{"id":"01KJRRE0N2NKMG3HC12KJKM6BB","cid":"bafkreidhyiyf3vsizrnj4okvn3y2os2z7rntqdvh346jnirt4na7a5vyle","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":193581,"char_start":185634,"chunk_index":26,"chunk_total":108,"estimated_tokens":1987,"label":"Mrs. Philips, protesting that he did not in the le","source_file_key":"pride-and-prejudice","text":"Mrs. Philips, protesting that he did not in the least regard his losses\r\nat whist, enumerating all the dishes at supper, and repeatedly fearing\r\nthat he crowded his cousins, had more to say than he could well manage\r\nbefore the carriage stopped at Longbourn House.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration:\r\n\r\n     “delighted to see their dear friend again”\r\n]\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER XVII.\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration]\r\n\r\nElizabeth related to Jane, the next day, what had passed between Mr.\r\nWickham and herself. Jane listened with astonishment and concern: she\r\nknew not how to believe that Mr. Darcy could be so unworthy of Mr.\r\nBingley’s regard; and yet it was not in her nature to question the\r\nveracity of a young man of such amiable appearance as Wickham. The\r\npossibility of his having really endured such unkindness was enough to\r\ninterest all her tender feelings; and nothing therefore remained to be\r\ndone but to think well of them both, to defend the conduct of each, and\r\nthrow into the account of accident or mistake whatever could not be\r\notherwise explained.\r\n\r\n“They have both,” said she, “been deceived, I dare say, in some way or\r\nother, of which we can form no idea. Interested people have perhaps\r\nmisrepresented each to the other. It is, in short, impossible for us to\r\nconjecture the causes or circumstances which may have alienated them,\r\nwithout actual blame on either side.”\r\n\r\n“Very true, indeed; and now, my dear Jane, what have you got to say in\r\nbehalf of the interested people who have probably been concerned in the\r\nbusiness? Do clear _them_, too, or we shall be obliged to think ill of\r\nsomebody.”\r\n\r\n“Laugh as much as you choose, but you will not laugh me out of my\r\nopinion. My dearest Lizzy, do but consider in what a disgraceful light\r\nit places Mr. Darcy, to be treating his father’s favourite in such a\r\nmanner,--one whom his father had promised to provide for. It is\r\nimpossible. No man of common humanity, no man who had any value for his\r\ncharacter, could be capable of it. Can his most intimate friends be so\r\nexcessively deceived in him? Oh no.”\r\n\r\n“I can much more easily believe Mr. Bingley’s being imposed on than that\r\nMr. Wickham should invent such a history of himself as he gave me last\r\nnight; names, facts, everything mentioned without ceremony. If it be not\r\nso, let Mr. Darcy contradict it. Besides, there was truth in his looks.”\r\n\r\n“It is difficult, indeed--it is distressing. One does not know what to\r\nthink.”\r\n\r\n“I beg your pardon;--one knows exactly what to think.”\r\n\r\nBut Jane could think with certainty on only one point,--that Mr.\r\nBingley, if he _had been_ imposed on, would have much to suffer when\r\nthe affair became public.\r\n\r\nThe two young ladies were summoned from the shrubbery, where this\r\nconversation passed, by the arrival of some of the very persons of whom\r\nthey had been speaking; Mr. Bingley and his sisters came to give their\r\npersonal invitation for the long expected ball at Netherfield, which was\r\nfixed for the following Tuesday. The two ladies were delighted to see\r\ntheir dear friend again, called it an age since they had met, and\r\nrepeatedly asked what she had been doing with herself since their\r\nseparation. To the rest of the family they paid little attention;\r\navoiding Mrs. Bennet as much as possible, saying not much to Elizabeth,\r\nand nothing at all to the others. They were soon gone again, rising from\r\ntheir seats with an activity which took their brother by surprise, and\r\nhurrying off as if eager to escape from Mrs. Bennet’s civilities.\r\n\r\nThe prospect of the Netherfield ball was extremely agreeable to every\r\nfemale of the family. Mrs. Bennet chose to consider it as given in\r\ncompliment to her eldest daughter, and was particularly flattered by\r\nreceiving the invitation from Mr. Bingley himself, instead of a\r\nceremonious card. Jane pictured to herself a happy evening in the\r\nsociety of her two friends, and the attentions of their brother; and\r\nElizabeth thought with pleasure of dancing a great deal with Mr.