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Chapter XLII · Pride and Prejudice | Audiobook

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  Speaker 1: Chapter 42 Had Elizabeth's opinion been all drawn from her
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  Speaker 1: own family, she could not have formed a very pleasing
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  Speaker 1: picture of conjugal felicity or domestic comfort. Her father, captivated
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  Speaker 1: by youth and beauty, and that appearance of good humour
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  Speaker 1: which youth and beauty generally give, had married a woman
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  Speaker 1: whose weak understanding and illiberal mind had very early in
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  Speaker 1: their marriage put an end to all real affection for her. Respect,
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  Speaker 1: esteem and confidence had vanished for ever, and all his
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  Speaker 1: views of domestic happiness were overthrown. But Mr Bennett was
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  Speaker 1: not of a disposition to seek comfort for the disappointment
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  Speaker 1: which his own imprudence had brought on, in any of
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  Speaker 1: those pleasures which too often console the unfortunate for their
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  Speaker 1: folly or their vice. He was fond of the country
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  Speaker 1: and of books, and from these tastes had arisen his
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  Speaker 1: principal enjoyments. To his wife he was very little otherwise
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  Speaker 1: indebted than as her ignorance and folly had contributed to
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  Speaker 1: his amusement. This is not the sort of happiness which
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  Speaker 1: a man would in general wish to owe to his wife.
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  Speaker 1: But where other powers of entertainment are wanting, the true
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  Speaker 1: philosopher will derive benefit from such as are given. Elizabeth, however,
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  Speaker 1: had never been blind to the impropriety of her father's
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  Speaker 1: behaviour as a husband. She had always seen it with pain.
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  Speaker 1: But respecting his abilities, and grateful for his affectionate treatment
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  Speaker 1: of herself, she endeavoured to forget what she could not overlook,
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  Speaker 1: and to banish from her thoughts that continual breach of
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  Speaker 1: conjugal obligation and decorum which, in exposing his wife to
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  Speaker 1: the contempt of her own children, was so highly reprehensible.
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  Speaker 1: But she had never felt so strongly as now the
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  Speaker 1: disadvantages which must attend the children of so unsuitable a marriage,
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  Speaker 1: nor ever been so fully aware of the evils arising
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  Speaker 1: from so ill-judged a direction of talents, talents which, rightly used,
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  Speaker 1: might at least have preserved the respectability of his daughters,
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  Speaker 1: even if incapable of enlarging the mind of his wife.
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  Speaker 1: When Elizabeth had rejoiced over Wickham's departure, she found little
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  Speaker 1: other cause for satisfaction in the loss of the regiment.
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  Speaker 1: Their parties abroad were less varied than before, and at
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  Speaker 1: home she had a mother and sister whose constant repinings
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  Speaker 1: at the dullness of everything around them threw a real
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  Speaker 1: gloom over their domestic circle. And, though Kitty might in
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  Speaker 1: time regain her natural degree of sense, since the disturbers
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  Speaker 1: of her brain were removed, her other sister... from whose
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  Speaker 1: disposition greater evil might be apprehended, was likely to be hardened,
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  Speaker 1: in all her folly and assurance, by a situation of
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  Speaker 1: such double danger as a watering-place and a camp. Upon
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  Speaker 1: the whole, therefore, she found, what has been sometimes found before,
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  Speaker 1: that an event to which she had looked forward with
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  Speaker 1: impatient desire did not, in taking place, bring all the
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  Speaker 1: satisfaction she had promised herself. It was consequently necessary to
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  Speaker 1: name some other period for the commencement of actual felicity,
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  Speaker 1: to have some other point on which her wishes and
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  Speaker 1: hopes might be fixed, and by again enjoying the pleasure
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  Speaker 1: of anticipation, console herself for the present, and prepare for
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  Speaker 1: another disappointment. Her tour to the lakes was now the
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  Speaker 1: object of her happiest thoughts. It was her best consolation
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  Speaker 1: for all the uncomfortable hours which the discontentedness of her
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  Speaker 1: mother and Kitty made inevitable. And could she have included
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  Speaker 1: Jane in the scheme, every part of it would have
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  Speaker 1: been perfect. But it is fortunate, thought she, that I
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  Speaker 1: have something to wish for. Were the whole arrangement complete,
