‘I hope,’added Mrs Gardiner,‘that no consideration with regard to this young man will influence her.We live in so different a part of town,all our connexions are so different,and,as you well know,we go out so little,that it is very improbable they should meet at all,unless he really comes to see her.’
‘And that is quite impossible;for he is now in the custody of his friend,and MrDarcy would no more suffer him to call on Jane in such a part of London-!My dear aunt,how could you think of it?Mr Darcy may perhaps have heard of such a place as Gracechurch Street,but he would hardly think a month's ablution enough to cleanse him from its impurities,were he once to enter it;and depend upon it,Mr Bingley never stirs without him.’
‘So much the better.I hope they will not meet at all.But does not Jane correspond with the sister?She will not be able to help calling.’
‘She will drop the acquaintance entirely.’
But in spite of the certainty in which Elizabeth affected to place this point,as well as the still more interesting one of Bingley's being withheld from seeing Jane,she felt a solicitude on the subject which convinced her,on examination,that she did not consider it entirely hopeless.It was possible,and sometimes she thought it probable,that his affection might be re animated,and the influence of his friends successfully combated by the more natural influence of Jane's attractions.
Miss Bennet accepted her aunt's invitation with pleasure;and the Bingleys were no otherwise in her thoughts at the time,than as she hoped that，by Caroline's not living in the same house with her brother,she might occasionally spend a morning with her,without any danger of seeing him.
The Gardiners staid a week at Longbourn;and what with the Philipses,the Lucases,and the officers,there was not a day without its engagement.Mrs Bennet had so carefully provided for the entertainment of her brother and sister,that they did not once sit down to a family dinner.When the engagement was for home,some of the officers always made part of it，of which officers Mr Wickham was sure to be one;and on these occasions,Mrs Gardiner,rendered suspicious by Elizabeth's warm commendation of him,narrowly observed them both.Without supposing them,from what she saw,to be very seriously in love,their preference of each other was plain enough to make her a little uneasy;and she resolved to speak to Elizabeth on the subject before she left Hertfordshire,and represent to her the imprudence of encouraging such an attachment.
To Mrs Gardiner,Wickham had one means of affording pleasure,unconnected with his general powers.About ten or a dozen years ago,before her marriage,she had spent a considerable time in that very part of Derbyshire to which he belonged.They had,therefore,many acquaintance in common;and,though Wickham had been little there since the death of Darcy's father,five years before，it was yet in his power to give her fresher intelligence of her former friends,than she had been in the way of procuring.
Mrs Gardiner had seen Pemberley,and known the late Mr Darcy by character perfectly well.Here,consequently,was an inexhaustible subject of discourse.In comparing her recollection of Pemberley with the minute deion which Wickham could give,and in bestowing her tribute of praise on the character of its late possessor,she was delighting both him and herself.On being made acquainted with the present Mr Darcy's treatment of him,she tried to remember something of that gentleman's reputed disposition,when quite a lad,which might agree with it,and was confident at last that she recollected having heard Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy formerly spoken of as a very proud,ill natured boy.
Chapter 26
Mrs Gardiner's caution to Elizabeth was punctually and kindly given on the first favourable opportunity of speaking to her alone;after honestly telling her what she thought,she thus went on:
‘You are too sensible a girl,Lizzy,to fall in love merely because you are warned against it;and,therefore,I am not afraid of speaking openly.Seriously,I would have you be on your guard.Do not involve yourself,or endeavour to involve him in an affection which the want of fortune would make so very imprudent.I have nothing to say against him;he is a most interesting young man;and if he had the fortune he ought to have,I should think you could not do better.But as it is-you must not let your fancy run away with you.You have sense,and we all expect you to use it.Your father would depend on your resolution and good conduct,I am sure.You must not disappoint your father.’
‘My dear aunt,this is being serious indeed.’
‘Yes,and I hope to engage you to be serious likewise.’
‘Well,then,you need not be under any alarm.I will take care of myself,and of Mr Wickham too.He shall not be in love with me,if I can prevent it.’
‘Elizabeth,you are not serious now.’
‘I beg your pardon.I will try again.At present I am not in love with Mr Wickham;no,I certainly am not.But he is,beyond all comparison,the most agreeable man I ever saw-and if he becomes really attached to me-I believe it will be better that he should not.I see the imprudence of it.Oh!that abominable Mr Darcy!-My father's opinion of me does me the greatest honour;and I should be miserable to forfeit it.My father,however,is partial to Mr Wickham.In short,my dear aunt,I should be very sorry to be the means of making any of you unhappy;but since we see every day that where there is affection,young people are seldom withheld by immediate want of fortune from entering into engagements with each other,how can I promise to be wiser than so many of my fellow creatures if I am tempted,or how am I even to know that it would be wisdom to resist?All that I can promise you,therefore,is not to be in a hurry.I will not be in a hurry to believe myself his first object.When I am in company with him,I will not be wishing.In short,I will do my best.’