(Jane Austen - Pride and prejudice ) From his garden, Mr. Collins would have led them round his two meadows;but the ladies, not having shoes to encounter the remains of a whitefrost, turned back; and while Sir William accompanied him, Charlottetook her sister and friend over the house, extremely well pleased,probably, to have the opportunity of showing it without her husband'shelp.
Had Elizabethbeen able to encounter his eye, she might have seen how well theexpression of heartfelt delight, diffused over his face, became him;but, though she could not look, she could listen, and he told her offeelings, which, in proving of what importance she was to him, made hisaffection every moment more valuable.
There was the widowbefore him, bouncing bodily here and there, with unwonted vigour; andMr. Tracy Tupman hopping about, with a face expressive of the mostintense solemnity, dancing (as a good many people do) as if a quadrillewere not a thing to be laughed at, but a severe trial to the feelings,which it requires inflexible resolution to encounter.
That illustrious man had beenseparated from his friends and fol lowers for two whole days; and it waswith a degree of pleasure and delight, which no common imagination canadequately conceive, that he stepped forward to greet Mr. Winkle andMr. Snodgrass, as he encountered those gentlemen on his return fromhis early walk.
Hail, rain, or sunshine, youcan't walk half a dozen yards up the street, without encountering half adozen green parasols.
He represents himself as being forced fromthe carriage by some unseen power, and being personally engaged in apugilistic encounter; but with whom, or how, or why, he is whollyunable to state.
Atall these encounters, Horatio Fizkin, Esquire, of Fizkin Lodge, andhis friends, waxed fierce and furious; until at last Horatio Fizkin,Esquire, of Fizkin Lodge, begged to ask his opponent, the HonourableSamuel Slumkey, of Slumkey Hall, whether that band played by hisconsent; which question the Honourable Samuel Slumkey declining toanswer, Horatio Fizkin, Esquire, of Fizkin Lodge, shook his fist inthe countenance of the Honourable Samuel Slumkey, of Slumkey Hall; uponwhich the Honourable Samuel Slumkey, his blood being up, defied HoratioFizkin, Esquire, to mortal combat.
"'Tom Smart was just on the point of protesting that he hadn't tasted adrop since his last birthday, but when his eye encountered that of theold gentleman he looked so knowing that Tom blushed, and was silent.