{"id":"01KJRRE0P3QFJ1A45FKK8T3NDY","cid":"bafkreiciabufvweet2orxdfeo7os7n3lixl6yaaxe5bbdgs6xsgu2x2kti","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":313848,"char_start":306224,"chunk_index":43,"chunk_total":108,"estimated_tokens":1906,"label":"considered that Jane would no longer be duped, by","source_file_key":"pride-and-prejudice","text":"considered that Jane would no longer be duped, by the sister at least.\r\nAll expectation from the brother was now absolutely over. She would not\r\neven wish for any renewal of his attentions. His character sunk on every\r\nreview of it; and, as a punishment for him, as well as a possible\r\nadvantage to Jane, she seriously hoped he might really soon marry Mr.\r\nDarcy’s sister, as, by Wickham’s account, she would make him abundantly\r\nregret what he had thrown away.\r\n\r\nMrs. Gardiner about this time reminded Elizabeth of her promise\r\nconcerning that gentleman, and required information; and Elizabeth had\r\nsuch to send as might rather give contentment to her aunt than to\r\nherself. His apparent partiality had subsided, his attentions were over,\r\nhe was the admirer of some one else. Elizabeth was watchful enough to\r\nsee it all, but she could see it and write of it without material pain.\r\nHer heart had been but slightly touched, and her vanity was satisfied\r\nwith believing that _she_ would have been his only choice, had fortune\r\npermitted it. The sudden acquisition of ten thousand pounds was the most\r\nremarkable charm of the young lady to whom he was now rendering himself\r\nagreeable; but Elizabeth, less clear-sighted perhaps in this case than\r\nin Charlotte’s, did not quarrel with him for his wish of independence.\r\nNothing, on the contrary, could be more natural; and, while able to\r\nsuppose that it cost him a few struggles to relinquish her, she was\r\nready to allow it a wise and desirable measure for both, and could very\r\nsincerely wish him happy.\r\n\r\nAll this was acknowledged to Mrs. Gardiner; and, after relating the\r\ncircumstances, she thus went on:--“I am now convinced, my dear aunt,\r\nthat I have never been much in love; for had I really experienced that\r\npure and elevating passion, I should at present detest his very name,\r\nand wish him all manner of evil. But my feelings are not only cordial\r\ntowards _him_, they are even impartial towards Miss King. I cannot find\r\nout that I hate her at all, or that I am in the least unwilling to think\r\nher a very good sort of girl. There can be no love in all this. My\r\nwatchfulness has been effectual; and though I should certainly be a more\r\ninteresting object to all my acquaintance, were I distractedly in love\r\nwith him, I cannot say that I regret my comparative insignificance.\r\nImportance may sometimes be purchased too dearly. Kitty and Lydia take\r\nhis defection much more to heart than I do. They are young in the ways\r\nof the world, and not yet open to the mortifying conviction that\r\nhandsome young men must have something to live on as well as the\r\nplain.”\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration:\r\n\r\n     “On the Stairs”\r\n]\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER XXVII.\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration]\r\n\r\nWith no greater events than these in the Longbourn family, and otherwise\r\ndiversified by little beyond the walks to Meryton, sometimes dirty and\r\nsometimes cold, did January and February pass away. March was to take\r\nElizabeth to Hunsford. She had not at first thought very seriously of\r\ngoing thither; but Charlotte, she soon found, was depending on the\r\nplan, and she gradually learned to consider it herself with greater\r\npleasure as well as greater certainty. Absence had increased her desire\r\nof seeing Charlotte again, and weakened her disgust of Mr. Collins.\r\nThere was novelty in the scheme; and as, with such a mother and such\r\nuncompanionable sisters, home could not be faultless, a little change\r\nwas not unwelcome for its own sake. The journey would, moreover, give\r\nher a peep at Jane; and, in short, as the time drew near, she would have\r\nbeen very sorry for any delay. Everything, however, went on smoothly,\r\nand was finally settled according to Charlotte’s first sketch. She was\r\nto accompany Sir William and his second daughter. The improvement of\r\nspending a night in London was added in time, and the plan became as\r\nperfect as plan could be.\r\n\r\nThe only pain was in leaving her father, who would certainly miss her,\r\nand who, when it came to the point, so little liked her going, that he\r\ntold her to write to him, and almost promised to answer her letter.\r\n\r\nThe farewell between herself and Mr. Wickham was perfectly friendly; on\r\nhis side even more. His present pursuit could not make him forget that\r\nElizabeth had been the first to excite and to deserve his attention, the\r\nfirst to listen and to pity, the first to be admired; and in his manner\r\nof bidding her adieu, wishing her every enjoyment, reminding her of what\r\nshe was to expect in Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and trusting their\r\nopinion of her--their opinion of everybody--would always coincide, there\r\nwas a solicitude, an interest, which she felt must ever attach her to\r\nhim with a most sincere regard; and she parted from him convinced, that,\r\nwhether married or single, he must always be her model of the amiable\r\nand pleasing.\r\n\r\nHer fellow-travellers the next day were not of a kind to make her think\r\nhim less agreeable. Sir William Lucas, and his daughter Maria, a\r\ngood-humoured girl, but as empty-headed as himself, had nothing to say\r\nthat could be worth hearing, and were listened to with about as much\r\ndelight as the rattle of the chaise. Elizabeth loved absurdities, but\r\nshe had known Sir William’s too long. He could tell her nothing new of\r\nthe wonders of his presentation and knighthood; and his civilities were\r\nworn out, like his information.\r\n\r\nIt was a journey of only twenty-four miles, and they began it so early\r\nas to be in Gracechurch Street by noon. As they drove to Mr. Gardiner’s\r\ndoor, Jane was at a drawing-room window watching their arrival: when\r\nthey entered the passage, she was there to welcome them, and Elizabeth,\r\nlooking earnestly in her face, was pleased to see it healthful and\r\nlovely as ever. On the stairs were a troop of little boys and girls,\r\nwhose eagerness for their cousin’s appearance would not allow them to\r\nwait in the drawing-room, and whose shyness, as they had not seen her\r\nfor a twelvemonth, prevented their coming lower. All was joy and\r\nkindness. The day passed most pleasantly away; the morning in bustle and\r\nshopping, and the evening at one of the theatres.