{"id":"01KJRRE0QENNDHQ6JR42R34H5D","cid":"bafkreibgr7jlmmvy2ir646bmj2rapatso7bm2wwx4xbicrrty2ylyhku3q","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":441578,"char_start":433641,"chunk_index":61,"chunk_total":108,"estimated_tokens":1985,"label":"waiter must not hear, as if he cared! I dare say h","source_file_key":"pride-and-prejudice","text":"waiter must not hear, as if he cared! I dare say he often hears worse\r\nthings said than I am going to say. But he is an ugly fellow! I am glad\r\nhe is gone. I never saw such a long chin in my life. Well, but now for\r\nmy news: it is about dear Wickham; too good for the waiter, is not it?\r\nThere is no danger of Wickham’s marrying Mary King--there’s for you! She\r\nis gone down to her uncle at Liverpool; gone to stay. Wickham is safe.”\r\n\r\n“And Mary King is safe!” added Elizabeth; “safe from a connection\r\nimprudent as to fortune.”\r\n\r\n“She is a great fool for going away, if she liked him.”\r\n\r\n“But I hope there is no strong attachment on either side,” said Jane.\r\n\r\n“I am sure there is not on _his_. I will answer for it, he never cared\r\nthree straws about her. Who _could_ about such a nasty little freckled\r\nthing?”\r\n\r\nElizabeth was shocked to think that, however incapable of such\r\ncoarseness of _expression_ herself, the coarseness of the _sentiment_\r\nwas little other than her own breast had formerly harboured and fancied\r\nliberal!\r\n\r\nAs soon as all had ate, and the elder ones paid, the carriage was\r\nordered; and, after some contrivance, the whole party, with all their\r\nboxes, workbags, and parcels, and the unwelcome addition of Kitty’s and\r\nLydia’s purchases, were seated in it.\r\n\r\n“How nicely we are crammed in!” cried Lydia. “I am glad I brought my\r\nbonnet, if it is only for the fun of having another band-box! Well, now\r\nlet us be quite comfortable and snug, and talk and laugh all the way\r\nhome. And in the first place, let us hear what has happened to you all\r\nsince you went away. Have you seen any pleasant men? Have you had any\r\nflirting? I was in great hopes that one of you would have got a husband\r\nbefore you came back. Jane will be quite an old maid soon, I declare.\r\nShe is almost three-and-twenty! Lord! how ashamed I should be of not\r\nbeing married before three-and-twenty! My aunt Philips wants you so to\r\nget husbands you can’t think. She says Lizzy had better have taken Mr.\r\nCollins; but _I_ do not think there would have been any fun in it. Lord!\r\nhow I should like to be married before any of you! and then I would\r\n_chaperon_ you about to all the balls. Dear me! we had such a good piece\r\nof fun the other day at Colonel Forster’s! Kitty and me were to spend\r\nthe day there, and Mrs. Forster promised to have a little dance in the\r\nevening; (by-the-bye, Mrs. Forster and me are _such_ friends!) and so\r\nshe asked the two Harringtons to come: but Harriet was ill, and so Pen\r\nwas forced to come by herself; and then, what do you think we did? We\r\ndressed up Chamberlayne in woman’s clothes, on purpose to pass for a\r\nlady,--only think what fun! Not a soul knew of it, but Colonel and Mrs.\r\nForster, and Kitty and me, except my aunt, for we were forced to borrow\r\none of her gowns; and you cannot imagine how well he looked! When Denny,\r\nand Wickham, and Pratt, and two or three more of the men came in, they\r\ndid not know him in the least. Lord! how I laughed! and so did Mrs.\r\nForster. I thought I should have died. And _that_ made the men suspect\r\nsomething, and then they soon found out what was the matter.”\r\n\r\nWith such kind of histories of their parties and good jokes did Lydia,\r\nassisted by Kitty’s hints and additions, endeavour to amuse her\r\ncompanions all the way to Longbourn. Elizabeth listened as little as she\r\ncould, but there was no escaping the frequent mention of Wickham’s name.\r\n\r\nTheir reception at home was most kind. Mrs. Bennet rejoiced to see Jane\r\nin undiminished beauty; and more than once during dinner did Mr. Bennet\r\nsay voluntarily to Elizabeth,----\r\n\r\n“I am glad you are come back, Lizzy.”\r\n\r\nTheir party in the dining-room was large, for almost all the Lucases\r\ncame to meet Maria and hear the news; and various were the subjects\r\nwhich occupied them: Lady Lucas was inquiring of Maria, across the\r\ntable, after the welfare and poultry of her eldest daughter; Mrs. Bennet\r\nwas doubly engaged, on one hand collecting an account of the present\r\nfashions from Jane, who sat some way below her, and on the other,\r\nretailing them all to the younger Miss Lucases; and Lydia, in a voice\r\nrather louder than any other person’s, was enumerating the various\r\npleasures of the morning to anybody who would hear her.\r\n\r\n“Oh, Mary,” said she, “I wish you had gone with us, for we had such fun!\r\nas we went along Kitty and me drew up all the blinds, and pretended\r\nthere was nobody in the coach; and I should have gone so all the way, if\r\nKitty had not been sick; and when we got to the George, I do think we\r\nbehaved very handsomely, for we treated the other three with the nicest\r\ncold luncheon in the world, and if you would have gone, we would have\r\ntreated you too. And then when we came away it was such fun! I thought\r\nwe never should have got into the coach. I was ready to die of laughter.\r\nAnd then we were so merry all the way home! we talked and laughed so\r\nloud, that anybody might have heard us ten miles off!”\r\n\r\nTo this, Mary very gravely replied, “Far be it from me, my dear sister,\r\nto depreciate such pleasures. They would doubtless be congenial with the\r\ngenerality of female minds. But I confess they would have no charms for\r\n_me_. I should infinitely prefer a book.”\r\n\r\nBut of this answer Lydia heard not a word. She seldom listened to\r\nanybody for more than half a minute, and never attended to Mary at all.\r\n\r\nIn the afternoon Lydia was urgent with the rest of the girls to walk to\r\nMeryton, and see how everybody went on; but Elizabeth steadily opposed\r\nthe scheme. It should not be said, that the Miss Bennets could not be at\r\nhome half a day before they were in pursuit of the officers. There was\r\nanother reason, too, for her opposition. She dreaded seeing Wickham\r\nagain, and was resolved to avoid it as long as possible. The comfort to\r\n_her_, of the regiment’s approaching removal, was indeed beyond\r\nexpression. In a fortnight they were to go, and once gone, she hoped\r\nthere could be nothing more to plague her on his account.