第十七章

    Elizabeth related to Jane the next day, what had passed between Mr. Wickham and herself. Jane listened with astonishment and concern; -- she knew not how to believe that Mr. Darcy could be so unworthy of Mr. Bingley's regard; and yet, it was not in her nature to question the veracity of a young man of such amiable appearance as Wickham. -- The possibility of his having really endured such unkindness, was enough to interest all her tender feelings; and nothing therefore remained to be done, but to think well of them both, to defend the conduct of each, and throw into the account of accident or mistake, whatever could not be otherwise explained. 

"They have both," said she, "been deceived, I dare say, in some way or other, of which we can form no idea. Interested people have perhaps misrepresented each to the other. It is, in short, impossible for us to conjecture the causes or circumstances which may have alienated them, without actual blame on either side."

"Very true, indeed; -- and now, my dear Jane, what have you got to say in behalf of the interested people who have probably been concerned in the business? -- Do clear them too, or we shall be obliged to think ill of somebody."

"Laugh as much as you chuse, but you will not laugh me out of my opinion. My dearest Lizzy, do but consider in what a disgraceful light it places Mr. Darcy, to be treating his father's favourite in such a manner, -- one, whom his father had promised to provide for. -- It is impossible. No man of common humanity, no man who had any value for his character, could be capable of it. Can his most intimate friends be so excessively deceived in him? oh! no."

"I can much more easily believe Mr. Bingley's being imposed on, than that Mr. Wickham should invent such a history of himself as he gave me last night; names, facts, every thing mentioned without ceremony. -- If it be not so, let Mr. Darcy contradict it. Besides, there was truth in his looks."

"It is difficult indeed -- it is distressing. -- One does not know what to think."

"I beg your pardon; -- one knows exactly what to think."

But Jane could think with certainty on only one point, -- that Mr. Bingley, if he had been imposed on, would have much to suffer when the affair became public.

The two young ladies were summoned from the shrubbery where this conversation passed, by the arrival of some of the very persons of whom they had been speaking; Mr. Bingley and his sisters came to give their personal invitation for the long expected ball at Netherfield, which was fixed for the following Tuesday. The two ladies were delighted to see their dear friend again, called it an age since they had met, and repeatedly asked what she had been doing with herself since their separation. To the rest of the family they paid little attention; avoiding Mrs. Bennet as much as possible, saying not much to Elizabeth, and nothing at all to the others. They were soon gone again, rising from their seats with an activity which took their brother by surprise, and hurrying off as if eager to escape from Mrs. Bennet's civilities.

The prospect of the Netherfield ball was extremely agreeable to every female of the family. Mrs. Bennet chose to consider it as given in compliment to her eldest daughter, and was particularly flattered by receiving the invitation from Mr. Bingley himself, instead of a ceremonious card; Jane pictured to herself a happy evening in the society of her two friends, and the attention of their brother; and Elizabeth thought with pleasure of dancing a great deal with Mr. Wickham, and of seeing a confirmation of every thing in Mr. Darcy's looks and behaviour. The happiness anticipated by Catherine and Lydia, depended less on any single event, or any particular person, for though they each, like Elizabeth, meant to dance half the evening with Mr. Wickham, he was by no means the only partner who could satisfy them, and a ball was at any rate, a ball. And even Mary could assure her family that she had no disinclination for it.

"While I can have my mornings to myself," said she, "it is enough. -- I think it no sacrifice to join occasionally in evening engagements. Society has claims on us all; and I profess myself one of those who consider intervals of recreation and amusement as desirable for every body."

Elizabeth's spirits were so high on the occasion that, though she did not often speak unnecessarily to Mr. Collins, she could not help asking him whether he intended to accept Mr. Bingley's invitation, and, if he did, whether he would think it proper to join in the evening's amusement; and she was rather surprised to find that he entertained no scruple whatever on that head, and was very far from dreading a rebuke either from the Archbishop, or Lady Catherine de Bourgh, by venturing to dance.

