A new neighbor

  Darcy hardly seemed to hear. He walked about deep in thought until Mr Gardiner appeared, then he left. Elizabeth wept again. Lydia had destroyed her hopes of Darcy’s love and respect for ever. 

  Chapter 13

  A wedding 

        They traveled fast, reaching Longbourn by dinner-time the next day. Mrs. Bennet received them as might be expected: with tears, wild attacks against Wickham, but mostly with complaints about her own sufferings. Mr. Gardiner told her not to get alarmed. He would go straight to London, he said, and talk to Mr. Bennet.

  “Just find them,” said Mrs. Bennet, “and if they’re not married, make them get married. Don’t wait for wedding-clothes. Tell Lydia she can have as much money as she likes to buy them after the wedding. And above all, keep Mr. Bennet from fighting. Tell him what a terrible state I’m in – pains in my side, headaches, and such a beating of my heart that I can’t sleep.”

  The Gardiners left next morning, and from then the Bennets could only wait for news. Mrs. Philips called sometimes “to give them comfort”, as she said. But since she never came without fresh stories of Wickham’s unpaid debts, she always left them feeling worse.

  A letter from Mr. Collins contained the same kind of comfort. Lydia, he kindly pointed out, would be better dead than living in her present state. However, her parents must not think themselves wholly to blame, for Lydia must have been bad by nature. He said he pitied them. Lady Catherine, to whom he had told the news, also pitied them. “She agreed with me that this fault in one daughter will harm the chances in marriage of the others. How lucky I am to have escaped a closer connection with your family last November!”

  Mr. Bennet finally returned, but with no news of the missing pair. His wife was not too pleased. “What! Have you come without Lydia?” she cried. “Who is now to fight Wickham and make him marry her?”

  Then two days later came another letter from Mr. Gardiner with better news. Lydia and Wickham had been found. “They are not married,” he wrote, “but if you do what I have promised for you, they will be. All you have to do is to agree to pay Lydia £ 100 a year.” He went on to say that Wickham’s situation was not as bad as they had believed. When all his debts had been paid there would be enough money left to buy him a place in another regiment at present in the North of England. He advised Mr. Bennet to stay at Longbourn. Lydia would be married from his house in London.

  “So you’ll agree to this,” said Elizabeth.

  “I must,” her father said. “There are only two things I want to know: first, how much money your uncle has paid Wickham, and secondly, how I am ever going to repay your uncle.”

  “Money!” cried Jane, “whatever do you mean?”

  “I mean that no man of any sense would marry Lydia for £ 100 a year. Wickham’s fool if he takes her for a penny less than £ 10000. I can’t repay half that.”

  “I can’t believe our uncle can spare so much money,” said Elizabeth. “He has children of his own.”

  But no thoughts of money entered Mrs. Bennet’s head when they told her the news. “My dear, dear Lydia!” she cried. “This is delightful news! She’s going to be married! – I shall see her again! – She’ll be married at sixteen! – My good, kind brother! – I knew he would manage everything! – How I long to see her and my dear Wickham too!”

  The news of the coming marriage spread quickly through the neighborhood. It would have been more interesting if Lydia had not got married. But even as it was, there was plenty for all the old ladies to talk about. Mrs. Bennet was now thinking of a house for Lydia. “Haye Park might do, if only the Gouldings would leave, or the great house at Stoke, if the sitting room was not so small. But Ashworth is too far off.”

  Mr. Bennet let her run on until the servants had left the room, then said: “Before you choose a house for your daughter, Mrs. Bennet, let this be understood. There is one house in this neighbourhood where they will not be received, and that is Longbourn.”

  That was Mrs. Bennet’s first shock. The second was when he told he would not give a penny for new clothes for Lydia. She could not understand. Not to have new clothes for a wedding was more shameful than running away and living with Wickham for two weeks.

