{"id":"01KJRRE0S56A8PTNTBRMP75R2M","cid":"bafkreiepirdnxdoymnwgtrqxsm4mhz5zt2qujek4zahuthkroy5p265zoi","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":605787,"char_start":597813,"chunk_index":84,"chunk_total":108,"estimated_tokens":1994,"label":"daughter, let us come to a right understanding. In","source_file_key":"pride-and-prejudice","text":"daughter, let us come to a right understanding. Into _one_ house in this\r\nneighbourhood they shall never have admittance. I will not encourage the\r\nimprudence of either, by receiving them at Longbourn.”\r\n\r\nA long dispute followed this declaration; but Mr. Bennet was firm: it\r\nsoon led to another; and Mrs. Bennet found, with amazement and horror,\r\nthat her husband would not advance a guinea to buy clothes for his\r\ndaughter. He protested that she should receive from him no mark of\r\naffection whatever on the occasion. Mrs. Bennet could hardly comprehend\r\nit. That his anger could be carried to such a point of inconceivable\r\nresentment as to refuse his daughter a privilege, without which her\r\nmarriage would scarcely seem valid, exceeded all that she could believe\r\npossible. She was more alive to the disgrace, which her want of new\r\nclothes must reflect on her daughter’s nuptials, than to any sense of\r\nshame at her eloping and living with Wickham a fortnight before they\r\ntook place.\r\n\r\nElizabeth was now most heartily sorry that she had, from the distress of\r\nthe moment, been led to make Mr. Darcy acquainted with their fears for\r\nher sister; for since her marriage would so shortly give the proper\r\ntermination to the elopement, they might hope to conceal its\r\nunfavourable beginning from all those who were not immediately on the\r\nspot.\r\n\r\nShe had no fear of its spreading farther, through his means. There were\r\nfew people on whose secrecy she would have more confidently depended;\r\nbut at the same time there was no one whose knowledge of a sister’s\r\nfrailty would have mortified her so much. Not, however, from any fear of\r\ndisadvantage from it individually to herself; for at any rate there\r\nseemed a gulf impassable between them. Had Lydia’s marriage been\r\nconcluded on the most honourable terms, it was not to be supposed that\r\nMr. Darcy would connect himself with a family, where to every other\r\nobjection would now be added an alliance and relationship of the nearest\r\nkind with the man whom he so justly scorned.\r\n\r\nFrom such a connection she could not wonder that he should shrink. The\r\nwish of procuring her regard, which she had assured herself of his\r\nfeeling in Derbyshire, could not in rational expectation survive such a\r\nblow as this. She was humbled, she was grieved; she repented, though she\r\nhardly knew of what. She became jealous of his esteem, when she could no\r\nlonger hope to be benefited by it. She wanted to hear of him, when there\r\nseemed the least chance of gaining intelligence. She was convinced that\r\nshe could have been happy with him, when it was no longer likely they\r\nshould meet.\r\n\r\nWhat a triumph for him, as she often thought, could he know that the\r\nproposals which she had proudly spurned only four months ago would now\r\nhave been gladly and gratefully received! He was as generous, she\r\ndoubted not, as the most generous of his sex. But while he was mortal,\r\nthere must be a triumph.\r\n\r\nShe began now to comprehend that he was exactly the man who, in\r\ndisposition and talents, would most suit her. His understanding and\r\ntemper, though unlike her own, would have answered all her wishes. It\r\nwas an union that must have been to the advantage of both: by her ease\r\nand liveliness, his mind might have been softened, his manners improved;\r\nand from his judgment, information, and knowledge of the world, she must\r\nhave received benefit of greater importance.\r\n\r\nBut no such happy marriage could now teach the admiring multitude what\r\nconnubial felicity really was. An union of a different tendency, and\r\nprecluding the possibility of the other, was soon to be formed in their\r\nfamily.\r\n\r\nHow Wickham and Lydia were to be supported in tolerable independence she\r\ncould not imagine. But how little of permanent happiness could belong to\r\na couple who were only brought together because their passions were\r\nstronger than their virtue, she could easily conjecture.\r\n\r\nMr. Gardiner soon wrote again to his brother. To Mr. Bennet’s\r\nacknowledgments he briefly replied, with assurances of his eagerness to\r\npromote the welfare of any of his family; and concluded with entreaties\r\nthat the subject might never be mentioned to him again. The principal\r\npurport of his letter was to inform them, that Mr. Wickham had resolved\r\non quitting the militia.