{"id":"01KJRRE0QEQMQBXW3T56AYBBVC","cid":"bafkreigo6td76hsylsj5cj3qazwkjfz5v4dzn6dsr5rji35g2g2l2qxl7m","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":455991,"char_start":447997,"chunk_index":63,"chunk_total":108,"estimated_tokens":1999,"label":"[Illustration:\r \r      “I am determined never to","source_file_key":"pride-and-prejudice","text":"\r\n[Illustration:\r\n\r\n     “I am determined never to speak of it again”\r\n]\r\n\r\n“I do not believe that he will ever live at Netherfield any more.”\r\n\r\n“Oh, well! it is just as he chooses. Nobody wants him to come; though I\r\nshall always say that he used my daughter extremely ill; and, if I was\r\nher, I would not have put up with it. Well, my comfort is, I am sure\r\nJane will die of a broken heart, and then he will be sorry for what he\r\nhas done.”\r\n\r\nBut as Elizabeth could not receive comfort from any such expectation she\r\nmade no answer.\r\n\r\n“Well, Lizzy,” continued her mother, soon afterwards, “and so the\r\nCollinses live very comfortable, do they? Well, well, I only hope it\r\nwill last. And what sort of table do they keep? Charlotte is an\r\nexcellent manager, I dare say. If she is half as sharp as her mother,\r\nshe is saving enough. There is nothing extravagant in _their_\r\nhousekeeping, I dare say.”\r\n\r\n“No, nothing at all.”\r\n\r\n“A great deal of good management, depend upon it. Yes, yes. _They_ will\r\ntake care not to outrun their income. _They_ will never be distressed\r\nfor money. Well, much good may it do them! And so, I suppose, they often\r\ntalk of having Longbourn when your father is dead. They look upon it\r\nquite as their own, I dare say, whenever that happens.”\r\n\r\n“It was a subject which they could not mention before me.”\r\n\r\n“No; it would have been strange if they had. But I make no doubt they\r\noften talk of it between themselves. Well, if they can be easy with an\r\nestate that is not lawfully their own, so much the better. _I_ should be\r\nashamed of having one that was only entailed on me.”\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration:\r\n\r\n“When Colonel Miller’s regiment went away”\r\n\r\n[_Copyright 1894 by George Allen._]]\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER XLI.\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration]\r\n\r\nThe first week of their return was soon gone. The second began. It was\r\nthe last of the regiment’s stay in Meryton, and all the young ladies in\r\nthe neighbourhood were drooping apace. The dejection was almost\r\nuniversal. The elder Miss Bennets alone were still able to eat, drink,\r\nand sleep, and pursue the usual course of their employments. Very\r\nfrequently were they reproached for this insensibility by Kitty and\r\nLydia, whose own misery was extreme, and who could not comprehend such\r\nhard-heartedness in any of the family.\r\n\r\n“Good Heaven! What is to become of us? What are we to do?” would they\r\noften exclaim in the bitterness of woe. “How can you be smiling so,\r\nLizzy?”\r\n\r\nTheir affectionate mother shared all their grief; she remembered what\r\nshe had herself endured on a similar occasion five-and-twenty years ago.\r\n\r\n“I am sure,” said she, “I cried for two days together when Colonel\r\nMiller’s regiment went away. I thought I should have broke my heart.”\r\n\r\n“I am sure I shall break _mine_,” said Lydia.\r\n\r\n“If one could but go to Brighton!” observed Mrs. Bennet.\r\n\r\n“Oh yes!--if one could but go to Brighton! But papa is so disagreeable.”\r\n\r\n“A little sea-bathing would set me up for ever.”\r\n\r\n“And my aunt Philips is sure it would do _me_ a great deal of good,”\r\nadded Kitty.\r\n\r\nSuch were the kind of lamentations resounding perpetually through\r\nLongbourn House. Elizabeth tried to be diverted by them; but all sense\r\nof pleasure was lost in shame. She felt anew the justice of Mr. Darcy’s\r\nobjections; and never had she before been so much disposed to pardon his\r\ninterference in the views of his friend.\r\n\r\nBut the gloom of Lydia’s prospect was shortly cleared away; for she\r\nreceived an invitation from Mrs. Forster, the wife of the colonel of the\r\nregiment, to accompany her to Brighton. This invaluable friend was a\r\nvery young woman, and very lately married. A resemblance in good-humour\r\nand good spirits had recommended her and Lydia to each other, and out of\r\ntheir _three_ months’ acquaintance they had been intimate _two_.\r\n\r\nThe rapture of Lydia on this occasion, her adoration of Mrs. Forster,\r\nthe delight of Mrs. Bennet, and the mortification of Kitty, are scarcely\r\nto be described. Wholly inattentive to her sister’s feelings, Lydia flew\r\nabout the house in restless ecstasy, calling for everyone’s\r\ncongratulations, and laughing and talking with more violence than ever;\r\nwhilst the luckless Kitty continued in the parlour repining at her fate\r\nin terms as unreasonable as her accent was peevish.\r\n\r\n“I cannot see why Mrs. Forster should not ask _me_ as well as Lydia,”\r\nsaid she, “though I am _not_ her particular friend. I have just as much\r\nright to be asked as she has, and more too, for I am two years older.”\r\n\r\nIn vain did Elizabeth attempt to make her reasonable, and Jane to make\r\nher resigned. As for Elizabeth herself, this invitation was so far from\r\nexciting in her the same feelings as in her mother and Lydia, that she\r\nconsidered it as the death-warrant of all possibility of common sense\r\nfor the latter; and detestable as such a step must make her, were it\r\nknown, she could not help secretly advising her father not to let her\r\ngo. She represented to him all the improprieties of Lydia’s general\r\nbehaviour, the little advantage she could derive from the friendship of\r\nsuch a woman as Mrs. Forster, and the probability of her being yet more\r\nimprudent with such a companion at Brighton, where the temptations must\r\nbe greater than at home. He heard her attentively, and then said,--\r\n\r\n“Lydia will never be easy till she has exposed herself in some public\r\nplace or other, and we can never expect her to do it with so little\r\nexpense or inconvenience to her family as under the present\r\ncircumstances.”\r\n\r\n“If you were aware,” said Elizabeth, “of the very great disadvantage to\r\nus all, which must arise from the public notice of Lydia’s unguarded and\r\nimprudent manner, nay, which has already arisen from it, I am sure you\r\nwould judge differently in the affair.”