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CHAPTER XXV . AFTER a week spent in professions of love and schemes of felicity , Mr . Collins was called from his amiable Charlotte by the arrival of Saturday . The pain of separation , however , might be alleviated on his side by preparations for the reception of his bride , as he had reason to hope , that shortly after his next return into Hertfordshire , the day would be fixed that was to make him the happiest of men . He took leave of his relations at Longbourn with as much solemnity as before ; wished his fair cousins health and happiness again , and promised their father another letter of thanks . On the following Monday , Mrs . Bennet had the pleasure of receiving her brother and his wife , who came , as usual , to spend the Christmas at Longbourn . Mr . Gardiner was a sensible , gentlemanlike man , greatly superior to his sister , as well by nature as education . The Netherfield ladies would have had difficulty in believing that a man who lived by trade , and within view of his own warehouses , could have been so well - bred and agreeable . Mrs . Gardiner , who was several years younger than Mrs . Bennet and Mrs . Philips , was an amiable , intelligent , elegant woman , and a great favourite with her Longbourn nieces . Between the two eldest and herself especially , there subsisted a very particular regard . They had frequently been staying with her in town . The first part of Mrs . Gardiner’s business , on her arrival , was to distribute her presents and describe the newest fashions . When this was done , she had a less active part to play . It became her turn to listen . Mrs . Bennet had many grievances to relate , and much to complain of . They had all been very ill - used since she last saw her sister . Two of her girls had been on the point of marriage , and after all there was nothing in it . “ I do not blame Jane , ” she continued , “ for Jane would have got Mr . Bingley if she could . But , Lizzy ! Oh , sister ! it is very hard to think that she might have been Mr . Collins’s wife by this time , had not it been for her own perverseness . He made her an offer in this very room , and she refused him . The consequence of it is , that Lady Lucas will have a daughter married before I have , and that Longbourn estate is just as much entailed as ever . The Lucases are very artful people , indeed , sister . They are all for what they can get . I am sorry to say it of them , but so it is . It makes me very nervous and poorly , to be thwarted so in my own family , and to have neighbours who think of themselves before anybody else . However , your coming just at this time is the greatest of comforts , and I am very glad to hear what you tell us of long sleeves . ” Mrs . Gardiner , to whom the chief of this news had been given before , in the course of Jane and Elizabeth’s correspondence with her , made her sister a slight answer , and , in compassion to her nieces , turned the conversation .
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