{"id":"01KJRRE0MQGM9DE9Z6F5GW75G4","cid":"bafkreifn3nhiyftsd2h6k4mkjtscn2hgfws4j6nt4loana675w75wjf5vi","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":143764,"char_start":135783,"chunk_index":19,"chunk_total":108,"estimated_tokens":1996,"label":"[Illustration]\r \r \r \r \r CHAPTER XII.","source_file_key":"pride-and-prejudice","text":"\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration]\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER XII.\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration]\r\n\r\nIn consequence of an agreement between the sisters, Elizabeth wrote the\r\nnext morning to her mother, to beg that the carriage might be sent for\r\nthem in the course of the day. But Mrs. Bennet, who had calculated on\r\nher daughters remaining at Netherfield till the following Tuesday, which\r\nwould exactly finish Jane’s week, could not bring herself to receive\r\nthem with pleasure before. Her answer, therefore, was not propitious, at\r\nleast not to Elizabeth’s wishes, for she was impatient to get home. Mrs.\r\nBennet sent them word that they could not possibly have the carriage\r\nbefore Tuesday; and in her postscript it was added, that if Mr. Bingley\r\nand his sister pressed them to stay longer, she could spare them very\r\nwell. Against staying longer, however, Elizabeth was positively\r\nresolved--nor did she much expect it would be asked; and fearful, on the\r\ncontrary, of being considered as intruding themselves needlessly long,\r\nshe urged Jane to borrow Mr. Bingley’s carriage immediately, and at\r\nlength it was settled that their original design of leaving Netherfield\r\nthat morning should be mentioned, and the request made.\r\n\r\nThe communication excited many professions of concern; and enough was\r\nsaid of wishing them to stay at least till the following day to work on\r\nJane; and till the morrow their going was deferred. Miss Bingley was\r\nthen sorry that she had proposed the delay; for her jealousy and dislike\r\nof one sister much exceeded her affection for the other.\r\n\r\nThe master of the house heard with real sorrow that they were to go so\r\nsoon, and repeatedly tried to persuade Miss Bennet that it would not be\r\nsafe for her--that she was not enough recovered; but Jane was firm where\r\nshe felt herself to be right.\r\n\r\nTo Mr. Darcy it was welcome intelligence: Elizabeth had been at\r\nNetherfield long enough. She attracted him more than he liked; and Miss\r\nBingley was uncivil to _her_ and more teasing than usual to himself. He\r\nwisely resolved to be particularly careful that no sign of admiration\r\nshould _now_ escape him--nothing that could elevate her with the hope of\r\ninfluencing his felicity; sensible that, if such an idea had been\r\nsuggested, his behaviour during the last day must have material weight\r\nin confirming or crushing it. Steady to his purpose, he scarcely spoke\r\nten words to her through the whole of Saturday: and though they were at\r\none time left by themselves for half an hour, he adhered most\r\nconscientiously to his book, and would not even look at her.\r\n\r\nOn Sunday, after morning service, the separation, so agreeable to almost\r\nall, took place. Miss Bingley’s civility to Elizabeth increased at last\r\nvery rapidly, as well as her affection for Jane; and when they parted,\r\nafter assuring the latter of the pleasure it would always give her to\r\nsee her either at Longbourn or Netherfield, and embracing her most\r\ntenderly, she even shook hands with the former. Elizabeth took leave of\r\nthe whole party in the liveliest spirits.\r\n\r\nThey were not welcomed home very cordially by their mother. Mrs. Bennet\r\nwondered at their coming, and thought them very wrong to give so much\r\ntrouble, and was sure Jane would have caught cold again. But their\r\nfather, though very laconic in his expressions of pleasure, was really\r\nglad to see them; he had felt their importance in the family circle. The\r\nevening conversation, when they were all assembled, had lost much of its\r\nanimation, and almost all its sense, by the absence of Jane and\r\nElizabeth.\r\n\r\nThey found Mary, as usual, deep in the study of thorough bass and human\r\nnature; and had some new extracts to admire and some new observations of\r\nthreadbare morality to listen to. Catherine and Lydia had information\r\nfor them of a different sort. Much had been done, and much had been said\r\nin the regiment since the preceding Wednesday; several of the officers\r\nhad dined lately with their uncle; a private had been flogged; and it\r\nhad actually been hinted that Colonel Forster was going to be married.