第 42 章

倘若叫伊莉莎白根據她自己家庭的情形，來說一說什麼叫做婚姻的幸福，什麼叫做家庭的樂趣，那她一定說不出好話來。她父親當年就因為貪戀青春美貌，為的是青春美貌往往會給人帶來很大的情趣，因此娶了這樣一個智力貧乏而又小心眼兒的女人，結婚不久，他對太太的深摯的情意便完結了。夫婦之間的互敬互愛和推心置腹，都永遠消失得無影無蹤；他對於家庭幸福的理想也完全給推翻了。換了別的人，凡是因為自己的冒失而招來了不幸，往往會用荒唐或是不正當的佚樂來安慰自己，可是班納特先生卻不喜歡這一套。他喜愛鄉村景色，喜愛讀書自娛，這就是他最大的樂趣。說到他的太太，除了她的無知和愚蠢倒可以供他開心作樂之外，他對她就再沒有別的恩情了。一般男人照理總不希望在妻子身上找這一種樂趣，可是大智大慧的人既然沒有本領去找別的玩藝兒，當然只好聽天由命。

　　不過伊莉莎白並不是看不出父親的缺德。她老是一看到就覺得痛苦；可是她尊重他的才能，又感謝他對讀書的寵愛，因此，本來忽略不了的地方，她也儘量把它忽略過去，而且縱使父親大不該叫孩子們看不起媽媽，以致使他們老夫婦一天比一天不能夠互敬互愛地相處，她也儘量不去想它。但是，說到不美滿的婚姻給兒女們帶來的不利，她從前決沒有象現在體驗得這樣深刻，父親的才能使用不得當因而造成種種害處，這一點她從來沒有象現在這樣看得透徹。要是父親的才能運用得適當，即使不能夠擴展母親的見識，至少也可以保存女兒們的體面。

　　韋翰走了固然使伊莉莎白感到快慰，然而，這個民兵團開拔以後，並沒有什麼別的地方叫她滿意。外面的宴會不象以前那樣多那樣有趣了，在家裏又是成天只聽到母親和妹妹口口聲聲埋怨生活沉悶，使家裏籠罩上了一層陰影；至於吉蒂雖說那些鬧得她心猿意馬的人已經走了，她不久就會恢復常態；可是還有那另外一個妹妹，秉性本就不好，加上現在又處身在那兵營和浴場的雙重危險的環境裏，自然會更加大膽放蕩，闖出更大的禍事來，因此從大體上說來，她發覺到（其實以前有一度她早就發覺到）她眼巴巴望著到來的一件事，等到真正到來了，總不象她預期的那麼滿意。因此她不得不把真正幸福的開端期諸來日，找些別的東西來寄託她的希望和心願，在期待的心情中自我陶醉一番，暫時安慰自己一下，準備再遭受到失望。她現在心裏最得意的一件事便是不久就可以到湖區去旅行，因為既然母親和吉蒂心裏不快活，吵得家裏雞犬不寧，當然一想起出門便使她獲得了最大的安慰；如果吉英也能參加這次旅行，那就十全十美了。

　　她心裏想：”總還算幸運，我還可以存些指望。假使處處都安排得很完滿，我反面要感到失望了。姐姐不能夠一同去，我自會時時刻刻都感到遺憾，不過也反而可以使我存著一分希望，因此我所期待的愉快也可能會實現。十全十美的計畫總不會成功；只有稍許帶著幾分苦惱，才可以大體上防止得了失望。”

　　麗迪雅臨走的時候，答應常常給母親和吉蒂寫信來，詳詳細細地告訴她們一路上的情形，可是她走了以後，家裏老是等了好久才接到她一封信，而每封信又往往只是寥寥數行。她給她母親寫的那些信，無非說說她們剛剛從圖書館回來，有許多軍官們陪著她們一起去，她們在那裏看到許多漂亮的裝飾品，使她眼紅極了，或者說是她買了一件新的長衣服，一把陽傘，她本來可以把這些東西詳詳細細描寫一番，可是弗斯脫太太在叫她了，她們馬上就要到兵營去，等等。至於她寫給吉蒂的信，雖然要長得多，可是也很空洞，因為有許多重要的話不便寫出來。

　　她走了兩三個星期以後，浪搏恩又重新恢復了愉快歡樂的氣象。一切都欣欣向榮。上城裏過冬的那些人家都搬回來了，人們都穿起了夏天的新裝，到處是夏天的約會。班納特太太又象往常一樣動不動就發牢騷。到了六月中旬吉蒂完全恢復了常態，到麥裏屯去可以不掉眼淚了，伊莉莎白看到真高興，她希望到了耶誕節，吉蒂會變得相當有理智，不至於每天三番五次地提到軍官們，除非作戰部不管人家死活，又來一次惡作劇，重新調一團人駐紮到麥裏屯來。

