Chapter 32 — Teaching Companion

What it asks It asks the student to read Elizabeth’s own silence. She has asked about the sudden going from Netherfield and whether Bingley means to return, and Darcy ends with: “I should not be surprised,” he says, “if he were to give it up as soon as any eligible purchase offers.” Here “if any eligible purchase offers” means if a good offer to buy the house comes along. The narrator goes on: “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.” The student decides what she is afraid of. The card does not say that Elizabeth knows why Bingley left, or what Darcy had to do with it; the chapter gives only her questions and her fear.

One reading

She is afraid of her own tongue. Her remarks about Bingley have been growing sharper: first his “agreeable surprise” at being followed so soon, then the guess that he took the house for his own convenience and will keep or quit it on that rule. Darcy answers a question about coming back with talk of a sale. One more remark, and she would say plainly what she thinks of Bingley’s going, to the friend who went with him. On this reading she stops to keep her temper, and her manners, in hand.

• It must have been a most agreeable surprise to Mr. Bingley
• But, perhaps, Mr. Bingley did not take the house so much for the convenience of the neighbourhood as for his own

Another reading

She is afraid of giving her sister away. She was writing to Jane when the bell rang, and she put the letter away to keep it private. Her question about whether Bingley will ever return is already the one Jane would most want answered, and the answer is bad news. To press further would show Darcy how much Bingley’s going matters to someone at Longbourn. On this reading she goes quiet to guard Jane, not herself.

• Elizabeth was sitting by herself the next morning, and writing to Jane,
• I think I have understood that Mr. Bingley has not much idea of ever returning to Netherfield again?

Listen for

• Notices that Darcy answers a question about Bingley coming back with talk of selling the house, and that Elizabeth makes no answer.
• Notices that the narrator gives her silence two causes, fear and “having nothing else to say”.
• Notices that her silence hands the next subject to Darcy, and that he “took the hint”.
• Does not say that Elizabeth knows why Bingley left, or what Darcy had to do with it.

If stuck

• What does Darcy say Bingley may do with Netherfield?
• Who was Elizabeth writing to when the bell rang?
• What does Elizabeth do after Darcy’s answer?

A strong answer A strong response names the fear and rests it on the talk just before it. One reader hears a temper held in check: her remarks about Bingley have grown sharper, from “a most agreeable surprise” to a house kept or quit for his own convenience, and one more would say plainly what she thinks of his going. Another hears a sister guarded: she was writing to Jane, and more questions would show Darcy how much Bingley’s return matters at Longbourn. The best answers notice that the narrator gives this silence two causes, fear and “having nothing else to say”, so Elizabeth goes quiet for a reason Darcy cannot see, in a chapter that will ask what his own silences mean.

What it asks It asks the student to judge Elizabeth’s answer when Darcy says, “Mr. Collins appears very fortunate in his choice of a wife.” She replies: “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.” Here “understanding” means good sense, and “in a prudential light” means judged by caution and practical advantage. The student decides how loyal the answer is to Charlotte. The card does not say that Charlotte is unhappy: Elizabeth herself grants that she “seems perfectly happy”.

One reading

Loyal. Every doubt is wrapped in praise. Charlotte is one of the “very few sensible women”, has “an excellent understanding”, “seems perfectly happy”, and has made “a very good match” by one fair measure. Darcy’s compliment goes to Mr. Collins, for his luck; Elizabeth turns it to Charlotte, for her sense. Her one doubt is mild, “not certain”, the kind any honest friend might own. On this reading she defends Charlotte’s choice to a man who might look down on it, and she is honest without betraying her.

• My friend has an excellent understanding
• She seems perfectly happy, however;

Another reading

Not very. The praise has a sting in it. Charlotte is one of the very few sensible women “who would have accepted him”, which tells Darcy that most sensible women would refuse Mr. Collins. Then Elizabeth says outright that the marriage may not be wise, and calls it good only by money and caution. She says this to Darcy, a man she dislikes, about the friend whose guest she is. On this reading her wit costs Charlotte something, and the praise does not cover it.

• one of the very few sensible women who would have accepted him
• though I am not certain that I consider her marrying Mr. Collins as the wisest thing she ever did.

Listen for

• Notices that Darcy praises Mr. Collins’s luck, and Elizabeth answers with Charlotte’s sense.
• Weighs the double edge of “one of the very few sensible women who would have accepted him”.
• Hears “in a prudential light” as a limit: good by one measure, not by every measure.
• Does not say that Charlotte is unhappy in her marriage.

If stuck

• What does Darcy say about Mr. Collins’s marriage?
• Find two things Elizabeth says in Charlotte’s favour.
• Find the one thing she says against the match.

