Lady Catherine remained silent for several moments thereafter, as though the admission had carried her farther into reflection than she had anticipated; and when she resumed speaking, her voice, though still governed by habitual authority, possessed a gravity more personal than before.
“I have long believed,” she said slowly, “that my chief duty was to secure my daughter against every possibility of imprudence or unhappiness. In doing so, I may perhapshave attached too much importance to considerations which appeared permanent merely because they were familiar.”
Anne listened without interruption, though her attention had become very earnest indeed.
“I once persuaded myself,” Lady Catherine continued, “that the prospect of solitude justified a greater degree of interference than might otherwise have been proper. Rosings is not a place one relinquishes lightly; nor is advancing age rendered agreeable by the expectation of increasing isolation. Yet circumstances alter themselves, whether one approves of the alteration or not; and I begin to suspect that a mother’s fear of loneliness ought not to determine entirely the future life of her child.”
The words, though cautiously expressed, possessed too much sincerity to be mistaken.
For an instant Anne’s composure appeared almost overcome by emotion too deep to be easily concealed; yet even then she preserved that habitual gentleness which rendered every feeling in her appear quieter, rather than weaker, than in other people.
“You have always desired my happiness, Mama,” she said quietly. “I have never doubted it.”
Lady Catherine inclined her head, receiving this with greater feeling than she appeared willing openly to display.
Elizabeth, perceiving equally the dignity and difficulty of such a concession, spoke with careful gentleness.
“I think, madam, there are few acts of judgment more difficult than distinguishing between protection and sacrifice. That Miss de Bourgh should possess both your guidance and yourconfidence must surely be a greater security than either alone could ever provide.”
Lady Catherine regarded her steadily; and though approval from Miss Bennet was not something she would once have imagined herself inclined to value, neither was it received without visible gratification.
“You express yourself very properly, Miss Bennet,” she said at last.
Anne’s eyes turned toward Elizabeth with a gratitude too sincere and too delicate to require verbal acknowledgment.
Perhaps unwilling to permit the conversation to settle into excessive seriousness, Lady Catherine rose shortly afterward from her seat.
“We have remained apart from the gentlemen sufficiently long,” she declared. “By this time Mr. Collins has either exhausted the subject of politics entirely, or confused it beyond recovery. We shall therefore return to the drawing-room before greater disorder is produced.”
And with this determination pronounced in a tone approaching her customary authority, though not entirely restored to it, Lady Catherine led the way once more toward the company below.
***
When the ladies returned to the drawing-room, they found the gentlemen dispersed with considerably less ceremony than before dinner. Mr. Collins, whose sense of propriety revived instantly upon Lady Catherine’s entrance, moved forward atonce to arrange a chair for her near the fire; while Mr. Bennet and Mr. Darcy, who had been standing together near one of the long windows, withdrew immediately from their conversation and resumed their places with unobtrusive civility.
Lady Catherine accepted these attentions as naturally as authority accepts obedience; yet the temper of the evening had undeniably softened. The agitation and interruptions of the day, though not forgotten, no longer governed every expression or dictated every silence.
For some minutes, conversation resumed in small divisions. Mr. Collins, anxious equally to entertain and to appear useful, dismissed a maid with an air of officious satisfaction and undertook the office of replenishing tea-cups with a solemnity more appropriate to diplomacy than hospitality. Anne de Bourgh remained seated beside the fire, listening more than speaking, though her reserve no longer possessed the air of habitual withdrawal; while Darcy, after one or two attempts at general conversation, gradually relapsed into quieter observation.
It was Mr. Bennet who first altered the disposition of the room.
“I begin to suspect,” he observed, after watching Mr. Collins unsuccessfully attempt to recall the proper arrangement of the card-tables, “that we are all becoming rather too thoughtful for comfortable society. Might not cards restore us to a more natural condition?”
“Cards are at least preferable to excessive solemnity,” Lady Catherine returned. “Though I have always maintained that people reveal a great deal of character in play.”
“Particularly patience,” Mr. Bennet replied. “Which some players exercise, and others chiefly demand from their companions.”
“An excellent proposal! Most excellent indeed!” Mr. Collins declared, receiving the suggestion with immediate enthusiasm. “Cards have long been considered among the safest and most improving recreations of civilized society.”
“Particularly,” Mr. Bennet returned, “when played without excessive success.”
Lady Catherine, after a moment’s consideration, signified her approval; and the smaller tables were accordingly arranged with the practised assistance of the servants.
Commerce having been selected, the parties were soon distributed. Lady Catherine, whose opinions extended decisively into every game she played, presided at one table with Mr. Collins and Mr. Bennet; while at another, less formally contested, Anne and Elizabeth played opposite Darcy.
Mr. Collins’s deficiencies as a card-player quickly became impossible to conceal. His eagerness perpetually outran both memory and judgment; and though he accepted correction with profound humility, he appeared incapable of profiting by it for longer than three turns together.
“My dear sir,” Lady Catherine declared at last, as Mr. Collins once again revoked with disastrous consequences to his own side, “you have forgotten the suit for the fourth time.”
