{"id":"01KJRRE0PH2MRNGVXPA4R7S5EG","cid":"bafkreicwqocjlnnyok6xkbeaqbiymplsjtu27hjy7xkhx6xvyry7pik4la","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":363955,"char_start":355986,"chunk_index":50,"chunk_total":108,"estimated_tokens":1993,"label":"Darcy only, entered the room.\r \r He seemed astonis","source_file_key":"pride-and-prejudice","text":"Darcy only, entered the room.\r\n\r\nHe seemed astonished too on finding her alone, and apologized for his\r\nintrusion, by letting her know that he had understood all the ladies to\r\nbe within.\r\n\r\nThey then sat down, and when her inquiries after Rosings were made,\r\nseemed in danger of sinking into total silence. It was absolutely\r\nnecessary, therefore, to think of something; and in this emergency\r\nrecollecting _when_ she had seen him last in Hertfordshire, and feeling\r\ncurious to know what he would say on the subject of their hasty\r\ndeparture, she observed,--\r\n\r\n“How very suddenly you all quitted Netherfield last November, Mr. Darcy!\r\nIt must have been a most agreeable surprise to Mr. Bingley to see you\r\nall after him so soon; for, if I recollect right, he went but the day\r\nbefore. He and his sisters were well, I hope, when you left London?”\r\n\r\n“Perfectly so, I thank you.”\r\n\r\nShe found that she was to receive no other answer; and, after a short\r\npause, added,--\r\n\r\n“I think I have understood that Mr. Bingley has not much idea of ever\r\nreturning to Netherfield again?”\r\n\r\n“I have never heard him say so; but it is probable that he may spend\r\nvery little of his time there in future. He has many friends, and he is\r\nat a time of life when friends and engagements are continually\r\nincreasing.”\r\n\r\n“If he means to be but little at Netherfield, it would be better for the\r\nneighbourhood that he should give up the place entirely, for then we\r\nmight possibly get a settled family there. But, perhaps, Mr. Bingley did\r\nnot take the house so much for the convenience of the neighbourhood as\r\nfor his own, and we must expect him to keep or quit it on the same\r\nprinciple.”\r\n\r\n“I should not be surprised,” said Darcy, “if he were to give it up as\r\nsoon as any eligible purchase offers.”\r\n\r\nElizabeth made no answer. She was afraid of talking longer of his\r\nfriend; and, having nothing else to say, was now determined to leave the\r\ntrouble of finding a subject to him.\r\n\r\nHe took the hint and soon began with, “This seems a very comfortable\r\nhouse. Lady Catherine, I believe, did a great deal to it when Mr.\r\nCollins first came to Hunsford.”\r\n\r\n“I believe she did--and I am sure she could not have bestowed her\r\nkindness on a more grateful object.”\r\n\r\n“Mr. Collins appears very fortunate in his choice of a wife.”\r\n\r\n“Yes, indeed; his friends may well rejoice in his having met with one of\r\nthe very few sensible women who would have accepted him, or have made\r\nhim happy if they had. My friend has an excellent understanding--though\r\nI am not certain that I consider her marrying Mr. Collins as the wisest\r\nthing she ever did. She seems perfectly happy, however; and, in a\r\nprudential light, it is certainly a very good match for her.”\r\n\r\n“It must be very agreeable to her to be settled within so easy a\r\ndistance of her own family and friends.”\r\n\r\n“An easy distance do you call it? It is nearly fifty miles.”\r\n\r\n“And what is fifty miles of good road? Little more than half a day’s\r\njourney. Yes, I call it a very easy distance.”\r\n\r\n“I should never have considered the distance as one of the _advantages_\r\nof the match,” cried Elizabeth. “I should never have said Mrs. Collins\r\nwas settled _near_ her family.”\r\n\r\n“It is a proof of your own attachment to Hertfordshire. Anything beyond\r\nthe very neighbourhood of Longbourn, I suppose, would appear far.”\r\n\r\nAs he spoke there was a sort of smile, which Elizabeth fancied she\r\nunderstood; he must be supposing her to be thinking of Jane and\r\nNetherfield, and she blushed as she answered,--\r\n\r\n“I do not mean to say that a woman may not be settled too near her\r\nfamily. The far and the near must be relative, and depend on many\r\nvarying circumstances. Where there is fortune to make the expense of\r\ntravelling unimportant, distance becomes no evil. But that is not the\r\ncase _here_. Mr. and Mrs. Collins have a comfortable income, but not\r\nsuch a one as will allow of frequent journeys--and I am persuaded my\r\nfriend would not call herself _near_ her family under less than _half_\r\nthe present distance.”\r\n\r\nMr. Darcy drew his chair a little towards her, and said, “_You_ cannot\r\nhave a right to such very strong local attachment. _You_ cannot have\r\nbeen always at Longbourn.”\r\n\r\nElizabeth looked surprised. The gentleman experienced some change of\r\nfeeling; he drew back his chair, took a newspaper from the table, and,\r\nglancing over it, said, in a colder voice,--\r\n\r\n“Are you pleased with Kent?”\r\n\r\nA short dialogue on the subject of the country ensued, on either side\r\ncalm and concise--and soon put an end to by the entrance of Charlotte\r\nand her sister, just returned from their walk. The _tête-à-tête_\r\nsurprised them. Mr. Darcy related the mistake which had occasioned his\r\nintruding on Miss Bennet, and, after sitting a few minutes longer,\r\nwithout saying much to anybody, went away.\r\n\r\n[Illustration: “Accompanied by their aunt”\r\n\r\n[_Copyright 1894 by George Allen._]]\r\n\r\n“What can be the meaning of this?” said Charlotte, as soon as he was\r\ngone. “My dear Eliza, he must be in love with you, or he would never\r\nhave called on us in this familiar way.”