  The wedding day arrived. In spite of his hard words, Mr. Bennet had been persuaded by Jane to let the Wickhams come on to Longbourn from London, and stay a few days before going north to join his regiment. Their reception at Longbourn was mixed. Mr. Bennet was very cool, while his wife was full of joy. As for Lydia, she sowed no shame for the trouble she had caused. All she could think of was her new position of a married woman: showing off her ring to the servants, and claiming a more important seat at the dining-table. Wickham, too, was perfectly at his ease.

  While the Wickhams stayed Elizabeth tried to avoid them as much as possible. Perhaps that was why she failed to hear Lydia’s description of her wedding. But her sister could not bear that anyone should not hear her story, and finding Elizabeth alone one day, told her everything. Elizabeth sat there half listening, until Lydia said something very interesting.

  “My uncle was so late coming to take us to the church,” she said, “that I got quite frightened that he wouldn’t come at all. But then I thought Mr. Darcy could always give me away ...”

  “Mr. Darcy!” cried Elizabeth. “Was he there, then?”

  “Why yes – with Wickham, you know. But I quite forgot. That was a secret, and I promised not to say.”

  “If it was a secret you need say no more,” said Elizabeth, but she could not leave Darcy’s presence at the wedding unexplained. She wrote to her aunt.

   In her reply Mrs. Gardiner said she thought Elizabeth already knew everything from Darcy. That was why her husband had agreed to do what he had done. Darcy had discovered the pair at the house of Mr. Young, who after leaving his employment had lived by letting rooms. Wickham was still hoping for a richer wife, but he had no money and no job. In the end he had to accept Darcy’s conditions. These were that he would pay Wickham’s debts and buy him a place in another regiment, if Wickham married Lydia.

  Darcy had then told Mr. Gardiner what he had arranged. He said he did not want it to be known that he had given money to Wickham. He wanted it to appear that Mr. Gardiner had done so. Mr. Gardiner had not liked this arrangement, but Darcy had forced him to agree.

  Elizabeth sighed. What did Darcy mean by all this: to take this trouble for a girl like Lydia; to meet and discuss with the man he most wished to avoid? How much she wished for his respect! But it was too late now. 

  Chapter 14

  A return 

  The departure of Lydia was a sad event for Mrs. Bennet. But she was not to be unhappy for long. Good news was on the way. The housekeeper at Netherfield had received orders to prepare the house for his master. While her mother excitedly began to plan dinners, Jane felt only anxiety and alarm. She did not dare to hope and risk another disappointment.

  “As soon as Mr. Bingley arrives at Netherfield,” said Mrs. Bennet to her husband, “you must call on him.”

  “You made me call on him last year, promising he would marry one of my daughters. But it all ended in nothing. I shan’t waste my time again,” he replied.

  She then said that she would ask him to dinner whether Mr. Bennet called or not. However, before she could do this, and only two days after his arrival at Netherfield, Bingley was seen riding towards the house – but not alone. Catherine shouted from the window:

  “There is a gentleman with him, Mama. It’s that man who used to be with him before – that tall, proud man.”

  “Goodness!” said her mother. “Mr. Darcy – so it is! Well, any friend of Mr. Bingley is welcome here, but I must say that I hate the sight of him.”

  She received Bingley with great friendliness. Too much friendliness, Elizabeth felt, compared with cold politeness of her welcome to Darcy. Bingley himself appeared pleased, but at the same time, uneasy.

  “We were afraid you’d never come back again,” said Mrs. Bennet. “There have been changes since you left. Miss Lucas is married, and so is one of our daughters. It was in the papers, but it wasn’t put in properly – nothing about her family or where she lived. I don’t know how my brother came to make such a mistake.”

  While Bingley gave his good wishes, Elizabeth did not dare lift his eyes to see how Darcy looked.

  “He husband has now joined another regiment,” Mrs. Bennet went on. “It shows he has some friends.”

  As this was directed at Darcy, Elizabeth’s misery and shame increased. In fact this visit, and a dinner the following night for the two gentlemen, gave her no joy at all. Darcy hardly said anything, and was not as natural and at his ease as he had been at Pemberley.

  “If he comes here only to be silent,” she complained to Jane, “why does he come at all?”