A strong answer A strong response judges how loyal the answer is and rests it on Elizabeth’s words. One reader finds loyalty: the doubt is mild and framed by praise, and it turns Darcy’s compliment from Mr. Collins’s luck to Charlotte’s sense. Another finds the wit costing Charlotte: the praise implies that sensible women would refuse him, and the doubt is spoken to a man Elizabeth dislikes. The best answers notice that Elizabeth judges her friend’s marriage “in a prudential light”, and that by the end of the chapter Charlotte is weighing Elizabeth’s future in much the same light.

What it asks It asks the student to hear what lies under the talk about distance. Darcy says it must be agreeable for Charlotte to be settled “within so easy a distance of her own family and friends”. Elizabeth objects: “It is nearly fifty miles.” Darcy answers, “And what is fifty miles of good road? Little more than half a day’s journey. Yes, I call it a very easy distance.” He calls her view a proof of her “attachment to Hertfordshire”, and as he speaks there is “a sort of smile, which Elizabeth fancied she understood; he must be supposing her to be thinking of Jane and Netherfield, and she blushed”. Her answer includes: “Where there is fortune to make the expense of travelling unimportant, distance becomes no evil. But that is not the case _here_.” Here “fortune” means wealth, and “fancied” means imagined, perhaps wrongly. The student decides whom, besides the Collinses, the rule might touch. The card does not say what Darcy’s smile meant; the chapter gives only what Elizabeth “fancied”.

One reading

Darcy. He has just called fifty miles “a very easy distance”, and half a day’s journey is easy only for someone who can pay for it often. Elizabeth’s rule names exactly what makes it easy: fortune. Her stress on “_here_” sets the Collinses’ “comfortable income” against a richer man’s view of the road. On this reading she answers the man in front of her, and tells him politely that he measures distance like a rich man.

• And what is fifty miles of good road?
• Mr. and Mrs. Collins have a comfortable income, but not such a one as will allow of frequent journeys

Another reading

Bingley. She has just blushed at the thought of Jane and Netherfield, and the rule fits the friend who left it. Bingley can keep a house he hardly uses, or “give it up” when a buyer offers; for such a man Hertfordshire is no distance at all. If distance is “no evil” where there is fortune, then he stays away by choice. On this reading the talk about Charlotte carries the morning’s first subject, Bingley’s leaving, in a form Elizabeth can say aloud.

• he must be supposing her to be thinking of Jane and Netherfield, and she blushed as she answered
• if he were to give it up as soon as any eligible purchase offers.

Listen for

• Notices that Darcy measures distance in road and hours, and Elizabeth measures it in money.
• Notices the blush, and that the narrator says Elizabeth only “fancied” she understood the smile.
• Hears the stress on “_here_” and asks who is being set against the Collinses.
• Does not treat the fifty miles as small talk, and does not say what Darcy’s smile meant.

If stuck

• How far is Hunsford from Charlotte’s family, and what does Darcy think of that distance?
• What does Elizabeth think Darcy is thinking of when he smiles?
• In Elizabeth’s rule, who need not mind distance?

A strong answer A strong response names the man and rests the choice on the exchange. One reader hears Darcy answered: he calls fifty miles easy, and Elizabeth names the fortune that makes it easy. Another hears Bingley: she has just blushed at the thought of Jane and Netherfield, and the rule leaves a rich man no excuse of distance for staying away. The best answers notice that the rule reaches both men, and that the narrator marks Elizabeth’s reading of Darcy’s smile with “fancied”, as her own guess.

What it asks It asks the student to set Darcy’s two sentences side by side, on either side of the chapter’s turning point. Elizabeth has just said that Charlotte would not call herself “_near_ her family under less than _half_ the present distance.” Darcy draws his chair “a little towards her” and says, “_You_ cannot have a right to such very strong local attachment. _You_ cannot have been always at Longbourn.” Then “Elizabeth looked surprised.” The narrator goes on: “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”, and the question is “Are you pleased with Kent?” Here “local attachment” means love for one’s home place, and the underscores are the edition’s mark for italics, here showing stress. The student decides how the two fit together: whether the question about Kent leaves the remark about Longbourn behind, or carries it on. The card does not say what Darcy felt; the narrator names only “some change of feeling”.

One reading

They hardly fit: the second is a retreat from the first. The chair goes back, a newspaper comes between them, and the voice is “colder”. Kent is the safest kind of subject a visitor has: the country around them. What follows is a talk “calm and concise” on both sides. On this reading Darcy steps back from a personal remark into small talk, and whatever he meant by “_You_” is dropped.

• he drew back his chair, took a newspaper from the table,
• on either side calm and concise

Another reading

They fit closely: the same subject, asked from further off. They have been talking about how far from her family a married woman may be settled, and he has just told Elizabeth she cannot have “been always at Longbourn”. Now he asks whether she is pleased with the place she is in, fifty miles from home. The voice is colder, but the question is still about her and her home. On this reading the newspaper changes his manner, and the conversation keeps its course.

