{"id":"01KJRRE3KX3G451VMMN32ERNAQ","cid":"bafkreih6fcpau5dzk3d72w7wzkrvgfzh6etbmgie2iw5r6me2rpc7i4qzq","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":734189,"char_start":726277,"chunk_index":102,"chunk_total":108,"estimated_tokens":1978,"label":"soon went away. But before she had been three minu","source_file_key":"pride-and-prejudice","text":"soon went away. But before she had been three minutes in her own room,\r\nher mother followed her.\r\n\r\n“My dearest child,” she cried, “I can think of nothing else. Ten\r\nthousand a year, and very likely more! ’Tis as good as a lord! And a\r\nspecial licence--you must and shall be married by a special licence.\r\nBut, my dearest love, tell me what dish Mr. Darcy is particularly fond\r\nof, that I may have it to-morrow.”\r\n\r\nThis was a sad omen of what her mother’s behaviour to the gentleman\r\nhimself might be; and Elizabeth found that, though in the certain\r\npossession of his warmest affection, and secure of her relations’\r\nconsent, there was still something to be wished for. But the morrow\r\npassed off much better than she expected; for Mrs. Bennet luckily stood\r\nin such awe of her intended son-in-law, that she ventured not to speak\r\nto him, unless it was in her power to offer him any attention, or mark\r\nher deference for his opinion.\r\n\r\nElizabeth had the satisfaction of seeing her father taking pains to get\r\nacquainted with him; and Mr. Bennet soon assured her that he was rising\r\nevery hour in his esteem.\r\n\r\n“I admire all my three sons-in-law highly,” said he. “Wickham, perhaps,\r\nis my favourite; but I think I shall like _your_ husband quite as well\r\nas Jane’s.”\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration:\r\n\r\n“The obsequious civility.”\r\n\r\n[_Copyright 1894 by George Allen._]]\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER LX.\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration]\r\n\r\nElizabeth’s spirits soon rising to playfulness again, she wanted Mr.\r\nDarcy to account for his having ever fallen in love with her. “How could\r\nyou begin?” said she. “I can comprehend your going on charmingly, when\r\nyou had once made a beginning; but what could set you off in the first\r\nplace?”\r\n\r\n“I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look, or the words, which\r\nlaid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I\r\nknew that I _had_ begun.”\r\n\r\n“My beauty you had early withstood, and as for my manners--my behaviour\r\nto _you_ was at least always bordering on the uncivil, and I never spoke\r\nto you without rather wishing to give you pain than not. Now, be\r\nsincere; did you admire me for my impertinence?”\r\n\r\n“For the liveliness of your mind I did.”\r\n\r\n“You may as well call it impertinence at once. It was very little less.\r\nThe fact is, that you were sick of civility, of deference, of officious\r\nattention. You were disgusted with the women who were always speaking,\r\nand looking, and thinking for _your_ approbation alone. I roused and\r\ninterested you, because I was so unlike _them_. Had you not been really\r\namiable you would have hated me for it: but in spite of the pains you\r\ntook to disguise yourself, your feelings were always noble and just; and\r\nin your heart you thoroughly despised the persons who so assiduously\r\ncourted you. There--I have saved you the trouble of accounting for it;\r\nand really, all things considered, I begin to think it perfectly\r\nreasonable. To be sure you know no actual good of me--but nobody thinks\r\nof _that_ when they fall in love.”\r\n\r\n“Was there no good in your affectionate behaviour to Jane, while she was\r\nill at Netherfield?”\r\n\r\n“Dearest Jane! who could have done less for her? But make a virtue of it\r\nby all means. My good qualities are under your protection, and you are\r\nto exaggerate them as much as possible; and, in return, it belongs to me\r\nto find occasions for teasing and quarrelling with you as often as may\r\nbe; and I shall begin directly, by asking you what made you so unwilling\r\nto come to the point at last? What made you so shy of me, when you\r\nfirst called, and afterwards dined here? Why, especially, when you\r\ncalled, did you look as if you did not care about me?”\r\n\r\n“Because you were grave and silent, and gave me no encouragement.”\r\n\r\n“But I was embarrassed.”\r\n\r\n“And so was I.”\r\n\r\n“You might have talked to me more when you came to dinner.”\r\n\r\n“A man who had felt less might.”\r\n\r\n“How unlucky that you should have a reasonable answer to give, and that\r\nI should be so reasonable as to admit it! But I wonder how long you\r\n_would_ have gone on, if you had been left to yourself. I wonder when\r\nyou _would_ have spoken if I had not asked you! My resolution of\r\nthanking you for your kindness to Lydia had certainly great effect. _Too\r\nmuch_, I am afraid; for what becomes of the moral, if our comfort\r\nsprings from a breach of promise, for I ought not to have mentioned the\r\nsubject? This will never do.”\r\n\r\n“You need not distress yourself. The moral will be perfectly fair. Lady\r\nCatherine’s unjustifiable endeavours to separate us were the means of\r\nremoving all my doubts. I am not indebted for my present happiness to\r\nyour eager desire of expressing your gratitude. I was not in a humour to\r\nwait for an opening of yours. My aunt’s intelligence had given me hope,\r\nand I was determined at once to know everything.”\r\n\r\n“Lady Catherine has been of infinite use, which ought to make her happy,\r\nfor she loves to be of use. But tell me, what did you come down to\r\nNetherfield for? Was it merely to ride to Longbourn and be embarrassed?\r\nor had you intended any more serious consequences?”\r\n\r\n“My real purpose was to see _you_, and to judge, if I could, whether I\r\nmight ever hope to make you love me. My avowed one, or what I avowed to\r\nmyself, was to see whether your sister was still partial to Bingley, and\r\nif she were, to make the confession to him which I have since made.”\r\n\r\n“Shall you ever have courage to announce to Lady Catherine what is to\r\nbefall her?”\r\n\r\n“I am more likely to want time than courage, Elizabeth. But it ought to\r\nbe done; and if you will give me a sheet of paper it shall be done\r\ndirectly.”