Chapter 14
Elizabeth was sitting by herself the next morning, writing to Jane while Mrs. Collins and Maria were gone to the nearby village, when she was startled (使惊讶) by a ring at the door.
Since she had heard no carriage, she thought it might be Lady Catherine.
When the door opened, to her very great surprise, Mr. Darcy, and Mr. Darcy only, entered the room.
After a couple of polite remarks on either side, the conversation seemed to be in danger of falling into awkward silence.
Finally, Mr. Darcy said, “This seems a very comfortable house. I believe Lady Catherine had a lot of work done on it before Mr. Collins moved in.”
“And he is certainly very grateful for her kindness,” Elizabeth replied.
“Mr. Collins appears to be very fortunate in his choice of a wife.”
“Yes, indeed, she is one of the very few sensible (明智的) women who would have accepted him, or made him happy if they had.
My friend has an excellent understanding—though I am not certain that I consider her marrying Mr. Collins as the wisest thing she ever did.
She seems perfectly happy, however, and from a practical point of view, it is certainly a very good match for her.”
- '' 【from a practical point of view】从实用的角度来说。from... point of view 意思是"从…的观点来看"
This conversation was soon put an end to by the entrance of Charlotte and Maria returning from their walk.
They were surprised to see Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth alone together, and Mr. Darcy explained that he had been expecting the other ladies to be at home as well.After sitting a few minutes longer without saying much to anybody, Mr. Darcy then went away.
“What can be the meaning of this?” said Charlotte, as soon as he was gone.
“My dear Eliza, he must be in love with you, or he would never have visited us in this familiar way.” - '' 【familiar】在这里意思是 overly free and unrestrained（极其随便、不受约束）
But when Elizabeth and Charlotte considered the matter further, that did not seem very likely.
Mr. Darcy did not seem at ease—he seemed to be there by necessity rather than by choice, and seemed to have great difficulty in making conversation.
Colonel Fitzwilliam’s laughing at his occasional awkwardness showed that he was not always awkward, which Elizabeth would not otherwise have been able to guess.
Charlotte would have liked to believe that Darcy was in love with Elizabeth, but while he certainly looked at her a great deal,
the meaning of his looks was far from clear—sometimes Charlotte doubted if there was much admiration in them.
After various guesses, they could at last only suppose his visit was caused by the difficulty of finding anything interesting to do at that time of year,
when all outdoor sports and amusements were over.
More than once Elizabeth, in her walks within the nearby grounds of Rosings, unexpectedly met with Mr. Darcy.
She felt all the awkwardness of these unfortunate meetings, and to prevent such a thing from ever happening again,she made sure to tell him which were her favorite places for taking walks.
It was therefore very odd when she met him in the grounds a second time, and even a third! He never said very much, nor did he pressure her into talking or listening for very long.
Still it seemed that he was asking some odd and unconnected questions, about how she liked Mr. Collins’s house,
her love of solitary (独自的) walks, and her opinion of Mr. and Mrs. Collins’s happiness.
One day on her walk she was happy to see Colonel Fitzwilliam, rather than Mr. Darcy, walking toward her, and took the opportunity to start a conversation.
“Do you certainly leave Kent on Saturday?” she said.
“Yes—if Darcy does not put it off again. He arranges the business just as he pleases.”
I do not know anybody who seems more to enjoy the power of doing what he likes than Mr. Darcy,” Elizabeth replied.
“We all like to have our own way,” replied Colonel Fitzwilliam, “But Darcy has more chances to do so because he is rich.”
“If your cousin brought you down with him chiefly to have someone with him who does what they are told,
I wonder he does not marry, to secure a lasting arrangement of that kind.
But perhaps his sister does as well for now, and, as she is under his care, he may do what he likes with her.”
“No,” said Colonel Fitzwilliam, “that is an advantage which he must divide with me. I am also a guardian (守护者) of Miss Darcy.”
“What sort of guardians (守护者) are you? Does she give you much trouble?
Young ladies of her age are sometimes a little difficult to manage, and if she has the true Darcy spirit, she may like to have her own way.”
For some reason what she had just said seemed to upset Colonel Fitzwilliam, so she tried to reassure (使安心) him:
“Do not worry. I have never heard anything against her, and she is probably the most obedient girl in the world.
She is a very great favorite with some ladies of my acquaintance, Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley. I think I have heard you say that you know them.”
“I know them a little. Their brother is a pleasant gentlemanlike (绅士的) man—he is a great friend of Darcy’s.”
“Oh! Yes,” said Elizabeth sarcastically; “Mr. Darcy is very kind to Mr. Bingley, and takes an enormous amount of care of him.”
“Yes, I believe Darcy does take care of him in those points where he most needs care.
From something that he told me on our journey, I have reason to think Bingley owes him a great debt.（人情债）”
“What do you mean?”“It is something which Darcy would not wish to be generally known, because_ if it were to_ be heard by the lady’s family, it would be an unpleasant thing.”
- '' 【be generally known】被广泛传播
- '' 【if it were to…, it would…】是一个虚拟条件句
“You may trust me not to mention it.”
“What he told me was that he congratulated himself on having recently saved a friend from a most unwise marriage.
I suspect it to be Bingley because he is the kind of young man to get into a situation of that sort, and I know he and my cousin were together the whole of last summer.”
“Did Mr. Darcy give you reasons for this interference (干涉) ?”
“I understood that there were some very strong objections against the lady.”
Elizabeth made no answer, and walked on, boiling with anger inside（怒火中烧）. After watching her a little, Fitzwilliam asked her why she was so thoughtful.
“I am thinking of what you told me,” said she. “Your cousin’s conduct does not suit my feelings. Why was he to be the judge?
What gave him the right to decide in what manner his friend was to be happy? But,” she continued, recollecting herself,
“as we do not know the details, it is not fair to condemn him. We cannot suppose that there was much affection in the case.”
“That may be so,” said Fitzwilliam, “but it is, it makes my cousin’s success much less impressive.”
Elizabeth did not trust herself with an answer, and quickly changed the subject. Once back in her own room, she could think without interruption about all that she had heard.
It must have been Bingley: there could not exist in the world two men over whom Mr. Darcy could have such unlimited influence.
She had never doubted that he had been involved in separating Bingley and Jane, but she had always believed that it was primarily Miss Bingley’s idea.
But in fact Mr. Darcy was the cause—his pride and desire to have his own way were the cause—of all that Jane had suffered, and still continued to suffer.
He had ruined every hope of happiness for the most affectionate, generous heart in the world; and no one could say how lasting an evil he might have inflicted (造成) .
“There were some very strong objections against the lady,” were Colonel Fitzwilliam’s words, and those strong objections probably were,
her having one uncle who was a country lawyer, and another who was in business in London.
- at ease 舒适，自在
- put sth. off 推迟某事
- have influence over sb. 对某人有影响力
