Pride and Prejudice; Sense and Sensibility

Chapter 51 The Family Story (1)
As they left the town, the uncle said to Elizabeth: "I have thought about the matter again, and thought it over carefully, and it seems to me more and more that your sister is right. I don't think any young man will be wrong. Such a girl has such a bad heart, and she is not without relatives, and she lives in his Colonel's house, so I want to think of the best. Does he think her relatives and friends will not stand up Did he come out? Does he think that after offending Colonel Forster this time, he would be ashamed to go back to the militia? I don’t think he would be so infatuated to the point of taking risks.”

Elizabeth's expression brightened immediately, and she hurriedly shouted, "Do you really think so?"

Mrs. Gardner continued: "You can trust me, and I'm beginning to agree with your uncle. It's too shameless, too disrespectful of reputation and stake, for him to be so bold. I think Wick Ham may not be so bad. Lizzy, do you think so little of him, do you believe he would do such a thing?"

"He might not be disregarding his own interests. I don't believe he cares at all other than that. I wish he could be, and I dare not expect that. If it's what you think, why don't they?" To Scotland?"

Mr. Gardiner replied: "First, it is not entirely proved that they did not go to Scotland."

"Ah! But they have sent their carriages away and replaced them with hired ones. That alone is conceivable! Besides, there was no trace of them on the way to Banat."

"Let's assume they're in London, then. They're probably there for a while, and they don't have any ulterior motives. Neither of them has much money, and it may occur to them that although it's not as convenient to marry in London as in Scotland, But be frugal."

"But why is it so secret? Why are you afraid of being found out? Why do you have to be married secretly? Oh, no, no, your idea is not realistic. Didn't you read it in the letter? Even his own best friend Believe he wouldn't marry her. Wickham would never marry a woman without money, he just couldn't do it. Lydia has nothing to do, nothing to attract Can he give up the chance of getting married and getting rich for her? As for whether he will check his behavior because he is afraid that this shameful elopement will make him lose face in the army, then I cannot judge, because I have no way of knowing What kind of consequences will his behavior this time have? The other point you said may not be very reliable. Lydia does not have any brothers to stand up for her. He also saw that my father is usually lazy and does not care about family affairs, so he thought When he encounters this kind of thing, he will be the same as other fathers, he will not take care of it, and he will not think too much about it."

"But do you think Lydia would go so far as to love him, to live with him without marrying him?"

Tears welled up in Elizabeth's eyes, and said: "It's really shocking to say that a person actually doubts whether his own sister will disregard decency and disregard chastity! But I really don't know how to say it, maybe I wronged her. She is very young, and no one has ever taught her how to think about these important issues. For half a year—no, for a whole year—she has only known pleasure and vanity. The family pampered her and let her do her best. The frivolous life made her credulous and blind no matter what she encountered. Since the militia was stationed in Meryton, her mind was full of love, flirting, and hooking up with officers. She was inherently coquettish enough, In addition, I often think about and talk about this matter, and try my best to make my feelings more... how should I say more?... more easily seduced by others. We all know that Wickham There is enough charm, both in terms of form and language, to charm a woman."

"But you must understand," said her aunt, "Jane doesn't think so badly of Wickham that she thinks he would."

"Why does Jane regard anyone as a bad person? No matter what kind of person he is, no matter what his past behavior is, how can she believe that he will have such a heart unless it is proved that the person is really bad? But when it comes to threats Jane knew all about Cobham as well as I did. We both knew he was a real dandy, with no character or decency, a man of hypocrisy and a soft voice."

These words aroused Mrs. Gardner's great curiosity. She wanted to find out how her niece knew these things, so she asked loudly, "Do you really understand all these things?"

Elizabeth replied, blushing: "Of course I understand. I have told you that day about his outrageous behavior towards Mr. Darcy. He was treated with such generosity, but when you were at Longbourne last time, I have heard with my own ears his attitude towards others. There are many things that I cannot say, and it is not worth mentioning, but he really can't say enough about the facts of the Pemberley Darcy family's slander. He put Miss Darcy was such a person that at first I took her for a proud, cruel, annoying lady. But he himself knew the opposite. He must have known in his heart that Miss Darcy was exactly what we all know As amiable as you can see, without putting on airs at all."

"Isn't Lydia completely ignorant of these things? If you and Jane know so well, how can she be completely ignorant of herself?"