"I am by no means of opinion, I assure you," said he, "that a ball of this kind, given by a young man of character to respectable people, can have any evil tendency; and I am so far from objecting to dancing myself, that I shall hope to be honoured with the hands of all my fair cousins in the course of the evening, and I take this opportunity of soliciting yours, Miss Elizabeth, for the two first dances especially, -- a preference which I trust my cousin Jane will attribute to the right cause, and not to any disrespect for her."

Elizabeth felt herself completely taken in. She had fully proposed being engaged by Wickham for those very dances: -- and to have Mr. Collins instead! her liveliness had been never worse timed. There was no help for it however. Mr. Wickham's happiness and her own was perforce delayed a little longer, and Mr. Collins's proposal accepted with as good a grace as she could. She was not the better pleased with his gallantry from the idea it suggested of something more. -- It now first struck her that she was selected from among her sisters as worthy of being the mistress of Hunsford Parsonage, and of assisting to form a quadrille table at Rosings, in the absence of more eligible visitors. The idea soon reached to conviction, as she observed his increasing civilities toward herself, and heard his frequent attempt at a compliment on her wit and vivacity; and though more astonished than gratified herself by this effect of her charms, it was not long before her mother gave her to understand that the probability of their marriage was exceedingly agreeable to her. Elizabeth, however, did not chuse to take the hint, being well aware that a serious dispute must be the consequence of any reply. Mr. Collins might never make the offer, and till he did, it was useless to quarrel about him.

If there had not been a Netherfield ball to prepare for and talk of, the younger Miss Bennets would have been in a pitiable state at this time, for from the day of the invitation to the day of the ball, there was such a succession of rain as prevented their walking to Meryton once. No aunt, no officers, no news could be sought after; -- the very shoe-roses for Netherfield were got by proxy. Even Elizabeth might have found some trial of her patience in weather which totally suspended the improvement of her acquaintance with Mr. Wickham; and nothing less than a dance on Tuesday, could have made such a Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday endurable to Kitty and Lydia.

--正文

伊丽莎白第二天就跟简说了昨晚跟维克汉姆聊的事情。简听了后很惊讶，十分关切，她无法相信达西竟然能恶劣至此，实在是配不上宾利还这么尊重他。但是维克汉姆长得那么帅，她自然是不会怀疑他的诚实。（翻译官：我说什么来着）想到他可能真的忍受了如此的恶意，简就会心里难受。所以简只好做个老好人，把两个人都往好处想，就说两个人这么做肯定都有自己的理由，肯定是有误会才这样的，反正就一直往好了圆。

“我敢说他们俩都误会了对方，”简说，”具体怎么误会的我们也说不清楚。也许是别有用心的人，故意让他们误会对方。简单的说，除非找出确凿的证据，否则我们不可能猜出来这两人因为什么疏远的。“

“说得很对，我亲爱的简，你现在要为那些别有用心的人辩护下么？帮他们也洗脱下嫌疑呗，不然我们不就把别人想坏了么。”

“你想笑话我就笑话我是了，但是我的看法是不会改变的。我亲爱的小伊丽，你想想达西要真是这么对待他老爸最爱的小孩，尤其是他老爸还承诺会养活这个小孩，那该有多丢人啊？所以这是不可能的。任何有点人性的人，任何尊重自己人格的人，都不会做出这种事的。他的那些好朋友，难道会被他这么蒙骗吗？不可能的。”

“相比相信维克汉姆昨晚专门编个故事骗我，还说得头头是道的，我还是觉得宾利更容易被达西骗。如果事实不是这样，那就让达西自己来辩解吧。再说了，当时维克汉姆那样子，看起来可是很诚实的。”

“遇到这种事确实很难办，叫人难受，然后就会胡思乱想。”

“不存在的，那种情况下心里想啥自己肯定是很清楚的。”

