{"id":"01KJRRE0RQVAYY8KM33JPNF394","cid":"bafkreigc2od5o4i5bp7xulfpj4wxg5mvgljxszsxz5dcmsa6mfooqu6nx4","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":527864,"char_start":519872,"chunk_index":73,"chunk_total":108,"estimated_tokens":1998,"label":"necessary to be made, but perhaps not the more eas","source_file_key":"pride-and-prejudice","text":"necessary to be made, but perhaps not the more easily kept, because she\r\nsaw that the suspicions of the whole party were awakened against them,\r\nand that there was scarcely an eye which did not watch his behaviour\r\nwhen he first came into the room. In no countenance was attentive\r\ncuriosity so strongly marked as in Miss Bingley’s, in spite of the\r\nsmiles which overspread her face whenever she spoke to one of its\r\nobjects; for jealousy had not yet made her desperate, and her attentions\r\nto Mr. Darcy were by no means over. Miss Darcy, on her brother’s\r\nentrance, exerted herself much more to talk; and Elizabeth saw that he\r\nwas anxious for his sister and herself to get acquainted, and forwarded,\r\nas much as possible, every attempt at conversation on either side. Miss\r\nBingley saw all this likewise; and, in the imprudence of anger, took the\r\nfirst opportunity of saying, with sneering civility,--\r\n\r\n“Pray, Miss Eliza, are not the ----shire militia removed from Meryton?\r\nThey must be a great loss to _your_ family.”\r\n\r\nIn Darcy’s presence she dared not mention Wickham’s name: but Elizabeth\r\ninstantly comprehended that he was uppermost in her thoughts; and the\r\nvarious recollections connected with him gave her a moment’s distress;\r\nbut, exerting herself vigorously to repel the ill-natured attack, she\r\npresently answered the question in a tolerably disengaged tone. While\r\nshe spoke, an involuntary glance showed her Darcy with a heightened\r\ncomplexion, earnestly looking at her, and his sister overcome with\r\nconfusion, and unable to lift up her eyes. Had Miss Bingley known what\r\npain she was then giving her beloved friend, she undoubtedly would have\r\nrefrained from the hint; but she had merely intended to discompose\r\nElizabeth, by bringing forward the idea of a man to whom she believed\r\nher partial, to make her betray a sensibility which might injure her in\r\nDarcy’s opinion, and, perhaps, to remind the latter of all the follies\r\nand absurdities by which some part of her family were connected with\r\nthat corps. Not a syllable had ever reached her of Miss Darcy’s\r\nmeditated elopement. To no creature had it been revealed, where secrecy\r\nwas possible, except to Elizabeth; and from all Bingley’s connections\r\nher brother was particularly anxious to conceal it, from that very wish\r\nwhich Elizabeth had long ago attributed to him, of their becoming\r\nhereafter her own. He had certainly formed such a plan; and without\r\nmeaning that it should affect his endeavour to separate him from Miss\r\nBennet, it is probable that it might add something to his lively concern\r\nfor the welfare of his friend.\r\n\r\nElizabeth’s collected behaviour, however, soon quieted his emotion; and\r\nas Miss Bingley, vexed and disappointed, dared not approach nearer to\r\nWickham, Georgiana also recovered in time, though not enough to be able\r\nto speak any more. Her brother, whose eye she feared to meet, scarcely\r\nrecollected her interest in the affair; and the very circumstance which\r\nhad been designed to turn his thoughts from Elizabeth, seemed to have\r\nfixed them on her more and more cheerfully.\r\n\r\nTheir visit did not continue long after the question and answer above\r\nmentioned; and while Mr. Darcy was attending them to their carriage,\r\nMiss Bingley was venting her feelings in criticisms on Elizabeth’s\r\nperson, behaviour, and dress. But Georgiana would not join her. Her\r\nbrother’s recommendation was enough to insure her favour: his judgment\r\ncould not err; and he had spoken in such terms of Elizabeth, as to leave\r\nGeorgiana without the power of finding her otherwise than lovely and\r\namiable. When Darcy returned to the saloon, Miss Bingley could not help\r\nrepeating to him some part of what she had been saying to his sister.\r\n\r\n“How very ill Eliza Bennet looks this morning, Mr. Darcy,” she cried: “I\r\nnever in my life saw anyone so much altered as she is since the winter.\r\nShe is grown so brown and coarse! Louisa and I were agreeing that we\r\nshould not have known her again.”\r\n\r\nHowever little Mr. Darcy might have liked such an address, he contented\r\nhimself with coolly replying, that he perceived no other alteration than\r\nher being rather tanned,--no miraculous consequence of travelling in the\r\nsummer.\r\n\r\n“For my own part,” she rejoined, “I must confess that I never could see\r\nany beauty in her. Her face is too thin; her complexion has no\r\nbrilliancy; and her features are not at all handsome. Her nose wants\r\ncharacter; there is nothing marked in its lines. Her teeth are\r\ntolerable, but not out of the common way; and as for her eyes, which\r\nhave sometimes been called so fine, I never could perceive anything\r\nextraordinary in them. They have a sharp, shrewish look, which I do not\r\nlike at all; and in her air altogether, there is a self-sufficiency\r\nwithout fashion, which is intolerable.”\r\n\r\nPersuaded as Miss Bingley was that Darcy admired Elizabeth, this was not\r\nthe best method of recommending herself; but angry people are not always\r\nwise; and in seeing him at last look somewhat nettled, she had all the\r\nsuccess she expected. He was resolutely silent, however; and, from a\r\ndetermination of making him speak, she continued,--\r\n\r\n“I remember, when we first knew her in Hertfordshire, how amazed we all\r\nwere to find that she was a reputed beauty; and I particularly recollect\r\nyour saying one night, after they had been dining at Netherfield, ‘_She_\r\na beauty! I should as soon call her mother a wit.’ But afterwards she\r\nseemed to improve on you, and I believe you thought her rather pretty at\r\none time.”\r\n\r\n“Yes,” replied Darcy, who could contain himself no longer, “but _that_\r\nwas only when I first knew her; for it is many months since I have\r\nconsidered her as one of the handsomest women of my acquaintance.”