{"id":"01KJRRE0P6YCR5EPMC2VWQN59K","cid":"bafkreiebbzmqvezruw5ghzenosvtbjb3qcjdhy4luhg3rnzvewloc6azli","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":320952,"char_start":313058,"chunk_index":44,"chunk_total":108,"estimated_tokens":1974,"label":"“But, my dear Elizabeth,” she added, “what sort","source_file_key":"pride-and-prejudice","text":"\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? If it were not allowable for him to gain _my_\r\naffections, because I had no money, what occasion could there be for\r\nmaking love to a girl whom he did not care about, and who was equally\r\npoor?”\r\n\r\n“But there seems indelicacy in directing his attentions towards her so\r\nsoon after this event.”\r\n\r\n“A man in distressed circumstances has not time for all those elegant\r\ndecorums which other people may observe. If _she_ does not object to it,\r\nwhy should _we_?”\r\n\r\n“_Her_ not objecting does not justify _him_. It only shows her being\r\ndeficient in something herself--sense or feeling.”\r\n\r\n“Well,” cried Elizabeth, “have it as you choose. _He_ shall be\r\nmercenary, and _she_ shall be foolish.”\r\n\r\n“No, Lizzy, that is what I do _not_ choose. I should be sorry, you know,\r\nto think ill of a young man who has lived so long in Derbyshire.”\r\n\r\n“Oh, if that is all, I have a very poor opinion of young men who live in\r\nDerbyshire; and their intimate friends who live in Hertfordshire are not\r\nmuch better. I am sick of them all. Thank heaven! I am going to-morrow\r\nwhere I shall find a man who has not one agreeable quality, who has\r\nneither manners nor sense to recommend him. Stupid men are the only ones\r\nworth knowing, after all.”\r\n\r\n“Take care, Lizzy; that speech savours strongly of disappointment.”\r\n\r\nBefore they were separated by the conclusion of the play, she had the\r\nunexpected happiness of an invitation to accompany her uncle and aunt in\r\na tour of pleasure which they proposed taking in the summer.\r\n\r\n“We have not quite determined how far it shall carry us,” said Mrs.\r\nGardiner; “but perhaps, to the Lakes.”\r\n\r\nNo scheme could have been more agreeable to Elizabeth, and her\r\nacceptance of the invitation was most ready and grateful. “My dear, dear\r\naunt,” she rapturously cried, “what delight! what felicity! You give me\r\nfresh life and vigour. Adieu to disappointment and spleen. What are men\r\nto rocks and mountains? Oh, what hours of transport we shall spend! And\r\nwhen we _do_ return, it shall not be like other travellers, without\r\nbeing able to give one accurate idea of anything. We _will_ know where\r\nwe have gone--we _will_ recollect what we have seen. Lakes, mountains,\r\nand rivers, shall not be jumbled together in our imaginations; nor, when\r\nwe attempt to describe any particular scene, will we begin quarrelling\r\nabout its relative situation. Let _our_ first effusions be less\r\ninsupportable than those of the generality of travellers.”\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration:\r\n\r\n     “At the door”\r\n]\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER XXVIII.\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration]\r\n\r\nEvery object in the next day’s journey was new and interesting to\r\nElizabeth; and her spirits were in a state of enjoyment; for she had\r\nseen her sister looking so well as to banish all fear for her health,\r\nand the prospect of her northern tour was a constant source of delight.\r\n\r\nWhen they left the high road for the lane to Hunsford, every eye was in\r\nsearch of the Parsonage, and every turning expected to bring it in view.\r\nThe paling of Rosings park was their boundary on one side. Elizabeth\r\nsmiled at the recollection of all that she had heard of its inhabitants.\r\n\r\nAt length the Parsonage was discernible. The garden sloping to the\r\nroad, the house standing in it, the green pales and the laurel hedge,\r\neverything declared they were arriving. Mr. Collins and Charlotte\r\nappeared at the door, and the carriage stopped at the small gate, which\r\nled by a short gravel walk to the house, amidst the nods and smiles of\r\nthe whole party. In a moment they were all out of the chaise, rejoicing\r\nat the sight of each other. Mrs. Collins welcomed her friend with the\r\nliveliest pleasure, and Elizabeth was more and more satisfied with\r\ncoming, when she found herself so affectionately received. She saw\r\ninstantly that her cousin’s manners were not altered by his marriage:\r\nhis formal civility was just what it had been; and he detained her some\r\nminutes at the gate to hear and satisfy his inquiries after all her\r\nfamily. They were then, with no other delay than his pointing out the\r\nneatness of the entrance, taken into the house; and as soon as they were\r\nin the parlour, he welcomed them a second time, with ostentatious\r\nformality, to his humble abode, and punctually repeated all his wife’s\r\noffers of refreshment.\r\n\r\nElizabeth was prepared to see him in his glory; and she could not help\r\nfancying that in displaying the good proportion of the room, its aspect,\r\nand its furniture, he addressed himself particularly to her, as if\r\nwishing to make her feel what she had lost in refusing him. But though\r\neverything seemed neat and comfortable, she was not able to gratify him\r\nby any sigh of repentance; and rather looked with wonder at her friend,\r\nthat she could have so cheerful an air with such a companion. When Mr.