Elizabeth was sitting by herself the next morning, and writing to Jane, while Mrs. Collins and Maria were gone on business into the village, when she was startled by a ring at the door, the certain signal of a visitor. As she had heard no carriage, she thought it not unlikely to be Lady Catherine, and under that apprehension was putting away her half-finished letter that she might escape all impertinent questions, when the door opened, and to her very great surprise, Mr. Darcy, and Mr. Darcy only, entered the room.
He seemed astonished too on finding her alone, and apologised for his intrusion by letting her know that he had understood all the ladies to be within.
They then sat down, and when her enquiries after Rosings were made, seemed in danger of sinking into total silence. It was absolutely necessary, therefore, to think of something, and in this emergency recollecting when she had seen him last in Hertfordshire, and feeling curious to know what he would say on the subject of their hasty departure, she observed,
"How very suddenly you all quitted Netherfield last November, Mr. Darcy! It must have been a most agreeable surprise to Mr. Bingley to see you all after him so soon; for, if I recollect right, he went but the day before. He and his sisters were well, I hope, when you left London."
"Perfectly so -- I thank you."
She found that she was to receive no other answer -- and, after a short pause, added,
"I think I have understood that Mr. Bingley has not much idea of ever returning to Netherfield again?"
"I have never heard him say so; but it is probable that he may spend very little of his time there in future. He has many friends, and he is at a time of life when friends and engagements are continually increasing."
"If he means to be but little at Netherfield, it would be better for the neighbourhood that he should give up the place entirely, for then we might possibly get a settled family there. But perhaps Mr. Bingley did not take the house so much for the convenience of the neighbourhood as for his own, and we must expect him to keep or quit it on the same principle."
"I should not be surprised," said Darcy, "if he were to give it up, as soon as any eligible purchase offers."
Elizabeth made no answer. She was afraid of talking longer of his friend; and, having nothing else to say, was now determined to leave the trouble of finding a subject to him.
He took the hint, and soon began with, "This seems a very comfortable house. Lady Catherine, I believe, did a great deal to it when Mr. Collins first came to Hunsford."
"I believe she did -- and I am sure she could not have bestowed her kindness on a more grateful object."
"Mr. Collins appears very fortunate in his choice of a wife."
"Yes, indeed; his friends may well rejoice in his having met with one of the very few sensible women who would have accepted him, or have made him happy if they had. My friend has an excellent understanding -- though I am not certain that I consider her marrying Mr. Collins as the wisest thing she ever did. She seems perfectly happy, however, and in a prudential light, it is certainly a very good match for her."
"It must be very agreeable to her to be settled within so easy a distance of her own family and friends."
"An easy distance do you call it? It is nearly fifty miles."
"And what is fifty miles of good road? Little more than half a day's journey. Yes, I call it a very easy distance."
"I should never have considered the distance as one of the advantages of the match," cried Elizabeth. "I should never have said Mrs. Collins was settled near her family."
"It is a proof of your own attachment to Hertfordshire. Any thing beyond the very neighbourhood of Longbourn, I suppose, would appear far."
As he spoke there was a sort of smile, which Elizabeth fancied she understood; he must be supposing her to be thinking of Jane and Netherfield, and she blushed as she answered,
"I do not mean to say that a woman may not be settled too near her family. The far and the near must be relative, and depend on many varying circumstances. Where there is fortune to make the expence of travelling unimportant, distance becomes no evil. But that is not the case here. Mr. and Mrs. Collins have a comfortable income, but not such a one as will allow of frequent journeys -- and I am persuaded my friend would not call herself near her family under less than half the present distance."
Mr. Darcy drew his chair a little towards her, and said, "You cannot have a right to such very strong local attachment. You cannot have been always at Longbourn."
Elizabeth looked surprised. The gentleman experienced some change of feeling; he drew back his chair, took a newspaper from the table, and, glancing over it, said, in a colder voice,
"Are you pleased with Kent?"
A short dialogue on the subject of the country ensued, on either side calm and concise -- and soon put an end to by the entrance of Charlotte and her sister, just returned from their walk. The te^te-a`-te^te surprised them. Mr. Darcy related the mistake which had occasioned his intruding on Miss Bennet, and after sitting a few minutes longer without saying much to any body, went away.
"What can be the meaning of this!" said Charlotte, as soon as he was gone. "My dear Eliza, he must be in love with you, or he would never have called on us in this familiar way."