\r\n\r\nBut when Elizabeth told of his silence, it did not seem very likely,\r\neven to Charlotte’s wishes, to be the case; and, after various\r\nconjectures, they could at last only suppose his visit to proceed from\r\nthe difficulty of finding anything to do, which was the more probable\r\nfrom the time of year. All field sports were over. Within doors there\r\nwas Lady Catherine, books, and a billiard table, but gentlemen cannot be\r\nalways within doors; and in the nearness of the Parsonage, or the\r\npleasantness of the walk to it, or of the people who lived in it, the\r\ntwo cousins found a temptation from this period of walking thither\r\nalmost every day. They called at various times of the morning, sometimes\r\nseparately, sometimes together, and now and then accompanied by their\r\naunt. It was plain to them all that Colonel Fitzwilliam came because he\r\nhad pleasure in their society, a persuasion which of course recommended\r\nhim still more; and Elizabeth was reminded by her own satisfaction in\r\nbeing with him, as well as by his evident admiration, of her former\r\nfavourite, George Wickham; and though, in comparing them, she saw there\r\nwas less captivating softness in Colonel Fitzwilliam’s manners, she\r\nbelieved he might have the best informed mind.\r\n\r\nBut why Mr. Darcy came so often to the Parsonage it was more difficult\r\nto understand. It could not be for society, as he frequently sat there\r\nten minutes together without opening his lips; and when he did speak, it\r\nseemed the effect of necessity rather than of choice--a sacrifice to\r\npropriety, not a pleasure to himself. He seldom appeared really\r\nanimated. Mrs. Collins knew not what to make of him. Colonel\r\nFitzwilliam’s occasionally laughing at his stupidity proved that he was\r\ngenerally different, which her own knowledge of him could not have told\r\nher; and as she would have liked to believe this change the effect of\r\nlove, and the object of that love her friend Eliza, she set herself\r\nseriously to work to find it out: she watched him whenever they were at\r\nRosings, and whenever he came to Hunsford; but without much success. He\r\ncertainly looked at her friend a great deal, but the expression of that\r\nlook was disputable. It was an earnest, steadfast gaze, but she often\r\ndoubted whether there were much admiration in it, and sometimes it\r\nseemed nothing but absence of mind.\r\n\r\nShe had once or twice suggested to Elizabeth the possibility of his\r\nbeing partial to her, but Elizabeth always laughed at the idea; and Mrs.\r\nCollins did not think it right to press the subject, from the danger of\r\nraising expectations which might only end in disappointment; for in her\r\nopinion it admitted not of a doubt, that all her friend’s dislike would\r\nvanish, if she could suppose him to be in her power.\r\n\r\nIn her kind schemes for Elizabeth, she sometimes planned her marrying\r\nColonel Fitzwilliam."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJRRD3TNE5A6AKAVXSRFT9RC","peer_label":"pride-and-prejudice","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJRRC2C7K6XERRJES8143XGV","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJRREZKG263C7SQSDV3TZ5MX","peer_label":"elizabeth bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.662Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY5SSJCQ67QYG0XTG9A8","peer_label":"mr bingley","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.662Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF826ZSJSKKBWG7SK2KSN","peer_label":"rosings","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"estate","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.662Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZGXA5G45WS8FVH5R7BE","peer_label":"netherfield","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"estate","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.662Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYW19YDDGRB70B483ZRV","peer_label":"hertfordshire","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"county","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.662Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZJBEM6MWHW485H9DS9F","peer_label":"mr darcy","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.662Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY6ZWGAT4FYVDEM6VE2E","peer_label":"mr collins","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.662Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFED9NJF77NEYPSXM1ZPC","peer_label":"hunsford","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"village","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.662Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYZ36C2F9Z4KP5F6ANMZ","peer_label":"london","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"city","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.662Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF7VA665FKK6CM48CN8K0","peer_label":"longbourn","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"estate","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.662Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFG0K5SREGAFMDG85V7D7","peer_label":"mrs collins","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.662Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF7YPKAMRSS5AR5RC8DQN","peer_label":"colonel fitzwilliam","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.662Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZGM87R12EADFF6YZZG3","peer_label":"jane bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.662Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF91J7212QSPKP6Q7S0NC","peer_label":"kent","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"county","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.662Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYS51T78NJZ45CYXSXS9","peer_label":"george wickham","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.662Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFPTMNX0Q5V826E49MC0Y","peer_label":"lady catherine","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.662Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFQ913G93MAWQXH0G95G4","peer_label":"the parsonage","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"residence","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.662Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFPZ4R07EVKJZKAG1TZM2","peer_label":"room","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.662Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFR1N6KKE83PS1FPY3FG0","peer_label":"sister","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.662Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFR8G6FAWXX80S72XGCXW","peer_label":"intrusion","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.662Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:01.265Z","ts":"2026-03-03T02:30:03.076Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}