{"id":"01KJRRE0SMSDA58MFTVZPF43F8","cid":"bafkreiga7ypyb6hyqrulczentgmuda3vzalezawazjqym5jh73wahxkky4","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":613031,"char_start":605060,"chunk_index":85,"chunk_total":108,"estimated_tokens":1993,"label":"her married daughter in the neighbourhood, before","source_file_key":"pride-and-prejudice","text":"her 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. The carriage was sent to meet\r\nthem at----, and they were to return in it by dinnertime. Their arrival\r\nwas dreaded by the elder Miss Bennets--and Jane more especially, who\r\ngave Lydia the feelings which would have attended herself, had _she_\r\nbeen the culprit, and was wretched in the thought of what her sister\r\nmust endure.\r\n\r\nThey came. The family were assembled in the breakfast-room to receive\r\nthem. Smiles decked the face of Mrs. Bennet, as the carriage drove up to\r\nthe door; her husband looked impenetrably grave; her daughters, alarmed,\r\nanxious, uneasy.\r\n\r\nLydia’s voice was heard in the vestibule; the door was thrown open, and\r\nshe ran into the room. Her mother stepped forwards, embraced her, and\r\nwelcomed her with rapture; gave her hand with an affectionate smile to\r\nWickham, who followed his lady; and wished them both joy, with an\r\nalacrity which showed no doubt of their happiness.\r\n\r\nTheir reception from Mr. Bennet, to whom they then turned, was not quite\r\nso cordial. His countenance rather gained in austerity; and he scarcely\r\nopened his lips. The easy assurance of the young couple, indeed, was\r\nenough to provoke him.\r\n\r\nElizabeth was disgusted, and even Miss Bennet was shocked. Lydia was\r\nLydia still; untamed, unabashed, wild, noisy, and fearless. She turned\r\nfrom sister to sister, demanding their congratulations; and when at\r\nlength they all sat down, looked eagerly round the room, took notice of\r\nsome little alteration in it, and observed, with a laugh, that it was a\r\ngreat while since she had been there.\r\n\r\nWickham was not at all more distressed than herself; but his manners\r\nwere always so pleasing, that, had his character and his marriage been\r\nexactly what they ought, his smiles and his easy address, while he\r\nclaimed their relationship, would have delighted them all. Elizabeth\r\nhad not before believed him quite equal to such assurance; but she sat\r\ndown, resolving within herself to draw no limits in future to the\r\nimpudence of an impudent man. _She_ blushed, and Jane blushed; but the\r\ncheeks of the two who caused their confusion suffered no variation of\r\ncolour.\r\n\r\nThere was no want of discourse. The bride and her mother could neither\r\nof them talk fast enough; and Wickham, who happened to sit near\r\nElizabeth, began inquiring after his acquaintance in that neighbourhood,\r\nwith a good-humoured ease, which she felt very unable to equal in her\r\nreplies. They seemed each of them to have the happiest memories in the\r\nworld. Nothing of the past was recollected with pain; and Lydia led\r\nvoluntarily to subjects which her sisters would not have alluded to for\r\nthe world.\r\n\r\n“Only think of its being three months,” she cried, “since I went away:\r\nit seems but a fortnight, I declare; and yet there have been things\r\nenough happened in the time. Good gracious! when I went away, I am sure\r\nI had no more idea of being married till I came back again! though I\r\nthought it would be very good fun if I was.”\r\n\r\nHer father lifted up his eyes, Jane was distressed, Elizabeth looked\r\nexpressively at Lydia; but she, who never heard nor saw anything of\r\nwhich she chose to be insensible, gaily continued,--\r\n\r\n“Oh, mamma, do the people hereabouts know I am married to-day? I was\r\nafraid they might not; and we overtook William Goulding in his curricle,\r\nso I was determined he should know it, and so I let down the side glass\r\nnext to him, and took off my glove and let my hand just rest upon the\r\nwindow frame, so that he might see the ring, and then I bowed and\r\nsmiled like anything.”\r\n\r\nElizabeth could bear it no longer. She got up and ran out of the room;\r\nand returned no more, till she heard them passing through the hall to\r\nthe dining-parlour. She then joined them soon enough to see Lydia, with\r\nanxious parade, walk up to her mother’s right hand, and hear her say to\r\nher eldest sister,--\r\n\r\n“Ah, Jane, I take your place now, and you must go lower, because I am a\r\nmarried woman.”\r\n\r\nIt was not to be supposed that time would give Lydia that embarrassment\r\nfrom which she had been so wholly free at first. Her ease and good\r\nspirits increased. She longed to see Mrs. Philips, the Lucases, and all\r\ntheir other neighbours, and to hear herself called “Mrs. Wickham” by\r\neach of them; and in the meantime she went after dinner to show her ring\r\nand boast of being married to Mrs. Hill and the two housemaids.\r\n\r\n“Well, mamma,” said she, when they were all returned to the\r\nbreakfast-room, “and what do you think of my husband? Is not he a\r\ncharming man? I am sure my sisters must all envy me. I only hope they\r\nmay have half my good luck. They must all go to Brighton. That is the\r\nplace to get husbands. What a pity it is, mamma, we did not all go!”\r\n\r\n“Very true; and if I had my will we should. But, my dear Lydia, I don’t\r\nat all like your going such a way off. Must it be so?”\r\n\r\n“Oh, Lord! yes; there is nothing in that. I shall like it of all things.\r\nYou and papa, and my sisters, must come down and see us. We shall be at\r\nNewcastle all the winter, and I dare say there will be some balls, and I\r\nwill take care to get good partners for them all.”\r\n\r\n“I should like it beyond anything!” said her mother.\r\n\r\n“And then when you go away, you may leave one or two of my sisters\r\nbehind you; and I dare say I shall get husbands for them before the\r\nwinter is over.”\r\n\r\n“I thank you for my share of the favour,” said Elizabeth; “but I do not\r\nparticularly like your way of getting husbands.”