{"id":"01KJRRE0QEVMPP36MNGY82VH6S","cid":"bafkreiaki6npay5efqj7myy6dgljjz2fmjlm5har3forg5f4nih35tr4da","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":463264,"char_start":455265,"chunk_index":64,"chunk_total":108,"estimated_tokens":2000,"label":"suppose it possible that they will not be censured","source_file_key":"pride-and-prejudice","text":"suppose 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. At Brighton she will be of less importance\r\neven as a common flirt than she has been here. The officers will find\r\nwomen better worth their notice. Let us hope, therefore, that her being\r\nthere may teach her her own insignificance. At any rate, she cannot grow\r\nmany degrees worse, without authorizing us to lock her up for the rest\r\nof her life.”\r\n\r\nWith this answer Elizabeth was forced to be content; but her own opinion\r\ncontinued the same, and she left him disappointed and sorry. It was not\r\nin her nature, however, to increase her vexations by dwelling on them.\r\nShe was confident of having performed her duty; and to fret over\r\nunavoidable evils, or augment them by anxiety, was no part of her\r\ndisposition.\r\n\r\nHad Lydia and her mother known the substance of her conference with her\r\nfather, their indignation would hardly have found expression in their\r\nunited volubility. In Lydia’s imagination, a visit to Brighton comprised\r\nevery possibility of earthly happiness. She saw, with the creative eye\r\nof fancy, the streets of that gay bathing-place covered with officers.\r\nShe saw herself the object of attention to tens and to scores of them at\r\npresent unknown. She saw all the glories of the camp: its tents\r\nstretched forth in beauteous uniformity of lines, crowded with the young\r\nand the gay, and dazzling with scarlet; and, to complete the view, she\r\nsaw herself seated beneath a tent, tenderly flirting with at least six\r\nofficers at once.\r\n\r\n[Illustration:\r\n\r\n“Tenderly flirting”\r\n\r\n[_Copyright 1894 by George Allen._]]\r\n\r\nHad she known that her sister sought to tear her from such prospects and\r\nsuch realities as these, what would have been her sensations? They could\r\nhave been understood only by her mother, who might have felt nearly the\r\nsame. Lydia’s going to Brighton was all that consoled her for the\r\nmelancholy conviction of her husband’s never intending to go there\r\nhimself.\r\n\r\nBut they were entirely ignorant of what had passed; and their raptures\r\ncontinued, with little intermission, to the very day of Lydia’s leaving\r\nhome.\r\n\r\nElizabeth was now to see Mr. Wickham for the last time. Having been\r\nfrequently in company with him since her return, agitation was pretty\r\nwell over; the agitations of former partiality entirely so. She had even\r\nlearnt to detect, in the very gentleness which had first delighted her,\r\nan affectation and a sameness to disgust and weary. In his present\r\nbehaviour to herself, moreover, she had a fresh source of displeasure;\r\nfor the inclination he soon testified of renewing those attentions which\r\nhad marked the early part of their acquaintance could only serve, after\r\nwhat had since passed, to provoke her. She lost all concern for him in\r\nfinding herself thus selected as the object of such idle and frivolous\r\ngallantry; and while she steadily repressed it, could not but feel the\r\nreproof contained in his believing, that however long, and for whatever\r\ncause, his attentions had been withdrawn, her vanity would be gratified,\r\nand her preference secured, at any time, by their renewal.\r\n\r\nOn the very last day of the regiment’s remaining in Meryton, he dined,\r\nwith others of the officers, at Longbourn; and so little was Elizabeth\r\ndisposed to part from him in good-humour, that, on his making some\r\ninquiry as to the manner in which her time had passed at Hunsford, she\r\nmentioned Colonel Fitzwilliam’s and Mr. Darcy’s having both spent three\r\nweeks at Rosings, and asked him if he were acquainted with the former.\r\n\r\nHe looked surprised, displeased, alarmed; but, with a moment’s\r\nrecollection, and a returning smile, replied, that he had formerly seen\r\nhim often; and, after observing that he was a very gentlemanlike man,\r\nasked her how she had liked him. Her answer was warmly in his favour.\r\nWith an air of indifference, he soon afterwards added, “How long did you\r\nsay that he was at Rosings?”\r\n\r\n“Nearly three weeks.”\r\n\r\n“And you saw him frequently?”\r\n\r\n“Yes, almost every day.”\r\n\r\n“His manners are very different from his cousin’s.”\r\n\r\n“Yes, very different; but I think Mr. Darcy improves on acquaintance.”\r\n\r\n“Indeed!” cried Wickham, with a look which did not escape her. “And pray\r\nmay I ask--” but checking himself, he added, in a gayer tone, “Is it in\r\naddress that he improves? Has he deigned to add aught of civility to his\r\nordinary style? for I dare not hope,” he continued, in a lower and more\r\nserious tone, “that he is improved in essentials.”\r\n\r\n“Oh, no!” said Elizabeth. “In essentials, I believe, he is very much\r\nwhat he ever was.”\r\n\r\nWhile she spoke, Wickham looked as if scarcely knowing whether to\r\nrejoice over her words or to distrust their meaning. There was a\r\nsomething in her countenance which made him listen with an apprehensive\r\nand anxious attention, while she added,--\r\n\r\n“When I said that he improved on acquaintance, I did not mean that\r\neither his mind or manners were in a state of improvement; but that,\r\nfrom knowing him better, his disposition was better understood.”