Pride and Prejudice (Pt. 2)

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to EMC Book Club. I'm Kristen. [00:00:03] Speaker B: And I'm Summer. This is the podcast where we bring you all the comfort and gossip of a regular book club. But just between you, me, and her. [00:00:11] Speaker A: And you may be wondering what the B and the C stand for. Well, the B stands for Brandy, and. [00:00:16] Speaker B: The C stands for collection. [00:00:19] Speaker A: So what have you been up to lately, Summer? [00:00:21] Speaker B: Oh, nothing. Just hosting my cousin at my house for the weekend. [00:00:26] Speaker A: Mm. Had a great time. The party was wonderful. [00:00:29] Speaker B: I was about to say she was annoying. You were like, I had a great time. [00:00:37] Speaker A: As I always do and as I always am annoying. [00:00:42] Speaker B: You're right. Oh, you know I was joking. All right, I'm gonna start this podcast off by saying that you ruined the Pride and Prejudice movie for me. [00:00:55] Speaker A: Wait, why? [00:00:57] Speaker B: Because now that I've read the book, I was watching the movie, I was like, oh, I love this movie so much. I'm gonna use it as, like, a reward. I'm gonna finish the book, and then I'm gonna reward myself with the movie, and I'm gonna be, like, giggly and oh, my God, they're so in love. And I'm like, oh, they missed this part. Oh, they missed that part. Oh. [00:01:13] Speaker A: And that's exactly why I told you about the BBC version, because I know that you're like that with books, which is why I was like, if you want something super accurate, do the BBC version. Even though it's very long. [00:01:25] Speaker B: I might have to, because there's just so many details that I like. The things that I found, like, super cute in the book were just missing. [00:01:32] Speaker A: Yeah. So that's why I was like, if you want accuracy, you go with the BBC. If you want the vibes and, like, the certain aesthetic, then you go with the 2005. [00:01:41] Speaker B: Wow. [00:01:42] Speaker A: I'm sorry that the 2005 has been ruined for you. In this instance, though, Kira Knightley, you're too close. You just need a little bit more space from it. [00:01:51] Speaker B: That's so true. I really do. [00:01:55] Speaker A: Last week, we talked about your history with the books, which was nothing other than the 2005 movie, which has now been ruined for you. So this time, we're going to talk a little bit about my history with this book and this author. So, Jane Austen. We go back a while because I decided after I got an award in second grade that I was going to. [00:02:20] Speaker B: Read this book, as most children do. [00:02:23] Speaker A: Yes. Because my award in second grade was that I had the highest reading level of the grade, because in second grade, I had eighth grade reading level. I confirmed this with multiple people. Because I was like, did I just think that? And I didn't actually get that. But no, I did confirm that I did get this award and it was an 8th grade reading level, because for a second, I doubted myself. And I was like, maybe it was just a sixth grade reading level, but no, it was eighth grade. I confirmed with my father. And after I got this award, I had a big head about reading because I was like, I can read at an 8th grade reading level. And most. This is why I thought it might have been sixth grade was because most newspaper publications have. What their standard reading level is, is that sixth grade. That's what they normally publish as. And so I was like, if I. [00:03:10] Speaker B: Can read a newspaper, I can read anything, obviously. [00:03:14] Speaker A: So then I decided that I was going to try and read Pride and Prejudice because it's a classic book, and I was in second grade, and I was like, it's time for me to start reading the classics. [00:03:22] Speaker B: And how did that work out for you? [00:03:25] Speaker A: It didn't work out very well. I tried to read and I got about halfway, and I couldn't really understand it. I understood it, but it just was very murky to me because normally when I read, I can. I picture it in my head, but it was very hard for me to follow along. And then this was around the time that the 2005 Pride and Prejudice came out. And so I watched that entire movie. And after watching the movie, I was like, oh, I understand better. I understand the vibes better. I understand where people are. I understand how people, like, interact in relation to each other. Even in ballrooms, I didn't know what to picture before, and now I can picture a certain thing. So it was much easier for me to visualize once I had an actual visual in my head. So then I ended up finishing the last half of the book, and it was much easier for me to finish the last half of the book. But, yeah, I probably read this book about four or five times now. But that was my first foray into Jane Austen and into Pride and Prejudice in second grade. So I was about eight or nine. [00:04:19] Speaker B: The youth, the youths. [00:04:22] Speaker A: So when people wonder what my personality is. [00:04:26] Speaker B: Yeah. Why you are the way you are. You're like. First of all, I had a. I had an eighth grade reading level when I was in second grade. That makes so much sense, though. Like, for you. [00:04:37] Speaker A: Yeah. So last we were off for this book, Darcy had just proposed to Lizzie. [00:04:44] Speaker B: And she turned him down. [00:04:45] Speaker A: Mm. She did turn him