\r\n\r\nHe then went away, and Miss Bingley was left to all the satisfaction of\r\nhaving forced him to say what gave no one any pain but herself.\r\n\r\nMrs. Gardiner and Elizabeth talked of all that had occurred during their\r\nvisit, as they returned, except what had particularly interested them\r\nboth. The looks and behaviour of everybody they had seen were discussed,\r\nexcept of the person who had mostly engaged their attention. They talked\r\nof his sister, his friends, his house, his fruit, of everything but\r\nhimself; yet Elizabeth was longing to know what Mrs. Gardiner thought of\r\nhim, and Mrs. Gardiner would have been highly gratified by her niece’s\r\nbeginning the subject.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration]\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nChapter XLVI.\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration]\r\n\r\nElizabeth had been a good deal disappointed in not finding a letter from\r\nJane on their first arrival at Lambton; and this disappointment had been\r\nrenewed on each of the mornings that had now been spent there; but on\r\nthe third her repining was over, and her sister justified, by the\r\nreceipt of two letters from her at once, on one of which was marked that\r\nit had been mis-sent elsewhere. Elizabeth was not surprised at it, as\r\nJane had written the direction remarkably ill.\r\n\r\nThey had just been preparing to walk as the letters came in; and her\r\nuncle and aunt, leaving her to enjoy them in quiet, set off by\r\nthemselves. The one mis-sent must be first attended to; it had been\r\nwritten five days ago. The beginning contained an account of all their\r\nlittle parties and engagements, with such news as the country afforded;\r\nbut the latter half, which was dated a day later, and written in evident\r\nagitation, gave more important intelligence. It was to this effect:--\r\n\r\n“Since writing the above, dearest Lizzy, something has occurred of a\r\nmost unexpected and serious nature; but I am afraid of alarming you--be\r\nassured that we are all well. What I have to say relates to poor Lydia.\r\nAn express came at twelve last night, just as we were all gone to bed,\r\nfrom Colonel Forster, to inform us that she was gone off to Scotland\r\nwith one of his officers; to own the truth, with Wickham! Imagine our\r\nsurprise. To Kitty, however, it does not seem so wholly unexpected. I am\r\nvery, very sorry."},"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":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.616Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZGXA5G45WS8FVH5R7BE","peer_label":"netherfield","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"estate","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.616Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYSAZT646RSHT9C5XPKR","peer_label":"mrs gardiner","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.616Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZGM87R12EADFF6YZZG3","peer_label":"jane bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.616Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY6RHWPTVXJ7SHB3NE6F","peer_label":"lydia bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.616Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF7V69NB58H106CVY82PE","peer_label":"colonel forster","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.616Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY4KCKYKYTFBWSNR6EZ0","peer_label":"kitty bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.616Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF9E83QWJZZE5Y2539AM9","peer_label":"georgiana darcy","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.616Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF9PX45RMRK5ZT304GJXR","peer_label":"louisa hurst","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.616Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF9EDV0MDRJ6DN8NSRR5C","peer_label":"----shire militia","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"military_unit","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.616Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF9DZQW2Q86TDRFKQT445","peer_label":"miss caroline bingley","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.616Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF9DVY5F8HH5KT054M38A","peer_label":"mr fitzwilliam darcy","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.616Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF9XB2DWDW2CVJ1HE5YCJ","peer_label":"miss darcys meditated elopement","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"event","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.616Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF9GYMYEJYMFAKRZBPZ4E","peer_label":"mr george wickham","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.616Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF9XRD2AVZPR6P747EMQG","peer_label":"mr charles bingley","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.616Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF9MMMJ32QVBB79DRTMGA","peer_label":"meryton","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"fictional_town","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.616Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFA51T2ZS3X1TF8MCRMZA","peer_label":"scotland","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"country","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.616Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFA36K847RAK0HJXXVCGY","peer_label":"chapter xlvi","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"document_section","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.616Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFA36XKZW7PN6NK69V6Y4","peer_label":"lambton","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"fictional_town","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.616Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFAFF8GS6T4KG5WKHVKFS","peer_label":"lydia bennets elopement","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.616Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:01.335Z","ts":"2026-03-03T02:29:46.490Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}