Jane Austen
James's. The whole family, in short, were
properly overjoyed on the occasion. The younger girls formed hopes of coming out a year
or two sooner than they might otherwise have done; and the boys were relieved from their
apprehension of Charlotte's dying an old maid. Charlotte herself was tolerably composed.
She had gained her point, and had time to consider of it. Her reflections were in general
satisfactory. Mr. Collins, to be sure, was neither sensible nor agreeable; his society was
irksome, and his attachment to her must be imaginary. But still he would be her husband.
Without thinking highly either of men or matrimony, marriage had always been her object;
it was the only provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, and however
uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want. This
preservative she had now obtained; and at the age of twenty-seven, without having ever
been handsome, she felt all the good luck of it
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