{"id":"01KJRRE0NNC00MRPMPVFSB4M1T","cid":"bafkreihbhskrmdc77y66ycgo2ydfaabmpsuwnyslmfkq5alufhherovm7a","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":299993,"char_start":292142,"chunk_index":41,"chunk_total":108,"estimated_tokens":1963,"label":"part of London! My dear aunt, how could you think","source_file_key":"pride-and-prejudice","text":"part of London! My dear aunt, how could you think of it? Mr. Darcy may,\r\nperhaps, have _heard_ of such a place as Gracechurch Street, but he\r\nwould hardly think a month’s ablution enough to cleanse him from its\r\nimpurities, were he once to enter it; and, depend upon it, Mr. Bingley\r\nnever stirs without him.”\r\n\r\n“So much the better. I hope they will not meet at all. But does not Jane\r\ncorrespond with his sister? _She_ will not be able to help calling.”\r\n\r\n“She will drop the acquaintance entirely.”\r\n\r\nBut, in spite of the certainty in which Elizabeth affected to place this\r\npoint, as well as the still more interesting one of Bingley’s being\r\nwithheld from seeing Jane, she felt a solicitude on the subject which\r\nconvinced her, on examination, that she did not consider it entirely\r\nhopeless. It was possible, and sometimes she thought it probable, that\r\nhis affection might be re-animated, and the influence of his friends\r\nsuccessfully combated by the more natural influence of Jane’s\r\nattractions.\r\n\r\nMiss Bennet accepted her aunt’s invitation with pleasure; and the\r\nBingleys were no otherwise in her thoughts at the same time than as she\r\nhoped, by Caroline’s not living in the same house with her brother, she\r\nmight occasionally spend a morning with her, without any danger of\r\nseeing him.\r\n\r\nThe Gardiners stayed a week at Longbourn; and what with the Philipses,\r\nthe Lucases, and the officers, there was not a day without its\r\nengagement. Mrs. Bennet had so carefully provided for the entertainment\r\nof her brother and sister, that they did not once sit down to a family\r\ndinner. When the engagement was for home, some of the officers always\r\nmade part of it, of which officers Mr. Wickham was sure to be one; and\r\non these occasions Mrs. Gardiner, rendered suspicious by Elizabeth’s\r\nwarm commendation of him, narrowly observed them both. Without supposing\r\nthem, from what she saw, to be very seriously in love, their preference\r\nof each other was plain enough to make her a little uneasy; and she\r\nresolved to speak to Elizabeth on the subject before she left\r\nHertfordshire, and represent to her the imprudence of encouraging such\r\nan attachment.\r\n\r\nTo Mrs. Gardiner, Wickham had one means of affording pleasure,\r\nunconnected with his general powers. About ten or a dozen years ago,\r\nbefore her marriage, she had spent a considerable time in that very part\r\nof Derbyshire to which he belonged. They had, therefore, many\r\nacquaintance in common; and, though Wickham had been little there since\r\nthe death of Darcy’s father, five years before, it was yet in his power\r\nto give her fresher intelligence of her former friends than she had been\r\nin the way of procuring.\r\n\r\nMrs. Gardiner had seen Pemberley, and known the late Mr. Darcy by\r\ncharacter perfectly well. Here, consequently, was an inexhaustible\r\nsubject of discourse. In comparing her recollection of Pemberley with\r\nthe minute description which Wickham could give, and in bestowing her\r\ntribute of praise on the character of its late possessor, she was\r\ndelighting both him and herself. On being made acquainted with the\r\npresent Mr. Darcy’s treatment of him, she tried to remember something of\r\nthat gentleman’s reputed disposition, when quite a lad, which might\r\nagree with it; and was confident, at last, that she recollected having\r\nheard Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy formerly spoken of as a very proud,\r\nill-natured boy.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration:\r\n\r\n     “Will you come and see me?”\r\n]\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER XXVI.