{"id":"01KJRRE0MQ9J0V7SXCHHK0B19S","cid":"bafkreihyrokktzhtkwbtriu5nj25kxo2vmgmkvtouagrgunlptmourzgpi","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":150669,"char_start":142999,"chunk_index":20,"chunk_total":108,"estimated_tokens":1918,"label":"fearing lest it might seem disrespectful to h","source_file_key":"pride-and-prejudice","text":"     fearing lest it might seem disrespectful to his memory for me to be\r\n     on good terms with anyone with whom it had always pleased him to be\r\n     at variance.”--‘There, Mrs. Bennet.’--“My mind, however, is now\r\n     made up on the subject; for, having received ordination at Easter,\r\n     I have been so fortunate as to be distinguished by the patronage of\r\n     the Right Honourable Lady Catherine de Bourgh, widow of Sir Lewis\r\n     de Bourgh, whose bounty and beneficence has preferred me to the\r\n     valuable rectory of this parish, where it shall be my earnest\r\n     endeavour to demean myself with grateful respect towards her\r\n     Ladyship, and be ever ready to perform those rites and ceremonies\r\n     which are instituted by the Church of England. As a clergyman,\r\n     moreover, I feel it my duty to promote and establish the blessing\r\n     of peace in all families within the reach of my influence; and on\r\n     these grounds I flatter myself that my present overtures of\r\n     good-will are highly commendable, and that the circumstance of my\r\n     being next in the entail of Longbourn estate will be kindly\r\n     overlooked on your side, and not lead you to reject the offered\r\n     olive branch. I cannot be otherwise than concerned at being the\r\n     means of injuring your amiable daughters, and beg leave to\r\n     apologize for it, as well as to assure you of my readiness to make\r\n     them every possible amends; but of this hereafter. If you should\r\n     have no objection to receive me into your house, I propose myself\r\n     the satisfaction of waiting on you and your family, Monday,\r\n     November 18th, by four o’clock, and shall probably trespass on your\r\n     hospitality till the Saturday se’nnight following, which I can do\r\n     without any inconvenience, as Lady Catherine is far from objecting\r\n     to my occasional absence on a Sunday, provided that some other\r\n     clergyman is engaged to do the duty of the day. I remain, dear sir,\r\n     with respectful compliments to your lady and daughters, your\r\n     well-wisher and friend,\r\n\r\n“WILLIAM COLLINS.”\r\n\r\n“At four o’clock, therefore, we may expect this peace-making gentleman,”\r\nsaid Mr. Bennet, as he folded up the letter. “He seems to be a most\r\nconscientious and polite young man, upon my word; and, I doubt not, will\r\nprove a valuable acquaintance, especially if Lady Catherine should be so\r\nindulgent as to let him come to us again.”\r\n\r\n“There is some sense in what he says about the girls, however; and, if\r\nhe is disposed to make them any amends, I shall not be the person to\r\ndiscourage him.”\r\n\r\n“Though it is difficult,” said Jane, “to guess in what way he can mean\r\nto make us the atonement he thinks our due, the wish is certainly to his\r\ncredit.”\r\n\r\nElizabeth was chiefly struck with his extraordinary deference for Lady\r\nCatherine, and his kind intention of christening, marrying, and burying\r\nhis parishioners whenever it were required.\r\n\r\n“He must be an oddity, I think,” said she. “I cannot make him out. There\r\nis something very pompous in his style. And what can he mean by\r\napologizing for being next in the entail? We cannot suppose he would\r\nhelp it, if he could. Can he be a sensible man, sir?”\r\n\r\n“No, my dear; I think not. I have great hopes of finding him quite the\r\nreverse. There is a mixture of servility and self-importance in his\r\nletter which promises well. I am impatient to see him.”\r\n\r\n“In point of composition,” said Mary, “his letter does not seem\r\ndefective. The idea of the olive branch perhaps is not wholly new, yet I\r\nthink it is well expressed.”\r\n\r\nTo Catherine and Lydia neither the letter nor its writer were in any\r\ndegree interesting. It was next to impossible that their cousin should\r\ncome in a scarlet coat, and it was now some weeks since they had\r\nreceived pleasure from the society of a man in any other colour. As for\r\ntheir mother, Mr. Collins’s letter had done away much of her ill-will,\r\nand she was preparing to see him with a degree of composure which\r\nastonished her husband and daughters.\r\n\r\nMr. Collins was punctual to his time, and was received with great\r\npoliteness by the whole family. Mr. Bennet indeed said little; but the\r\nladies were ready enough to talk, and Mr. Collins seemed neither in need\r\nof encouragement, nor inclined to be silent himself. He was a tall,\r\nheavy-looking young man of five-and-twenty. His air was grave and\r\nstately, and his manners were very formal. He had not been long seated\r\nbefore he complimented Mrs. Bennet on having so fine a family of\r\ndaughters, said he had heard much of their beauty, but that, in this\r\ninstance, fame had fallen short of the truth; and added, that he did not\r\ndoubt her seeing them all in due time well disposed of in marriage. This\r\ngallantry was not much to the taste of some of his hearers; but Mrs.\r\nBennet, who quarrelled with no compliments, answered most readily,--\r\n\r\n“You are very kind, sir, I am sure; and I wish with all my heart it may\r\nprove so; for else they will be destitute enough. Things are settled so\r\noddly.”\r\n\r\n“You allude, perhaps, to the entail of this estate.”\r\n\r\n“Ah, sir, I do indeed. It is a grievous affair to my poor girls, you\r\nmust confess. Not that I mean to find fault with _you_, for such things,\r\nI know, are all chance in this world. There is no knowing how estates\r\nwill go when once they come to be entailed.”