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  Speaker 1: My disappointment would be certain. But here, by carrying with
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  Speaker 1: me one ceaseless source of regret in my sister's absence,
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  Speaker 1: I may reasonably hope to have all my expectations of
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  Speaker 1: pleasure realised. A scheme of which every part promises delight
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  Speaker 1: can never be successful. And general disappointment is only warded
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  Speaker 1: off by the defence of some little peculiar vexation. When
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  Speaker 1: Lydia went away, she promised to write very often and
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  Speaker 1: very minutely to her mother and Kitty, but her letters
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  Speaker 1: were always long expected and always very short. Those to
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  Speaker 1: her mother contained little else than that they were just
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  Speaker 1: returned from the library, where such and such officers had
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  Speaker 1: attended them, and where she had seen such beautiful ornaments
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  Speaker 1: as made her quite wild. that she had a new
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  Speaker 1: gown or a new parasol, which she would have described
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  Speaker 1: more fully, but was obliged to leave off in a
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  Speaker 1: violent hurry, as Mrs Forster called her. And they were
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  Speaker 1: going to the camp, and from her correspondence with her
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  Speaker 1: sister there was still less to be learnt, for her
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  Speaker 1: letters to Kitty, though rather longer, were much too full
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  Speaker 1: of lines under the words to be made public. After
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  Speaker 1: the first fortnight or three weeks of her absence, health,
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  Speaker 1: good humour and cheerfulness began to reappear at Longbourn. Everything
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  Speaker 1: wore a happier aspect. The families who had been in
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  Speaker 1: town for the winter came back again, and summer finery
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  Speaker 1: and summer engagements arose. Mrs Bennet was restored to her
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  Speaker 1: usual querulous serenity, and by the middle of June, Kitty
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  Speaker 1: was so much recovered as to be able to enter
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  Speaker 1: Meryton without tears, an event of such happy promise as
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  Speaker 1: to make Elizabeth hope that by the following Christmas she
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  Speaker 1: might be so tolerably reasonable as not to mention an
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  Speaker 1: officer above once a day, unless, by some cruel and
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  Speaker 1: malicious arrangement at the War Office, another regiment should be
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  Speaker 1: quartered in Meryton. The time fixed for the beginning of
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  Speaker 1: their northern tour was now fast approaching, and a fortnight
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  Speaker 1: only was wanting of it, when a letter arrived from
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  Speaker 1: Mrs Gardner, which at once delayed its commencement and curtailed
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  Speaker 1: its extent. Mr Gardner would be prevented by business from
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  Speaker 1: setting out till a fortnight later in July, and must
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  Speaker 1: be in London again within a month. and as that
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  Speaker 1: left too short a period for them to go so
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  Speaker 1: far and see so much as they had proposed, or
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  Speaker 1: at least to see it with the leisure and comfort
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  Speaker 1: they had built on, they were obliged to give up
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  Speaker 1: the lakes and substitute a more contracted tour, and, according
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  Speaker 1: to the present plan, were to go no farther northward
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  Speaker 1: than Derbyshire. In that county... there was enough to be
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  Speaker 1: seen to occupy the chief of their three weeks, and
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  Speaker 1: to Mrs Gardiner it had a peculiarly strong attraction. The
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  Speaker 1: town where she had formerly passed some years of her life,
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  Speaker 1: and where they were now to spend a few days,
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  Speaker 1: was probably as great an object of her curiosity as
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  Speaker 1: all the celebrated beauties of Matlock, Chatsworth, Dovedale, or the Peake.
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  Speaker 1: Elizabeth was excessively disappointed. She had set her heart on
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  Speaker 1: seeing the lakes, and still thought there might have been
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  Speaker 1: time enough. But it was her business to be satisfied,
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  Speaker 1: and certainly her temper to be happy, and all was
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  Speaker 1: soon right again. With the mention of Derbyshire, there were
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  Speaker 1: many ideas connected. It was impossible for her to see
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  Speaker 1: the word without thinking of Pemberley and its owner. But surely,
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  Speaker 1: said she, I may enter his county with impunity, and
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  Speaker 1: rob it of a few petrified spars, without his perceiving me.