down. [00:04:48] Speaker B: She said, why would I marry you when you Just ruined my sister's relationship. Rude ass. [00:04:55] Speaker A: You ruined my sister's relationship. You ruined one of my friends lives. And also while you were proposing to me, you kept insulting me and my family. [00:05:04] Speaker B: Yeah, I already promised myself I would not be doing this this entire podcast. So this is the only time I'm gonna say this in the movie. His proposal sucks. [00:05:17] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:05:18] Speaker B: Like it's not at length of what he did. It's literally like, he's like, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then she's like, you're insulting me and that's rude. Why would I ever fucking marry you? But it takes two seconds. [00:05:29] Speaker A: This is one thing. Even in the book, it only says he said things about his heart. He said things about blah, blah, blah. He said things about blah, blah, blah. It doesn't actually have dialogue of what he said. [00:05:41] Speaker B: Yeah, but it feels longer like it. Because he is talking about those things and you know, he's talking about those things, so it feels longer. I don't know. I was just disappointed by how short it was. [00:05:53] Speaker A: Yeah, but there's so much sexual tension in that scene, which is why people like. [00:05:57] Speaker B: I know. That's so good. There's not actually in the book. I don't feel the sexual tension in the book exactly. But in that scene I'm like, oh. [00:06:07] Speaker A: We are on chapter 35. After dinner the next day, Elizabeth goes on a walk. And she's going to take her normal walk that she normally takes, but Darcy has taken that walk with her before. So she decides that she's gonna walk elsewhere. And so she just walks around for a couple hours. And then she sees somebody coming up the lane and she tries to hide because she thinks it's Darcy, but then Darcy sees her anyway. So then he finds her and is like, hey, I've been looking for you for hours, but here you go. And hands her a letter and leaves. So she's just flustered enough to take it and kind of just says nothing to him and has this letter in her hand now. She reads it and the letter says that he would let bygones be bygones, but he believes that he's right in both of the situations. So he wants her to at least hear his side of the story, especially since she's heard everybody else's side of the story. And obviously she got the issues with him somewhere. So he wants to tell his side. But he also promises to not make any more declarations of love if she's worried about that. In the two instances that he's accused of, one of them is Much worse than the other. But he's going to get to Jane and Bingley first. He knew that Bingley liked Jane, but Bingley has always liked girls whenever they go out. So he wasn't really thinking too hard about it until Sir Lucas came up to them at the Netherfield Ball and made the comment about hopefully seeing them dance soon at Bingley and Jane's wedding. And he was like, what the fuck? I didn't think that it progressed enough for everyone around us to be thinking that they're gonna get married. So then he's like, I gotta keep an eye on this. So that night, he observes them, Jane and Bingley, and he's like, oh, crap. Bingley really likes her. He likes her more than he normally likes other people that we've been around in the past. And Jane seems pleasant to him, but not in love. He's pretty happy about this because her family isn't very well established. They're of a lower class than them. Even that might have been overlooked. But the behavior of her family is even worse than that. So Darcy decides that he's going to do something about it. Bingley was interested in coming back pretty, pretty soon to Longbourn after he had his business in London. But both Darcy and Bingley sisters decided that they didn't want Bingley and Jane to be married. So they decided that they're going to go to town after Bingley and make sure he doesn't come back. Even after Darcy tells him, like, hey, this isn't a good badge. They're lower class than us. They're this, they're that. He is still planning on coming back. Until Darcy says, I don't think that Jane is in love with you. Which is when Bingley, who is not entirely sure of his feelings, of anyone's feelings, really, and thinks that Darcy knows more than him anyway, is like, oh, if you don't think that she loves me, then she doesn't love me, and so I'm not gonna come back. The only thing that he feels bad about in that situation is that he didn't tell Bingley that Jane was in town in London. Him and Bingley's sisters kept it a secret from Bingley so that he wouldn't know that Jane was so close and that he wouldn't go and see her. Now on to George Wickham. He doesn't entirely know what George Wickham told everyone, so he's just going to refute him by telling the whole story. Wickham's father managed Darcy's house For many, many years. And he was a good man. But the late Mr. Darcy paid for Wickham's education because their family was poor due to some of the mom's spending habits. And Darcy's father liked Wickham and wanted him to get into the church and basically be like a Mr. Collins, a rector. Darcy saw him in a different light though, because they were the same age and saw him do all his crazy shit and then pretend like he wasn't doing crazy shit in front of his father. So he's like, I know you're a bad dude. Basically he thought he was