\r\n\r\n“It was greatly my wish that he should do so,” he added, “as soon as his\r\nmarriage was fixed on. And I think you will agree with me, in\r\nconsidering a removal from that corps as highly advisable, both on his\r\naccount and my niece’s. It is Mr. Wickham’s intention to go into the\r\nRegulars; and, among his former friends, there are still some who are\r\nable and willing to assist him in the army. He has the promise of an\r\nensigncy in General----’s regiment, now quartered in the north. It is\r\nan advantage to have it so far from this part of the kingdom. He\r\npromises fairly; and I hope among different people, where they may each\r\nhave a character to preserve, they will both be more prudent. I have\r\nwritten to Colonel Forster, to inform him of our present arrangements,\r\nand to request that he will satisfy the various creditors of Mr. Wickham\r\nin and near Brighton with assurances of speedy payment, for which I have\r\npledged myself. And will you give yourself the trouble of carrying\r\nsimilar assurances to his creditors in Meryton, of whom I shall subjoin\r\na list, according to his information? He has given in all his debts; I\r\nhope at least he has not deceived us. Haggerston has our directions, and\r\nall will be completed in a week. They will then join his regiment,\r\nunless they are first invited to Longbourn; and I understand from Mrs.\r\nGardiner that my niece is very desirous of seeing you all before she\r\nleaves the south. She is well, and begs to be dutifully remembered to\r\nyou and her mother.--Yours, etc.\r\n\r\n“E. GARDINER.”\r\n\r\nMr. Bennet and his daughters saw all the advantages of Wickham’s\r\nremoval from the ----shire, as clearly as Mr. Gardiner could do. But\r\nMrs. Bennet was not so well pleased with it. Lydia’s being settled in\r\nthe north, just when she had expected most pleasure and pride in her\r\ncompany, for she had by no means given up her plan of their residing in\r\nHertfordshire, was a severe disappointment; and, besides, it was such a\r\npity that Lydia should be taken from a regiment where she was acquainted\r\nwith everybody, and had so many favourites.\r\n\r\n“She is so fond of Mrs. Forster,” said she, “it will be quite shocking\r\nto send her away! And there are several of the young men, too, that she\r\nlikes very much. The officers may not be so pleasant in General----’s\r\nregiment.”\r\n\r\nHis daughter’s request, for such it might be considered, of being\r\nadmitted into her family again, before she set off for the north,\r\nreceived at first an absolute negative. But Jane and Elizabeth, who\r\nagreed in wishing, for the sake of their sister’s feelings and\r\nconsequence, that she should be noticed on her marriage by her parents,\r\nurged him so earnestly, yet so rationally and so mildly, to receive her\r\nand her husband at Longbourn, as soon as they were married, that he was\r\nprevailed on to think as they thought, and act as they wished. And their\r\nmother had the satisfaction of knowing, that she should be able to show\r\nher married daughter in the neighbourhood, before she was banished to\r\nthe north. When Mr. Bennet wrote again to his brother, therefore, he\r\nsent his permission for them to come; and it was settled, that, as soon\r\nas the ceremony was over, they should proceed to Longbourn. Elizabeth\r\nwas surprised, however, that Wickham should consent to such a scheme;\r\nand, had she consulted only her own inclination, any meeting with him\r\nwould have been the last object of her wishes.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration:\r\n\r\n“With an affectionate smile”\r\n\r\n[_Copyright 1894 by George Allen._]]\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER LI.\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration]\r\n\r\nTheir sister’s wedding-day arrived; and Jane and Elizabeth felt for her\r\nprobably more than she felt for herself."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJRRD3TNE5A6AKAVXSRFT9RC","peer_label":"pride-and-prejudice","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJRRC2C7K6XERRJES8143XGV","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJRREY6RHWPTVXJ7SHB3NE6F","peer_label":"lydia bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:53.253Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF19AD63KEEZZWPG3X2KQ","peer_label":"mr 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