  Meanwhile, Mrs. Bennet thought only of trying to leave Jane and Bingley alone together. After Mr. Bennet had gone off as usual to his library, she would sit looking hard at her other daughters as a sign to make them leave the room. But Catherine often did not understand these signs and would ask her mother what she wanted, while Elizabeth took no notice of them.

  In any case Bingley refused to be hurried. He wanted to choose his own time and place. But in the end he did indeed ask Jane to be his wife. Jane’s feelings do not need to be described. As for her mother, Lydia and Wickham were quite forgotten. Jane was now her favorite child. Mr. Bennet, too, was in his own way delighted.

  “I’m sure you’ll be very happy,” he said. “Each of you thinks so much of the feelings of the other that you’ll never agree to anything. You’re so kind-hearted that every servant will cheat you, and so ready to give that you’ll never have enough money.” 

  Chapter 15

  An unexpected visit 

  One morning, a week after Bingley asked Jane to marry him, a large carriage drown by four horses stopped outside the house. It was too grand for any of the neighbors. So the ladies were prepared to be surprised when the door opened and their visitor was shown in. It was Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

  Elizabeth introduced her mother, and Lady Catherine gave her a nod. “You have a very small park here,” she said.

  “It’s nothing to compare with Rosings, I dare say, my Lady,” said Mrs. Bennet, “but it’s much larger than Sir William Lucas’s.”

  After more remarks like this from Lady Catherine, silence fell. Then, turning to Elizabeth, she said:

  “I should be glad to take a walk in your grounds, if you would give me the favor of your company.”

  “Go, my dear,” cried Mrs. Bennet, “and show Lady Catherine everything. I’m sure she’ll enjoy the rose garden.”

  It soon became clear, however, that enjoyment was not the purpose of Lady Catherine’s visit. “I’m quite sure you know the reason for my visit here,” she said.

  “Why, no,” said Elizabeth in surprise.

  “Miss Bennet, although you may choose to be insincere, I do not. Let me come to the point. A most alarming report has come to my ears. I hear that you have hopes of marrying my nephew, Mr. Darcy. This cannot, of course, be true.”

  “If you know this story to be untrue, why did you come so far to tell it to me?” Elizabeth asked.

  “To make sure that the report is publicly denied.”

  “But by coming here you’re likely to make the report more widely believed – if such a report exists.”

  “Miss Bennet, I must have an answer. Has my nephew made you an offer of marriage or not?”

  “If he has,” said Elizabeth, “I shan’t tell you.”

  “Understand this. Such a marriage can never take place. Mr. Darcy is to marry my daughter.”

  “If that is so, you need have no fear that he would ask to marry me,” said Elizabeth.

  Lady Catherine paused a moment, then replied: “The arrangement between them is of a special kind. They were intended for each other from childhood. It was my wish, and his mother’s. These wishes are not to be upset by a young woman like you. So tell me, is there, or is there not, an agreement between you?”

  “No.”

  Lady Catherine looked more pleased. “And do you promise never to enter into such an agreement?”

  “I shall make no such promise,” said Elizabeth.

  Lady Catherine then turned her full anger on her. She raged on about Lydia’s marriage, honor, duty, and ungrateful behavior until she reached the door of her carriage. She then drove of without even going inside to say goodbye to Mrs. Bennet.

  Where had this story come from? From the Collinses Elizabeth supposed. But what could Lady Catherine hope to gain from this extraordinary visit?

  Next morning the affair came up again when her father approached with a letter in his hand. “I’d like you to read this,” he said. “It amuses me a great deal. I didn’t know I had two daughters about to marry.”

  Elizabeth’s face reddened. Could it be from Darcy? Surely he would not write to her father before speaking to her.

  “You’ll be surprised when you hear of your admirer,” her father went on. “The letter is from Mr. Collins. I shan’t waste time on his good wishes to Jane and Mr. Bingley, but listen to this: ‘Your daughter Elizabeth may not long remain unmarried. The young gentleman who admires her has very advantage as a husband – and yet, let me warn my cousin. We believe that his aunt. Lady Catherine does not look on this affair with a friendly eye.’ ”

  “So, my dear,” said Mr. Bennet. “Mr. Darcy is your man. Could there be anyone less likely? Mr. Darcy, who never looks at any woman except to find a fault – who probably never looked at you at all. Really, I wouldn’t give up Mr Collins’s letters for anything.”

