Pride and Prejudice — Chapter Twenty-Five (Abridged)

After a week of joyful visits, Mr. Collins departed Longbourn on Saturday, comforting himself with thoughts of his coming wedding. He said his farewells with great solemnity, wished his cousins health and happiness, and promised Mr. Bennet yet another letter of thanks.

The following Monday brought a much more welcome arrival. Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner came to spend Christmas at Longbourn, as was their custom. Mr. Gardiner was a sensible, gentlemanlike man, far superior to his sister in both nature and education — a fact the Netherfield ladies would have found difficult to believe of a man who lived by trade. Mrs. Gardiner was younger than Mrs. Bennet, intelligent and elegant, and especially close to Jane and Elizabeth, with whom she kept up a warm and regular correspondence.

After distributing her gifts and sharing the latest fashions, Mrs. Gardiner found herself listening rather than talking. Mrs. Bennet had much to complain of. Two daughters had nearly been married, and nothing had come of either. "I do not blame Jane," she said, "for Jane would have got Mr. Bingley if she could. But Lizzy — she might have been Mr. Collins's wife by now, had it not been for her own perverseness. The consequence is that Lady Lucas will have a daughter married before me, and Longbourn is as much entailed as ever." Mrs. Gardiner, who had already heard the chief of this from her nieces' letters, gave a brief reply and quietly changed the subject.

Later, alone with Elizabeth, she spoke more freely. She thought the match with Bingley had seemed promising, but suggested that young men in love often forget just as quickly as they fall. Elizabeth disagreed. "We do not suffer by accident," she said. "It is not common for a young man of independent fortune to be talked out of his feelings in a matter of days by the scheming of friends." When Mrs. Gardiner pressed her on just how strong Bingley's feelings had appeared, Elizabeth replied with her usual wit: "At his own ball, he ignored two or three young ladies entirely and failed to answer me twice. Is not general incivility the very essence of love?"

Mrs. Gardiner laughed, but then turned serious. She suggested that Jane might benefit from coming back to London with them. A change of scene could do her good. She added, however, that she hoped Jane would not be influenced by any hope of seeing Bingley — their part of town was entirely different, and it was unlikely they would meet unless he sought her out deliberately. Elizabeth declared this quite impossible, since Bingley was entirely under Mr. Darcy's influence and never moved without him. Privately, though, Elizabeth was not so certain. She still thought it possible that Bingley's feelings might revive if left to themselves.

Jane accepted the invitation gladly. She told herself she only hoped to see Caroline Bingley occasionally, without any risk of encountering her brother.

The Gardiners' week at Longbourn was full of engagements. Mr. Wickham was a frequent guest at the house, and Mrs. Gardiner, made watchful by Elizabeth's warm praise of him, observed them both closely. She did not think them seriously in love, but their mutual preference was obvious enough to concern her. She resolved to speak to Elizabeth privately before leaving Hertfordshire.

Wickham also held a particular interest for Mrs. Gardiner on another account: she had spent several years in Derbyshire before her marriage and knew the county well. She and Wickham had many acquaintances in common, and she had even visited Pemberley. Hearing now of Mr. Darcy's ill treatment of Wickham, she searched her memory for what she had known of young Mr. Darcy — and recalled that he had once been spoken of as a very proud, ill-natured boy.