"That's the bad thing. I myself didn't know the truth until I was in Kent, often with Mr. Darcy and his relative, Colonel Fitzwilliam. When I got home, the militia from the Midlands were ready to join us." I was due to leave Meryton in a fortnight, and when I told the whole story to Jane, Jane and I felt it unnecessary to speak of it, for Wickham was so fond of the neighbors that if he were to be impressed Who would it do any good for the worse? Even when it came time to decide to let Lydia go with Mrs. Forster, I did not want Lydia to know his character. It never occurred to me that she should be He cheated. You can trust me, I never would have imagined that it would turn out like this."

"Then when they set out for Brighton, you still didn't care that they were in love?"

"I didn't expect that at all. I remember that none of them showed any intention of loving each other. You know, as long as they saw a little sign at the beginning, they would not stop talking about it in a family like ours. When he first arrived in the army, she I admired him very much, as we all did at the time. During the first month or two, there was not a girl in Meryton who did not fall in love with him, but he never looked at her differently. After that When the infatuation passed, so did her fantasies about him, for the other officers in the militia valued her more, and her heart turned to them again."

They talked about this interesting topic over and over along the way, talking about what is worthy of concern and what is still hopeful, and after thinking about it, they couldn't talk about anything new, so they had to stop for a while.However, after a short while, this matter came up again, which is understandable.

Elizabeth's mind was always haunted by this matter.She blamed herself for this matter, she could not feel at ease for a moment, nor could she forget it for a moment.

They hurried on the road, stayed overnight on the way, and arrived at Longbourne next day by dinner time.Elizabeth was relieved that Jane had not been made to wait too anxiously.

As soon as they entered the paddock, Uncle Gardner's children ran up the steps and stood there; and when the carriage came to the gate, the children were all pleasantly surprised, smiling, and jumping up and down. Pleasant and warm welcome for the first time upon return.

Elizabeth jumped out of the carriage, kissed each child hastily, and hurried to the door.Jane was at this moment running downstairs from her mother's room, and was there to meet her.

Elizabeth hugged her passionately, and both sisters were in tears.Elizabeth asked impatiently if she had found out the whereabouts of the elopement couple.

"The whereabouts of them have not been found yet," replied Jane, "but my dear uncle is back, and I hope all will be well from now on."

"Has Dad gone to town?"

"Going into town. He left on Tuesday, as I told you in my letter."

"Do you often hear from him?"

"I only received one letter from him, which was sent on Wednesday. The letter only said that he had arrived safely, and told me his detailed address. This was what I asked him to write before he left. In addition, he Just say, wait until you have important news, and then write."

"How is mom? How is everyone in the family?"

"I think Mamma's all right, but she's just very depressed. She's upstairs, and she must be very happy to see you back. She's still in her dressing-room. Thank goodness, Mary and Katie." All very good."

"Then how are you?" Elizabeth asked loudly again, "You look pale, you must have worried a lot!"

Her sister told her she was fine.The sisters had just exchanged these few words while the Gardners were busy with their children, when they saw a large group of men, women, and children approaching, so they had to stop talking.

Jane went up to her aunt and aunt to welcome and thank her, laughing and crying.

When they all entered the drawing-room, and the aunt and aunt repeated the questions Elizabeth had just asked, it soon became apparent that Jane had nothing to say.Because of her kind heart, Jane always thinks from an optimistic perspective. Even now, she is not disheartened, and she is still counting on everything to have a happy ending—one day she will receive a letter A letter, either from my father, or from Lydia, would give a detailed account of the developments, and perhaps announce the marriage of the couple.

After talking for a while, they all went to Mrs. Bennet's room.As expected, Mrs. Bennet burst into tears and sighed when she saw them.She first scolded Wickham for his mean behavior, then she complained about her own pain and grievances. She scolded almost everyone except one person, and that person was Blindly doting on your daughter is the main reason why your daughter made a big mistake.

She said: "If I had followed my plan, and the whole family had gone to Brighton, this would never have happened. Lydia is so poor and lovely, and the trouble is that no one is there to take care of her." How could Mrs. Sturt let her go away from them? They must have been slighting her, I suppose. A girl like her would never have done that if she had been well looked after. I always felt They are not fit to care for her, but I am always at the mercy of others. Poor dear boy! Mr. Bennet is gone, and he will fight Wickham to the death if he sees him, and he will be beaten by Wickham What shall we all do with Ham's beating him to death? The Collinses will throw us out while he's still alive. Brother, if you don't help us, I don't know what to do with it. "

(End of this chapter)