\r\n\r\n“Already arisen!” repeated Mr. Bennet. “What! has she frightened away\r\nsome of your lovers? Poor little Lizzy! But do not be cast down. Such\r\nsqueamish youths as cannot bear to be connected with a little absurdity\r\nare not worth a regret. Come, let me see the list of the pitiful fellows\r\nwho have been kept aloof by Lydia’s folly.”\r\n\r\n“Indeed, you are mistaken. I have no such injuries to resent. It is not\r\nof peculiar, but of general evils, which I am now complaining. Our\r\nimportance, our respectability in the world, must be affected by the\r\nwild volatility, the assurance and disdain of all restraint which mark\r\nLydia’s character. Excuse me,--for I must speak plainly. If you, my dear\r\nfather, will not take the trouble of checking her exuberant spirits, and\r\nof teaching her that her present pursuits are not to be the business of\r\nher life, she will soon be beyond the reach of amendment. Her character\r\nwill be fixed; and she will, at sixteen, be the most determined flirt\r\nthat ever made herself and her family ridiculous;--a flirt, too, in the\r\nworst and meanest degree of flirtation; without any attraction beyond\r\nyouth and a tolerable person; and, from the ignorance and emptiness of\r\nher mind, wholly unable to ward off any portion of that universal\r\ncontempt which her rage for admiration will excite. In this danger Kitty\r\nis also comprehended. She will follow wherever Lydia leads. Vain,\r\nignorant, idle, and absolutely uncontrolled! Oh, my dear father, can you\r\nsuppose it possible that they will not be censured and despised wherever\r\nthey are known, and that their sisters will not be often involved in the\r\ndisgrace?”\r\n\r\nMr. Bennet saw that her whole heart was in the subject; and,\r\naffectionately taking her hand, said, in reply,--\r\n\r\n“Do not make yourself uneasy, my love. Wherever you and Jane are known,\r\nyou must be respected and valued; and you will not appear to less\r\nadvantage for having a couple of--or I may say, three--very silly\r\nsisters. We shall have no peace at Longbourn if Lydia does not go to\r\nBrighton. Let her go, then. Colonel Forster is a sensible man, and will\r\nkeep her out of any real mischief; and she is luckily too poor to be an\r\nobject of prey to anybody."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJRRD3TNE5A6AKAVXSRFT9RC","peer_label":"pride-and-prejudice","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJRRC2C7K6XERRJES8143XGV","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJRREYT564P5405ZE4Q76ZF5","peer_label":"mrs bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:10.156Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF91TF3GBBE6ETQBF0DYP","peer_label":"charlotte collins","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:10.156Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZGM87R12EADFF6YZZG3","peer_label":"jane bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:10.156Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZKG263C7SQSDV3TZ5MX","peer_label":"elizabeth bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:10.156Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY5SSJCQ67QYG0XTG9A8","peer_label":"mr bingley","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:10.156Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY6ZWGAT4FYVDEM6VE2E","peer_label":"mr collins","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:10.156Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFJV05JZMJFG32FZ5DMNV","peer_label":"netherfield park","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"estate","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:10.156Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF7VA665FKK6CM48CN8K0","peer_label":"longbourn","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"estate","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:10.156Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF0QZTC5KJ63MKYZHD3F9","peer_label":"meryton","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"town","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:10.156Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY4KCKYKYTFBWSNR6EZ0","peer_label":"kitty bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:10.156Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY6RHWPTVXJ7SHB3NE6F","peer_label":"lydia bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:10.156Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFZ6QKP29BSPBMC12VGNN","peer_label":"aunt philips","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:10.156Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZJBEM6MWHW485H9DS9F","peer_label":"mr darcy","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:10.156Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF8GGJND4AG8N2BX042GX","peer_label":"mrs forster","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:10.156Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYW2V9QH9GNRQRJT67GK","peer_label":"mr bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:10.156Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF7V69NB58H106CVY82PE","peer_label":"colonel forster","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:10.156Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRG2AHPD4QAPY3JAXKV9N5","peer_label":"household management","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:10.156Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRG2FXXKAKRE6X51VWK174","peer_label":"the regiment in meryton","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"military_unit","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:10.156Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRG2AZE8STFBJDRA8K2WJZ","peer_label":"chapter xli","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"document_section","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:10.156Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRG2FRP70E94XCX0TWRNCM","peer_label":"brighton","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"resort_town","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:10.156Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRG2D4QXCF8GJ2F7MRC46F","peer_label":"colonel millers regiment","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"military_unit","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:10.156Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRG2FDDND0FJR51FBH3AVS","peer_label":"sea-bathing","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"activity","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:10.156Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:01.294Z","ts":"2026-03-03T02:30:11.193Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}