vicious. And then when Darcy's father dies, he did think of Wickham. And he talked to Darcy about it and told him that he wanted Wickham to get the rectory. Since their rector is about to retire. He wanted Wickham to get the rectory if he did end up going to taking his vows. And he also said it would come with a thousand pounds. And so like, this would be a good life for him. It would set him up pretty nicely. Wickham's father dies shortly after that. And then Wickham comes to Darcy and says, hey, I don't actually want to go in the church. I would like to study law instead. So instead of giving me the inheritance, since I can't go to the church and I can't get the inheritances of a thousand pounds and this land to live off of, you should just give me more money. So Darcy decides that he is going to give him £3,000 and Wickham is going to give up all claims to the church. So, okay, cleared, right. Darcy doesn't hear from him for about three years, but he does hear he's partying and stuff. He's not entirely sure if he actually did go and study law and then just bailed out because it was too hard, or if the entire time he was just blowing this cash. But he doesn't hear for him for a while until he reaches out and says, you know what? Not gonna be a lawyer after all. I would like to take my vows and get the church back. So could I get the church that was promised to me before? And Darcy says, that's a hard no. Which is fair. I would not give him anything. Anyway, Wickham is not happy about this, but there's nothing that he can really do, because it's all Darcy's stuff. Anyway. Darcy thought this is going to be the end of the matter until last summer. And he's about to tell Lizzie something that he would prefer her not to repeat, he would like her secrecy, because this is a very sensitive matter. So he tells her that while his sister Georgiana was at school, Wickham became her friend and befriended the person that she was with, the lady's maid that she has, and convinced her to elope with him and run away with him. She's only 15 and Wickham is the same age as Darcy, who is at least 10 years older than Georgie. So let's say that she's 15 and he's 27. Okay, about there, yeah. [00:11:53] Speaker B: Creepy. [00:11:55] Speaker A: And he decides that he's going to get Georgiana to elope with him. But fortunately, Darcy shows up a couple days before they're set to leave. And because Georgie loves her brother so much, she's excited to tell him about what's going to happen with her and Wickham. And this is when Wickham fucks off immediately, because he knows what's about to happen. And so he just leaves. And Darcy doesn't really do anything to him because he's like, I don't want this to get out about Georgiana. And so everything is taken care of. They make Georgiana leave, Wickham fucks off and Darcy knows that he was basically just after Georgiana's 30,000 pound inheritance and probably revenge. He promises that he is telling the truth about this and he's sorry that he didn't say this last night, but he wasn't in his right mind when he was talking to her. And if she needs more than his word, she can also talk to his cousin Fitzwilliam, who is also one of Georgie's guardians and knows everything that happened with her. And that's end of the chapter. It's a very long one and a lot of stuff happens. And Wickham is a pedophile. [00:12:59] Speaker B: Yeah, a lot of stuff is revealed. It was a very long chapter. I was reading that chapter and I was like, I don't know what Wickham's done, because it was like, written in a way that I just could not understand. So I was like, I don't know what he's done, but he's a. [00:13:18] Speaker A: So that was the letter itself and. And now we get into what Lizzie feels about the letter and she can't really explain her emotions. In the first half when she was reading it, she was scoffing and she was just viewing everything in a bad light and she felt vindicated because he was saying that he doesn't really regret anything, and she barely took it in. But then she gets to the Wickham part, and she wants to think it's all lies, but she can't help reading it over and over and over again. And she wants to be on Wickham's side, but she always snags on him receiving that £3,000 and then fucking off and basically saying, nevermind. And she's like, in what right mind do you think that you have a claim to this inheritance after that, that's the one thing that she starts turning over and over her head. And then because of this, every word that she reads after this, it just seems like it's confirmation of him being a terrible person. And so then she's thinking about how he's never talked about his past other than to talk about how Darcy wronged him out of the life he should have had. And like, now that she's thinking about it, she doesn't think that she's ever seen him do one good thing or one good deed or even say a kind word about somebody. She's like, we've been shit talking the entire time we've been together. I don't think that we've ever, like, had a decent conversation. Then she gets to the stuff about Georgiana again, and she wants to ask Fitzwilliam about this, but then she's like, well, in order to ask Fitzwilliam, he would kind of have to know why I know this information. And we would kind of have to bring up Darcy proposing to me and then me accusing him of this stuff. And so, like, it kind of embarrasses her to try to talk to him about it. And then she's also like, well, Darcy wouldn't