{"id":"01KJRRE0P3ACSTKW24A0XYKFZK","cid":"bafkreicfk3yktpq32txxdplxpb4j2ngpzc3apdxpivsxatq6v7b4tnblqe","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":335310,"char_start":327338,"chunk_index":46,"chunk_total":108,"estimated_tokens":1993,"label":"introduction at Rosings with as much apprehension","source_file_key":"pride-and-prejudice","text":"introduction at Rosings with as much apprehension as her father had done\r\nto his presentation at St. James’s.\r\n\r\nAs the weather was fine, they had a pleasant walk of about half a mile\r\nacross the park. Every park has its beauty and its prospects; and\r\nElizabeth saw much to be pleased with, though she could not be in such\r\nraptures as Mr. Collins expected the scene to inspire, and was but\r\nslightly affected by his enumeration of the windows in front of the\r\nhouse, and his relation of what the glazing altogether had originally\r\ncost Sir Lewis de Bourgh.\r\n\r\nWhen they ascended the steps to the hall, Maria’s alarm was every moment\r\nincreasing, and even Sir William did not look perfectly calm.\r\nElizabeth’s courage did not fail her. She had heard nothing of Lady\r\nCatherine that spoke her awful from any extraordinary talents or\r\nmiraculous virtue, and the mere stateliness of money and rank she\r\nthought she could witness without trepidation.\r\n\r\nFrom the entrance hall, of which Mr. Collins pointed out, with a\r\nrapturous air, the fine proportion and finished ornaments, they followed\r\nthe servants through an antechamber to the room where Lady Catherine,\r\nher daughter, and Mrs. Jenkinson were sitting. Her Ladyship, with great\r\ncondescension, arose to receive them; and as Mrs. Collins had settled it\r\nwith her husband that the office of introduction should be hers, it was\r\nperformed in a proper manner, without any of those apologies and thanks\r\nwhich he would have thought necessary.\r\n\r\nIn spite of having been at St. James’s, Sir William was so completely\r\nawed by the grandeur surrounding him, that he had but just courage\r\nenough to make a very low bow, and take his seat without saying a word;\r\nand his daughter, frightened almost out of her senses, sat on the edge\r\nof her chair, not knowing which way to look. Elizabeth found herself\r\nquite equal to the scene, and could observe the three ladies before her\r\ncomposedly. Lady Catherine was a tall, large woman, with strongly-marked\r\nfeatures, which might once have been handsome. Her air was not\r\nconciliating, nor was her manner of receiving them such as to make her\r\nvisitors forget their inferior rank. She was not rendered formidable by\r\nsilence: but whatever she said was spoken in so authoritative a tone as\r\nmarked her self-importance, and brought Mr. Wickham immediately to\r\nElizabeth’s mind; and, from the observation of the day altogether, she\r\nbelieved Lady Catherine to be exactly what he had represented.\r\n\r\nWhen, after examining the mother, in whose countenance and deportment\r\nshe soon found some resemblance of Mr. Darcy, she turned her eyes on the\r\ndaughter, she could almost have joined in Maria’s astonishment at her\r\nbeing so thin and so small. There was neither in figure nor face any\r\nlikeness between the ladies. Miss de Bourgh was pale and sickly: her\r\nfeatures, though not plain, were insignificant; and she spoke very\r\nlittle, except in a low voice, to Mrs. Jenkinson, in whose appearance\r\nthere was nothing remarkable, and who was entirely engaged in listening\r\nto what she said, and placing a screen in the proper direction before\r\nher eyes.\r\n\r\nAfter sitting a few minutes, they were all sent to one of the windows to\r\nadmire the view, Mr. Collins attending them to point out its beauties,\r\nand Lady Catherine kindly informing them that it was much better worth\r\nlooking at in the summer.\r\n\r\nThe dinner was exceedingly handsome, and there were all the servants,\r\nand all the articles of plate which Mr. Collins had promised; and, as he\r\nhad likewise foretold, he took his seat at the bottom of the table, by\r\nher Ladyship’s desire, and looked as if he felt that life could furnish\r\nnothing greater. He carved and ate and praised with delighted alacrity;\r\nand every dish was commended first by him, and then by Sir William, who\r\nwas now enough recovered to echo whatever his son-in-law said, in a\r\nmanner which Elizabeth wondered Lady Catherine could bear. But Lady\r\nCatherine seemed gratified by their excessive admiration, and gave most\r\ngracious smiles, especially when any dish on the table proved a novelty\r\nto them. The party did not supply much conversation. Elizabeth was ready\r\nto speak whenever there was an opening, but she was seated between\r\nCharlotte and Miss de Bourgh--the former of whom was engaged in\r\nlistening to Lady Catherine, and the latter said not a word to her all\r\nthe dinnertime. Mrs. Jenkinson was chiefly employed in watching how\r\nlittle Miss de Bourgh ate, pressing her to try some other dish and\r\nfearing she was indisposed. Maria thought speaking out of the question,\r\nand the gentlemen did nothing but eat and admire.