\r\nCollins said anything of which his wife might reasonably be ashamed,\r\nwhich certainly was not seldom, she involuntarily turned her eye on\r\nCharlotte. Once or twice she could discern a faint blush; but in general\r\nCharlotte wisely did not hear. After sitting long enough to admire\r\nevery article of furniture in the room, from the sideboard to the\r\nfender, to give an account of their journey, and of all that had\r\nhappened in London, Mr. Collins invited them to take a stroll in the\r\ngarden, which was large and well laid out, and to the cultivation of\r\nwhich he attended himself. To work in his garden was one of his most\r\nrespectable pleasures; and Elizabeth admired the command of countenance\r\nwith which Charlotte talked of the healthfulness of the exercise, and\r\nowned she encouraged it as much as possible. Here, leading the way\r\nthrough every walk and cross walk, and scarcely allowing them an\r\ninterval to utter the praises he asked for, every view was pointed out\r\nwith a minuteness which left beauty entirely behind. He could number the\r\nfields in every direction, and could tell how many trees there were in\r\nthe most distant clump. But of all the views which his garden, or which\r\nthe country or the kingdom could boast, none were to be compared with\r\nthe prospect of Rosings, afforded by an opening in the trees that\r\nbordered the park nearly opposite the front of his house. It was a\r\nhandsome modern building, well situated on rising ground.\r\n\r\nFrom his garden, Mr. Collins would have led them round his two meadows;\r\nbut the ladies, not having shoes to encounter the remains of a white\r\nfrost, turned back; and while Sir William accompanied him, Charlotte\r\ntook her sister and friend over the house, extremely well pleased,\r\nprobably, to have the opportunity of showing it without her husband’s\r\nhelp. It was rather small, but well built and convenient; and everything\r\nwas fitted up and arranged with a neatness and consistency, of which\r\nElizabeth gave Charlotte all the credit. When Mr. Collins could be\r\nforgotten, there was really a great air of comfort throughout, and by\r\nCharlotte’s evident enjoyment of it, Elizabeth supposed he must be often\r\nforgotten.\r\n\r\nShe had already learnt that Lady Catherine was still in the country. It\r\nwas spoken of again while they were at dinner, when Mr."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJRRD3TNE5A6AKAVXSRFT9RC","peer_label":"pride-and-prejudice","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJRRC2C7K6XERRJES8143XGV","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJRRFBWNEDRCEJ8R6A0322BH","peer_label":"miss king","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:51.449Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYSAZT646RSHT9C5XPKR","peer_label":"mrs gardiner","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:51.449Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZKG263C7SQSDV3TZ5MX","peer_label":"elizabeth bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:51.449Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZH1WA49EQP66J0ZHR6G","peer_label":"derbyshire","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"county","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:51.449Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYW19YDDGRB70B483ZRV","peer_label":"hertfordshire","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"county","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:51.449Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYSZYA9P29KKXYZVTJ15","peer_label":"mr gardiner","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:51.449Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF153TPWJAW8CQK8BJTFG","peer_label":"rosings park","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"estate","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:51.449Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF91TF3GBBE6ETQBF0DYP","peer_label":"charlotte collins","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:51.449Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY6ZWGAT4FYVDEM6VE2E","peer_label":"mr collins","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:51.449Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYTMYM5H9026MPV0AJMX","peer_label":"sir william lucas","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:51.449Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY7G184NZ401P9V4JV87","peer_label":"lady catherine de bourgh","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:51.449Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFDSD93Q8W1BZVBNNTZJK","peer_label":"mercenary motive","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:51.449Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFDWY2JY01QQYTPFFN5KV","peer_label":"avarice","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:51.449Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFDVW49B4QY3SZPFZZQHR","peer_label":"matrimonial affairs","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:51.449Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFDXMM6CDYKWRWQMAWVZF","peer_label":"tour of pleasure","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"event","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:51.449Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFDSVKR2W92JPHJZ584R1","peer_label":"prudent motive","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:51.449Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFDYM605SZZVHJNT07V42","peer_label":"the lakes","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"region","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:51.449Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFED9NJF77NEYPSXM1ZPC","peer_label":"hunsford","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"village","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:51.449Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFECNNYMRKT2KNMTKZA96","peer_label":"chapter xxviii","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"document_section","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:51.449Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFEHVXW5GMH97PFAA7ZYB","peer_label":"parsonage hunsford garden","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:51.449Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFEK5H6BP1B4P5MBXD2JZ","peer_label":"the country","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:51.449Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFFRCSRKZWVGS4ZW126FC","peer_label":"parsonage hunsford","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"residence","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:51.449Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:01.254Z","ts":"2026-03-03T02:29:52.218Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}