Pride and Prejudice and Kitties, стр. 15

were to happen again, I am sure I should be deceived again. Caroline did not return my visit till yesterday; and not a note, not a line, did I receive in the mean time. When she did come, it was very evident that she had no pleasure in it; she made a slight, formal apology, for not calling before, said not a word of wishing to see me again, and was in every respect so altered a creature, that when she went away, I was perfectly resolved to continue the acquaintance no longer. I pity, though I cannot help blaming her. She was very wrong in singling me out as she did; I can safely say, that every advance to intimacy began on her side. But I pity her, because she must feel that she has been acting wrong, and because I am very sure that anxiety for her brother is the cause of it. I need not explain myself farther; and though we know this anxiety to be quite needless, yet if she feels it, it will easily account for her behaviour to me; and so deservedly dear as he is to his sister, whatever anxiety she must feel on his behalf, is natural and amiable. I cannot but wonder, however, at her having any such fears now, because, if he had at all cared about me, we must have met long long ago. He knows of my being in town, I am certain, from something she said herself; and yet it would seem by her manner of talking, as if she wanted to persuade herself that he is really partial to Miss Darcy. I cannot understand it. If I were not afraid of judging harshly, I should be almost tempted to say, that there is a strong appearance of duplicity in all this. But I will endeavour to banish every painful thought, and think only of what will make me happy, your affection, and the invariable kindness of my dear uncle and aunt. Let me hear from you very soon. Miss Bingley said something of his never returning to Netherfield again, of giving up the house, but not with any certainty. We had better not mention it. I am extremely glad that you have such pleasant accounts from our friends at Hunsford. Pray go to see them, with Sir William and Maria. I am sure you will be very comfortable there—Yours, etc.”

JANUARY AND FEBRUARY passed away with the Bennet sisters frequently trotting down the muddy lanes to Meryton and back.

As her stay at Hunsford drew near, Elizabeth found herself looking forward to the visit. Kitty and Lydia did nothing but chase after officers or runaway balls, and Mrs. Bennet did little but lament and complain, so a change would be most welcome. (It seemed that Mrs. Bennet had not enough sense to understand that life is not just a pill pocket, but a pill, and a cat must take the bitter with the succulent.)

On the way to Hunsford, Elizabeth, who was traveling with Sir William Lucas and his daughter, Maria, stopped in London to visit Jane and the Gardiners. Though Elizabeth found Jane as fluffy as ever, she was concerned to hear from their aunt that Jane still slept twenty-three hours a day, though she endeavored, in the remaining hour of wakefulness, to support her spirits as best she could.

From Aunt Gardiner, Lizzy received an invitation for a summer outing to the lakes.

“Oh, my dear, dear aunt,” Lizzy rapturously cried, “what delight! What felicity! You give me fresh life and vigor. What are young toms to the joy of scampering over rocks and mountains? Oh! What hours of transport we shall spend! And when we do return, it shall not be like other cats, shut up in a cat carrier and mewing under the seat of the carriage. We will know where we have gone—we will recollect what trees we have climbed and what squirrels we have stalked!”

The farewell between [Elizabeth] and Mr. Wickham was perfectly friendly; on his side even more. His present pursuit could not make him forget that Elizabeth had been the first to excite and to deserve his attention, the first to listen and to pity, the first to be admired; and in his manner of bidding her adieu, wishing her every enjoyment, reminding her of what she was to expect in Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and trusting their opinion of her—their opinion of every body—would always coincide, there was a solicitude, an interest which she felt must ever attach her to him with a most sincere regard; and she parted from him convinced, that whether married or single, he must always be her model of the amiable and pleasing.

Amiable and pleasing? You think that if it makes you happy.

AT LENGTH, ELIZABETH and her companions arrived at Hunsford. Charlotte greeted Elizabeth with a quiet but earnest chirp, while Mr. Collins paraded proudly around the house and garden, rolled under the sideboard, and caught a magpie in his meadow as if to make Elizabeth feel all the delights she had forfeited in refusing his paw in marriage. Foremost among the felicities of Hunsford were the attentions of Lady Cat. These Elizabeth was to experience the following evening, as the Hunsford party was invited to dine at Rosings. Indeed, Miss Anne de Bourgh had come herself with her lady companion to deliver the invitation. Elizabeth was amused to see how cross and sickly Miss de Bourgh appeared (the perfect future match for Mr. Darcy). In truth, poor Anne had just been to the vet and been weighed, an experience so frightening that she left half her hair behind in the cat carrier.

At length the Parsonage was discernible. The garden sloping to the road, the house standing in it, the green pales and the laurel hedge, every thing declared they were arriving. Mr. Collins and Charlotte appeared at the