Classics Retold

The wedding day.  The carriage was sent to fetch the the couple. The family were assembled in the breakfast room to receive them. Smiles decked the face of the Mrs Bennet as the carriage drove upto the door. Mr Bennet looked impenetrably grave.  Their daughters alarmed, anxious, and uneasy. Lydia's voice was heard in the vestibule; the door was thrown open, and she ran into the room.  Her mother stepped forward, embraced her, and welcomed her with rapture, gave her hand with an affectionate smile, to Wickham, who followed his lady; and wished them both joy with alacrity which showed no doubt of their happiness. The reception from Mr Bennet, to whom they then turned, was not so cordial.  His countenance rather gained in austerity; and he scarcely opened his lips.  The easy assurance of the young couple, indeed, was good enough to provoke him.  Elizabeth was disgusted, and even Miss Bennet was shocked.  Lydia was Lydia still; untamed, unabashed, wild, no...

Mr Bennet had often wished for saving a part of his income to provide for the future of his wife and children.  He now wished it more than ever.  Had he done it Lydia need not have have been indebted to her uncle.  The satisfaction of prevailing on one of the most worthless men in Great Britain to be her husband might then have rested in its proper place. He was determined to find the extend of his brother's assistance, and discharge it as soon as possible. When Mr Bennet had married, economy was not a concern. It was hoped they were to have a son; the son would cut off the entail, as soon as he should be of age, and the widow of the younger children would by that means be provided for.  Five daughters successively entered the world, but yet the son was to come; and Mrs Bennet, for many years after Lydia's birth, had been certain that he would.  This event had last been despaired of, but then it was too late to be saving.  Mrs Bennet was least bothered of e...

Two days after Mr Bennet's return, as Jane and Elizabeth were walking together in the shrubbery behind the house, they saw the housekeeper coming towards them, and said, "I beg your pardon, madam, for interrupting you, but I was in hopes, you might have some good news from town, so I took the liberty of coming to ask." "What do you mean, Hill? We have heard nothing from the town." "Dear madam," cried Mrs Hill, in great astonishment, "don't you know there is an express come for master from Mr Gardiner?  He has been there this half-hour, and master has had a letter." Away ran the girls, too eager to get in to have time to speak.  They ran through the vestibule into the breakfast room; from there to the library; their father was in neither; and they were on the point of seeking him upstairs with their mother, when they were met by the butler, who said: "If you are looking for my master, ma'am, he is walking towards the little copse....

After Darcy and the Colonel had departed, Lady Catherine had been walking listlessly in the garden, brooding over what her nephews told her. She would stop and look for Collins who had accompanied the two gentlemen to bid them goodbye. When he returned she told her that she felt very dull and wished them all to dine with her. Elizabeth could not see Lady Catherine, without recollecting that, had she chosen it, she might by this time have been presented to her future niece, nor could she think, without a smile, of what her ladyship's indignation would have been.  "What would she have said? how would she have behaved?" were questions with which she amused herself. The first subject was the diminution of the Rosings party.  "I assure you, I feel it exceedingly," said Lady Catherine, "I believe no one feels the loss of friends so much as I do.  But I am particularly attached to these young men, and know them to be so much attached to me!  They were excessively ...

Darcy's letter did not contain a renewal of his offers. Elizabeth did not have any expectation either. But as she went through the letter eagerly, conflicting emotions passed through her.  His views on Jane's insensitivity towards Mr Bingley is false. Darcy's account of Mr Wickham surprisingly agree with what the latter himself had given.  This agreement very much astonished Elizabeth.  In this perturbed state of mind, with thoughts that could rest on nothing, she walked on; but it would not do.  In half a minute the letter was unfolded again, and she began the mortifying perusal of all that related to Mr Wickham.  The account of his connection with Pemberly family was exactly what he had related himself; the kindness of the late Mr Darcy, agreed equally with his own words.  But in the case of the will related to living there was a duplicity on one side or other.  But, of his designs on Miss Darcy, ( Georgina) received some confirmation from what had p...

Elizabeth awoke the next morning to the same thoughts which had at length closed her eyes. She could not recover from the surprise of what had happened; it was impossible to think of anything else.  Soon after breakfast, she resolved to indulge herself in air and exercise.  She was proceeding directly to her favourite walk, when the recollection of Mr Darcy's sometimes coming there stopped her, and instead of entering the park, she turned up the lane, which led farther from the turnpike-road.  The park paling was still the boundary on one side, and she soon passed one of the gates into the ground. After walking along the part of the lane, she was tempted by the pleasant morning to stop at the gate and look into the park. It had been five weeks she was in Kent, and every day added to the lush green of trees. Suddenly, she got a glimpse of Mr Darcy within the grove which edged the park. As he was moving towards her, she began to retreat.  But he was near enough to see ...

Sir William stayed only a week at Hunsford, but his visit was long enough to convince him of his daughter's being most comfortably settled, and of her possessing such a husband and such a neighbour as were not often met with.  While William was with them, Mr Collins devoted his morning to driving him out in his jig, and showing him the country; but when he went away, the whole family returned to their usual employments, and Elizabeth was thankful to find that they did not find more of his cousin by the alteration, for the chief of time between breakfast and dinner was now passed by him either at work in the garden or in reading and writing, and looking out of the window of his own book room. Very few days passed in which Mr Collins did not walk to Rosings.  Charlotte also did not think it necessary to go likewise.  Now and then they have honoured with a call  from her ladyship. She examined into their employments, and looked at their work, and advised them to do it d...