47 Cont. Pride And Prejudice -Bedtime With Stephanie Poppins

Pride and Prejudice is a classic tale of love and uncertainty by English Author Jane Austen. In these gently read stories, we escape into a time long past.
In this episode, Elizabeth receives unrepentant news from Lydia.

Read and Performed by English author Stephanie Poppins.

Transcript

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Read by S.

D.

Hudson Chapter 47 Continued Though her brother and sister were persuaded there was no real occasion for such a seclusion from the family,

They did not attempt to oppose it.

For they knew that Mrs.

Bennet had not prudence enough to hold her tongue before the servants,

While they waited at table,

And judged it better that only one of the household,

And the one whom they could most trust,

Should comprehend all her fears and solicitude on the subject.

In the dining room,

Mr.

And Mrs.

Gardner were soon joined by Mary and Kitty,

Who had been too busily engaged in their separate apartments to make their appearance before.

One came from her books,

And another from her toilette.

The faces of both,

However,

Were tolerably calm,

And no change was visible in either,

Except that the loss of their favourite sister,

Or the anger in which she herself had incurred in the business,

Had given something more of fretfulness than usual to the accents of Kitty.

As for Mary,

She was mistress enough of herself to whisper to Elizabeth,

With a countenance of grave reflection,

Soon after they were seated at table.

This is a most unfortunate affair,

And will probably be much talked of,

But we must stem the tide of malice,

And pour into the wounded bosoms of each other the balm of sisterly consolation.

Then,

Perceiving in Elizabeth no inclination of replying,

She added,

Unhappy as the event must be for Lydia,

We may draw from it this useful lesson,

That loss of virtue in a female is irretrievable,

That one false step involves her in endless ruin,

That her reputation is no less brittle than it is beautiful,

And that she cannot too much guarded in her behaviour be towards the undisturbing of the other sex.

Elizabeth lifted up her eyes in amazement,

But was too much oppressed to make any reply.

Mary,

However,

Continued to console herself with such kind of moral extractions from the evil before them.

In the afternoon,

The two eldest Miss Bennets were able to be for half an hour by themselves,

And Elizabeth instantly availed herself of the opportunity of making many inquiries,

Which Jane was eagerly eager to satisfy.

After joining in general lamentations over the dreadful sequel of this event,

Which Elizabeth considered as all but certain,

And Miss Bennet could not assert to be wholly impossible,

The former continued the subject by saying,

But tell me all and everything about it,

Which I have not already heard.

Give me further particulars.

What did Colonel Foster say?

Had they no apprehension of anything before the elopement took place?

They must have seen them together forever.

Colonel Foster did own he'd often suspected some partiality,

Especially on Lydia's side,

But nothing to give him any alarm.

I'm so grieved for him.

His behaviour was attentive and kind to the utmost.

He was coming to us in order to assure us his concern,

Said Jane,

Before he had any idea of their not being gone to Scotland.

When that apprehension first got abroad,

It hastened his journey.

And was Denny convinced that Wickham would not marry?

Asked Elizabeth.

Did he know of their intending to go off?

Had Colonel Foster seen Denny himself?

Yes,

But when questioned by him,

Denny denied knowing anything of their plan and would not give his real opinion about it.

He did not repeat his persuasion of their not marrying,

And from that I'm inclined to hope he might have been misunderstood before.

Until Colonel Foster came himself,

Not one of you entertained a doubt,

I suppose,

Of their being really married?

Elizabeth persisted.

How was it possible such an idea should enter our brains?

Said Jane.

I felt a little uneasy,

A little fearful of my sister's happiness with him in marriage because I knew his conduct had not always been right.

My father and mother knew nothing of that and they only felt how imprudent a match it must be.

Kitty then owned,

With a very natural triumph on knowing more than the rest of us,

That in Lydia's last letter she prepared her for such a step.

She'd known,

It seems,

Of their being in love with each other for many weeks.

But not before they went to Brighton.

No,

I believe not.

And did Colonel Foster appear to think ill of Wickham himself?

Does he know his real character?

Said Elizabeth.

I must confess he did not speak so well of Wickham as he formerly did.

He believed him to be imprudent and extravagant.

And since this sad affair has taken place,

It is said he left Meryton greatly in debt.

But I hope this may be false.

