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They are young in the ways of the world, and not yet open to the

mortifying conviction that handsome young men must have something

to live on as well as the plain."

CHAPTER XXVII.

With no greater events than these in the Longbourn family, and

otherwise diversified by little beyond the walks to Meryton,

sometimes dirty and sometimes cold, did January and February pass

away. March was to take Elizabeth to Hunsford. She had not at

first thought very seriously of going thither; but Charlotte, she

soon found, was depending on the plan, and she gradually learned

to consider it herself with greater pleasure as well as greater

certainty. Absence had increased her desire of seeing Charlotte

again, and weakened her disgust of Mr. Collins. There was novelty

in the scheme; and as, with such a mother and such

uncompanionable sisters, home could not be faultless, a little

change was not unwelcome for its own sake. The journey would,

moreover, give her a peep at Jane; and, in short, as the time

drew near, she would have been very sorry for any delay.

Everything, however, went on smoothly, and was finally settled

according to Charlotte's first sketch.