But when Elizabeth told of his silence, it did not seem very likely, even to Charlotte's wishes, to be the case; and after various conjectures, they could at last only suppose his visit to proceed from the difficulty of finding any thing to do, which was the more probable from the time of year. All field sports were over. Within doors there was Lady Catherine, books, and a billiard table, but gentlemen cannot be always within doors; and in the nearness of the Parsonage, or the pleasantness of the walk to it, or of the people who lived in it, the two cousins found a temptation from this period of walking thither almost every day. They called at various times of the morning, sometimes separately, sometimes together, and now and then accompanied by their aunt. It was plain to them all that Colonel Fitzwilliam came because he had pleasure in their society, a persuasion which of course recommended him still more; and Elizabeth was reminded by her own satisfaction in being with him, as well as by his evident admiration of her, of her former favourite George Wickham; and though, in comparing them, she saw there was less captivating softness in Colonel Fitzwilliam's manners, she believed he might have the best informed mind.
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 sat 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. It was an earnest, steadfast gaze, but she often doubted whether there were much admiration in it, and sometimes it seemed nothing but absence of mind.
She had once or twice suggested to Elizabeth the possibility of his being partial to her, but Elizabeth always laughed at the idea; and Mrs. Collins did not think it right to press the subject, from the danger of raising expectations which might only end in disappointment; for in her opinion it admitted not of a doubt, that all her friend's dislike would vanish, if she could suppose him to be in her power.
In her kind schemes for Elizabeth, she sometimes planned her marrying Colonel Fitzwilliam. He was beyond comparison the pleasantest man; he certainly admired her, and his situation in life was most eligible; but, to counterbalance these advantages, Mr. Darcy had considerable patronage in the church, and his cousin could have none at all.
--正文
第二天早上柯林斯夫人和玛丽亚去村里有事了，伊丽莎白就坐在那儿给简写信，突然她被一阵门铃声吓到了，有客人来了。虽然没有听到马车声，但也有可能是卡瑟林夫人，所以她赶紧把写了一半的信收起来，以免又被问这问那的。但是门一打开，出乎意料的是，只有达西走了进来。他看到伊丽莎白一个人待在家也很惊讶，然后就道歉说以为所有姑娘都在呢，实在是叨扰。
