{"id":"01KJRRE0RQMS1QB1J7NG2VCNF8","cid":"bafkreig3lyxcub3rbac56er3voqpfgn4c6d4ioe3ydsr4tzwi7wuw6cacu","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":549482,"char_start":541486,"chunk_index":76,"chunk_total":108,"estimated_tokens":1999,"label":"could be done for Lydia, her uncle’s interference","source_file_key":"pride-and-prejudice","text":"could 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. Elizabeth, though expecting no\r\nless, thanked him with tears of gratitude; and all three being actuated\r\nby one spirit, everything relating to their journey was speedily\r\nsettled. They were to be off as soon as possible. “But what is to be\r\ndone about Pemberley?” cried Mrs. Gardiner. “John told us Mr. Darcy was\r\nhere when you sent for us;--was it so?”\r\n\r\n“Yes; and I told him we should not be able to keep our engagement.\r\n_That_ is all settled.”\r\n\r\n“What is all settled?” repeated the other, as she ran into her room to\r\nprepare. “And are they upon such terms as for her to disclose the real\r\ntruth? Oh, that I knew how it was!”\r\n\r\nBut wishes were vain; or, at best, could serve only to amuse her in the\r\nhurry and confusion of the following hour. Had Elizabeth been at leisure\r\nto be idle, she would have remained certain that all employment was\r\nimpossible to one so wretched as herself; but she had her share of\r\nbusiness as well as her aunt, and amongst the rest there were notes to\r\nbe written to all their friends at Lambton, with false excuses for their\r\nsudden departure. An hour, however, saw the whole completed; and Mr.\r\nGardiner, meanwhile, having settled his account at the inn, nothing\r\nremained to be done but to go; and Elizabeth, after all the misery of\r\nthe morning, found herself, in a shorter space of time than she could\r\nhave supposed, seated in the carriage, and on the road to Longbourn.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration:\r\n\r\n     “The first pleasing earnest of their welcome”\r\n]\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER XLVII.\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration]\r\n\r\n“I have been thinking it over again, Elizabeth,” said her uncle, as they\r\ndrove from the town; “and really, upon serious consideration, I am much\r\nmore inclined than I was to judge as your eldest sister does of the\r\nmatter. It appears to me so very unlikely that any young man should form\r\nsuch a design against a girl who is by no means unprotected or\r\nfriendless, and who was actually staying in his Colonel’s family, that I\r\nam strongly inclined to hope the best. Could he expect that her friends\r\nwould not step forward? Could he expect to be noticed again by the\r\nregiment, after such an affront to Colonel Forster? His temptation is\r\nnot adequate to the risk.”\r\n\r\n“Do you really think so?” cried Elizabeth, brightening up for a moment.\r\n\r\n“Upon my word,” said Mrs. Gardiner, “I begin to be of your uncle’s\r\nopinion. It is really too great a violation of decency, honour, and\r\ninterest, for him to be guilty of it. I cannot think so very ill of\r\nWickham. Can you, yourself, Lizzie, so wholly give him up, as to believe\r\nhim capable of it?”\r\n\r\n“Not perhaps of neglecting his own interest. But of every other neglect\r\nI can believe him capable. If, indeed, it should be so! But I dare not\r\nhope it. Why should they not go on to Scotland, if that had been the\r\ncase?”\r\n\r\n“In the first place,” replied Mr. Gardiner, “there is no absolute proof\r\nthat they are not gone to Scotland.”\r\n\r\n“Oh, but their removing from the chaise into a hackney coach is such a\r\npresumption! And, besides, no traces of them were to be found on the\r\nBarnet road.”\r\n\r\n“Well, then,--supposing them to be in London--they may be there, though\r\nfor the purpose of concealment, for no more exceptionable purpose. It is\r\nnot likely that money should be very abundant on either side; and it\r\nmight strike them that they could be more economically, though less\r\nexpeditiously, married in London, than in Scotland.”\r\n\r\n“But why all this secrecy? Why any fear of detection? Why must their\r\nmarriage be private? Oh, no, no--this is not likely. His most particular\r\nfriend, you see by Jane’s account, was persuaded of his never intending\r\nto marry her. Wickham will never marry a woman without some money. He\r\ncannot afford it. And what claims has Lydia, what attractions has she\r\nbeyond youth, health, and good humour, that could make him for her sake\r\nforego every chance of benefiting himself by marrying well? As to what\r\nrestraint the apprehensions of disgrace in the corps might throw on a\r\ndishonourable elopement with her, I am not able to judge; for I know\r\nnothing of the effects that such a step might produce. But as to your\r\nother objection, I am afraid it will hardly hold good. Lydia has no\r\nbrothers to step forward; and he might imagine, from my father’s\r\nbehaviour, from his indolence and the little attention he has ever\r\nseemed to give to what was going forward in his family, that _he_ would\r\ndo as little and think as little about it, as any father could do, in\r\nsuch a matter.”\r\n\r\n“But can you think that Lydia is so lost to everything but love of him,\r\nas to consent to live with him on any other terms than marriage?”\r\n\r\n“It does seem, and it is most shocking, indeed,” replied Elizabeth, with\r\ntears in her eyes, “that a sister’s sense of decency and virtue in such\r\na point should admit of doubt. But, really, I know not what to say.\r\nPerhaps I am not doing her justice. But she is very young: she has never\r\nbeen taught to think on serious subjects; and for the last half year,\r\nnay, for a twelvemonth, she has been given up to nothing but amusement\r\nand vanity. She has been allowed to dispose of her time in the most idle\r\nand frivolous manner, and to adopt any opinions that came in her way.