\r\nWickham, and of seeing a confirmation of everything in Mr. Darcy’s look\r\nand behaviour. The happiness anticipated by Catherine and Lydia depended\r\nless on any single event, or any particular person; for though they\r\neach, like Elizabeth, meant to dance half the evening with Mr. Wickham,\r\nhe was by no means the only partner who could satisfy them, and a ball\r\nwas, at any rate, a ball. And even Mary could assure her family that she\r\nhad no disinclination for it.\r\n\r\n“While I can have my mornings to myself,” said she, “it is enough. I\r\nthink it is no sacrifice to join occasionally in evening engagements.\r\nSociety has claims on us all; and I profess myself one of those who\r\nconsider intervals of recreation and amusement as desirable for\r\neverybody.”\r\n\r\nElizabeth’s spirits were so high on the occasion, that though she did\r\nnot often speak unnecessarily to Mr. Collins, she could not help asking\r\nhim whether he intended to accept Mr. Bingley’s invitation, and if he\r\ndid, whether he would think it proper to join in the evening’s\r\namusement; and she was rather surprised to find that he entertained no\r\nscruple whatever on that head, and was very far from dreading a rebuke,\r\neither from the Archbishop or Lady Catherine de Bourgh, by venturing to\r\ndance.\r\n\r\n“I am by no means of opinion, I assure you,” said he, “that a ball of\r\nthis kind, given by a young man of character, to respectable people, can\r\nhave any evil tendency; and I am so far from objecting to dancing\r\nmyself, that I shall hope to be honoured with the hands of all my fair\r\ncousins in the course of the evening; and I take this opportunity of\r\nsoliciting yours, Miss Elizabeth, for the two first dances especially; a\r\npreference which I trust my cousin Jane will attribute to the right\r\ncause, and not to any disrespect for her.”\r\n\r\nElizabeth felt herself completely taken in. She had fully proposed being\r\nengaged by Wickham for those very dances; and to have Mr. Collins\r\ninstead!--her liveliness had been never worse timed. There was no help\r\nfor it, however. Mr. Wickham’s happiness and her own was perforce\r\ndelayed a little longer, and Mr. Collins’s proposal accepted with as\r\ngood a grace as she could. She was not the better pleased with his\r\ngallantry, from the idea it suggested of something more. It now first\r\nstruck her, that _she_ was selected from among her sisters as worthy of\r\nbeing the mistress of Hunsford Parsonage, and of assisting to form a\r\nquadrille table at Rosings, in the absence of more eligible visitors.\r\nThe idea soon reached to conviction, as she observed his increasing\r\ncivilities towards herself, and heard his frequent attempt at a\r\ncompliment on her wit and vivacity; and though more astonished than\r\ngratified herself by this effect of her charms, it was not long before\r\nher mother gave her to understand that the probability of their marriage\r\nwas exceedingly agreeable to _her_. Elizabeth, however, did not choose\r\nto take the hint, being well aware that a serious dispute must be the\r\nconsequence of any reply. Mr. Collins might never make the offer, and,\r\ntill he did, it was useless to quarrel about him.\r\n\r\nIf there had not been a Netherfield ball to prepare for and talk of, the\r\nyounger Miss Bennets would have been in a pitiable state at this time;\r\nfor, from the day of the invitation to the day of the ball, there was\r\nsuch a succession of rain as prevented their walking to Meryton once. No\r\naunt, no officers, no news could be sought after; the very shoe-roses\r\nfor Netherfield were got by proxy. Even Elizabeth might have found some\r\ntrial of her patience in weather which totally suspended the improvement\r\nof her acquaintance with Mr. Wickham; and nothing less than a dance on\r\nTuesday could have made such a Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday\r\nendurable to Kitty and Lydia.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration]\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER XVIII.\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration]\r\n\r\nTill Elizabeth entered the drawing-room at Netherfield, and looked in\r\nvain for Mr."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJRRD3TNE5A6AKAVXSRFT9RC","peer_label":"pride-and-prejudice","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJRRC2C7K6XERRJES8143XGV","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJRREZJBEM6MWHW485H9DS9F","peer_label":"mr darcy","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:13.331Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZGM87R12EADFF6YZZG3","peer_label":"jane 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