be so adamant about me talking to him if he wouldn't back up his claims. So I'm pretty sure that it's true and that Fitzwilliam wouldn't tell an inconsistent story with Darcy's either way, like, she'll get the same story back from him. She again starts thinking about Wickham and her first meeting with him, and how he just started talking shit way too fast with a stranger, and flirting too much and having so much information that you should not tell a stranger. He never told anyone about Darcy either, about what happened with the inheritance, until after he left the area. And now he's talking as much shit as he wants because Darcy's no longer there. And so then she's thinking about that and how he used to always say, like, oh, well, if he wants to do anything, he's gonna have to come up to me. And like, I would never leave. And I would never do that. [00:15:34] Speaker B: But then he left. [00:15:35] Speaker A: But then he's the one who actually leaves, and he's the one who's a coward. And she's like, well, now all of these things that I. I didn't realize they didn't add up, but they don't add up. And how wickham went after Ms. King and her inheritance, and all of these defenses of Wickham are just crumbling before her eyes. And it's like she never knew him at all. And as she's thinking more about it, she realizes that Darcy has never really said anything unkind to her or has been unjust past their first meeting when he said, she's tolerable but not handsome enough to tempt me. And she basically, after that, just took everything that he said in a bad light when that wasn't even that bad to begin with. She becomes ashamed of herself because of this. And she thought that she was a discerning type, but she didn't see this. She didn't realize that she had gotten both of these impressions of these men. Her first impressions, which used to be the title of this book. Her first impressions of both men. So wrong. And after this, she rereads the section about Jane in a different headspace. And this is when she concedes that, oh, yeah, Charlotte did kind of tell her something about Jane's feelings maybe being hidden from everybody else who doesn't know her. And, oh, yeah, maybe she was also mad at her family during the Netherfield ball because she thought they were being embarrassing. Maybe she did think that, and maybe that wasn't just something that Darcy was seeing. And she is also mollified slightly because he did say that her and Jane are not included in any of this. So again, she wanders for a while and is just thinking about this. And when she comes back, Charlotte is like, oh, both Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam are here. Darcy only stayed for a minute to try and say goodbye, and Fitzwilliam stayed for a while to try and say goodbye, but eventually left. And she's like, oh, yeah, she's just happy that she missed him because she doesn't really want to talk to him anymore. She's just ready. She's just ready to go sit in her room and cry. [00:17:25] Speaker B: She's like, this has been too much. Yeah, I love Darcy. He's a little autistic cutie pie. Just the way that he, like, went about everything. I was like, that's so cute. The next chapter, Fitzwilliam and Darcy are gone. Elizabeth Tells Lady Catherine that she's leaving soon. Elizabeth basically has Darcy's letter memorized by now. And she's just obsessing over the letter, basically, that whole chapter. The next chapter, Mr. Collins thanks Elizabeth for visiting. And he's like, yeah, it was really nice of you to be coming and spending all this time with Charlotte, which was really cute. And then she's like, well, I kind of feel bad for. She doesn't say this to him for abandoning Charlotte here. She's feeling a little remorse about leaving, but then she just leaves anyway. That's all I had for that chapter. [00:18:16] Speaker A: They also go see Jane in London. [00:18:19] Speaker B: They pick her up right on their way back home. [00:18:23] Speaker A: So now in May, they're actually on their way home home, not just to London, but on their way home to their actual house. And they stop in a town to change out the horses when they see Kitty and Lydia. And they set up, like, meats and cheeses for them, but they're like, oh, we set all this up for you, except you have to pay for it because I bought this really ugly hat in town and I spent all my money on it. So immediately, Lydia especially, getting on Lizzie's nerves. She also tells them that the militia are going to be moving on soon to Brighton, and she's pretty upset about it. She wants to go with them as well. As Marion King and Wickham are no longer connected. Mary King left to see her uncle in Liverpool, and so they are no longer engaged, no longer connected. Wickham is free as a bird. Then, on their way home, Lydia asks if they've met any men. She says that Jane will be an old maid soon, so she better get married quickly. She keeps making jokes about, like, maybe she'll be the first one in the family to get married. Wouldn't that be such a funny thing to happen? [00:19:24] Speaker B: Ha ha ha. [00:19:26] Speaker A: And then once they're actually home, Mr. Bennet tells Lizzie multiple times that he's very glad that she's home because he's been with all the silly daughters lately, and he doesn't like it. They have a dinner party with the Lucases that night. And it just seems in general during this chapter that Lydia is more outspoken and louder since her sisters have been