第375页 / 共817页

But why Mr. Darcy came so often to the Parsonage it was more

difficult to understand. It could not be for society, as he

frequently sat there ten minutes together without opening his

lips; and when he did speak, it seemed the effect of necessity

rather than of choice--a sacrifice to propriety, not a pleasure

to himself. He seldom appeared really animated. Mrs. Collins knew

not what to make of him. Colonel Fitzwilliam's occasionally

laughing at his stupidity proved that he was generally different,

which her own knowledge of him could not have told her; and as

she would have liked to believe this change the effect of love,

and the object of that love her friend Eliza, she set herself

seriously to work to find it out: she watched him whenever they

were at Rosings, and whenever he came to Hunsford; but without

much success. He certainly looked at her friend a great deal, but

the expression of that look was disputable.