　　他們北上旅行的日期已經迫近，只剩下兩個星期了，不料這時候嘉丁納太太卻寄來了一封信，使行期耽擱下來，旅行範圍也得縮小。信上說，因為嘉丁納先生有事，行期必須延遲兩個星期，到七月裏才能動身，又因為他只能出外旅行一個月便得回到倫敦，日期很短促，不能照原來的計畫作長途旅行，飽餐山川景色，至少不能照原來所安排的那樣悠閒自在地去遊覽，湖區必須放棄，旅程必須縮短，只能到德比郡為止。其實德比郡就足夠供他們遊覽，足夠他們消磨短短三星期的旅行日程，而且嘉丁納太太非常嚮往那個地方。她以前曾在那兒住過兒年，現在能夠舊地重遊，盤桓數日，便不禁對於馬特洛克、恰滋華斯、鴿穀、秀阜的風景名勝，心醉神往。

　　這封信使伊莉莎白非常失望。她本來一心想去觀賞湖區風光，到現在還覺得時間很充裕。不過，她既沒有權利可以反對，她的心境又很灑脫，不多一會，便又覺得好受了。一提到德比郡，就免不了勾起多少聯想。她看到這個地名，就不禁想到彭伯裏和彭伯裏的主人。她說：”我一定可以大搖大擺地走進他的故鄉，趁他不知不覺的時候，攫取幾塊透明的晶石。”

　　行期一延再延。舅父母還得過四個星期才能來。可是四個星期畢竟過去了，嘉丁納夫婦終於帶著他們的四個孩子來到浪搏恩。四個孩子中間有兩個女孩子，一個六歲，一個八歲，另外兩個男孩子年紀還小。孩子們都將留在這兒，由他們的表姐吉英照管，因為他們都喜歡吉英，加上吉英舉止穩重，性情柔和，無論是教孩子們讀書，跟他們遊戲，以及照顧他們，都非常適合。

　　嘉丁納夫婦只在浪搏恩住了一夜，第二天一大早就帶著伊莉莎白去探新求異，尋歡作樂。這幾個旅伴確實非常適當，所謂適當，就是說大家身體健壯，性子柔和，路上遇到不方便的地方可以忍受得了，這實在叫人稱心如意。他們一個個都生氣勃勃，這自然可以促進愉快，而且他們感情豐富，人又聰明，萬一在外地碰到了什麼掃興的事情，互相之間仍然可以過得很快活。

　　本書不打算詳細描寫德比郡怕風光，至於他們的旅程所必須經過的一些名勝地區，例如牛津、布楞恩、瓦立克、凱尼爾沃思、伯明罕等，大家都知道得夠多了，也不打算寫。現在只講一講德比郡的一小部分。且說有個小鎮名叫藍白屯，嘉丁納夫婦從前曾在那兒住過，她最近聽說還有些熟人依舊住在那邊，於是看完了鄉間的一切名勝古跡之後，便繞道到那兒去看看。伊莉莎白聽見舅母說，離開藍白屯不到五英里路就是彭伯裏，雖然不是路過必經之處，可是也不過彎了一兩英里路。前一個晚上討論旅程的時候，嘉丁納太太說是想到那邊再去看看。嘉丁納先生表示願意，於是他們便來徵求伊莉莎白同意。

　　舅母對她說：”親愛的，那個地方你是久聞大名的，願意去看看嗎？你的許多朋友都跟那地方有關係。韋翰的整個少年時代都是在那兒度過的，你知道。”

　　伊莉莎白給說得窘極了。她覺得不必到彭伯裏去，便只得說不想去。她但說高樓大廈、錦繡幃，已經見識得夠多了，實在無意再去流覽

　　嘉丁納太太罵她蠢，她說：”要是光光只有一幢富麗堂皇的房子，我也不會把它擺在心上；可是那兒的放置庭園景色實在可愛，那兒的樹木是全國最美麗的樹林。”

　　伊莉莎白不做聲了，可是她心裏依舊不敢贊同。她立刻想到，如果到那兒去欣賞風景，很可能碰到達西先生，那多糟糕！她想到這裏就羞紅了臉，自以為還不如把事情跟舅母開誠佈公地說個明白，免得要擔這麼大的風險。可是這也不妥當；也最後決定先去暗地打聽一下達西先生家裏有沒有人，如果有人，那麼，她再來用最後一著還不為遲。

