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Chapter XXVIII

Every object in the next day's journey was new and in-

teresting to Elizabeth; and her spirits were in a state

of enjoyment; for she had seen her sister looking so

well as to banish all fear for her health, and the prospect

of her northern tour was a constant source of delight.

When they left the highroad for the lane to Hunsford,

every eye was in search of the Parsonage, and every turning

expected to bring it in view. The paling of Rosings Park

was their boundary on one side. Elizabeth smiled at the

recollection of all that she had heard of its inhabitants.

At length the Parsonage was discernible. The garden

sloping to the road, the house standing in it, the green pales

and the laurel hedge, everything declared they were arriving.

Mr. Collins and Charlotte appeared at the door, and the

carriage stopped at the small gate, which led by a short gravel

walk to the house, amidst the nods and smiles of the whole

party. In a moment they were all out of the chaise, rejoicing

at the sight of each other. Mrs. Collins welcomed her friend

with the liveliest pleasure, and Elizabeth was more and more

satisfied with coming, when she found herself so affection-

ately received. She saw instantly that her cousin's manners

were not altered by his marriage: his formal civility was just

what it had been; and he detained her some minutes at the

gate to hear and satisfy his inquiries after all her family.

They were then, with no other delay than his pointing out

the neatness of the entrance, taken into the house; and as

soon as they were in the parlour, he welcomed them a second

time, with ostentatious formality, to his humble abode, and

punctually repeated all his wife's offers of refreshment.

Elizabeth was prepared to see him in his glory; and she

could not help fancying that in displaying the good propor-

tion of the room, its aspect, and its furniture, he addressed

himself particularly to her, as if wishing to make her feel

what she had lost in refusing him. But though everything

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