{"id":"01KJRRE0RQF4QD5VKAR3Z308S9","cid":"bafkreiamntdw5wm4grpeyyp6eirf67gccsu6v2f375wjwqof3ubnt6duae","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":542240,"char_start":534347,"chunk_index":75,"chunk_total":108,"estimated_tokens":1974,"label":"“No, I thank you,” she replied, endeavouring to","source_file_key":"pride-and-prejudice","text":"\r\n“No, I thank you,” she replied, endeavouring to recover herself. “There\r\nis nothing the matter with me. I am quite well, I am only distressed by\r\nsome dreadful news which I have just received from Longbourn.”\r\n\r\nShe burst into tears as she alluded to it, and for a few minutes could\r\nnot speak another word. Darcy, in wretched suspense, could only say\r\nsomething indistinctly of his\r\n\r\n[Illustration:\r\n\r\n     “I have not an instant to lose”\r\n]\r\n\r\nconcern, and observe her in compassionate silence. At length she spoke\r\nagain. “I have just had a letter from Jane, with such dreadful news. It\r\ncannot be concealed from anyone. My youngest sister has left all her\r\nfriends--has eloped; has thrown herself into the power of--of Mr.\r\nWickham. They are gone off together from Brighton. _You_ know him too\r\nwell to doubt the rest. She has no money, no connections, nothing that\r\ncan tempt him to--she is lost for ever.”\r\n\r\nDarcy was fixed in astonishment.\r\n\r\n“When I consider,” she added, in a yet more agitated voice, “that _I_\r\nmight have prevented it! _I_ who knew what he was. Had I but explained\r\nsome part of it only--some part of what I learnt, to my own family! Had\r\nhis character been known, this could not have happened. But it is all,\r\nall too late now.”\r\n\r\n“I am grieved, indeed,” cried Darcy: “grieved--shocked. But is it\r\ncertain, absolutely certain?”\r\n\r\n“Oh, yes! They left Brighton together on Sunday night, and were traced\r\nalmost to London, but not beyond: they are certainly not gone to\r\nScotland.”\r\n\r\n“And what has been done, what has been attempted, to recover her?”\r\n\r\n“My father has gone to London, and Jane has written to beg my uncle’s\r\nimmediate assistance, and we shall be off, I hope, in half an hour. But\r\nnothing can be done; I know very well that nothing can be done. How is\r\nsuch a man to be worked on? How are they even to be discovered? I have\r\nnot the smallest hope. It is every way horrible!”\r\n\r\nDarcy shook his head in silent acquiescence.\r\n\r\n“When _my_ eyes were opened to his real character, oh! had I known what\r\nI ought, what I dared to do! But I knew not--I was afraid of doing too\r\nmuch. Wretched, wretched mistake!”\r\n\r\nDarcy made no answer. He seemed scarcely to hear her, and was walking up\r\nand down the room in earnest meditation; his brow contracted, his air\r\ngloomy. Elizabeth soon observed, and instantly understood it. Her power\r\nwas sinking; everything _must_ sink under such a proof of family\r\nweakness, such an assurance of the deepest disgrace. She could neither\r\nwonder nor condemn; but the belief of his self-conquest brought nothing\r\nconsolatory to her bosom, afforded no palliation of her distress. It\r\nwas, on the contrary, exactly calculated to make her understand her own\r\nwishes; and never had she so honestly felt that she could have loved\r\nhim, as now, when all love must be vain.\r\n\r\nBut self, though it would intrude, could not engross her. Lydia--the\r\nhumiliation, the misery she was bringing on them all--soon swallowed up\r\nevery private care; and covering her face with her handkerchief,\r\nElizabeth was soon lost to everything else; and, after a pause of\r\nseveral minutes, was only recalled to a sense of her situation by the\r\nvoice of her companion, who, in a manner which, though it spoke\r\ncompassion, spoke likewise restraint, said,--\r\n\r\n“I am afraid you have been long desiring my absence, nor have I anything\r\nto plead in excuse of my stay, but real, though unavailing concern.\r\nWould to Heaven that anything could be either said or done on my part,\r\nthat might offer consolation to such distress! But I will not torment\r\nyou with vain wishes, which may seem purposely to ask for your thanks.\r\nThis unfortunate affair will, I fear, prevent my sister’s having the\r\npleasure of seeing you at Pemberley to-day.”\r\n\r\n“Oh, yes! Be so kind as to apologize for us to Miss Darcy. Say that\r\nurgent business calls us home immediately. Conceal the unhappy truth as\r\nlong as it is possible. I know it cannot be long.”\r\n\r\nHe readily assured her of his secrecy, again expressed his sorrow for\r\nher distress, wished it a happier conclusion than there was at present\r\nreason to hope, and, leaving his compliments for her relations, with\r\nonly one serious parting look, went away.\r\n\r\nAs he quitted the room, Elizabeth felt how improbable it was that they\r\nshould ever see each other again on such terms of cordiality as had\r\nmarked their several meetings in Derbyshire; and as she threw a\r\nretrospective glance over the whole of their acquaintance, so full of\r\ncontradictions and varieties, sighed at the perverseness of those\r\nfeelings which would now have promoted its continuance, and would\r\nformerly have rejoiced in its termination.\r\n\r\nIf gratitude and esteem are good foundations of affection, Elizabeth’s\r\nchange of sentiment will be neither improbable nor faulty. But if\r\notherwise, if the regard springing from such sources is unreasonable or\r\nunnatural, in comparison of what is so often described as arising on a\r\nfirst interview with its object, and even before two words have been\r\nexchanged, nothing can be said in her defence, except that she had given\r\nsomewhat of a trial to the latter method, in her partiality for Wickham,\r\nand that its ill success might, perhaps, authorize her to seek the other\r\nless interesting mode of attachment. Be that as it may, she saw him go\r\nwith regret; and in this early example of what Lydia’s infamy must\r\nproduce, found additional anguish as she reflected on that wretched\r\nbusiness. Never since reading Jane’s second letter had she entertained a\r\nhope of Wickham’s meaning to marry her. No one but Jane, she thought,\r\ncould flatter herself with such an expectation. Surprise was the least\r\nof all her feelings on this development. While the contents of the first\r\nletter remained on her mind, she was all surprise, all astonishment,\r\nthat Wickham should marry a girl whom it was impossible he could marry\r\nfor money; and how Lydia could ever have attached him had appeared\r\nincomprehensible. But now it was all too natural. For such an attachment\r\nas this, she might have sufficient charms; and though she did not\r\nsuppose Lydia to be deliberately engaging in an elopement, without the\r\nintention of marriage, she had no difficulty in believing that neither\r\nher virtue nor her understanding would preserve her from falling an easy\r\nprey.