\r\n\r\nShe had not been many hours at home, before she found that the Brighton\r\nscheme, of which Lydia had given them a hint at the inn, was under\r\nfrequent discussion between her parents. Elizabeth saw directly that her\r\nfather had not the smallest intention of yielding; but his answers were\r\nat the same time so vague and equivocal, that her mother, though often\r\ndisheartened, had never yet despaired of succeeding at last.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration]\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER XL.\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration]\r\n\r\nElizabeth’s impatience to acquaint Jane with what had happened could no\r\nlonger be overcome; and at length resolving to suppress every particular\r\nin which her sister was concerned, and preparing her to be surprised,\r\nshe related to her the next morning the chief of the scene between Mr.\r\nDarcy and herself.\r\n\r\nMiss Bennet’s astonishment was soon lessened by the strong sisterly\r\npartiality which made any admiration of Elizabeth appear perfectly\r\nnatural; and all surprise was shortly lost in other feelings. She was\r\nsorry that Mr. Darcy should have delivered his sentiments in a manner so\r\nlittle suited to recommend them; but still more was she grieved for the\r\nunhappiness which her sister’s refusal must have given him.\r\n\r\n“His being so sure of succeeding was wrong,” said she, “and certainly\r\nought not to have appeared; but consider how much it must increase his\r\ndisappointment.”\r\n\r\n“Indeed,” replied Elizabeth, “I am heartily sorry for him; but he has\r\nother feelings which will probably soon drive away his regard for me.\r\nYou do not blame me, however, for refusing him?”\r\n\r\n“Blame you! Oh, no.”\r\n\r\n“But you blame me for having spoken so warmly of Wickham?”\r\n\r\n“No--I do not know that you were wrong in saying what you did.”\r\n\r\n“But you _will_ know it, when I have told you what happened the very\r\nnext day.”\r\n\r\nShe then spoke of the letter, repeating the whole of its contents as far\r\nas they concerned George Wickham."},"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":"2026-03-03T02:30:04.982Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY6RHWPTVXJ7SHB3NE6F","peer_label":"lydia bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:04.982Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZGM87R12EADFF6YZZG3","peer_label":"jane bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:04.982Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYS51T78NJZ45CYXSXS9","peer_label":"george wickham","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:04.982Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFHJBF935EJX9EK00X14V","peer_label":"longbourn","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"residence","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:04.982Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF7V69NB58H106CVY82PE","peer_label":"colonel forster","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:04.982Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY4KCKYKYTFBWSNR6EZ0","peer_label":"kitty bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:04.982Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF8GGJND4AG8N2BX042GX","peer_label":"mrs forster","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:04.982Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYT564P5405ZE4Q76ZF5","peer_label":"mrs bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:04.982Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYW2V9QH9GNRQRJT67GK","peer_label":"mr bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:04.982Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY63WYEJRTN7FS2QXC2P","peer_label":"mary bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:04.982Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF0QZTC5KJ63MKYZHD3F9","peer_label":"meryton","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"town","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:04.982Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZJBEM6MWHW485H9DS9F","peer_label":"mr darcy","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:04.982Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFJSMMMJSGJCHQ20N7363","peer_label":"darcys letter to elizabeth","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"document","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:04.982Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFVSDAQ77ZSQXSDV0PA96","peer_label":"liverpool","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"city","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:04.982Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFVQREH3SHQF10DPH39EK","peer_label":"mary king","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:04.982Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFW3RB2G4PTWV7ZT4VG57","peer_label":"chamberlayne","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:04.982Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFW8VPZC1CACGD8HFXMJS","peer_label":"lucas family","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"family_group","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:04.982Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFWA9DKWAC0ZBGA1QMHZM","peer_label":"brighton scheme","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"travel_plan","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:04.982Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFWX2TF30WGTHSMQW33PB","peer_label":"reading","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"activity","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:04.982Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFWHM15ZXJNYDCY2K7KH2","peer_label":"regiment meryton","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"military_unit","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:04.982Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFWW1HZYFNXM5173BFJ7T","peer_label":"chapter xl pride and prejudice","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"book_chapter","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:04.982Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:01.294Z","ts":"2026-03-03T02:30:05.960Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}