\r\nSince the ----shire were first quartered in Meryton, nothing but love,\r\nflirtation, and officers, have been in her head. She has been doing\r\neverything in her power, by thinking and talking on the subject, to give\r\ngreater--what shall I call it?--susceptibility to her feelings; which\r\nare naturally lively enough. And we all know that Wickham has every\r\ncharm of person and address that can captivate a woman.”\r\n\r\n“But you see that Jane,” said her aunt, “does not think so ill of\r\nWickham, as to believe him capable of the attempt.”\r\n\r\n“Of whom does Jane ever think ill? And who is there, whatever might be\r\ntheir former conduct, that she would believe capable of such an attempt,\r\ntill it were proved against them? But Jane knows, as well as I do, what\r\nWickham really is. We both know that he has been profligate in every\r\nsense of the word; that he has neither integrity nor honour; that he is\r\nas false and deceitful as he is insinuating.”\r\n\r\n“And do you really know all this?” cried Mrs. Gardiner, whose curiosity\r\nas to the mode of her intelligence was all alive.\r\n\r\n“I do, indeed,” replied Elizabeth, colouring. “I told you the other day\r\nof his infamous behaviour to Mr. Darcy; and you, yourself, when last at\r\nLongbourn, heard in what manner he spoke of the man who had behaved with\r\nsuch forbearance and liberality towards him. And there are other\r\ncircumstances which I am not at liberty--which it is not worth while to\r\nrelate; but his lies about the whole Pemberley family are endless. From\r\nwhat he said of Miss Darcy, I was thoroughly prepared to see a proud,\r\nreserved, disagreeable girl. Yet he knew to the contrary himself. He\r\nmust know that she was as amiable and unpretending as we have found\r\nher.”\r\n\r\n“But does Lydia know nothing of this? can she be ignorant of what you\r\nand Jane seem so well to understand?”\r\n\r\n“Oh, yes!--that, that is the worst of all. Till I was in Kent, and saw\r\nso much both of Mr. Darcy and his relation Colonel Fitzwilliam, I was\r\nignorant of the truth myself."},"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":"2026-03-03T02:29:53.672Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYSAZT646RSHT9C5XPKR","peer_label":"mrs gardiner","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:53.672Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYSZYA9P29KKXYZVTJ15","peer_label":"mr gardiner","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:53.672Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZJ8A0QJK2TXKT8DT57S","peer_label":"pemberley","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"estate","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:53.672Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZJBEM6MWHW485H9DS9F","peer_label":"mr darcy","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:53.672Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY6RHWPTVXJ7SHB3NE6F","peer_label":"lydia bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:53.672Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF7VA665FKK6CM48CN8K0","peer_label":"longbourn","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"estate","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:53.672Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFA76Z48PKAT35WMD1QWR","peer_label":"lambton","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"town","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:53.672Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYS51T78NJZ45CYXSXS9","peer_label":"george wickham","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:53.672Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF7V69NB58H106CVY82PE","peer_label":"colonel forster","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:53.672Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFA51T2ZS3X1TF8MCRMZA","peer_label":"scotland","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"country","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:53.672Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYZ36C2F9Z4KP5F6ANMZ","peer_label":"london","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"city","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:53.672Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF9M2538MHHJ98FNAFJA7","peer_label":"georgiana darcy","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:53.672Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF91J7212QSPKP6Q7S0NC","peer_label":"kent","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"county","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:53.672Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZGM87R12EADFF6YZZG3","peer_label":"jane bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:53.672Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF7YPKAMRSS5AR5RC8DQN","peer_label":"colonel fitzwilliam","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:53.672Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFJ758PZTQVA5BHZXWT38","peer_label":"chapter xlvii","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"document_section","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:53.672Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFJB73BJEDNHK6E2DNAN3","peer_label":"brothers","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:53.672Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFJ6ST9A2WNNY6XFCMDPH","peer_label":"barnet road","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"road","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:53.672Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:01.335Z","ts":"2026-03-03T02:29:54.270Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}