gone. And I'm like, has she been outspoken and louder since her sisters have been gone? Or is this just a perspective change? Just like Lizzie just had a perspective change on all of her family and how embarrassing they were because of this proposal that Mr. Darcy just gave her. And now she's thinking about what their Actions are like. And she just comes home and Lydia's like this right off the bat and she's like, fuck, he's right. [00:20:09] Speaker B: I can see how you're like, maybe it's just a perspective change. However, I absolutely felt sick to my stomach about Lydia this chapter. I was like, why is she giving Pick me, bitch? She's overwhelming in this chapter. And I was like, I don't like this immediately and I don't want to know what's going to happen because now she's suddenly such a prominent character in the story, whereas before she wasn't. So like, this immediately tells me that something's about to happen with her specifically. And I was like, oh, I don't know why, but by the way, by the end of this book, I actually loathe her so much I cannot stand a single word out of her mouth. [00:20:56] Speaker A: I feel like that's pretty standard. [00:20:58] Speaker B: Literally, I was like, oh, stop talking. [00:21:01] Speaker A: I'm a tiny bit of a Lydia apologist, just simply because I want to put most of the blame on Wickham because she is 15 and a lot of 15 year old girls are very annoying and they would do shit like that when they're the youngest, especially in this society. I understand her actions. And as much as I'm annoyed by them and actually being with like in a conversation with her, I would probably be like, she needs to shut the fuck up while reading it. I'm like, poor baby girl. [00:21:29] Speaker B: No, that all makes sense because she is only 15 and that is such a shitty, like, he's what, how old by now? [00:21:36] Speaker A: Like 27. [00:21:37] Speaker B: That's crazy. Crazy that he's so old going after her. But like, honestly, that's just the reality of this time. But then again, like, I don't know, I just. Anytime she opened her mouth, I was like, somebody slap her. Because she's. She's really grating on my nerves. Yeah. [00:21:55] Speaker A: So at the end of that chapter, Lizzie doesn't go and see the officers that night because she's like, I don't want them to say that the Bennett girls are going out and seeing the officers the day they come back again, kind of thinking about what Darcy was saying, the perceptions of them and what they could be doing. And also she can tell that the discussion that Lydia is having about going to Brighton is a frequent one in their household because their mom is also in on it, also kind of wants to go. But Mr. Bennett seems determined to not really go. And in the next chapter, Elizabeth finally reveals to Jane everything with the Wickham plot And with Georgie and everything. But she doesn't tell her anything about the Bingley situation because she's like, Jane is a little bit too sensitive for that right now. I don't really want to tell her anything. But Jane does feel bad for Darcy because obviously he was in love with her if he was going to propose to her. But she doesn't blame Lizzie for refusing him, especially because of everything that's going on. And she also wants to think the best of Wickham still, because that's who Jane is. But Lizzie's like, no, no, no. Pick one. You need to pick one. They had this same conversation earlier in the book, when they were talking about it the first time, and now the second time, when they have all the information, she again is like, you need to pick one, because she's on a different side this time. They both believe Darcy and they think that Wickham is a bad guy now. But they aren't going to tell the others, especially because this information is very sensitive regarding Georgiana. And so even if they were just going to tell them about the whole inheritance thing, everybody thinks badly about Darcy because they kind of shit talked him for a while. So they don't think that anyone would even believe them if they told them. Everyone in town is starting to think that Bingley is not going to come back. Even Mrs. Bennet is also making comments about how he's not going to come back. And then she starts making comments about Charlotte and how she's going to inherit Longbourn. And it just goes into this whole thing. [00:23:41] Speaker B: Poor Mama. Next chapter. Lydia is asked to go to Brighton with the officer's wife. Of course, we saw that one coming. This is where it comes in, where I was like, something's going to happen with Lydia. Kitty is upset because she wasn't invited as well. Elizabeth goes to their dad and tries to convince him to say no. She can't go. She's, like, on her knees begging him. Her argument is that Lydia's behavior is gonna embarrass the family, which she's right. Her dad says she's going anyway and the men will think her silly since she's too poor for any of them to marry her and she'll be knocked down a peg, and that her attitude in the way she lives will be affected and it's going to be really good for her as a person. [00:24:22] Speaker A: That didn't work out well. [00:24:23] Speaker B: Elizabeth and Wickham see each other one more time before he leaves for good. It was a really awkward conversation where she brings up Colonel and Darcy. She says that the appearance of Darcy's manners have improved because she can understand him better. And Wickham can't tell if she knows the full