\r\n\r\n“And if I had not a letter to write myself, I might sit by you, and\r\nadmire the evenness of your writing, as another young lady once did. But\r\nI have an aunt, too, who must not be longer neglected.”\r\n\r\nFrom an unwillingness to confess how much her intimacy with Mr. Darcy\r\nhad been overrated, Elizabeth had never yet answered Mrs. Gardiner’s\r\nlong letter; but now, having _that_ to communicate which she knew would\r\nbe most welcome, she was almost ashamed to find that her uncle and aunt\r\nhad already lost three days of happiness, and immediately wrote as\r\nfollows:--\r\n\r\n“I would have thanked you before, my dear aunt, as I ought to have done,\r\nfor your long, kind, satisfactory detail of particulars; but, to say the\r\ntruth, I was too cross to write. You supposed more than really existed.\r\nBut _now_ suppose as much as you choose; give a loose to your fancy,\r\nindulge your imagination in every possible flight which the subject will\r\nafford, and unless you believe me actually married, you cannot greatly\r\nerr. You must write again very soon, and praise him a great deal more\r\nthan you did in your last. I thank you again and again, for not going to\r\nthe Lakes. How could I be so silly as to wish it! Your idea of the\r\nponies is delightful. We will go round the park every day. I am the\r\nhappiest creature in the world. Perhaps other people have said so\r\nbefore, but no one with such justice. I am happier even than Jane; she\r\nonly smiles, I laugh. Mr. Darcy sends you all the love in the world that\r\ncan be spared from me. You are all to come to Pemberley at Christmas.\r\nYours,” etc.\r\n\r\nMr. Darcy’s letter to Lady Catherine was in a different style, and still\r\ndifferent from either was what Mr. Bennet sent to Mr. Collins, in return\r\nfor his last.\r\n\r\n     /* “Dear Sir, */\r\n\r\n     “I must trouble you once more for congratulations. Elizabeth will\r\n     soon be the wife of Mr. Darcy. Console Lady Catherine as well as\r\n     you can. But, if I were you, I would stand by the nephew. He has\r\n     more to give.\r\n\r\n“Yours sincerely,” etc.\r\n\r\nMiss Bingley’s congratulations to her brother on his approaching\r\nmarriage were all that was affectionate and insincere. She wrote even to\r\nJane on the occasion, to express her delight, and repeat all her former\r\nprofessions of regard."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJRRD3TNE5A6AKAVXSRFT9RC","peer_label":"pride-and-prejudice","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJRRC2C7K6XERRJES8143XGV","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJRREYT564P5405ZE4Q76ZF5","peer_label":"mrs bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:06.280Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZKG263C7SQSDV3TZ5MX","peer_label":"elizabeth bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:06.280Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYW2V9QH9GNRQRJT67GK","peer_label":"mr bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:06.280Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZJBEM6MWHW485H9DS9F","peer_label":"mr darcy","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:06.280Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFA63SH24KA7N4R2W9MAJ","peer_label":"wickham","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:06.280Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFAJYKWEPFHVWMT9VSZG9","peer_label":"netherfield","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"place","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:06.280Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF0VGMTTKPRSDMPY969CW","peer_label":"longbourn","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"place","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:06.280Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY7G184NZ401P9V4JV87","peer_label":"lady catherine de bourgh","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:06.280Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZGM87R12EADFF6YZZG3","peer_label":"jane bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:06.280Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF2WSZTKE2V2YC4YMG4M4","peer_label":"bingley","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:06.280Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF06V9ABE1JZWJHE56BCY","peer_label":"miss bingley","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:06.280Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFNQWQXJF2DCS5T5N1X46","peer_label":"pemberley","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"place","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:06.280Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYSAZT646RSHT9C5XPKR","peer_label":"mrs gardiner","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:06.280Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY6ZWGAT4FYVDEM6VE2E","peer_label":"mr collins","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:06.280Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY6RHWPTVXJ7SHB3NE6F","peer_label":"lydia bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:06.280Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFY2BJ0GEAVH2M6CQ1KSN","peer_label":"special licence","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"legal_document","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:06.280Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFYMSRQ02FPQ253PA6X3P","peer_label":"illustration","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"visual_content","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:06.280Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFYJPRA8ZHRQQQ5BA72B9","peer_label":"the lakes","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"place","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:06.280Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFYNN6XHNGZQJ2D006XET","peer_label":"chapter lx","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"document_section","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:06.280Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:04.253Z","ts":"2026-03-03T02:30:07.166Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}