• You cannot have been always at Longbourn.
• Are you pleased with Kent?

Listen for

• Notices that the chair, the newspaper and the voice all move away, while the question stays about Elizabeth.
• Weighs the stressed “_You_”: you, unlike Charlotte, or you, unlike the rest of Longbourn.
• Notices that the narrator gives “some change of feeling” and does not say which feeling.
• Does not say that Darcy is in love, or what he meant by moving the chair.

If stuck

• What does Darcy do with his chair, first and then second?
• What does Elizabeth do between the two moves?
• What have they been talking about just before he asks about Kent?

A strong answer A strong response says how the two sentences fit together and rests it on the moment. One reader finds a retreat: the chair, the newspaper and the colder voice all step back into safe talk about the country. Another finds the same question asked from further off: whether Elizabeth can be content away from Longbourn. The best answers notice that this is the one moment the narrator looks inside Darcy, and even then gives only “some change of feeling”, so the reader, like Elizabeth, has only his movements to go on.

What it asks It asks the student to set the visit the reader has just watched beside the account Charlotte hears. As soon as Darcy leaves, Charlotte says, “My dear Eliza, he must be in love with you, or he would never have called on us in this familiar way.” Here “familiar” means friendly and informal, the way a close friend calls. The narrator goes on: “But when Elizabeth told of his silence, it did not seem very likely, even to Charlotte’s wishes, to be the case”. The student decides whether “his silence” is a fair summary of the visit. The card does not say that Elizabeth hides anything; the chapter gives only the narrator’s short report of what she told.

One reading

Fair. The visit kept sinking toward silence. After the first polite inquiries it was “in danger of sinking into total silence”; Elizabeth had to find the first subject, and when she stopped, Darcy “took the hint” and found the next. After the talk of Kent, “calm and concise”, he sat a few minutes longer “without saying much to anybody”. On this reading silence is the true shape of the morning, and Charlotte hears it right.

• seemed in danger of sinking into total silence.
• after sitting a few minutes longer, without saying much to anybody, went away.

Another reading

Not the whole of it. The reader saw more than silence: a long exchange about fifty miles, a smile, a chair drawn forward and back, a stressed “_You_”, a colder voice. None of that reaches Charlotte in the narrator’s report, which gives only “his silence”. Elizabeth gives the account of someone who has not counted those things as signs. On this reading the reader now holds evidence that neither woman weighs, and the chapter makes the reader its third observer.

• Mr. Darcy drew his chair a little towards her,
• But when Elizabeth told of his silence,

Listen for

• Sets the narrator’s “his silence” beside what the reader saw: the fifty miles, the smile, the chair, the colder voice.
• Notices that the narrator reports Elizabeth’s account in a few words and does not say what else she told.
• Notices that Charlotte’s “wishes” lean one way before she hears anything.
• Does not say that Elizabeth hid the chair on purpose, or that she suspects Darcy’s interest.

If stuck

• What does Charlotte think as soon as Darcy has gone?
• What does Elizabeth tell her that makes it seem unlikely?
• Name two things that happened during the visit that were not silence.

A strong answer A strong response judges the account and rests it on the visit. One reader finds it fair: the talk kept sinking, Elizabeth found the first subject, and he left “without saying much to anybody”. Another finds it partial: the reader saw a smile, a chair moved forward and back, and a colder voice, and none of that reaches Charlotte in the narrator’s report. The best answers notice that from here on the reader knows more than Charlotte does, and must decide what the extra evidence is worth.

What it asks It asks the student to test Charlotte’s judgment of Elizabeth. The narrator says: “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.” Here “partial to” means fond of, and to have a man “in her power” means to know that the choice is hers to make. The student builds a thesis on how well Charlotte reads Elizabeth, meets the strongest objection, and revises. The card must not say what Darcy feels, and must not say that Charlotte is unhappy in her own marriage.

One reading

Well. The chapter shows the very weakness Charlotte counts on. Elizabeth likes Colonel Fitzwilliam all the more because he plainly enjoys their company, “a persuasion which of course recommended him still more”, and her pleasure in his admiration reminds her of her old favourite, Wickham. Being admired warms her. Her laughter at Charlotte’s hints proves only that she cannot yet “suppose” the thing. On this reading Charlotte knows that being liked changes how a woman sees the man who likes her, and that Elizabeth is no exception.

• a persuasion which of course recommended him still more;
• Elizabeth was reminded by her own satisfaction in being with him, as well as by his evident admiration,

Another reading

Not well. Charlotte measures by her own scale. Elizabeth calls Charlotte’s own match good only “in a prudential light”, and Charlotte plans Elizabeth’s future by that same light: the Colonel is the pleasantest man and admires her, but Darcy has “considerable patronage in the church”. Elizabeth, who doubts that Charlotte’s choice was wise, “always laughed at the idea”. On this reading Charlotte sees in her friend what she would weigh herself, and misses a friend who judges marriage by another measure.

