{"id":"01KJRRE0MCMEF4VBEVGCY7NSKN","cid":"bafkreihezrlxaqexovauzakxdoc7y7vgzomqtau2fi4gfiittqfm4yn2v4","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":93651,"char_start":85779,"chunk_index":12,"chunk_total":108,"estimated_tokens":1968,"label":"and the Hursts have no horses to theirs.”\r \r “I ha","source_file_key":"pride-and-prejudice","text":"and the Hursts have no horses to theirs.”\r\n\r\n“I had much rather go in the coach.”\r\n\r\n“But, my dear, your father cannot spare the horses, I am sure. They are\r\nwanted in the farm, Mr. Bennet, are not they?”\r\n\r\n[Illustration: Cheerful prognostics]\r\n\r\n“They are wanted in the farm much oftener than I can get them.”\r\n\r\n“But if you have got them to-day,” said Elizabeth, “my mother’s purpose\r\nwill be answered.”\r\n\r\nShe did at last extort from her father an acknowledgment that the horses\r\nwere engaged; Jane was therefore obliged to go on horseback, and her\r\nmother attended her to the door with many cheerful prognostics of a bad\r\nday. Her hopes were answered; Jane had not been gone long before it\r\nrained hard. Her sisters were uneasy for her, but her mother was\r\ndelighted. The rain continued the whole evening without intermission;\r\nJane certainly could not come back.\r\n\r\n“This was a lucky idea of mine, indeed!” said Mrs. Bennet, more than\r\nonce, as if the credit of making it rain were all her own. Till the next\r\nmorning, however, she was not aware of all the felicity of her\r\ncontrivance. Breakfast was scarcely over when a servant from Netherfield\r\nbrought the following note for Elizabeth:--\r\n\r\n     /* NIND “My dearest Lizzie, */\r\n\r\n     “I find myself very unwell this morning, which, I suppose, is to be\r\n     imputed to my getting wet through yesterday. My kind friends will\r\n     not hear of my returning home till I am better. They insist also on\r\n     my seeing Mr. Jones--therefore do not be alarmed if you should hear\r\n     of his having been to me--and, excepting a sore throat and a\r\n     headache, there is not much the matter with me.\r\n\r\n“Yours, etc.”\r\n\r\n“Well, my dear,” said Mr. Bennet, when Elizabeth had read the note\r\naloud, “if your daughter should have a dangerous fit of illness--if she\r\nshould die--it would be a comfort to know that it was all in pursuit of\r\nMr. Bingley, and under your orders.”\r\n\r\n“Oh, I am not at all afraid of her dying. People do not die of little\r\ntrifling colds. She will be taken good care of. As long as she stays\r\nthere, it is all very well. I would go and see her if I could have the\r\ncarriage.”\r\n\r\nElizabeth, feeling really anxious, determined to go to her, though the\r\ncarriage was not to be had: and as she was no horsewoman, walking was\r\nher only alternative. She declared her resolution.\r\n\r\n“How can you be so silly,” cried her mother, “as to think of such a\r\nthing, in all this dirt! You will not be fit to be seen when you get\r\nthere.”\r\n\r\n“I shall be very fit to see Jane--which is all I want.”\r\n\r\n“Is this a hint to me, Lizzy,” said her father, “to send for the\r\nhorses?”\r\n\r\n“No, indeed. I do not wish to avoid the walk. The distance is nothing,\r\nwhen one has a motive; only three miles. I shall be back by dinner.”\r\n\r\n“I admire the activity of your benevolence,” observed Mary, “but every\r\nimpulse of feeling should be guided by reason; and, in my opinion,\r\nexertion should always be in proportion to what is required.”\r\n\r\n“We will go as far as Meryton with you,” said Catherine and Lydia.\r\nElizabeth accepted their company, and the three young ladies set off\r\ntogether.\r\n\r\n“If we make haste,” said Lydia, as they walked along, “perhaps we may\r\nsee something of Captain Carter, before he goes.”\r\n\r\nIn Meryton they parted: the two youngest repaired to the lodgings of one\r\nof the officers’ wives, and Elizabeth continued her walk alone, crossing\r\nfield after field at a quick pace, jumping over stiles and springing\r\nover puddles, with impatient activity, and finding herself at last\r\nwithin view of the house, with weary ancles, dirty stockings, and a face\r\nglowing with the warmth of exercise.\r\n\r\nShe was shown into the breakfast parlour, where all but Jane were\r\nassembled, and where her appearance created a great deal of surprise.