　　晚上臨睡的時候，她便向待女打聽彭伯裏地方好不好，主人姓甚名誰，又心驚膽戰地問起主人家是否要回來消暑。她這最後一問，竟得到了她所求之不得的回答：他們不回來。她現在用不到再怕什麼了，可是又逐漸產生了極大的好奇心，想親眼去看看那幢房子；第二天早上舊話重提，舅母又來徵求她的同意，她便帶著一副毫不在乎的神氣馬上回答說，她對於這個計畫沒有什麼不贊成，於是他們就決計上彭伯裏去了。

Chapter 42

HAD Elizabeth’s opinion been all drawn from her own family, she could not have formed a very pleasing picture of conjugal felicity or domestic comfort. Her father, captivated by youth and beauty, and that appearance of good humour which youth and beauty generally give, had married a woman whose weak understanding and illiberal mind had, very early in their marriage, put an end to all real affection for her. Respect, esteem, and confidence had vanished for ever; and all his views of domestic happiness were overthrown. But Mr. Bennet was not of a disposition to seek comfort, for the disappointment which his own imprudence had brought on, in any of those pleasures which too often console the unfortunate for their folly or their vice. He was fond of the country and of books; and from these tastes had arisen his principal enjoyments. To his wife he was very little otherwise indebted, than as her ignorance and folly had contributed to his amusement. This is not the sort of happiness which a man would in general wish to owe to his wife; but where other powers of entertainment are wanting, the true philosopher will derive benefit from such as are given.

Elizabeth, however, had never been blind to the impropriety of her father’s behaviour as a husband. She had always seen it with pain; but respecting his abilities, and grateful for his affectionate treatment of herself, she endeavoured to forget what she could not overlook, and to banish from her thoughts that continual breach of conjugal obligation and decorum which, in exposing his wife to the contempt of her own children, was so highly reprehensible. But she had never felt so strongly as now the disadvantages which must attend the children of so unsuitable a marriage, nor ever been so fully aware of the evils arising from so ill-judged a direction of talents; talents which rightly used, might at least have preserved the respectability of his daughters, even if incapable of enlarging the mind of his wife.

When Elizabeth had rejoiced over Wickham’s departure, she found little other cause for satisfaction in the loss of the regiment. Their parties abroad were less varied than before; and at home she had a mother and sister whose constant repinings at the dulness of every thing around them threw a real gloom over their domestic circle; and, though Kitty might in time regain her natural degree of sense, since the disturbers of her brain were removed, her other sister, from whose disposition greater evil might be apprehended, was likely to be hardened in all her folly and assurance by a situation of such double danger as a watering place and a camp. Upon the whole, therefore, she found what has been sometimes found before, that an event to which she had looked forward with impatient desire, did not, in taking place, bring all the satisfaction she had promised herself. It was consequently necessary to name some other period for the commencement of actual felicity; to have some other point on which her wishes and hopes might be fixed, and by again enjoying the pleasure of anticipation, console herself for the present, and prepare for another disappointment. Her tour to the Lakes was now the object of her happiest thoughts; it was her best consolation for all the uncomfortable hours which the discontentedness of her mother and Kitty made inevitable; and could she have included Jane in the scheme, every part of it would have been perfect.

“But it is fortunate,” thought she, “that I have something to wish for. Were the whole arrangement complete, my disappointment would be certain. But here, by my carrying with me one ceaseless source of regret in my sister’s absence, I may reasonably hope to have all my expectations of pleasure realized. A scheme of which every part promises delight, can never be successful; and general disappointment is only warded off by the defence of some little peculiar vexation.”

When Lydia went away, she promised to write very often and very minutely to her mother and Kitty; but her letters were always long expected, and always very short. Those to her mother contained little else, than that they were just returned from the library, where such and such officers had attended them, and where she had seen such beautiful ornaments as made her quite wild; that she had a new gown, or a new parasol, which she would have described more fully, but was obliged to leave off in a violent hurry, as Mrs. Forster called her, and they were going to the camp; — and from her correspondence with her sister, there was still less to be learnt — for her letters to Kitty, though rather longer, were much too full of lines under the words to be made public.

