Chapter 28
“I am exceedingly sorry, my dear sir, that you should have been obliged to seek so inconvenient a lodging,” said Mr. Bennet.
“But I have got a bed, and a roof over my head,” replied Mr. Collins, “and that is all the comfort I have a right to expect. I have to thank you for your kindness in the first place, and then to thank you for the hospitality which I have received, and to acknowledge that I have been enabled to find lodging more suitable to my circumstances than I had a right to expect.”
“You are too kind, sir,” said Mr. Bennet. “But you know that it is the custom of this country to make every gentleman who comes into the house welcome, and to afford him every comfort which is in our power to give.”
Mr. Collins was most grateful for this reception, and his professions of gratitude were renewed in various ways during the whole evening. He spoke much of the great obligations which he was under to Mr. Bennet, for having been so kind as to invite him to his house, and to give him so comfortable a lodging. He thought it was a great honour to be the nephew of such an uncle, and to have so many amiable cousins. He then spoke of the great advantages which he should have in being so near to them, and to be able to pay them so many visits, and to have the opportunity of so many conversations. He was, in short, so very much pleased with the civility of his reception, that he had not the least doubt of finding the company of the Bennet family to be altogether delightful.
Mr. Bennet was glad to find that he had so much reason to be pleased, for he was not so fond of civility as Mr. Collins. He had heard him talk so much of his gratitude, that he wished him to go to bed, and to have done with it.
Elizabeth was sitting at the window, and saw Mr. Collins with his uncle and aunt walking round the lawn. She thought it was very good of Mr. Bennet to be so civil to him, and she was glad to find that her father had no reason to complain of his company. She then turned away from the window, and went to join her mother and her sisters in the drawing-room.
“Well, my dear,” said Mrs. Bennet, “what do you think of him?”
“I think he is a very disagreeable man,” said Elizabeth.
“Oh, my dear!” said her mother, “you are quite wrong. He is a very sensible man, and he is sure to be a great comfort to you and your sisters when he comes to live here. You know that he is to have Longbourn when your uncle dies, and you know that he is to marry one of you.”
“I have no doubt of that,” said Elizabeth. “But I do not think he will be a great comfort to us. He is so very fond of himself, that he has no room for any one else.”
“I do not know what you mean,” said her mother. “He is a very worthy young man, and I have no doubt that he will make a good husband, and a good father.”
“I have no doubt of that,” said Elizabeth. “But I do not think he will be a good husband to any of us. He is too proud and too selfish to be happy with any one else.”
Mrs. Bennet made no answer. She was exceedingly angry with Elizabeth for not liking Mr. Collins, and she resolved to have him for her own daughter. She thought that he was a very good match, and that he would be a great comfort to her, and to all her daughters. She was determined to make him marry one of them, and she would not have him marry any one else.