Chapter 48 279
grand object of every morning ' s impatience . Through letters , whatever of good or bad was to be told would be communicated , and every succeeding day was expected to bring some news of importance .
But before they heard again from Mr . Gardiner , a letter arrived for their father , from a different quarter , from Mr . Collins ; which , as Jane had received directions to open all that came for him in his absence , she accordingly read ; and Elizabeth , who knew what curiosities his letters always were , looked over her , and read it likewise . It was as follows :
" MY DEAR SIR ,
" I feel myself called upon , by our relationship , and my situation in life , to condole with you on the grievous affliction you are now suffering under , of which we were yesterday informed by a letter from Hertfordshire . Be assured , my dear sir , that Mrs . Collins and myself sincerely sympathise with you and all your respectable family , in your present distress , which must be of the bitterest kind , because proceeding from a cause which no time can remove . No arguments shall be wanting on my part that can alleviate so severe a misfortune--or that may comfort you , under a circumstance that must be of all others the most afflicting to a parent ' s mind . The death of your daughter would have been a blessing in comparison of this . And it is the more to be lamented , because there is reason to suppose as my dear Charlotte informs me , that this licentiousness of behaviour in your daughter has proceeded from a faulty degree of indulgence ; though , at the same time , for the consolation of yourself and Mrs . Bennet , I am inclined to think that her own disposition must be naturally bad , or she could not be guilty of such an enormity , at so early an age . Howsoever that may be , you are grievously to be pitied ; in which opinion I am not only joined by Mrs . Collins , but likewise by Lady Catherine and her daughter , to whom I have related the affair . They agree with me in apprehending that this false step in one daughter will be injurious to the fortunes of all the others ; for who , as Lady Catherine herself condescendingly says , will connect themselves with such a family ? And this consideration leads me moreover to reflect , with augmented satisfaction , on a certain event of last November ; for had it been otherwise ,