After the first fortnight or three weeks of her absence, health, good humour, and cheerfulness began to re-appear at Longbourn. Everything wore a happier aspect. The families who had been in town for the winter came back again, and summer finery and summer engagements arose. Mrs. Bennet was restored to her usual querulous serenity, and by the middle of June Kitty was so much recovered as to be able to enter Meryton without tears; an event of such happy promise as to make Elizabeth hope that by the following Christmas, she might be so tolerably reasonable as not to mention an officer above once a day, unless, by some cruel and malicious arrangement at the War-Office, another regiment should be quartered in Meryton.

The time fixed for the beginning of their Northern tour was now fast approaching; and a fortnight only was wanting of it, when a letter arrived from Mrs. Gardiner, which at once delayed its commencement and curtailed its extent. Mr. Gardiner would be prevented by business from setting out till a fortnight later in July, and must be in London again within a month; and as that left too short a period for them to go so far, and see so much as they had proposed, or at least to see it with the leisure and comfort they had built on, they were obliged to give up the Lakes, and substitute a more contracted tour; and, according to the present plan, were to go no farther northward than Derbyshire. In that county, there was enough to be seen to occupy the chief of their three weeks; and to Mrs. Gardiner it had a peculiarly strong attraction. The town where she had formerly passed some years of her life, and where they were now to spend a few days, was probably as great an object of her curiosity, as all the celebrated beauties of Matlock, Chatsworth, Dovedale, or the Peak.

Elizabeth was excessively disappointed; she had set her heart on seeing the Lakes; and still thought there might have been time enough. But it was her business to be satisfied — and certainly her temper to be happy; and all was soon right again.

With the mention of Derbyshire, there were many ideas connected. It was impossible for her to see the word without thinking of Pemberley and its owner. “But surely,” said she, “I may enter his county with impunity, and rob it of a few petrified spars without his perceiving me.”

The period of expectation was now doubled. Four weeks were to pass away before her uncle and aunt’s arrival. But they did pass away, and Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner, with their four children, did at length appear at Longbourn. The children, two girls of six and eight years old, and two younger boys, were to be left under the particular care of their cousin Jane, who was the general favourite, and whose steady sense and sweetness of temper exactly adapted her for attending to them in every way — teaching them, playing with them, and loving them.

The Gardiners staid only one night at Longbourn, and set off the next morning with Elizabeth in pursuit of novelty and amusement. One enjoyment was certain — that of suitableness as companions; a suitableness which comprehended health and temper to bear inconveniences — cheerfulness to enhance every pleasure — and affection and intelligence, which might supply it among themselves if there were disappointments abroad.

It is not the object of this work to give a description of Derbyshire, nor of any of the remarkable places through which their route thither lay; Oxford, Blenheim, Warwick, Kenelworth, Birmingham, &c. are sufficiently known. A small part of Derbyshire is all the present concern. To the little town of Lambton, the scene of Mrs. Gardiner’s former residence, and where she had lately learned that some acquaintance still remained, they bent their steps, after having seen all the principal wonders of the country; and within five miles of Lambton, Elizabeth found from her aunt that Pemberley was situated. It was not in their direct road, nor more than a mile or two out of it. In talking over their route the evening before, Mrs. Gardiner expressed an inclination to see the place again. Mr. Gardiner declared his willingness, and Elizabeth was applied to for her approbation.

“My love, should not you like to see a place of which you have heard so much?” said her aunt. “A place too, with which so many of your acquaintance are connected. Wickham passed all his youth there, you know.”

Elizabeth was distressed. She felt that she had no business at Pemberley, and was obliged to assume a disinclination for seeing it. She must own that she was tired of great houses; after going over so many, she really had no pleasure in fine carpets or satin curtains.

Mrs. Gardiner abused her stupidity. “If it were merely a fine house richly furnished,” said she, “I should not care about it myself; but the grounds are delightful. They have some of the finest woods in the country.”

Elizabeth said no more — but her mind could not acquiesce. The possibility of meeting Mr. Darcy, while viewing the place, instantly occurred. It would be dreadful! She blushed at the very idea; and thought it would be better to speak openly to her aunt than to run such a risk. But against this there were objections; and she finally resolved that it could be the last resource, if her private enquiries as to the absence of the family were unfavourably answered.

Accordingly, when she retired at night, she asked the chambermaid whether Pemberley were not a very fine place, what was the name of its proprietor, and, with no little alarm, whether the family were down for the summer. A most welcome negative followed the last question — and her alarms being now removed, she was at leisure to feel a great deal of curiosity to see the house herself; and when the subject was revived the next morning, and she was again applied to, could readily answer, and with a proper air of indifference, that she had not really any dislike to the scheme.

To Pemberley, therefore, they were to go.

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