\r\n\r\nTheir visitors were not to remain above ten days with them. Mr. Wickham\r\nhad received his commission before he left London, and he was to join\r\nhis regiment at the end of a fortnight.\r\n\r\nNo one but Mrs. Bennet regretted that their stay would be so short; and\r\nshe made the most of the time by visiting about with her daughter, and\r\nhaving very frequent parties at home. These parties were acceptable to\r\nall; to avoid a family circle was even more desirable to such as did\r\nthink than such as did not.\r\n\r\nWickham’s affection for Lydia was just what Elizabeth had expected to\r\nfind it; not equal to Lydia’s for him. She had scarcely needed her\r\npresent observation to be satisfied, from the reason of things, that\r\ntheir elopement had been brought on by the strength of her love rather\r\nthan by his; and she would have wondered why, without violently caring\r\nfor her, he chose to elope with her at all, had she not felt certain\r\nthat his flight was rendered necessary by distress of circumstances; and\r\nif that were the case, he was not the young man to resist an opportunity\r\nof having a companion.\r\n\r\nLydia was exceedingly fond of him. He was her dear Wickham on every\r\noccasion; no one was to be put in competition with him. He did\r\neverything best in the world; and she was sure he would kill more birds\r\non the first of September than anybody else in the country.\r\n\r\nOne morning, soon after their arrival, as she was sitting with her two\r\nelder sisters, she said to Elizabeth,--\r\n\r\n“Lizzy, I never gave _you_ an account of my wedding, I believe. You were\r\nnot by, when I told mamma, and the others, all about it. Are not you\r\ncurious to hear how it was managed?”\r\n\r\n“No, really,” replied Elizabeth; “I think there cannot be too little\r\nsaid on the subject.”\r\n\r\n“La! You are so strange!"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJRRD3TNE5A6AKAVXSRFT9RC","peer_label":"pride-and-prejudice","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJRRC2C7K6XERRJES8143XGV","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJRRF7VA665FKK6CM48CN8K0","peer_label":"longbourn","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"estate","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.910Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYS51T78NJZ45CYXSXS9","peer_label":"george wickham","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.910Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYW2V9QH9GNRQRJT67GK","peer_label":"mr bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.910Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZKG263C7SQSDV3TZ5MX","peer_label":"elizabeth bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.910Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFHMMQ4TW5C1YVF14XJVW","peer_label":"chapter li","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"document_section","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.910Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZGM87R12EADFF6YZZG3","peer_label":"jane bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.910Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYT564P5405ZE4Q76ZF5","peer_label":"mrs bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.910Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF1A42FY2HZTFF6WCFG11","peer_label":"mrs philips","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.910Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFHCFKWNB76H6D7Q9YB2V","peer_label":"brighton","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"place","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.910Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFC6M15GX3WTRGNMYMXYD","peer_label":"mrs hill","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.910Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYZ36C2F9Z4KP5F6ANMZ","peer_label":"london","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"city","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.910Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFNZAMEWECXHS647Q8BJW","peer_label":"william goulding","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.910Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFNZTD5HTAYNT80X4F43J","peer_label":"george allen","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.910Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFNYFWQCWCA086FZSQXY2","peer_label":"lydia and wickhams wedding","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"event","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.910Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFP34PM0W5G1Z7739SEB0","peer_label":"the lucases","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"family","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.910Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFP3PHYXP04X8THMSCZR9","peer_label":"newcastle","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"city","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.910Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFNYAEVK1XWEB0EGXA8WS","peer_label":"lydia bennet wickham","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.910Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFQX32C5AJMXQ08G26BSC","peer_label":"wickhams regiment","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"military_unit","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.910Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFR3677ARCK9KE14DQ3AR","peer_label":"lydia and wickhams elopement","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"event","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.910Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFR3SHR9QXRQ2WM6JHPXX","peer_label":"lydia and wickhams short stay","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:01.910Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:01.364Z","ts":"2026-03-03T02:30:03.946Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}