• Mr. Darcy had considerable patronage in the church, and his cousin could have none at all.
• but Elizabeth always laughed at the idea;

Listen for

• Uses Elizabeth’s warmth toward the admiring Colonel as evidence, for one side or the other.
• Notices that Charlotte holds back for fear of “raising expectations”, though Elizabeth only laughs.
• Weighs the chapter’s last sentence: what tips Charlotte’s scale toward Darcy.
• Does not say what Darcy feels, or that Charlotte is unhappy in her marriage.

If stuck

• What does Charlotte hint to Elizabeth, and how does Elizabeth take it?
• Why does Elizabeth like Colonel Fitzwilliam so well?
• In Charlotte’s plans, what does Darcy have that his cousin lacks?

A strong answer A strong response might argue that Charlotte reads Elizabeth by her own measure, because she weighs the two cousins at last by Darcy’s “considerable patronage in the church”, while Elizabeth, who doubts the wisdom of Charlotte’s own match, “always laughed at the idea”. Key evidence includes those lines and Elizabeth’s praise of that match only “in a prudential light”. The strongest objection is that the chapter shows Elizabeth warming to a man because he enjoys her company: the Colonel’s pleasure is “a persuasion which of course recommended him still more”. A revised thesis might hold that Charlotte is right about the power of being admired and wrong about what else would move her friend: she counts on vanity and on advantage, and the chapter bears out only the first.

What it asks It asks the whole question of the chapter. After the morning visit, Charlotte and Elizabeth “could at last only suppose his visit to proceed from the difficulty of finding anything to do, which was the more probable from the time of year. All field sports were over.” But the visits go on, and the narrator says that why Darcy came “it was more difficult to understand. It could not be for society, as he frequently sat there ten minutes together without opening his lips”. Colonel Fitzwilliam’s “occasionally laughing at his stupidity proved that he was generally different”. Charlotte watches him look at Elizabeth: “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.” Here “field sports” means hunting and shooting, “society” means company, “stupidity” means dullness, and “absence of mind” means thinking of nothing in particular. The student builds a thesis on what the silence shows, meets the strongest objection, and revises. The card must not say that Darcy is in love, that Elizabeth suspects it, or that Colonel Fitzwilliam means to marry her, and must not use later chapters to settle the question.

One reading

A sign of feeling. Boredom does not explain the facts. A bored man would go where there is talk; Darcy keeps walking, with his cousin or alone, to a house where he hardly speaks. His cousin laughs at a dullness that is not his usual self, so something has changed. And on the one morning he found Elizabeth alone, he drew his chair toward her and then away, with “some change of feeling”. On this reading the silence is that of a man who is not at ease, and the gaze Charlotte watches is earnest, not empty.

• Colonel Fitzwilliam’s occasionally laughing at his stupidity proved that he was generally different,
• It was an earnest, steadfast gaze,

Another reading

Nothing better to do. The chapter itself offers the plainest reason: the season. “All field sports were over”, and “gentlemen cannot be always within doors”. Indoors there is only “Lady Catherine, books, and a billiard table”. When Darcy does speak, it is “a sacrifice to propriety, not a pleasure to himself”. Charlotte, who wants to find love, cannot find it, and sometimes his look seems “nothing but absence of mind”. On this reading the silence is just what it looks like: a restless man filling a morning, too reserved to pretend he is enjoying it.

• All field sports were over.
• and sometimes it seemed nothing but absence of mind.

Listen for

• Weighs the moved chair and the colder voice against the ten silent minutes.
• Notices that Colonel Fitzwilliam’s laughter is the only evidence that Darcy is behaving unlike himself.
• Asks whose explanation “gentlemen cannot be always within doors” is, and whether the narrator says it with a straight face.
• Does not say that Darcy is in love, and does not use later chapters.

If stuck

• Why do Charlotte and Elizabeth decide he must come for want of something to do?
• What does Colonel Fitzwilliam’s laughter tell Charlotte?
• What two things does Charlotte think Darcy’s look might mean?

A strong answer A strong response might argue that the silence is a sign of feeling, because boredom would not keep bringing a man who hardly talks to the same small house, because his own cousin laughs at a dullness unlike him, and because, alone with Elizabeth, he drew his chair toward her and then back with “some change of feeling”. The strongest objection is the chapter’s own explanation: the field sports are over, “gentlemen cannot be always within doors”, and Charlotte, who wishes to find love, finds a gaze that sometimes seems “nothing but absence of mind”. A revised thesis might hold that the evidence shows a change in Darcy but cannot name it: the chapter hands the reader the same signs it gives Charlotte, and lets the narrator’s word for his look stand: “disputable”.