Pride and Prejudice Becoming Jane Bennet

About a week after Mr. Collins left, the Gardiners were the first to arrive at Longbourne.Mr. Gardiner was a reasonable and gentlemanly man, much superior to his sister in character and education.He was well-bred and charming, though he came from the business world, and the two ladies and ladies who had lived at Netherfield would have found it hard to believe him.Mrs. Gardiner was several years younger than Mrs. Bennet and Mrs. Philip. She was a kind, intelligent, and elegant lady, except for Miss Ludwig who had been with her for fifteen years—now Mrs. Weston— —The former governess of the Bennet family, the ladies are the closest to her.The Miss Bennets often went into town by turns to stay with her for a while.

The Gardiners came to Longbourne at sunset on Monday, and when Mrs. Bennet heard the clatter of hooves from the garden gate, she got up and trotted out to meet them. A young lady hurriedly followed behind her to greet her.

"Why did you come so late?" Mrs. Bennet said before the carriage stopped, "I was worried that your carriage would overturn or be robbed by robbers on the way!"

"Don't think about it, Fanny." Mr. Gardiner got out of the carriage first, put his arms around his sister and kissed her affectionately, and said, "Our journey was very pleasant."

At this time, Mr. Bennet took Mrs. Gardiner by the arm, helped her get off the tall carriage, and then kissed her affectionately.

"How are you doing, Fanny?" asked Mr. Gardiner.

"Oh!" said Mrs. Bennet, "too bad, Edward. No one can understand what my nerves have been put through!"

As she spoke, she pressed her cheek to Mrs. Gardiner, and said: "But I never complain..."

"That's the best, Fanny. You're so kind," said Mr. Gardiner.

While they were talking, several Miss Bennet also greeted Mrs. and Mrs. Gardiner one after another.After saying hello, Kate and Lydia looked on top of and into the carriage, looking for boxes that looked like presents—the Gardiners would bring the ladies some of the most popular things in town every time they came to Longbourn. thing.

"I want to know what patterns are popular in the city recently." Kate leaned into Lydia's ear and said, "I can embroider it on my other skirts. There are too many dances recently, and I don't want to do it again."

Lydia glanced at her and said, "You embroider, I hope there are new dresses ready!"

She glanced again into the carriage, seeing nothing she wanted to see, and yelled reluctantly to ask if Mrs. Gardiner had brought them any presents.

"It seems that you haven't changed at all, Lydia." Mrs. Gardiner smiled. "You are still so keen on presents."

"That's it!" Lydia said, puffing out her chest. "Gifts are the cutest things in the world! Who wouldn't love gifts!"

Her small appearance made everyone in the circle laugh.

"Please come in, please come in!" Mrs. Bennet waved a handkerchief at this time and said, "Otherwise you will almost have no time to change!"

Then she turned sideways to Mr. Bennet and Mr. Gardiner excitedly and said: "We're invited to Philip's tonight. . . At home, give my poor nerves a rest..."

Both gentlemen laughed at her remark, and if there was anyone in the Bennet family who was more keen on partying than Lydia it was Mrs. Bennet.Of course, Mrs. Bennet's attention to the banquet is different from that of the ladies. She is not keen on dancing. My own daughter is courteous so that I can brag about something I am proud of.

The banquet coincided with the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner from London to Hertfordshire. At the beginning of the party, several ladies and ladies surrounded Mrs. Gardiner and asked her to describe the latest fashion in the city. , the best way to braid hair.After this matter was over, the ladies and ladies began to talk to other people they liked, or went to dance, while Mrs. Gardiner sat aside and listened to Mrs. Bennet talking to her.

"I don't blame Liz," said Mrs. Bennet to her, "because if Liz could have married Mr. Bingley, she would have done so long ago. But Mary... oh, sister-in-law! I don't know Mary How did you think that you rejected Mr. Collins! And Jane, as her sister, she didn't want to match them up, but she thought Mary was right to reject Mr. Collins! This is really sinful, the two of them really Don't pity my nerves at all! Now you see, it turned out that Lucas and the others took advantage of it, and the Longbourn property will be inherited by that family from now on! They are very clever, and they did it completely. To rake in this fortune... I couldn't bear to arrange them like this, but it's true! It's unfortunate to have such self-absorbed neighbors. You came at the right time and gave me a great deal Consolation, I very much enjoyed listening to you about those... long-sleeved things."

When Mrs. Gardiner corresponded with Jane and Elizabeth, she generally knew about these recent events in their family. In order to be considerate of her niece, she only perfunctory Mrs. Bennet a few words, and then diverted the topic.

Jane spoke of it again later, when the two of them were together.

"I just wanted to tell you," Jane said, "I won't go to the city this year, let Liz go to the city instead of me to accompany you, do you think it will work?"

"A change of scenery may indeed do Liz good," said Mrs. Gardiner. "Perhaps it's better than nothing to be away from home, to be relieved, and not to be heard."

She paused, and then said: "With Lizzy's personality, she will laugh at this matter, and she will forget it in a short time."

It made Jane feel a little ashamed to hear Mrs. Gardiner say this, because the purpose of her telling the Gardiners to take Elizabeth to the city was not entirely to keep Elizabeth away from the gossip of the country.She was very sure that Mr. Bingley had a deep affection for Elizabeth, because Mr. Bingley became more and more indifferent to others during his stay in Hertfordshire, and put his whole heart on Elizabeth.Every time the two of them saw each other, things became clearer and more explicit.He even offended two or three young ladies at the Netherfield ball he gave by not inviting them to dance, and even when Jane herself spoke to him, he ignored her and looked only at Elizabeth.Jane originally thought that since Elizabeth and Miss Bingley still maintain correspondence, they will inevitably visit each other when Elizabeth arrives in London. Will Elizabeth be able to see Mr. Bingley then?At that time, if Mr. Bingley still cannot be sure of his feelings for Elizabeth and go back to Hertfordshire with her, or if he succumbs to the world's concept and intends to give up Elizabeth, then such a man is not worth resuming. I've thought about it.But no matter what, you have to fight for it so that you don't feel regretful and regretful in retrospect.

The two were talking about this, when Jane saw Mr. Wickham asking his little sister to dance, she suddenly felt moved, changed the subject, and asked about Mrs. Gardiner's affairs before her marriage.

Lady Gardiner had lived for some time in Derbyshire more than ten years ago, before she married.Jane then asked her if she knew the Darcys, and if she knew Mr Wickham, and pointed Mr Wickham to Mrs Gardiner.

"Neither I nor anyone I know has the privilege of being associated with that family," Mrs. Gardiner said regretfully. "Our social circles are very different."

She looked again at Mr. Wickham, who was dancing with Lydia, and said, "But you say his father was old Mr. Darcy's butler?"

"Yes." Jane answered.Returning to what Mr. Wickham had said about the wrong he was being treated by the present Mr. Darcy.

Mrs. Gardiner listened carefully to Jane's views on the behavior of the two men, and could not help noticing that her niece seemed to defend the Mr. Darcy whom she had never met. This disturbed her, and she tried to recall How was the gentleman's personality when he was a child, and whether it was in line with the present, and at last he remembered with confidence that he had indeed heard people say that Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy was a very bad-tempered and proud boy who always did his own way. of.Jane could not help but feel greatly disappointed.