但是简在一点上可以确定，那就是假如宾利被欺骗了，一旦真相大白了，那他会非常痛苦。

两个姑娘正在灌木里聊着天，突然听到一群人的到来，姐妹俩赶过去发现来人不是别人，正是她们俩刚刚聊到的——宾利和他姐姐们。他们亲自来邀请他们参加被期待已久的耐热屯舞会了，舞会定于下周四举行。宾利的两个姐姐看到简很开心，说是上次见面已经像是好几年前的事情了，还不停的询问上次分手后简的身体怎么样了。对于本内特家的其他人，她们俩则不甚热情——对本内特太太是能躲则躲，对伊丽莎白呢则是不说几句话，剩下的人则是干脆一句都不说了。很快他们就走了，起身之快让她们的弟弟都惊讶不已，她们好像着急要避开那繁琐的礼节，飞快地离开了本内特家。

想到耐热屯舞会那种热闹的场景，本内特家的女人们激动万分。本内特太太认为这次舞会是为了恭维自家大女儿才开的。而且宾利亲自过来邀请，而不是随意的送张礼品卡来，这让她也十分受用。而简则想着一晚上能开心和那两个朋友聊聊，同时能被宾利多关注关注。至于伊丽莎白呢，则开心地想着要和维克汉姆好好跳跳舞，顺便看看达西的表情举止，验证下维克汉姆说得那些是不是真的。而对于卡瑟林和莉迪亚来说呢，她们的快乐不依赖于某件事，或者某个人。尽管她们两个跟伊丽莎白一样，都打算跟维克汉姆跳上半个晚上，但是别人跟她们跳她们也会很开心。因为舞会毕竟是舞会嘛。甚至天天青灯古佛的玛丽，也跟家里人不反对去跳跳舞。

“只要早上没事就行，”玛丽说，“我觉得偶尔参加下晚上的活动也没啥问题。我们谁都需要社交嘛，我跟别人一样都需要些娱乐消遣。”

伊丽莎白太嗨了，就连平时没事绝对不搭理的柯林斯，她也要逗着他问接不接受邀请。又问他假如接受邀请的话，他一个牧师一起去跳舞合不合适。结果伊丽莎白惊讶的发现，他决定冒个险去跳舞，没有一丝顾忌，也不害怕大主教或者凯瑟琳夫人的斥责。

“我向你保证，”他说，“这种体面年轻人替一群尊敬的人举办的舞会，无论如何都不会有坏处的。我更不会反对自己跳点舞了，我十分期待今晚舞会上和我漂亮的堂姐妹们跳几只舞。我更希望，前两只舞能和伊丽莎白小姐单独跳。我相信我的简姐姐一定能理解我此番选择，是出于正当的理由，对她没有任何的不敬。”

伊丽莎白已经完全沉浸在舞会中，她早已打算好要和维克汉姆好好跳几支舞了。但一听说要和柯林斯一起跳，她就从没有这么扫兴过。但是这也是没办法的事情，柯林斯已经开口了，她只好尽量礼貌的接受了，维克汉姆和她的美妙时光只能向后拖一拖了。尽管柯林斯对她殷勤有加，但是这并没有让她开心一点，因为柯林斯这番热情是有目的的。她一开始以为柯林斯从姐妹中选中自己，是想自己做他家的主妇，还有哪天在罗星庄园打牌的时候三缺一，也能拉她去凑个数。这个想法很快就被证实了，因为她发现柯林斯对她越来越客套，而且反复夸奖她聪明又活泼。尽管听到自己的魅力如此出众，她并没有多么得意，反而是惊讶多一些。不一会，她老娘就让她说：你们俩要是结婚了，我可是开心的不得了。但是伊丽莎白就装傻，因为她明白不论说些啥大家都会吵起来。柯林斯也许永远不会求婚，除非哪天他求婚了，不然现在是没必要为了他争吵。

要不是有这场舞会能聊一聊，忙一忙，本内特家的小姐们可真是惨兮兮了。因为从被邀请那天开始，一直到舞会那天，雨就一直下个没停，她们一次梅屯都没能去成。舅妈没得找，军官没得找，新闻也没得听了。就连为舞会准备的鞋花都是托人代买的。就连伊丽莎白都被这天气有些不耐烦了，因为这让她和维克汉姆的关系原地停滞，没有进展。只有下周二的舞会，能支撑凯蒂和莉迪亚熬过这样阴雨连绵的周五、周六、周日和下周一。