\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration]\r\n\r\nMrs. Gardiner’s caution to Elizabeth was punctually and kindly given on\r\nthe first favourable opportunity of speaking to her alone: after\r\nhonestly telling her what she thought, she thus went on:--\r\n\r\n“You are too sensible a girl, Lizzy, to fall in love merely because you\r\nare warned against it; and, therefore, I am not afraid of speaking\r\nopenly. Seriously, I would have you be on your guard. Do not involve\r\nyourself, or endeavour to involve him, in an affection which the want of\r\nfortune would make so very imprudent. I have nothing to say against\r\n_him_: he is a most interesting young man; and if he had the fortune he\r\nought to have, I should think you could not do better. But as it is--you\r\nmust not let your fancy run away with you. You have sense, and we all\r\nexpect you to use it. Your father would depend on _your_ resolution and\r\ngood conduct, I am sure. You must not disappoint your father.”\r\n\r\n“My dear aunt, this is being serious indeed.”\r\n\r\n“Yes, and I hope to engage you to be serious likewise.”\r\n\r\n“Well, then, you need not be under any alarm. I will take care of\r\nmyself, and of Mr. Wickham too. He shall not be in love with me, if I\r\ncan prevent it.”\r\n\r\n“Elizabeth, you are not serious now.”\r\n\r\n“I beg your pardon. I will try again. At present I am not in love with\r\nMr. Wickham; no, I certainly am not. But he is, beyond all comparison,\r\nthe most agreeable man I ever saw--and if he becomes really attached to\r\nme--I believe it will be better that he should not. I see the imprudence\r\nof it. Oh, _that_ abominable Mr. Darcy! My father’s opinion of me does\r\nme the greatest honour; and I should be miserable to forfeit it. My\r\nfather, however, is partial to Mr. Wickham. In short, my dear aunt, I\r\nshould be very sorry to be the means of making any of you unhappy; but\r\nsince we see, every day, that where there is affection young people are\r\nseldom withheld, by immediate want of fortune, from entering into\r\nengagements with each other, how can I promise to be wiser than so many\r\nof my fellow-creatures, if I am tempted, or how am I even to know that\r\nit would be wiser to resist? All that I can promise you, therefore, is\r\nnot to be in a hurry. I will not be in a hurry to believe myself his\r\nfirst object. When I am in company with him, I will not be wishing. In\r\nshort, I will do my best.”\r\n\r\n“Perhaps it will be as well if you discourage his coming here so very\r\noften. At least you should not _remind_ your mother of inviting him.”\r\n\r\n“As I did the other day,” said Elizabeth, with a conscious smile; “very\r\ntrue, it will be wise in me to refrain from _that_. But do not imagine\r\nthat he is always here so often. It is on your account that he has been\r\nso frequently invited this week. You know my mother’s ideas as to the\r\nnecessity of constant company for her friends. But really, and upon my\r\nhonour, I will try to do what I think to be wisest; and now I hope you\r\nare satisfied.”\r\n\r\nHer aunt assured her that she was; and Elizabeth, having thanked her for\r\nthe kindness of her hints, they parted,--a wonderful instance of advice\r\nbeing given on such a point without being resented.\r\n\r\nMr. Collins returned into Hertfordshire soon after it had been quitted\r\nby the Gardiners and Jane; but, as he took up his abode with the\r\nLucases, his arrival was no great inconvenience to Mrs. Bennet. His\r\nmarriage was now fast approaching; and she was at length so far resigned\r\nas to think it inevitable, and even repeatedly to say, in an ill-natured\r\ntone, that she “_wished_ they might be happy.” Thursday was to be the\r\nwedding-day, and on Wednesday Miss Lucas paid her farewell visit; and\r\nwhen she rose to take leave, Elizabeth, ashamed of her mother’s\r\nungracious and reluctant good wishes, and sincerely affected herself,\r\naccompanied her out of the room. As they went down stairs together,\r\nCharlotte said,--\r\n\r\n“I shall depend on hearing from you very often, Eliza.”\r\n\r\n“_That_ you certainly shall.”\r\n\r\n“And I have another favour to ask. Will you come and see me?”\r\n\r\n“We shall often meet, I hope, in Hertfordshire.”\r\n\r\n“I am not likely to leave Kent for some time. Promise me, therefore, to\r\ncome to Hunsford.”\r\n\r\nElizabeth could not refuse, though she foresaw little pleasure in the\r\nvisit.\r\n\r\n“My father and Maria are to come to me in March,” added Charlotte, “and\r\nI hope you will consent to be of the party."},"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":"2026-03-03T02:30:10.478Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZKG263C7SQSDV3TZ5MX","peer_label":"elizabeth bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:10.478Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF7M6PWKTFGVY5GSW3MFX","peer_label":"caroline 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