story or not. So they kind of just talk around it until they both leave. And they're both pretty happy to just never see each other again. [00:24:46] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:24:47] Speaker B: A bunch of time passes. It's about summertime now. Aunt and uncle are coming to visit. Their vacation to the Lakes gets changed into a smaller trip to the area Ms. Gardineer grew up in, which is the aunt. And it just happens to be where Pemberley is, where our Mr. Darcy is from. They talk about visiting Pemberley, and then they make Elizabeth go with them. She knows that it's where Darcy lives and is scared, but also a little intrigued to see him again. And they ask a worker once they get there at the local inn, and the workers like, oh, the family's gone, but the house is open for hours and hours, so you can go visit. And they're like, okay, yay, we can go see. And Elizabeth's still kind of nervous that he's gonna be there, but she's like, well, she said nobody's home, so she's. [00:25:39] Speaker A: Semi thankful that he's not gonna be there. Because, I mean, they did kind of get in a fight the last time they saw each other. [00:25:45] Speaker B: Kind of last time she turned him down. [00:25:49] Speaker A: And then they got in a huge fight because she turned him down. He was like, what the fuck? She's like, you are terrible. I hate you. She's nervous on the way to Pemberley, but as soon as she sees it, she's kind of obsessed with the ground somehow. It just looks like it's risen up out of the ground, and it looks so nice. And she's like, wow, it's kind of crazy that I could have been the mistress here. [00:26:09] Speaker B: That's crazy. This could be mine. [00:26:12] Speaker A: I know. She kind of falls in love through his house and then is like, you know what? I will marry you. So the housekeeper, Mrs. Reynolds, lets them in and begins to show them around. Every room seems even more beautiful than last. And nothing seems overdone or gaudy, even when she compares it to Rosings, which is where Lady Catherine lives. And she just can't stop thinking about how she could have been in charge of this house if she had accepted Darcy's proposal. And like, wow, it's crazy that I could have been having my aunt and uncle visit me here instead of us visiting this house. And then she remembers that they wouldn't have been allowed to visit because they're too low class. And so she's like, oh, that was a good thought, Lizzie. You almost regretted turning him down there. That was good. Because now she is quickly resolved in her decision to make sure that she turned him down. Her uncle asked the housekeeper when Darcy is going to come back, and she says that they actually expect him tomorrow. But Lizzie is glad that he's not back yet and that they've missed him because they're not supposed to come back tomorrow. Mrs. Gardiner sees a picture of Wickham and points it out to Lizzie. And the housekeeper says that he used to live there as a young man, but now he's in the army and he's pretty wild. Then Mrs. Reynolds points out Darcy's picture, and when she finds out that Lizzie knows him, she asks like, oh, isn't it such a handsome picture? Doesn't it look so much like the real thing? And she kind of just like, huh, yeah, moves on. Then Mrs. Reynolds starts to sing Darcy's praises. That he's this really good man and he's never angry. A great landlord. There are a few people better than him. She knows that he'll be great just like his father, and all the best children are great men. And he was a great child. And so Lizzie just can't understand the side of him. But she's super curious about this and how his behavior is towards this woman who is lower class than him. Mrs. Gardner and Lizzie whisper about this because they're wondering how much of this information can be true. Especially because they heard from Wickham how terrible Darcy was and how terrible he was treated. But Lizzie tries to sort of defend Darcy against Wickham's words, saying like, oh, maybe we were just deceived. And Mrs. Gardiner is like, well, our authority was just too good. There's no way we could have been deceived. But she's like, okay. She sees another picture of Darcy when he's smiling and she's super taking with it, and she stares at it for a really long time. And all in all, this is the best opinion that she's had of Darcy since first meeting him, with all of the things that Mrs. Reynolds is telling her and all the things that she sees in his house. So after the tour in the house, they go downstairs to meet the gardener so that he can take him on a tour of the grounds. And that's when they see Darcy strolling up along the road after putting his horse in the stables. And they're both very shocked and surprised to see each other. But Darcy recoveries a little bit quicker than her and moves over to say hello. But Lizzie is just super embarrassed to be talking to him. Can't quite meet his eyes. Darcy is also talking to her. He's more effusive than he normally is because he's usually very stoic. So he's, like, talking to her, but he's also nervous, so he's kind of stuttering. And so they're kind of, like, stuttering and not really talking to each other, just being really weird. And so finally he leaves, and Lizzie is worried that he thinks that this is something it's not. She didn't mean to come and see him at his house. She's like, I just refused him. And then I show up at his house. Like, how weird is that? He must think that