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Chapter XL · Pride and Prejudice | Audiobook

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth's impatience to acquaint Jane with what had happened could
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: no longer be overcome, and at length, resolving to suppress
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: every particular in which her sister was concerned, and preparing
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: her to be surprised, she related to her the next
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: morning the chief of the scene between Mr. Darcy and herself.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Miss Bennet's astonishment was soon lessened, by the strong sisterly
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: partiality which made any admiration of Elizabeth appear perfectly natural,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: and all surprise was shortly lost in other feelings. She
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: was sorry that Mr Darcy should have delivered his sentiments
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: in a manner so little suited to recommend them, but
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: still more was she grieved for the unhappiness which her
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: sister's refusal must have given him. His being so sure
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: of succeeding was wrong, said she, and certainly ought not
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: to have appeared, but consider how much it must increase
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: his disappointment. Indeed, replied Elizabeth, I am heartily sorry for him,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: but he has other feelings which will probably soon drive
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: away his regard for me. You do not blame me, however,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: for refusing him? Blame you? Oh, no! but you blame
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: me for having spoken so warmly of Wickham. No, I
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: do not know that you were wrong in saying what
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: you did. But you will know it, when I have
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: told you what happened the very next day. She then
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: spoke of the letter, repeating the whole of its contents
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: as far as they concerned George Wickham. What a stroke
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: was this for poor Jane! who would willingly have gone
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: through the world without believing that so much wickedness existed
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: in the whole race of mankind, as was here collected
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: in one individual. Nor was Darcy's vindication, though grateful to
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: her feelings, capable of consoling her for such discovery. Most
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: earnestly did she labour to prove the probability of error
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: and seek to clear one without involving the other. This
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: will not do, said Elizabeth. You never will be able
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: to make both of them good for anything. Take your choice,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: but you must be satisfied with only one. There is
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: but such a quantity of merit between them, just enough
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: to make one good sort of man, and of late
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: it has been shifting about pretty much. For my part,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: I am inclined to believe it all, Mr. Darcy's, but
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: you shall do as you choose. It was some time, however,
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: before a smile could be extorted from Jane. I do
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: not know when I have been more shocked, said she.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: Wickham's so very bad, it is almost past belief, and
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: poor Mr Darcy, dear Lizzie, only consider what he must
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: have suffered, such a disappointment, and with the knowledge of
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: your ill opinion too, and having to relate such a
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: thing of his sister. It is really too distressing. I
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: am sure you must feel it so. Oh no, my
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: regret and compassion are all done away by seeing you
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: so full of both. I know you will do him
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: such ample justice that I am growing every moment more
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: unconcerned and indifferent. Your profusion makes me saving, and if
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: you lament over him much longer, my heart will be
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: as light as a feather. Poor Wickham, there is such
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: an expression of goodness in his countenance, such an openness
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: and gentleness in his manner. There certainly was some great
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: mismanagement in the education of those two young men. One
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: has got all the goodness, and the other all the
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: appearance of it. I never thought Mr Darcy so deficient
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: in the appearance of it as you used to do.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: and yet I meant to be uncommonly clever in taking
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: so decided a dislike to him, without any reason. It
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: is such a spur to one's genius, such an opening
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: for wit, to have a dislike of that kind. One
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: may be continually abusive without saying anything just, but one
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: cannot be always laughing at a man without now and
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: then stumbling on something witty. Lizzie When you first read
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: that letter, I am sure you could not treat the
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: matter as you do now. Indeed, I could not. I
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: was uncomfortable enough. I was very uncomfortable. I may say unhappy.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: And with no one to speak to of what I felt,
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: no Jane to comfort me, and say that I had
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: not been so very weak and vain and nonsensical as
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: I knew I had. Oh, how I wanted you! How
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: unfortunate that you should have used such very strong expressions
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: in speaking of Wickham to Mr. Darcy. For now, they
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: do appear wholly undeserved. Certainly. But the misfortune of speaking
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: with bitterness is a most natural consequence of the prejudices
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: I had been encouraging. There is one point on which
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: I want your advice. I want to be told whether
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: I ought or or ought not, to make our acquaintance
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: in general understand Wickham's character. Miss Bennet paused a little,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: and then replied, Surely there can be no occasion for
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: exposing him so dreadfully. What is your own opinion? That
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: it ought not to be attempted. Mr. Darcy has not
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: authorised me to make his communication public. On the contrary...