他们就坐了下来，伊丽莎白问完了罗西的事情后，眼看着就要冷场。这时候必须要找点话题了，匆忙之中伊丽莎白想到最后见到他还是在赫特福德，她很想知道上次他们匆匆忙忙走了，达西有啥要说的，于是就问道：“去年十一月你们走的真是突然啊，达西先生！宾利先生知道你们那么快就跟着他后面一起走了，应该会很惊讶吧。因为我没记错的话，他只比你们早走一天。我希望你离开伦敦的时候，他和他姐姐都好。”
“特别好，谢谢你。”
她发现达西不会再说什么了。一阵短暂的沉默后，她又接着说：“
宾利先生不会再回耐热屯了吧？”
“我没听他这么说过。但是以后他可能极少回去。他有很多朋友，而且在他这个年纪，正是广交好友，觥筹交错的时候。”
“如果他只是极少回去，那他租的房子应该给退掉，那说不定周边还能住一户邻居进去。但是宾利先生租这房子应该大部分是为自己，不是为了邻居。我觉得他不论是留着，还是退租，他都是为了自己好。”
“他要是买了称心的房子，这边退租了我是不会奇怪的。”达西说。
伊丽莎白没有回答。她不敢再多聊宾利的事情。而她现在又没有什么想说，就决定让达西来找话题。
达西明白了伊丽莎白的意思，很快开心说：“这房子看起来挺舒服的。我相信柯林斯先生刚来夯斯屯的时候，卡瑟林夫人肯定在这房子上面帮了不少忙。”
“我也觉得是，而且我很确定没有人会对卡瑟林夫人更感恩戴德了。”
“柯林斯先生选了这个老婆，可真的是很幸运啊。”
“确实如此。柯林斯能遇到这么个明事理的老婆，还刚好看得上他，嫁了他也让他幸福，他的朋友们肯定非常满意。我的这位朋友是很聪明的，但是我觉得她嫁给柯林斯可不是她做得做明智的事情。不过她看起来很开心，所以谨慎地说，柯林斯跟她倒也般配。”
“能嫁到离自己家和朋友那么近的地方，应该是个很开心的事情。”
“你把这叫离得近吗？这有近50英里呢。”
“50英里好路又能有多远？不过是半天多一点的路程。所以我说嫁得很近。”
“我倒不觉得嫁得近是这桩婚姻值得称道的地方。”伊丽莎白激动地说，“我可不会说柯林斯夫人真是嫁得近呀。”
“这说明你对赫特福德的感情深啊。我估计只要出了蘑菇屯，任何地方你都会觉得远。”
达西说话的时候稍微笑了笑，伊丽莎白觉得自己懂了他的意思——他肯定是觉得自己在想简和耐热屯的事情，她脸红了起来，回答说：“
我不是说女人不能嫁得离家太近。远近是相对的，是要分情况讨论的。要是有钱到处走，那远点也无妨。但这儿可不是这样。柯林斯先生和柯林斯夫人虽然收入不错，但也负担不起频繁旅游。而且我很确定，就算夏洛特离家只有现在的一半距离，她也不会觉得离家近。”
达西把凳子拖了过来，离伊丽莎白近了一点，说：“你可不能那么恋家啊。你不会一直留在蘑菇屯的。”
伊丽莎白很惊讶。达西自己心情也有些变化，他又把凳子拖了回去，然后从桌子上拿了份报纸，瞥了一眼接着用冷静的声音说：“你喜欢肯特郡这疙瘩么？”
俩人又接着聊了下肯特这地儿，两人都是心不在焉的，随便聊聊。一会夏洛特和她妹妹出门回来了，伊丽莎白和达西也就不聊了。她们俩看到达西和伊丽莎白在这闲聊，很是惊讶。达西就解释说是自己偶然撞见了本内特小姐，他又坐了几分钟，也没说几句话就走了。
达西一走，夏洛特就说：“这是什么情况！我的利兹，他肯定是爱上你了，否则他肯定不会这么随随便便拜访我们的。”
但是伊丽莎白说起他尴尬的沉默，甚至对于夏洛特来说，都不太可能是这种情况。几个姑娘又猜测了好几回，最后总算假定了他肯定是找不到事情做。一年中在这个时节还是很有可能的。户外运动玩不了了。室内呢，只有卡瑟林夫人，书，还有一张台球桌，但是男人们可不会一直待在屋里的。而牧师宿舍离得近，走过去风景又好，里面住的人又惹人喜欢，这两个堂兄弟这段时间几乎天天都走过去拜访。他们已经早上来拜访过好多回了，有时候分别来拜访，有时候一起来，然后时不时地又被他们舅妈陪着。（翻译官：我也不知道是不是舅妈....）菲茨威廉姆上校经常过来是因为喜欢跟他们玩，这很容易看出来，而他以后肯定会经常过来。而伊丽莎白自己也很喜欢跟他在一起，很明显地她也能看出菲茨威廉姆喜欢自己，这让她想起来以前的心上人——乔治.维克汉姆。但是经过比较，她觉得菲茨威廉姆并不像维克汉姆那么温柔，那么迷人，但菲茨威廉姆可能是更有学识的人。
但是达西那么频繁得拜访牧舍（注：牧师宿舍）却是难以理解。他不可能是要找人聊天，因为他经常坐十分钟什么话也不说。而等到他说话的时候，看起来又好像是因为礼数必须要讲，而不是自己想说。而他很少有兴致勃勃地时候。柯林斯太太不知道该怎么看待他。菲茨威廉姆上校有时候会笑他那副蠢样子，这说明达西只是跟别人不一样，而以她对达西的了解是不可能提前知道的。尽管她十分希望达西的这种变化是因为爱情，也是为了追求她的好朋友利兹，她决心坐下好好观察，一探究竟。每次他们在罗星庄园的时候，每次达西来夯斯屯的时候，她都会认真观察他们两个，但是没有什么成果。确实，达西经常看着伊丽莎白，但是那副表情又看不出个所以然。那是种认真而又坚定的凝视，但是她又经常怀疑这眼神里到底有没有爱慕，有时候看起来像达西只是走神了。（翻译官：Can't read my poker face?）
柯林斯太太也跟伊丽莎白提过一两次——达西可能是看上他了，但是伊丽莎白总是一笑了之。而柯林斯太太也觉得这个话题不宜深究，以免提高了利兹的期望然后又落空。因为在她看来，只要伊丽莎白以为达西喜欢她，那么她对于达西所有的厌恶都会消失的。
在她善良的计划里，她有时候打算让伊丽莎白嫁给菲茨威廉姆上校。他无疑是最惹人开心的男人。而且他也喜欢她，也有身份，配她也挺合适。但是相比之下，达西在教会里人脉广泛，而他的兄弟则啥人脉都没有。
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