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Chapter XXV · Pride and Prejudice | Audiobook

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  Speaker 1: Chapter 25 After a week spent in professions of love
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  Speaker 1: and schemes of felicity, Mr Collins was called from his
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  Speaker 1: amiable Charlotte by the arrival of Saturday. The pain of separation, however,
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  Speaker 1: might be alleviated on his side by preparations for the
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  Speaker 1: reception of his bride, as he had reason to hope
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  Speaker 1: that shortly after his next return into Hertfordshire, the day
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  Speaker 1: would be fixed that was to make him the happiest
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  Speaker 1: of men. He took leave of his relations at Longbourn
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  Speaker 1: with as much solemnity as before, wished his fair cousins
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  Speaker 1: health and happiness again, and promised their father another letter
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  Speaker 1: of thanks. On the following Monday, Mrs Bennet had the
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  Speaker 1: pleasure of receiving her brother and his wife, who came,
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  Speaker 1: as usual, to spend the Christmas at Longbourn. Mr Gardiner
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  Speaker 1: was a sensible, gentleman-like man, greatly superior to his sister,
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  Speaker 1: as well by nature as education. The Netherfield ladies would
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  Speaker 1: have had difficulty in believing that a man who lived
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  Speaker 1: by trade, and within view of his own warehouses, could
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  Speaker 1: have been so well-bred and agreeable. Mrs Gardiner who was
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  Speaker 1: several years younger than Mrs Bennett and Mrs Phillips, was
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  Speaker 1: an amiable, intelligent, elegant woman, and a great favourite with
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  Speaker 1: her long-born nieces. Between the two eldest, and herself especially,
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  Speaker 1: there subsisted a very particular regard. They had frequently been
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  Speaker 1: staying with her in town. The first part of Mrs
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  Speaker 1: Gardiner's business, on her arrival... was to distribute her presents
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  Speaker 1: and describe the newest fashions. When this was done, she
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  Speaker 1: had a less active part to play. It became her
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  Speaker 1: turn to listen. Mrs. Bennet had many grievances to relate,
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  Speaker 1: and much to complain of. They had all been very
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  Speaker 1: ill-used since she last saw her sister. Two of her
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  Speaker 1: girls had been on the point of marriage, and after all,
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  Speaker 1: there was nothing in it. I do not blame Jane,
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  Speaker 1: she continued, for Jane would have got Mr Bingley if
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  Speaker 1: she could. But Lizzie, oh sister, it is very hard
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  Speaker 1: to think that she might have been Mr Collins's wife
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  Speaker 1: by this time, had not it been for her own perverseness.
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  Speaker 1: He made her an offer in this very room and
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  Speaker 1: she refused him. The consequence of it is that Lady
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  Speaker 1: Lucas will have a daughter married before I have and
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  Speaker 1: that Longbourn Estate is just as much entailed as ever.
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  Speaker 1: The Lucases are very artful people indeed, sister. They are
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  Speaker 1: all for what they can get. I am sorry to
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  Speaker 1: say it of them, but so it is. It makes
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  Speaker 1: me very nervous and poorly to be thwarted so in
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  Speaker 1: my own family, and to have neighbours who think of
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  Speaker 1: themselves before anybody else. However... Your coming just at this
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  Speaker 1: time is the greatest of comforts, and I am very
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  Speaker 1: glad to hear what you tell us of long sleeves.
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  Speaker 1: Mrs Gardiner, to whom the chief of this news had
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  Speaker 1: been given before, in the course of Jane and Elizabeth's
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  Speaker 1: correspondence with her, made her sister a slight answer, and,
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  Speaker 1: in compassion to her nieces, turned the conversation. When alone
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  Speaker 1: with Elizabeth afterwards, she spoke more on the subject. It
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  Speaker 1: seems likely to have been a desirable match for Jane,
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  Speaker 1: said she. I am sorry it went off, but these
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  Speaker 1: things happen so often. A young man, such as you
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  Speaker 1: describe Mr Bingley, so easily falls in love with a
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  Speaker 1: pretty girl for a few weeks, and when accident separates them,
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  Speaker 1: so easily forgets her. that these sort of inconstancies are
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  Speaker 1: very frequent. An excellent consolation in its way, said Elizabeth,
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  Speaker 1: but it will not do for us. We do not
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  Speaker 1: suffer by accident. It does not often happen that the
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  Speaker 1: interference of friends will persuade a young man of independent
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  Speaker 1: fortune to think no more of a girl whom he
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  Speaker 1: was violently in love with only a few days before.
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  Speaker 1: But that expression of violently in love is so hackneyed,
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  Speaker 1: so doubtful, so indefinite, that it gives me very little idea.
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  Speaker 1: It is as often applied to feelings which arise only
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  Speaker 1: from a half-hour's acquaintance as to a real, strong attachment. Pray,
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  Speaker 1: how violent was Mr Bingley's love? I never saw a
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  Speaker 1: more promising inclination. He was growing quite inattentive to other people.
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  Speaker 1: and wholly engrossed by her. Every time they met, it
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  Speaker 1: was more decided and remarkable. At his own ball, he
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  Speaker 1: offended two or three young ladies by not asking them
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  Speaker 1: to dance, and I spoke to him twice myself without
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  Speaker 1: receiving an answer. Could there be finer symptoms? Is not
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  Speaker 1: general incivility the very essence of love? Oh, yes. of
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  Speaker 1: that kind of love which I suppose him to have felt.