I'm so weird. Plus, he was acting so much differently than he normally was, and it was throwing her off, and he was civil, and it was asking about her family. And she's like, he shouldn't be treating me this well when I just refused his proposal. Like, he should hate me. And that's where I'm gonna stop. Lizzie and her family walk grounds, but she's distracted the whole time. It gets slightly better as more time goes on. But then they decide that they're going to do a loop along the grounds, which is about 10 miles. A little while into it, they have to stop because Mrs. Gardner is tired. And then Mr. Gardner wants to talk about the fish in the lake. And that's when Lizzie sees Darcy coming again. And she at first thinks, like, oh, maybe he's just gonna go walk elsewhere and not come and see his. But he kind of goes directly to them, and they talk for a little bit, and then he asks who is with her. And so she introduces her aunt and uncle and laughing to herself, because she's like, oh, he wants to meet the acquaintance of people that are below him. And it's so funny that he's going to be doing this. Once he finds out who they are, he's going to be so ashamed or embarrassed that he asked to meet their acquaintance. But when they're introduced, he's surprised, but he's very cordial to them. He's very nice. He immediately starts talking to her uncle, and they have a conversation about the grounds and the fishing and all of this stuff. And while they're talking, she's like, oh, wow, it's nice to not be embarrassed of my family for once while they're talking to Darcy, because he can actually Hold a conversation. That's good. And I don't feel embarrassed by him just being over there and talking to him. Darcy even offers his lake for fishing while they're in town. And she's wondering why he's doing this, because she doesn't think that it's possible for him to be doing this for her. She already turned him down. Later, they're walking and Ms. Gardiner gets tired again, and so she wants to walk with her husband. And so they switch partners. And so Lizzie is walking with Darcy and she tries to explain to him that she didn't realize that he was going to be here at his house. She just came and they said in town that he wasn't going to be there, so she thought it was fine. And he's like, yeah, I wasn't supposed to be here, but I have some business with my steward and I came early. Everybody is getting here tomorrow. There's actually some people that you know. Bingley and his sisters are going to be here, and my sister is also going to come. So would you mind if I introduced you guys to each other? Because she really wants to meet you. So it's very obvious that Darcy has told his sister about Lizzie, and so she's very curious to meet Lizzie and we know all about her. Lizzie is very flattered by this and agrees to meet his sister. And he's like, wow, he must not have said anything too bad about me. After the engagement, his sister still wants to meet me. That's great. They leave, they go back to the inn and they talk about Darcy and they say that he's very nice and polite. And they ask why Lizzie disliked him so much. And she's like, oh, well, he was better in Kent. And this is the nicest that I've ever seen him. This is the most pleasant he's ever been. So I don't really know what was happening before. They're about to chalk it up to being a one off. And so they bring up Wickham because they're like, well, obviously he doesn't actually act this way because we know somebody who was friends with him for a long time, which is Wickham. And he did all this terrible stuff to him. I can't believe that the person that was in front of me today even did all this stuff to Wickham. And so she's like, actually, you know what? I found some things out about Wickham. And so she basically tells them about what happened with the inheritance, but she doesn't give any names, doesn't say who Told her. She's like, I just had it on good authority that this is what happened, and maybe we should Darcy more than we currently do. And then they eat dinner, and Lizzie thinks about the day. [00:32:53] Speaker B: I think it's absolutely hilarious that he's at his house. And she's like, I didn't know you would be here at your own house. [00:33:00] Speaker A: They said you were gone. [00:33:03] Speaker B: Oh, you came to my house and didn't think there was a possibility of seeing me? Okay. God, I love them. [00:33:13] Speaker A: They're so funny. So Elizabeth assumes that Darcy will bring Georgiana the day after she comes, because she knows that she was coming tomorrow, but she actually comes as soon as she shows up. As soon as she rolls up, they go directly to go see Lizzie, which is, like, the picture of politeness in this society. She doesn't even set down her things. They just immediately set off to go and see Lizzie. And so it's, like, super, super nice and flattering that they do this. And so she starts freaking out, and she's very nervous. She's pacing. Her aunt and uncle have never seen her this flustered. And they realized that Darcy might like Lizzie and that Lizzie might know something about this. So Darcy and Georgiana arrive, and Lizzie is relieved that Georgiana is shy because she's heard a lot of things about her, maybe that she's proud, and she heard a lot of things about. From. About her from Wickham. And she's not entirely sure what the impression is going to be, but she seems like a good person, and most of the good things that