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: Every particular relative to his sister was meant to be
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: kept as much as possible to myself, and if I
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: endeavour to undeceive people as to the rest of his conduct,
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: who will believe me? The general prejudice against Mr Darcy
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: is so violent that it would be the death of
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: half the good people in Meryton to attempt to place
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: him in an amiable light. I am not equal to it.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: Wickham will soon be gone, And therefore, it will not
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: signify to anybody here what he really is. Sometime hence,
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: it will be all found out, and then we may
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: laugh at their stupidity in not knowing it before. At present,
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: I will say nothing about it. You are quite right.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: To have his errors made public might ruin him forever.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: He is now, perhaps, sorry for what he has done.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: and anxious to re-establish a character. We must not make
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: him desperate. The tumult of Elizabeth's mind was allayed by
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: this conversation. She had got rid of two of the
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: secrets which had weighed on her for a fortnight, and
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: was certain of a willing listener in Jane. Whenever she
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: might wish to talk again of either, but there was
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: still something lurking behind. of which prudence forbade the disclosure.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: She dared not relate the other half of Mr. Darcy's letter,
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: nor explain to her sister how sincerely she had been
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: valued by his friend. Here was knowledge in which no
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: one could partake, and she was sensible that nothing less
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: than a perfect understanding between the parties could justify her
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: in throwing off this last encumbrance of mystery. And then,
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: said she, if that very improbable event should ever take place,
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: I shall merely be able to tell what Bingley may
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: tell in a much more agreeable manner himself. The liberty
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: of communication cannot be mine till it has lost all
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: its value. She was now, on being settled at home,
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: at leisure to observe the real state of her sister's spirits.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: Jane was not happy. she still cherished a very tender
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: affection for Bingley. Having never even fancied herself in love before,
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: her regard had all the warmth of first attachment, and
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: from her age and disposition, greater steadiness than first attachments
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: often boast. And so fervently did she value his remembrance
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: and prefer him to every other man that all her
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: good sense... and all her attention to the feelings of
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: her friends, were requisite to check the indulgence of those
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: regrets which must have been injurious to her own health
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: and their tranquillity. Well, Lizzie, said Mrs. Bennet one day,
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: what is your opinion now of this sad business of Jane's?
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: For my part, I am determined never to speak of
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: it again to anybody. I told my sister Phillips so
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: the other day. but I cannot find out that Jane
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: saw anything of him in London. Well, he is a
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: very undeserved young man, and I do not suppose there
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: is the least chance in the world of her ever
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: getting him now. There is no talk of his coming
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: to Netherfield again in the summer, and I have inquired
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: of everybody too who is likely to know. I do
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: not believe that he will ever live at Netherfield any more.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Oh well, it is just as he chooses. Nobody wants
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: him to come, though I shall always say that he
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: used my daughter extremely ill, and if I was her,
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: I would not have put up with it. Well, my
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: comfort is, I am sure Jane will die of a
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: broken heart, and then he will be sorry for what
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: he has done. but as Elizabeth could not receive comfort
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: from any such expectation, she made no answer. Well, Lizzie,
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: continued her mother, soon afterwards, and so the Collinses live
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: very comfortable, do they? Well, well, I only hope it
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: will last. And what sort of table do they keep?
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: Charlotte is an excellent manager, I dare say, if she
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: is half as sharp as her mother is. She is
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: saving enough. There is nothing extravagant in their housekeeping, I
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: dare say. No, nothing at all. A great deal of
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: good management depend upon it. Yes, yes. They will take
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: care not to outrun their income. They will never be
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: distressed for money. Well, much good may it do them.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: And so, I suppose, they often talk of having long-born
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: when your father is dead. They look upon it quite
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: as their own, I dare say, whenever that happens. It
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: was a subject which they could not mention before me. No,
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: it would have been strange if they had. But I
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: make no doubt they often talk of it between themselves. Well,
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: if they can be easy with an estate that is
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: not lawfully their own, so much the better. I should
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: be ashamed of having one that was only entailed on me.