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration]\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER XIII\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration]\r\n\r\n“I hope, my dear,” said Mr. Bennet to his wife, as they were at\r\nbreakfast the next morning, “that you have ordered a good dinner to-day,\r\nbecause I have reason to expect an addition to our family party.”\r\n\r\n“Who do you mean, my dear? I know of nobody that is coming, I am sure,\r\nunless Charlotte Lucas should happen to call in; and I hope _my_ dinners\r\nare good enough for her. I do not believe she often sees such at home.”\r\n\r\n“The person of whom I speak is a gentleman and a stranger.”\r\n\r\nMrs. Bennet’s eyes sparkled. “A gentleman and a stranger! It is Mr.\r\nBingley, I am sure. Why, Jane--you never dropped a word of this--you sly\r\nthing! Well, I am sure I shall be extremely glad to see Mr. Bingley.\r\nBut--good Lord! how unlucky! there is not a bit of fish to be got\r\nto-day. Lydia, my love, ring the bell. I must speak to Hill this\r\nmoment.”\r\n\r\n“It is _not_ Mr. Bingley,” said her husband; “it is a person whom I\r\nnever saw in the whole course of my life.”\r\n\r\nThis roused a general astonishment; and he had the pleasure of being\r\neagerly questioned by his wife and five daughters at once.\r\n\r\nAfter amusing himself some time with their curiosity, he thus\r\nexplained:--“About a month ago I received this letter, and about a\r\nfortnight ago I answered it; for I thought it a case of some delicacy,\r\nand requiring early attention. It is from my cousin, Mr. Collins, who,\r\nwhen I am dead, may turn you all out of this house as soon as he\r\npleases.”\r\n\r\n“Oh, my dear,” cried his wife, “I cannot bear to hear that mentioned.\r\nPray do not talk of that odious man. I do think it is the hardest thing\r\nin the world, that your estate should be entailed away from your own\r\nchildren; and I am sure, if I had been you, I should have tried long ago\r\nto do something or other about it.”\r\n\r\nJane and Elizabeth attempted to explain to her the nature of an entail.\r\nThey had often attempted it before: but it was a subject on which Mrs.\r\nBennet was beyond the reach of reason; and she continued to rail\r\nbitterly against the cruelty of settling an estate away from a family of\r\nfive daughters, in favour of a man whom nobody cared anything about.\r\n\r\n“It certainly is a most iniquitous affair,” said Mr. Bennet; “and\r\nnothing can clear Mr. Collins from the guilt of inheriting Longbourn.\r\nBut if you will listen to his letter, you may, perhaps, be a little\r\nsoftened by his manner of expressing himself.”\r\n\r\n“No, that I am sure I shall not: and I think it was very impertinent of\r\nhim to write to you at all, and very hypocritical. I hate such false\r\nfriends. Why could not he keep on quarrelling with you, as his father\r\ndid before him?”\r\n\r\n“Why, indeed, he does seem to have had some filial scruples on that\r\nhead, as you will hear.”\r\n\r\n     /* RIGHT “Hunsford, near Westerham, Kent, _15th October_. */\r\n\r\n“Dear Sir,\r\n\r\n     “The disagreement subsisting between yourself and my late honoured\r\n     father always gave me much uneasiness; and, since I have had the\r\n     misfortune to lose him, I have frequently wished to heal the\r\n     breach: but, for some time, I was kept back by my own doubts,\r\n     fearing lest it might seem disrespectful to his memory for me to be\r\n     on good terms with anyone with whom it had always pleased him to be\r\n     at variance.”--‘There, Mrs. Bennet.’--“My mind, however, is now\r\n     made up on the subject; for, having received ordination at Easter,\r\n     I have been so fortunate as to be distinguished by the patronage of\r\n     the Right Honourable Lady Catherine de Bourgh, widow of Sir Lewis\r\n     de Bourgh, whose bounty and beneficence has preferred me to the\r\n     valuable rectory of this parish, where it shall be my earnest\r\n     endeavour to demean myself with grateful respect towards her\r\n     Ladyship, and be ever ready to perform those rites and ceremonies\r\n     which are instituted by the Church of England."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJRRD3TNE5A6AKAVXSRFT9RC","peer_label":"pride-and-prejudice","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJRRC2C7K6XERRJES8143XGV","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJRREZGM87R12EADFF6YZZG3","peer_label":"jane bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:18.972Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZKG263C7SQSDV3TZ5MX","peer_label":"elizabeth bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:18.972Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYT564P5405ZE4Q76ZF5","peer_label":"mrs 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