  He laughed. But Elizabeth felt more like crying. Her father was wrong to think that Darcy had so little interest in her. But was he so wrong? If he had still been interested he would have spoken by now. 

  Bingley was now a daily visitor to Longbourn, where he spent the mornings with Jane. But one day, a week after Lady Catherine’s visit, two horsemen appeared. “Why!” cried Mrs. Bennet. “Here’s that unpleasant Mr Darcy again with dear Bingley. I’m sorry, Lizzy, but I think you’ll have to talk to him today.”

  It seemed a good idea for all of four of them to go for a walk. So they set off two by two along the lane. Elizabeth and Darcy went faster than Jane and Bingley, and quite soon they were some way ahead.

  This was the first time since Pemberley that they had been along together, and Elizabeth could not wait to say what she knew of Darcy’s part in Lydia’s marriage. But when she tried to express her family’s thanks, he stopped her. “Don’t talk of your family,” he said. “Whatever I did, I did for you alone.” 

  Elizabeth’s eyes filled with tears. She could not speak, so Darcy continued: “You’re too kind to make me suffer any longer. My feelings for you haven’t changed since Hunsford. Though I’m still ashamed of how I expressed them. But if yours are still unchanged, just say, and I’ll be silent for ever.”

  Elizabeth explained that her feelings had changed. They had changed a great deal. So Darcy did not have to be silent. Indeed, far from being silent he went on to express his feelings to her very fully. These would not have pleased his aunt, but they pleased Elizabeth more than anything had ever pleased her before. He also explained why he had decided to risk a second refusal. On her way through London his aunt had called and tried to make him promise not to marry her. It was this which had encouraged him to return.

  They had walked for two hours without knowing where they had been. Then as soon as they returned, Darcy went straight to see Mr. Bennet. It was some time before he reappeared and asked Elizabeth to go to her father. Mr. Bennet looked serious. “Lizzy,’ he said, “are you determined to accept this man? I always understood that you hated him.”

  It was not easy to persuade him that her feelings had changed, and that it was Darcy she loved, not Pemberley or £ 10000 a year. She also told him about the part Darcy had played in Lydia’s marriage. “If it had been your uncle’s doing,” he said, “I should have had to pay the money back. But these violent lovers always want their own way. I’ll offer to pay him tomorrow, but I know he’ll talk wildly about how much he loves you, and that will be the end of it.”

  When Mrs. Bennet heard the news she was for a time quite unable to say anything. She got up, sat down again and when she spoke could only say: “Goodness me! Lord bless me! Dear me! Who would have thought it? And is it really true? Oh my sweetest Lizzy! How rich you will be! What jewels, what carriages you’ll have! Jane’s is nothing to it – nothing at all! Such a charming man! Oh Lord!” 

  What is left to say? Elizabeth and Jane were married, and Bingley bought a property in Derbyshire close enough to Pemberley for the sisters to visit. Catherine, warned by the example of Lydia, improved. Lydia’s story was less happy. Never settled, always short of money, she depended on help from her sisters. Wickham never gave up hope that Darcy would some day make his fortune for him. At the same time he continued to blame him for all his troubles.

  The letter that Lady Catherine sent to Darcy on his marriage was so insulting to Elizabeth, that for a long time he refused to have anything to do with her. In the end, however, Elizabeth persuaded him to forget his anger and Lady Catherine was received at Pemberley.

  As for Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner, their wish to revisit Pemberley was granted many times over, for they were regular and ever-welcome guests. 

  I. Checking Comprehension 

1. Put the sentences in the right order to describe Elizabeth’s visit to Pemberley. 

1. Elizabeth agreed to visit Pemberley as she knew Darcy was not at present living there.

2. The housekeeper showed them Pemberley.

3. Elizabeth refused Darcy’s invitation to enter the house.