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  Speaker 1: The period of expectation was now doubled. Four weeks were
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  Speaker 1: to pass away before her uncle and aunt's arrival. But
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  Speaker 1: they did pass away, and Mr and Mrs Gardner, with
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  Speaker 1: their four children, did at length appear at Longbourn. The children,
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  Speaker 1: two girls of six and eight years old, and two
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  Speaker 1: younger boys, were to be left under the particular care
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  Speaker 1: of their cousin Jane, who was the general favourite, and
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  Speaker 1: whose steady sense and sweetness of temper exactly adapted her
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  Speaker 1: for attending to them in every way. teaching them, playing
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  Speaker 1: with them and loving them. The gardeners stayed only one
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  Speaker 1: night at Longbourn and set off the next morning with
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  Speaker 1: Elizabeth in pursuit of novelty and amusement. One enjoyment was certain.
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  Speaker 1: that of suitableness as companions, a suitableness which comprehended health
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  Speaker 1: and temper to bear inconveniences, cheerfulness to enhance every pleasure,
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  Speaker 1: and affection and intelligence which might supply it among themselves
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  Speaker 1: if there were disappointments abroad. It is not the object
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  Speaker 1: of this work to give a description of Derbyshire, nor
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  Speaker 1: of any of the remarkable places through which their route
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  Speaker 1: thither lay, Oxford, Blenheim, Warwick, Kenilworth, Birmingham, etc., are sufficiently known.
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  Speaker 1: A small part of Derbyshire is all the present concern.
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  Speaker 1: To the little town of Lambton, the scene of Mrs
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  Speaker 1: Gardiner's former residence, and where she had lately learned that
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  Speaker 1: some acquaintance still remained. They bent their steps. after having
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  Speaker 1: seen all the principal wonders of the country. And within
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  Speaker 1: five miles of Lambton, Elizabeth found, from her aunt, that
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  Speaker 1: Pemberley was situated. It was not in their direct road,
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  Speaker 1: nor more than a mile or two out of it.
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  Speaker 1: In talking over their route the evening before, Mrs Gardiner
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  Speaker 1: expressed an inclination to see the place again. Mr Gardiner
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  Speaker 1: declared his willingness. and Elizabeth was applied to for her approbation.
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  Speaker 1: My love, should not you like to see a place
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  Speaker 1: of which you have heard so much? said her aunt.
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  Speaker 1: A place, too, with which so many of your acquaintance
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  Speaker 1: are connected. Wickham passed all his youth there, you know.
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  Speaker 1: Elizabeth was distressed. She felt that she had no business
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  Speaker 1: at Pemberley. and was obliged to assume a disinclination for
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  Speaker 1: seeing it. She must own that she was tired of
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  Speaker 1: great houses. After going over so many, she really had
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  Speaker 1: no pleasure in fine carpets or satin curtains. Mrs Gardner
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  Speaker 1: abused her stupidity. If it were merely a fine house
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  Speaker 1: richly furnished, said she, I should not care about it myself.
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  Speaker 1: But the grounds are delightful. They have some of the
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  Speaker 1: finest woods in the country. Elizabeth said no more, but
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  Speaker 1: her mind could not acquiesce. The possibility of meeting Mr
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  Speaker 1: Darcy while viewing the place instantly occurred. It would be dreadful.
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  Speaker 1: She blushed at the very idea and thought it would
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  Speaker 1: be better to speak openly to her aunt. than to
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  Speaker 1: run such a risk. But against this there were objections,
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  Speaker 1: and she finally resolved that it could be the last resource,
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  Speaker 1: if her private inquiries as to the absence of the
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  Speaker 1: family were unfavourably answered. Accordingly, when she retired at night,
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  Speaker 1: she asked the chambermaid whether Pemberley were not a very
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  Speaker 1: fine place. What was the name of its proprietor? and,
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  Speaker 1: with no little alarm, whether the family were down for
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  Speaker 1: the summer. A most welcome negative followed the last question,
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  Speaker 1: and her alarms being now removed, she was at leisure
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  Speaker 1: to feel a great deal of curiosity to see the
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  Speaker 1: house herself, and when the subject was revived the next morning,
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  Speaker 1: and she was again applied to, could readily answer, and
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  Speaker 1: with a proper air of indifference, that she had not
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  Speaker 1: really any dislike to the scheme. To Pemberley, therefore, they
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  Speaker 1: were to go.