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  Speaker 1: Poor Jane. I am sorry for her, because with her
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  Speaker 1: disposition she may not get over it immediately. It had
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  Speaker 1: better have happened to you, Lizzie. You would have laughed
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  Speaker 1: yourself out of it sooner. But do you think she
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  Speaker 1: would be prevailed on to go back with us? Change
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  Speaker 1: of scene might be of service. and perhaps a little
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  Speaker 1: relief from home may be as useful as anything. Elizabeth
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  Speaker 1: was exceedingly pleased with this proposal, and felt persuaded of
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  Speaker 1: her sister's ready acquiescence. I hope, added Mrs Gardner, that
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  Speaker 1: no consideration with regard to this young man will influence her.
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  Speaker 1: We live in so different a part of town. All
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  Speaker 1: our connections are so different. And, as you well know,
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  Speaker 1: we go out so little that it is very improbable
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  Speaker 1: they should meet at all, unless he really comes to
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  Speaker 1: see her. And that is quite impossible, for he is
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  Speaker 1: now in the custody of his friend, and Mr. Darcy
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  Speaker 1: would no more suffer him to call on Jane in
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  Speaker 1: such a part of London. My dear aunt, how could
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  Speaker 1: you think of it? Mr. Darcy may, perhaps... have heard
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  Speaker 1: of such a place as Gracechurch Street. But he would
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  Speaker 1: hardly think a month's ablution enough to cleanse him from
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  Speaker 1: its impurities, were he once to enter it. And, depend
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  Speaker 1: upon it, Mr Bingley never stirs without him. So much
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  Speaker 1: the better. I hope they will not meet at all.
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  Speaker 1: But does not Jane correspond with his sister? She will
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  Speaker 1: not be able to help calling. she will drop the
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  Speaker 1: acquaintance entirely. But, in spite of the certainty in which
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  Speaker 1: Elizabeth affected to place this point, as well as the
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  Speaker 1: still more interesting one of Bingley's being withheld from seeing Jane,
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  Speaker 1: she felt a solicitude on the subject, which convinced her,
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  Speaker 1: on examination, that she did not consider it entirely hopeless.
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  Speaker 1: It was possible, and sometimes she thought it probable, that
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  Speaker 1: his affection might be reanimated, and the influence of his
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  Speaker 1: friends successfully combated by the more natural influence of Jane's attractions.
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  Speaker 1: Miss Bennet accepted her aunt's invitation with pleasure, and the
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  Speaker 1: Bingleys were no otherwise in her thoughts at the same
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  Speaker 1: time than as she hoped, by Caroline's not living in
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  Speaker 1: the same house with her brother. she might occasionally spend
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  Speaker 1: a morning with her, without any danger of seeing him.
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  Speaker 1: The gardeners stayed a week at Longbourn, and what with
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  Speaker 1: the Phillipses, the Lucases and the officers, there was not
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  Speaker 1: a day without its engagement. Mrs. Bennet had so carefully
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  Speaker 1: provided for the entertainment of her brother and sister that
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  Speaker 1: they did not once sit down to a family dinner.
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  Speaker 1: When the engagement was for home, some of the officers
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  Speaker 1: always made part of it, of which officers Mr Wickham
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  Speaker 1: was sure to be one. And on these occasions, Mrs Gardner,
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  Speaker 1: rendered suspicious by Elizabeth's warm commendation of him, narrowly observed
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  Speaker 1: them both. Without supposing them, from what she saw, to
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  Speaker 1: be very seriously in love, their preference of each other
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  Speaker 1: was plain enough to make her a little uneasy. And
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  Speaker 1: she resolved to speak to Elizabeth on the subject before
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  Speaker 1: she left Hertfordshire, and represent to her the imprudence of
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  Speaker 1: encouraging such an attachment. To Mrs. Gardner, Wickham had one
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  Speaker 1: means of affording pleasure, unconnected with his general powers. About
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  Speaker 1: ten or a dozen years ago, before her marriage, she
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  Speaker 1: had spent a considerable time in that very part of
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  Speaker 1: Derbyshire to which he belonged. They had, therefore, many acquaintance
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  Speaker 1: in common. And though Wickham had been little there since
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  Speaker 1: the death of Darcy's father, five years before, it was
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  Speaker 1: yet in his power to give her fresher intelligence of
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  Speaker 1: her former friends than she had been in the way
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  Speaker 1: of procuring. Mrs Gardiner had seen Pemberley, and known the
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  Speaker 1: late Mr Darcy by character perfectly well. Here, consequently, was
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  Speaker 1: an inexhaustible subject of discourse. In comparing her recollection of
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  Speaker 1: Pemberley with the minute description which Wickham could give, and
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  Speaker 1: in bestowing her tribute of praise on the character of
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  Speaker 1: its late possessor, she was delighting both him and herself.
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  Speaker 1: On being made acquainted with the present Mr. Darcy's treatment
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  Speaker 1: of him, she tried to remember something of that gentleman's
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  Speaker 1: reputed disposition when quite a lad, which might agree with it,
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  Speaker 1: and was confident, at last, that she recollected having heard
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  Speaker 1: Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy, formerly spoken of, as a very proud,
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  Speaker 1: ill-natured boy.