\r\n\r\nWickham’s alarm now appeared in a heightened complexion and agitated\r\nlook; for a few minutes he was silent; till, shaking off his\r\nembarrassment, he turned to her again, and said in the gentlest of\r\naccents,--\r\n\r\n“You, who so well know my feelings towards Mr. Darcy, will readily\r\ncomprehend how sincerely I must rejoice that he is wise enough to assume\r\neven the _appearance_ of what is right. His pride, in that direction,\r\nmay be of service, if not to himself, to many others, for it must deter\r\nhim from such foul misconduct as I have suffered by. I only fear that\r\nthe sort of cautiousness to which you, I imagine, have been alluding, is\r\nmerely adopted on his visits to his aunt, of whose good opinion and\r\njudgment he stands much in awe. His fear of her has always operated, I\r\nknow, when they were together; and a good deal is to be imputed to his\r\nwish of forwarding the match with Miss de Bourgh, which I am certain he\r\nhas very much at heart.”\r\n\r\nElizabeth could not repress a smile at this, but she answered only by a\r\nslight inclination of the head. She saw that he wanted to engage her on\r\nthe old subject of his grievances, and she was in no humour to indulge\r\nhim. The rest of the evening passed with the _appearance_, on his side,\r\nof usual cheerfulness, but with no further attempt to distinguish\r\nElizabeth; and they parted at last with mutual civility, and possibly a\r\nmutual desire of never meeting again.\r\n\r\nWhen the party broke up, Lydia returned with Mrs. Forster to Meryton,\r\nfrom whence they were to set out early the next morning. The separation\r\nbetween her and her family was rather noisy than pathetic. Kitty was the\r\nonly one who shed tears; but she did weep from vexation and envy. Mrs.\r\nBennet was diffuse in her good wishes for the felicity of her daughter,\r\nand impressive in her injunctions that she would not miss the\r\nopportunity of enjoying herself as much as possible,--advice which there\r\nwas every reason to believe would be attended to; and, in the clamorous\r\nhappiness of Lydia herself in bidding farewell, the more gentle adieus\r\nof her sisters were uttered without being heard.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration:\r\n\r\nThe arrival of the\r\nGardiners\r\n]\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER XLII.\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration]\r\n\r\nHad Elizabeth’s opinion been all drawn from her own "},"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":"2026-03-03T02:29:44.212Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY6RHWPTVXJ7SHB3NE6F","peer_label":"lydia bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:44.212Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYW2V9QH9GNRQRJT67GK","peer_label":"mr bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:44.212Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYT564P5405ZE4Q76ZF5","peer_label":"mrs bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:44.212Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF19AD63KEEZZWPG3X2KQ","peer_label":"mr wickham","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:44.212Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF1J610RB97404J5Q53SH","peer_label":"hunsford","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"place","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:44.212Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZJBEM6MWHW485H9DS9F","peer_label":"mr darcy","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:44.212Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF111GQ37KKZWSA5T7428","peer_label":"miss de bourgh","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:44.212Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF0QZTC5KJ63MKYZHD3F9","peer_label":"meryton","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"town","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:44.212Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY4KCKYKYTFBWSNR6EZ0","peer_label":"kitty bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:44.212Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYRAPBAR593DJKHRVWY2","peer_label":"george allen","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"organization","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:44.212Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF7V69NB58H106CVY82PE","peer_label":"colonel forster","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:44.212Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF7W0F41M39HBQQVSZAWG","peer_label":"brighton","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"city","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:44.212Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF7YPKAMRSS5AR5RC8DQN","peer_label":"colonel fitzwilliam","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:44.212Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF7VA665FKK6CM48CN8K0","peer_label":"longbourn","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"estate","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:44.212Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF826ZSJSKKBWG7SK2KSN","peer_label":"rosings","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"estate","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:44.212Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF7YCAJDRY4T1GRPYRW6Y","peer_label":"military officers brighton","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"group","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:44.212Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF8GGJND4AG8N2BX042GX","peer_label":"mrs forster","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:44.212Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF8PBF7RAQ8AC04XT1HQX","peer_label":"tenderly flirting illustration","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"illustration","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:44.212Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF8PHSN2FGNPE0KWB7ZEH","peer_label":"chapter xlii","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"document_section","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:44.212Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:01.294Z","ts":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.221Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}