\r\nThat she should have walked three miles so early in the day in such\r\ndirty weather, and by herself, was almost incredible to Mrs. Hurst and\r\nMiss Bingley; and Elizabeth was convinced that they held her in contempt\r\nfor it. She was received, however, very politely by them; and in their\r\nbrother’s manners there was something better than politeness--there was\r\ngood-humour and kindness. Mr. Darcy said very little, and Mr. Hurst\r\nnothing at all. The former was divided between admiration of the\r\nbrilliancy which exercise had given to her complexion and doubt as to\r\nthe occasion’s justifying her coming so far alone. The latter was\r\nthinking only of his breakfast.\r\n\r\nHer inquiries after her sister were not very favourably answered. Miss\r\nBennet had slept ill, and though up, was very feverish, and not well\r\nenough to leave her room. Elizabeth was glad to be taken to her\r\nimmediately; and Jane, who had only been withheld by the fear of giving\r\nalarm or inconvenience, from expressing in her note how much she longed\r\nfor such a visit, was delighted at her entrance. She was not equal,\r\nhowever, to much conversation; and when Miss Bingley left them together,\r\ncould attempt little beside expressions of gratitude for the\r\nextraordinary kindness she was treated with. Elizabeth silently attended\r\nher.\r\n\r\nWhen breakfast was over, they were joined by the sisters; and Elizabeth\r\nbegan to like them herself, when she saw how much affection and\r\nsolicitude they showed for Jane. The apothecary came; and having\r\nexamined his patient, said, as might be supposed, that she had caught a\r\nviolent cold, and that they must endeavour to get the better of it;\r\nadvised her to return to bed, and promised her some draughts. The advice\r\nwas followed readily, for the feverish symptoms increased, and her head\r\nached acutely. Elizabeth did not quit her room for a moment, nor were\r\nthe other ladies often absent; the gentlemen being out, they had in fact\r\nnothing to do elsewhere.\r\n\r\nWhen the clock struck three, Elizabeth felt that she must go, and very\r\nunwillingly said so. Miss Bingley offered her the carriage, and she only\r\nwanted a little pressing to accept it, when Jane testified such concern\r\nat parting with her that Miss Bingley was obliged to convert the offer\r\nof the chaise into an invitation to remain at Netherfield for the\r\npresent. Elizabeth most thankfully consented, and a servant was\r\ndespatched to Longbourn, to acquaint the family with her stay, and bring\r\nback a supply of clothes.\r\n\r\n[Illustration:\r\n\r\n“The Apothecary came”\r\n]\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration:\r\n\r\n“covering a screen”\r\n]\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER VIII.\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration]\r\n\r\nAt five o’clock the two ladies retired to dress, and at half-past six\r\nElizabeth was summoned to dinner. To the civil inquiries which then\r\npoured in, and amongst which she had the pleasure of distinguishing the\r\nmuch superior solicitude of Mr. Bingley, she could not make a very\r\nfavourable answer. Jane was by no means better. The sisters, on hearing\r\nthis, repeated three or four times how much they were grieved, how\r\nshocking it was to have a bad cold, and how excessively they disliked\r\nbeing ill themselves; and then thought no more of the matter: and their\r\nindifference towards Jane, when not immediately before them, restored\r\nElizabeth to the enjoyment of all her original dislike.\r\n\r\nTheir brother, indeed, was the only one of the party whom she could\r\nregard with any complacency. His anxiety for Jane was evident, and his\r\nattentions to herself most pleasing; and they prevented her feeling\r\nherself so much an intruder as she believed she was considered by the\r\nothers. She had very little notice from any but him. Miss Bingley was\r\nengrossed by Mr. Darcy, her sister scarcely less so; and as for Mr.\r\nHurst, by whom Elizabeth sat, he was an indolent man, who lived only to\r\neat, drink, and play at cards, who, when he found her prefer a plain\r\ndish to a ragout, had nothing to say to her.\r\n\r\nWhen dinner was over, she returned directly to Jane, and Miss Bingley\r\nbegan abusing her as soon as she was out of the room."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJRRD3TNE5A6AKAVXSRFT9RC","peer_label":"pride-and-prejudice","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJRRC2C7K6XERRJES8143XGV","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJRREZKG263C7SQSDV3TZ5MX","peer_label":"elizabeth bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:46.710Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYW2V9QH9GNRQRJT67GK","peer_label":"mr 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