\r\n\r\nElizabeth then contrived to sit by her aunt. Their first subject was her\r\nsister; and she was more grieved than astonished to hear, in reply to\r\nher minute inquiries, that though Jane always struggled to support her\r\nspirits, there were periods of dejection. It was reasonable, however, to\r\nhope that they would not continue long. Mrs. Gardiner gave her the\r\nparticulars also of Miss Bingley’s visit in Gracechurch Street, and\r\nrepeated conversations occurring at different times between Jane and\r\nherself, which proved that the former had, from her heart, given up the\r\nacquaintance.\r\n\r\nMrs. Gardiner then rallied her niece on Wickham’s desertion, and\r\ncomplimented her on bearing it so well.\r\n\r\n“But, my dear Elizabeth,” she added, “what sort of girl is Miss King? I\r\nshould be sorry to think our friend mercenary.”\r\n\r\n“Pray, my dear aunt, what is the difference in matrimonial affairs,\r\nbetween the mercenary and the prudent motive? Where does discretion end,\r\nand avarice begin? Last Christmas you were afraid of his marrying me,\r\nbecause it would be imprudent; and now, because he is trying to get a\r\ngirl with only ten thousand pounds, you want to find out that he is\r\nmercenary.”\r\n\r\n“If you will only tell me what sort of girl Miss King is, I shall know\r\nwhat to think.”\r\n\r\n“She is a very good kind of girl, I believe. I know no harm of her.”\r\n\r\n“But he paid her not the smallest attention till her grandfather’s death\r\nmade her mistress of this fortune?”\r\n\r\n“No--why should he?"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJRRD3TNE5A6AKAVXSRFT9RC","peer_label":"pride-and-prejudice","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJRRC2C7K6XERRJES8143XGV","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJRRF19AD63KEEZZWPG3X2KQ","peer_label":"mr wickham","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:58.188Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZKG263C7SQSDV3TZ5MX","peer_label":"elizabeth bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:58.188Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYSAZT646RSHT9C5XPKR","peer_label":"mrs gardiner","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:58.188Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFBWNEDRCEJ8R6A0322BH","peer_label":"miss king","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:58.188Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZGM87R12EADFF6YZZG3","peer_label":"jane bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:58.188Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZFDNHD81TMSJQPDWV69","peer_label":"charlotte lucas","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:58.188Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY4KCKYKYTFBWSNR6EZ0","peer_label":"kitty bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:58.188Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY6RHWPTVXJ7SHB3NE6F","peer_label":"lydia bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:58.188Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF03VR7RBD6BQVJXPDN3D","peer_label":"longbourn family","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"family","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:58.188Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF0QZTC5KJ63MKYZHD3F9","peer_label":"meryton","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"town","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:58.188Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY6ZWGAT4FYVDEM6VE2E","peer_label":"mr collins","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:58.188Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYTMYM5H9026MPV0AJMX","peer_label":"sir william lucas","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:58.188Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYZ36C2F9Z4KP5F6ANMZ","peer_label":"london","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"city","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:58.188Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYW2V9QH9GNRQRJT67GK","peer_label":"mr bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:58.188Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY7G184NZ401P9V4JV87","peer_label":"lady catherine de bourgh","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:58.188Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFA40KB2X9VYTN7AYFV3S","peer_label":"gracechurch street","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"street","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:58.188Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF954JRMR1MX0FS25BB9X","peer_label":"maria lucas","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:58.188Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF06V9ABE1JZWJHE56BCY","peer_label":"miss bingley","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:58.188Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFN3Z81GKTDV2JWW1W14D","peer_label":"hunsford","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"estate","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:58.188Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFN1JK4N2B5H9ES378D3J","peer_label":"mr darcys sister","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:58.188Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFN2XNJQC782KYRTQVPWS","peer_label":"ten thousand pounds","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"money_amount","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:58.188Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFN69GCVZ21QG4BAPK38S","peer_label":"mr gardiners house","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"residence","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:58.188Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFN488QBQVXG8RTSHZK2J","peer_label":"chapter xxvii","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"document_section","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:58.188Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFN627AGP13J7KPK11C12","peer_label":"miss kings grandfather","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:58.188Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:01.251Z","ts":"2026-03-03T02:29:59.272Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}