{"id":"01KJRRE0SMFA8H01HDJ2N9MD7C","cid":"bafkreiedxeqwtdomx577eyulgo6hywp7loos42bqor6ub67vuxejrshjay","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":634303,"char_start":626580,"chunk_index":88,"chunk_total":108,"estimated_tokens":1931,"label":"last Wednesday, that her conduct on coming ho","source_file_key":"pride-and-prejudice","text":"     last Wednesday, that her conduct on coming home was exactly of a\r\n     piece with it, and therefore what I now tell you can give you no\r\n     fresh pain. I talked to her repeatedly in the most serious manner,\r\n     representing to her the wickedness of what she had done, and all\r\n     the unhappiness she had brought on her family. If she heard me, it\r\n     was by good luck, for I am sure she did not listen. I was sometimes\r\n     quite provoked; but then I recollected my dear Elizabeth and Jane,\r\n     and for their sakes had patience with her. Mr. Darcy was punctual\r\n     in his return, and, as Lydia informed you, attended the wedding. He\r\n     dined with us the next day, and was to leave town again on\r\n     Wednesday or Thursday. Will you be very angry with me, my dear\r\n     Lizzy, if I take this opportunity of saying (what I was never bold\r\n     enough to say before) how much I like him? His behaviour to us has,\r\n     in every respect, been as pleasing as when we were in Derbyshire.\r\n     His understanding and opinions all please me; he wants nothing but\r\n     a little more liveliness, and _that_, if he marry _prudently_, his\r\n     wife may teach him. I thought him very sly; he hardly ever\r\n     mentioned your name. But slyness seems the fashion. Pray forgive\r\n     me, if I have been very presuming, or at least do not punish me so\r\n     far as to exclude me from P. I shall never be quite happy till I\r\n     have been all round the park. A low phaeton with a nice little pair\r\n     of ponies would be the very thing. But I must write no more. The\r\n     children have been wanting me this half hour.\r\n\r\n“Yours, very sincerely,\r\n\r\n“M. GARDINER.”\r\n\r\n\r\nThe contents of this letter threw Elizabeth into a flutter of spirits,\r\nin which it was difficult to determine whether pleasure or pain bore the\r\ngreatest share. The vague and unsettled suspicions which uncertainty had\r\nproduced, of what Mr. Darcy might have been doing to forward her\r\nsister’s match--which she had feared to encourage, as an exertion of\r\ngoodness too great to be probable, and at the same time dreaded to be\r\njust, from the pain of obligation--were proved beyond their greatest\r\nextent to be true! He had followed them purposely to town, he had taken\r\non himself all the trouble and mortification attendant on such a\r\nresearch; in which supplication had been necessary to a woman whom he\r\nmust abominate and despise, and where he was reduced to meet, frequently\r\nmeet, reason with, persuade, and finally bribe the man whom he always\r\nmost wished to avoid, and whose very name it was punishment to him to\r\npronounce. He had done all this for a girl whom he could neither regard\r\nnor esteem. Her heart did whisper that he had done it for her. But it\r\nwas a hope shortly checked by other considerations; and she soon felt\r\nthat even her vanity was insufficient, when required to depend on his\r\naffection for her, for a woman who had already refused him, as able to\r\novercome a sentiment so natural as abhorrence against relationship with\r\nWickham. Brother-in-law of Wickham! Every kind of pride must revolt from\r\nthe connection. He had, to be sure, done much. She was ashamed to think\r\nhow much. But he had given a reason for his interference, which asked no\r\nextraordinary stretch of belief. It was reasonable that he should feel\r\nhe had been wrong; he had liberality, and he had the means of exercising\r\nit; and though she would not place herself as his principal inducement,\r\nshe could perhaps believe, that remaining partiality for her might\r\nassist his endeavours in a cause where her peace of mind must be\r\nmaterially concerned. It was painful, exceedingly painful, to know that\r\nthey were under obligations to a person who could never receive a\r\nreturn. They owed the restoration of Lydia, her character, everything to\r\nhim. Oh, how heartily did she grieve over every ungracious sensation she\r\nhad ever encouraged, every saucy speech she had ever directed towards\r\nhim! For herself she was humbled; but she was proud of him,--proud that\r\nin a cause of compassion and honour he had been able to get the better\r\nof himself. She read over her aunt’s commendation of him again and\r\nagain. It was hardly enough; but it pleased her. She was even sensible\r\nof some pleasure, though mixed with regret, on finding how steadfastly\r\nboth she and her uncle had been persuaded that affection and confidence\r\nsubsisted between Mr. Darcy and herself.\r\n\r\nShe was roused from her seat and her reflections, by someone’s approach;\r\nand, before she could strike into another path, she was overtaken by\r\nWickham.\r\n\r\n“I am afraid I interrupt your solitary ramble, my dear sister?” said he,\r\nas he joined her.\r\n\r\n“You certainly do,” she replied with a smile; “but it does not follow\r\nthat the interruption must be unwelcome.”\r\n\r\n“I should be sorry, indeed, if it were. _We_ were always good friends,\r\nand now we are better.”\r\n\r\n“True. Are the others coming out?”\r\n\r\n“I do not know. Mrs. Bennet and Lydia are going in the carriage to\r\nMeryton. And so, my dear sister, I find, from our uncle and aunt, that\r\nyou have actually seen Pemberley.”\r\n\r\nShe replied in the affirmative.\r\n\r\n“I almost envy you the pleasure, and yet I believe it would be too much\r\nfor me, or else I could take it in my way to Newcastle. And you saw the\r\nold housekeeper, I suppose? Poor Reynolds, she was always very fond of\r\nme. But of course she did not mention my name to you.”\r\n\r\n“Yes, she did.”\r\n\r\n“And what did she say?”\r\n\r\n“That you were gone into the army, and she was afraid had--not turned\r\nout well. At such a distance as _that_, you know, things are strangely\r\nmisrepresented.”