“At the door.”


CHAPTERXXVIII.

EVERY object in the next day’s journey was new and interesting 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 high road 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{195} 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 affectionately 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 proportion of the room, its aspect,

and its furniture, he addressed himself particularly to her, as if