\r\n\r\nShe had never perceived, while the regiment was in Hertfordshire, that\r\nLydia had any partiality for him; but she was convinced that Lydia had\r\nwanted only encouragement to attach herself to anybody. Sometimes one\r\nofficer, sometimes another, had been her favourite, as their attentions\r\nraised them in her opinion. Her affections had been continually\r\nfluctuating, but never without an object. The mischief of neglect and\r\nmistaken indulgence towards such a girl--oh! how acutely did she now\r\nfeel it!\r\n\r\nShe was wild to be at home--to hear, to see, to be upon the spot to\r\nshare with Jane in the cares that must now fall wholly upon her, in a\r\nfamily so deranged; a father absent, a mother incapable of exertion, and\r\nrequiring constant attendance; and though almost persuaded that nothing\r\ncould be done for Lydia, her uncle’s interference seemed of the utmost\r\nimportance, and till he entered the room the misery of her impatience\r\nwas severe. Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner had hurried back in alarm, supposing,\r\nby the servant’s account, that their niece was taken suddenly ill; but\r\nsatisfying them instantly on that head, she eagerly communicated the\r\ncause of their summons, reading the two letters aloud, and dwelling on\r\nthe postscript of the last with trembling energy. Though Lydia had never\r\nbeen a favourite with them, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner could not but be\r\ndeeply affected. Not Lydia only, but all were concerned in it; and after\r\nthe first exclamations of surprise and horror, Mr. Gardiner readily\r\npromised every assistance in his power."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJRRD3TNE5A6AKAVXSRFT9RC","peer_label":"pride-and-prejudice","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJRRC2C7K6XERRJES8143XGV","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJRREZGM87R12EADFF6YZZG3","peer_label":"jane bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:48.255Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF7VA665FKK6CM48CN8K0","peer_label":"longbourn","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"estate","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:48.255Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYS51T78NJZ45CYXSXS9","peer_label":"george wickham","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:48.255Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZKG263C7SQSDV3TZ5MX","peer_label":"elizabeth bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:48.255Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY6RHWPTVXJ7SHB3NE6F","peer_label":"lydia bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:48.255Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF9YT9F8Z9BAXYRC3SHK6","peer_label":"fitzwilliam darcy","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:48.255Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYZ36C2F9Z4KP5F6ANMZ","peer_label":"london","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"city","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:48.255Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYW2V9QH9GNRQRJT67GK","peer_label":"mr bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:48.255Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYSZYA9P29KKXYZVTJ15","peer_label":"mr gardiner","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:48.255Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF080QQFQRJXDVEZJMPV0","peer_label":"miss darcy","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:48.255Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZJ8A0QJK2TXKT8DT57S","peer_label":"pemberley","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"estate","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:48.255Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZH1WA49EQP66J0ZHR6G","peer_label":"derbyshire","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"county","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:48.255Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYW19YDDGRB70B483ZRV","peer_label":"hertfordshire","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"county","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:48.255Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYSAZT646RSHT9C5XPKR","peer_label":"mrs gardiner","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:48.255Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFCVTZJ0Q72Y50D55Z7FJ","peer_label":"brighton","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"location","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:48.255Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFCWXF4D2HKC90B5JZX7M","peer_label":"janes second letter","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"letter","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:48.255Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFCWAHM6EN4DMV2EH5XKM","peer_label":"lydias elopement","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"event","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:48.255Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFCW6QHAXYKSSZFFYNEED","peer_label":"janes first letter","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"letter","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:48.255Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:01.335Z","ts":"2026-03-03T02:29:50.302Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}