Oh,

Jane,

Had we been less secret,

Had we told what we knew of him,

This could not have happened,

Cried Elizabeth.

Perhaps it would have been better,

Replied Jane.

But to expose the former faults of any person without knowing what their present feelings were seemed unjustifiable.

We acted with the best intentions.

Could Colonel Foster repeat the particulars of Lydia's note to his wife?

Asked Elizabeth.

He brought it with him for us to see.

Jane then took it from her pocketbook and gave it to Elizabeth.

These were the contents.

My dear Harriet,

You will laugh when you know where I'm gone,

And I cannot help laughing myself at your surprise tomorrow morning,

As soon as I'm missed.

I'm going to Gretna Green,

And if you can't guess with who,

I shall think you're a simpleton,

For there is but one man in the world I love,

And he is an angel.

I should never be happy without him,

So I think it no harm to be off.

You need not send them word at Longbourn of my going,

If you do not like it,

For it will make the surprise the greater when I write to them and sign my name,

Lydia Wickham.

What a good joke it will be.

I can hardly write for laughing.

Pray make my excuses to Pratt for not keeping my engagement and dancing with him tonight.

Tell him I hope he'll excuse me when he knows all,

And tell him I will dance with him at the next ball we meet with great pleasure.

I shall send for my clothes when I get to Longbourn,

But I wish you would tell Sally to mend a great slit in my worked muslin gown before they're packed up.

Goodbye.

Give my love to Colonel Foster.

I hope you will drink to our good journey,

Your affectionate friend,

Lydia Bennet.

Oh,

Thoughtless,

Thoughtless Lydia,

Cried Elizabeth when she'd finished it.

What a letter this is to be written at such a moment.

But at least it shows that she was serious in the object of her journey.

Whatever he might afterwards persuade her to do,

It was not on her side a scheme of infamy.

My poor father,

How he must have felt it.

I never saw one so shocked.

He couldn't speak a word for four ten minutes,

Said Jane.

My mother was taken ill immediately and the whole house is in such confusion.

Oh,

Jane,

Cried Elizabeth.

Was there a servant belonging to it who did not know the whole story before the end of the day?

I do not know.

I hope there was,

Said Jane.

But to be guarded at such a time is very difficult.

My mother was in hysterics and though I endeavoured to give her every assistance in my power,

I'm afraid I did not do so much as I might have done.

But the horror of what might possibly happen almost took from me my faculties.

Your attendance upon her has been too much for you,

Elizabeth persisted.

You do not look well.

Oh,

That I have been with you,

You have had every care and anxiety upon yourself alone.

Mary and Kitty have been very kind,

Said Jane,

And they would have shared in every fatigue,

I'm sure,

But I did not think it right for either of them.

Kitty is slight and delicate and Mary studies so much,

Her hours of repose should not be broken in on.

My Aunt Phillips came to Longbourn on Tuesday after my father went away and was so good as to stay till Thursday with me.

She was of great use and comfort to us all and Lady Lucas has been very kind.

She walked here on Wednesday morning to condole with us and offered her services or any of her daughters if they could be of use.

She had better have stayed at home,

Cried Elizabeth.

Perhaps she meant well,

But under such a misfortune as this one cannot see too little one's neighbours.

Assistance is impossible,

Condolence insufferable.

Let them triumph over us at a distance and be satisfied.

She then proceeded to enquire into the measures which her father had intended to pursue while in town for the recovery of his daughter.

He meant,

I believe,

Replied Jane,

To go to Epsom,

The place they last changed horses,

To see the pastillions and try if anything could be made out from them.

His principal object must be to discover the number of the Hackney coach which took them from Clapham.

It had come with a fare from London and as he thought the circumstances of a gentleman and ladies removing from one carriage into another might be remarked,

He meant to make enquiries at Clapham.

If he could anyhow discover at what house the coachman had before set down his fare,

He determined to make enquiries there and hoped it might not be impossible to find out the stand and number of the coach.

I do not know of any other designs he had formed but he was in such a hurry to be gone and his spirit so greatly discomposed that I had difficulty in finding out even so much as this.

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Reviews

Ah, Lydia Lydia— but at least Jane and Elizabeth are together again❤️ where’s Darcy though?🤪🤣🙏🏽