cautious of
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  Speaker 1: appearing forward and precipitate. But I can assure the young
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  Speaker 1: ladies that I come prepared to admire them. At present
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  Speaker 1: I will not say more, but perhaps when we are
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  Speaker 1: better acquainted. He was interrupted by a summons to dinner,
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  Speaker 1: and the girls smiled on each other, they were not
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  Speaker 1: the only objects of Mr Collins's admiration. The hall, the dining-room,
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  Speaker 1: and all its furniture were examined and praised, and his
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  Speaker 1: commendation of everything would have touched Mrs Bennet's heart, but
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  Speaker 1: for the mortifying supposition of his viewing it all as
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  Speaker 1: his own future property. The dinner, too, in its turn,
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  Speaker 1: was highly admired, and he begged to know to which
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  Speaker 1: of his fair cousins the excellence of its cookery was owing.
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  Speaker 1: But here he was set right by Mrs. Bennet, who
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  Speaker 1: assured him, with some asperity, that they were very well
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  Speaker 1: able to keep a good cook, and that her daughters
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  Speaker 1: had nothing to do in the kitchen. He begged pardon
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  Speaker 1: for having displeased her. In a softened tone she declared
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  Speaker 1: herself not at all offended. but he continued to apologise
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  Speaker 1: for about a quarter of an hour.