“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 sympathize 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, 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
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Alice did not dare to disobey, though she felt sure it would all come wrong, and she went on in a trembling voice:—
/* “My dear Sir, */
“Him th’ Almighty power Hurl’d headlong flaming from th ethereal sky, With hideous ruin and combustion”
“Go on with the next verse,” the Gryphon repeated impatiently: “it begins ‘I passed by his garden.’”
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:--
[73] “Paradise Lost,” i. 44.
“It’s the first position in dancing.” Alice said; but was dreadfully puzzled by the whole thing, and longed to change the subject.
Every day at Longbourn was now a day of anxiety; but the most anxious part of each was when the post was expected. The arrival of letters was the first 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 about his toes?” the Mock Turtle persisted. “How could he turn them out with his nose, you know?”
She had never heard of his having had any relations, except a father and mother, both of whom had been dead many years. It was possible, however, that some of his companions in the ----shire might be able to give more information; and though she was not very sanguine in expecting it, the application was a something to look forward to.
[72] A double bowl, i.e. a vessel with a cup at both ends, something like the measures by which a halfpenny or pennyworth of nuts is sold. See Buttmann, Lexic. p. 93 sq.
“Paradise Lost” ii. 351.
[71] “So was his will Pronounced among the gods, and by an oath, That shook heav’n’s whole circumference, confirm’d.”
“She can’t explain it,” said the Gryphon hastily. “Go on with the next verse.”
[70] He spoke, &c. “When a friend inquired of Phidias what pattern he had formed his Olympian Jupiter, he is said to have answered by repeating the lines of the first Iliad in which the poet represents the majesty of the god in the most sublime terms; thereby signifying that the genius of Homer had inspired him with it. Those who beheld this statue are said to have been so struck with it as to have asked whether Jupiter had descended from heaven to show himself to Phidias, or whether Phidias had been carried thither to contemplate the god.”— “Elgin Marbles,” vol. xii p.124.
“I should like to have it explained,” said the Mock Turtle.
Elizabeth was at no loss to understand from whence this deference for her authority proceeded; but it was not in her power to give any information of so satisfactory a nature as the compliment deserved.
This favoured the desperate resolution Charles Darnay had begun to make, that he would go to Paris.
[69] Crown’d, i.e. filled to the brim. The custom of adorning goblets with flowers was of later date.