2015 School Magazine

A NECESSITY UNIVERSALLY ACKNOWLEDGED [EXCERPT] ISABELLE HIGGINS (12W)

Charlotte expected the Netherfield Ball to hold no great delights for her. At twenty-seven, she was too old to be an object of the officers’ attentions. Of the young men in Meryton, only eldest sons would ask her to dance; and they asked only because custom dictated it. She watched Jane’s preferment with satisfaction second only to that of the Bennet family. As a young lady should be, she was generous, and far too well bred to succumb to jealousy. Jane deserved all the joy and security that being the wife of Mr Bingley would provide. Elizabeth was engaged by Mr Collins for the first dance, leading Charlotte to believe another attachment was in the making — but her friend spent the evening turning a cold shoulder to his later offers to dance, replying with short, barely tactful answers, and generally going to great lengths to make her indifference evident (to no avail). Though at first Charlotte had thought only to calm Elizabeth’s ruffled nerves by distracting Mr Collins, she soon found that she would have kept talking to him for her own benefit. Mr Collins’ speech suffered from a comic lack of self-awareness, which she found immensely entertaining, and she was far from insensible of the compliment of his attention, which he gave her for most of the evening. But speculation was foolish: she told herself that she should be content with an amiable neighbour in the future.

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