\r\n\r\nWhen the ladies returned to the drawing-room, there was little to be\r\ndone but to hear Lady Catherine talk, which she did without any\r\nintermission till coffee came in, delivering her opinion on every\r\nsubject in so decisive a manner as proved that she was not used to have\r\nher judgment controverted. She inquired into Charlotte’s domestic\r\nconcerns familiarly and minutely, and gave her a great deal of advice as\r\nto the management of them all; told her how everything ought to be\r\nregulated in so small a family as hers, and instructed her as to the\r\ncare of her cows and her poultry. Elizabeth found that nothing was\r\nbeneath this great lady’s attention which could furnish her with an\r\noccasion for dictating to others. In the intervals of her discourse with\r\nMrs. Collins, she addressed a variety of questions to Maria and\r\nElizabeth, but especially to the latter, of whose connections she knew\r\nthe least, and who, she observed to Mrs. Collins, was a very genteel,\r\npretty kind of girl. She asked her at different times how many sisters\r\nshe had, whether they were older or younger than herself, whether any of\r\nthem were likely to be married, whether they were handsome, where they\r\nhad been educated, what carriage her father kept, and what had been her\r\nmother’s maiden name? Elizabeth felt all the impertinence of her\r\nquestions, but answered them very composedly. Lady Catherine then\r\nobserved,--\r\n\r\n“Your father’s estate is entailed on Mr. Collins, I think? For your\r\nsake,” turning to Charlotte, “I am glad of it; but otherwise I see no\r\noccasion for entailing estates from the female line. It was not thought\r\nnecessary in Sir Lewis de Bourgh’s family. Do you play and sing, Miss\r\nBennet?”\r\n\r\n“A little.”\r\n\r\n“Oh then--some time or other we shall be happy to hear you. Our\r\ninstrument is a capital one, probably superior to ---- you shall try it\r\nsome day. Do your sisters play and sing?”\r\n\r\n“One of them does.”\r\n\r\n“Why did not you all learn? You ought all to have learned. The Miss\r\nWebbs all play, and their father has not so good an income as yours. Do\r\nyou draw?”\r\n\r\n“No, not at all.”\r\n\r\n“What, none of you?”\r\n\r\n“Not one.”\r\n\r\n“That is very strange. But I suppose you had no opportunity. Your mother\r\nshould have taken you to town every spring for the benefit of masters.”\r\n\r\n“My mother would have no objection, but my father hates London.”\r\n\r\n“Has your governess left you?”\r\n\r\n“We never had any governess.”\r\n\r\n“No governess! How was that possible? Five daughters brought up at home\r\nwithout a governess! I never heard of such a thing. Your mother must\r\nhave been quite a slave to your education.”\r\n\r\nElizabeth could hardly help smiling, as she assured her that had not\r\nbeen the case.\r\n\r\n“Then who taught you? who attended to you? Without a governess, you must\r\nhave been neglected.”\r\n\r\n“Compared with some families, I believe we were; but such of us as\r\nwished to learn never wanted the means. We were always encouraged to\r\nread, and had all the masters that were necessary. Those who chose to be\r\nidle certainly might.”\r\n\r\n“Ay, no doubt: but that is what a governess will prevent; and if I had\r\nknown your mother, I should have advised her most strenuously to engage\r\none. I always say that nothing is to be done in education without steady\r\nand regular instruction, and nobody but a governess can give it."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJRRD3TNE5A6AKAVXSRFT9RC","peer_label":"pride-and-prejudice","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJRRC2C7K6XERRJES8143XGV","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJRREZKG263C7SQSDV3TZ5MX","peer_label":"elizabeth bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:10.147Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF826ZSJSKKBWG7SK2KSN","peer_label":"rosings","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"estate","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:10.147Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY6ZWGAT4FYVDEM6VE2E","peer_label":"mr collins","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:10.147Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF954JRMR1MX0FS25BB9X","peer_label":"maria 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