\r\n\r\n“I am very sensible, madam, of the hardship to my fair cousins, and\r\ncould say much on the subject, but that I am cautious of appearing\r\nforward and precipitate. But I can assure the young ladies that I come\r\nprepared to admire them. At present I will not say more, but, perhaps,\r\nwhen we are better acquainted----”\r\n\r\nHe was interrupted by a summons to dinner; and the girls smiled on each\r\nother. They were not the only objects of Mr. Collins’s admiration. The\r\nhall, the dining-room, and all its furniture, were examined and praised;\r\nand his commendation of everything would have touched Mrs. Bennet’s\r\nheart, but for the mortifying supposition of his viewing it all as his\r\nown future property. The dinner, too, in its turn, was highly admired;\r\nand he begged to know to which of his fair cousins the excellence of its\r\ncookery was owing. But here he was set right by Mrs. Bennet, who assured\r\nhim, with some asperity, that they were very well able to keep a good\r\ncook, and that her daughters had nothing to do in the kitchen. He begged\r\npardon for having displeased her. In a softened tone she declared\r\nherself not at all offended; but he continued to apologize for about a\r\nquarter of an hour.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration]\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER XIV\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration]\r\n\r\nDuring dinner, Mr. Bennet scarcely spoke at all; but when the servants\r\nwere withdrawn, he thought it time to have some conversation with his\r\nguest, and therefore started a subject in which he expected him to\r\nshine, by observing that he seemed very fortunate in his patroness. Lady\r\nCatherine de Bourgh’s attention to his wishes, and consideration for his\r\ncomfort, appeared very remarkable. Mr. Bennet could not have chosen\r\nbetter. Mr. Collins was eloquent in her praise. The subject elevated him\r\nto more than usual solemnity of manner; and with a most important aspect\r\nhe protested that he had never in his life witnessed such behaviour in a\r\nperson of rank--such affability and condescension, as he had himself\r\nexperienced from Lady Catherine. She had been graciously pleased to\r\napprove of both the discourses which he had already had the honour of\r\npreaching before her. She had also asked him twice to dine at Rosings,\r\nand had sent for him only the Saturday before, to make up her pool of\r\nquadrille in the evening."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJRRD3TNE5A6AKAVXSRFT9RC","peer_label":"pride-and-prejudice","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJRRC2C7K6XERRJES8143XGV","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJRRFA0FFMB9AFH4QQXNSPVY","peer_label":"william collins","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:47.423Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYBBFVZYJA03S3Y70QZY","peer_label":"longbourn estate","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"property","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:47.423Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY7G184NZ401P9V4JV87","peer_label":"lady catherine de bourgh","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:47.423Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZGM87R12EADFF6YZZG3","peer_label":"jane bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:47.423Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYW2V9QH9GNRQRJT67GK","peer_label":"mr bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:47.423Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYT564P5405ZE4Q76ZF5","peer_label":"mrs bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:47.423Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZKG263C7SQSDV3TZ5MX","peer_label":"elizabeth bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:47.423Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY63WYEJRTN7FS2QXC2P","peer_label":"mary bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:47.423Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF7049YZC3K3WA2H5J1ED","peer_label":"catherine bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:47.423Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY6RHWPTVXJ7SHB3NE6F","peer_label":"lydia bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:47.423Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF826ZSJSKKBWG7SK2KSN","peer_label":"rosings","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"estate","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:47.423Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFBSHJ5PV7C2DK1HQWRW8","peer_label":"quadrille","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"game","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:47.423Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFBRY6V0FJD5MB0AQ08QY","peer_label":"sir lewis de bourgh","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:47.423Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFBSCMFFN50R9BR9X8P67","peer_label":"church of england","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"religious_institution","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:47.423Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFBSQAVMSWVMTG6EY6NFC","peer_label":"rectory of this parish","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"clerical_position","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:47.423Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFBTPX4GFGR3ZSY3DVQG1","peer_label":"entail","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"legal_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:47.423Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFBT1ZFPV64AH9D1JYX86","peer_label":"olive branch metaphor","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"symbolic_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:47.423Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFCAA4NG6W3J46F9T404P","peer_label":"ordination","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"religious_ceremony","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:47.423Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:01.207Z","ts":"2026-03-03T02:29:48.188Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}