\r\n\r\n“Certainly,” he replied, biting his lips. Elizabeth hoped she had\r\nsilenced him; but he soon afterwards said,--\r\n\r\n“I was surprised to see Darcy in town last month. We passed each other\r\nseveral times. I wonder what he can be doing there.”\r\n\r\n“Perhaps preparing for his marriage with Miss de Bourgh,” said\r\nElizabeth. “It must be something particular to take him there at this\r\ntime of year.”\r\n\r\n“Undoubtedly. Did you see him while you were at Lambton? I thought I\r\nunderstood from the Gardiners that you had.”\r\n\r\n“Yes; he introduced us to his sister.”\r\n\r\n“And do you like her?”\r\n\r\n“Very much.”\r\n\r\n“I have heard, indeed, that she is uncommonly improved within this year\r\nor two. When I last saw her, she was not very promising. I am very glad\r\nyou liked her. I hope she will turn out well.”\r\n\r\n“I dare say she will; she has got over the most trying age.”\r\n\r\n“Did you go by the village of Kympton?”\r\n\r\n“I do not recollect that we did.”\r\n\r\n“I mention it because it is the living which I ought to have had. A most\r\ndelightful place! Excellent parsonage-house! It would have suited me in\r\nevery respect.”\r\n\r\n“How should you have liked making sermons?”\r\n\r\n“Exceedingly well. I should have considered it as part of my duty, and\r\nthe exertion would soon have been nothing. One ought not to repine; but,\r\nto be sure, it would have been such a thing for me! The quiet, the\r\nretirement of such a life, would have answered all my ideas of\r\nhappiness! But it was not to be. Did you ever hear Darcy mention the\r\ncircumstance when you were in Kent?”\r\n\r\n“I _have_ heard from authority, which I thought _as good_, that it was\r\nleft you conditionally only, and at the will of the present patron.”\r\n\r\n“You have! Yes, there was something in _that_; I told you so from the\r\nfirst, you may remember.”\r\n\r\n“I _did_ hear, too, that there was a time when sermon-making was not so\r\npalatable to you as it seems to be at present; that you actually\r\ndeclared your resolution of never taking orders, and that the business\r\nhad been compromised accordingly.”\r\n\r\n“You did! and it was not wholly without foundation."},"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":"2026-03-03T02:30:05.341Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZJBEM6MWHW485H9DS9F","peer_label":"mr darcy","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:05.341Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZH1WA49EQP66J0ZHR6G","peer_label":"derbyshire","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"county","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:05.341Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY6RHWPTVXJ7SHB3NE6F","peer_label":"lydia bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:05.341Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZKG263C7SQSDV3TZ5MX","peer_label":"elizabeth bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:05.341Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYT564P5405ZE4Q76ZF5","peer_label":"mrs bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:05.341Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF0QZTC5KJ63MKYZHD3F9","peer_label":"meryton","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"town","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:05.341Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZJ8A0QJK2TXKT8DT57S","peer_label":"pemberley","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"estate","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:05.341Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYS51T78NJZ45CYXSXS9","peer_label":"george wickham","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:05.341Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF0PZ89F3YPMWWEB39BQP","peer_label":"mrs reynolds","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:05.341Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF111GQ37KKZWSA5T7428","peer_label":"miss de bourgh","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:05.341Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF9M2538MHHJ98FNAFJA7","peer_label":"georgiana darcy","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:05.341Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF91J7212QSPKP6Q7S0NC","peer_label":"kent","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"county","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:05.341Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFWG1F1KF8XXP575XYKZD","peer_label":"m gardiner","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:05.341Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFWHHC8ZWG3BMK3MY3Z0E","peer_label":"phaeton","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"carriage_type","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:05.341Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFWY5KH8WCKEEEP2TA40C","peer_label":"lambton","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"village","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:05.341Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFWK2HHQJXT2QTRVADVMR","peer_label":"army","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"organization_type","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:05.341Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFWZPT6EHAEJPZPEVW2Q0","peer_label":"kympton","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"village","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:05.341Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFX0G8C5HMC5QG02MBZ5R","peer_label":"clerical living","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"position","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:05.341Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFXDDW1SCN299W7AMNZ1H","peer_label":"unhappiness","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:05.341Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFXG7WYQE6T6TWEWNHTPH","peer_label":"present patron","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"role","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:05.341Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:01.364Z","ts":"2026-03-03T02:30:06.243Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}