people have to say about her are actually true. Bingley also comes by to see Lizzie and meet the gardeners because the gardeners have heard so much about Bingley. And Bingley wants to talk to Lizzie and see how she's been, because he missed her. [00:34:17] Speaker B: I love that he says he literally missed her. Yeah. And then, like, later in the book, he's talking to Jane, and then Jane goes off, and he's like, yeah, I'm just gonna hang out with Lizzie. [00:34:28] Speaker A: Yeah, he likes her. They had a good rapport and good conversation, and he's in love with her sister. So he's like, I want a good relationship with you, too. You're her closest sister. [00:34:38] Speaker B: So cute. [00:34:39] Speaker A: It's very cute. It wasn't just Darcy and his sister going to see Lizzie. He literally said, oh, Bingley is coming to see you in a couple minutes. He wanted to say hi. Like, he just shows up. Yeah, the sisters don't show up. They didn't want to come see Lizzie. But Bigly's like, no, I like her. We have an actual relationship. [00:34:56] Speaker B: Wait, Lizzie's here? Yay. [00:34:58] Speaker A: Yeah. The gardeners watch Lizzie and Darcy to see what's up, and they can tell that Darcy is head over heels in love with Lizzie. But what? Lizzie feels a little bit less clear. Lizzie had a lot to do while they were in this little room, though. She has to overthink a lot. Okay. She has to try and be on her best behavior, even though all of them are pretty inclined to think the best of her. She and Bingley fall back into a rapport, and she's pleased that nothing seems to be passing between him and Georgie, because that's what Caroline kept saying was that him and Georgie were going to get together. But she's like, doesn't seem like there's anything between them other than friendly conversation. He also keeps bringing up things that will kind of lead them to talking about Jane. And so she's like, this seems like a good sign. Also, it seems like he might be staring at me to try and figure out where the lines of my face also look like the lines of my sister's face, which is slightly weird. But okay. [00:35:50] Speaker B: She's like, wait a second. Back up a little bit. [00:35:52] Speaker A: I'll allow it. Because he's so in love, but it's a little weird. Darcy is still pretty happy and jovial like he was yesterday, and still talking a lot and still bringing things up and just being overall just happy and nice. And he's just so nice to her family, and he doesn't have a reason to be, especially because this is the family that his family and friends look down on because they live in the bad part of London. So she always thought that if he was going to be rude to anybody, he would be rude to them, especially because her uncle's a tradesman. But he's very nice to them, and everything seems to be fine. All of them leave after about a half an hour, but not before they accept an invite to go to dinner the next day. Lizzie quickly goes to her room after talking about how great Bingley is. And then she doesn't want to hear the gardeners talk about Darcy. She's just like, I have to go overthink that alone in my room. Bye. [00:36:42] Speaker B: I don't want my opinion to be tainted, okay? [00:36:45] Speaker A: They weren't gonna say anything because they have actual tact, but they do talk about it a little bit amongst each other. They can tell that Darcy is in love with Lizzie. And after seeing him for the past few days and they actually have a word about town. They decide that they like him. And he might be prideful, especially to outsiders who don't really talk to him like a normal person or have never met him, but he does do a lot of good, and he's very charitable. And it seems that when Wickham ran off, Darcy cleared all of his debts to the people that lived underneath him and that lived in his town that he takes care of. And so he cleared all those debts, which is very nice thing to do. [00:37:22] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:37:23] Speaker A: And so they're like, he's a good guy. As for Lizzie, she was just pacing for hours and trying to figure out what she thought about Darcy and about how everything is turning out. She's mostly grateful to him that he still loves her enough to be nice to her and forgive her for the way that she acted before. Because she had everything wrong. Well, most things wrong. He was still an asshole. But she was very wrong about certain aspects of his personality. She now respects and has a real interest in him, but she's not entirely sure how far she wants to take it. And she means to renew this situation. And the next day, they call on Georgie very early, because she called on them very early. And her uncle is also going to go fishing with Darcy. So they're making all sorts of plans to be around each other. [00:38:09] Speaker B: They just want to be near each other when they get there. They're received by Ms. Darcy, which is Georgie, upon her arrival, and they all sit together. Elizabeth tries talking to Ms. Darcy, but Ms. Bingley. Caroline interrupts them. She's kind of making snide comments the whole time. Mr. Darcy finally comes in once he's done fishing, and they try talking again. But then Caroline is being rude and interrupting. So Elizabeth avoids mentioning Wickham during their conversation. And she's trying to convey to Darcy that she has a different opinion on the matter. But, like, slyly, without directly saying anything. And then Elizabeth leaves, and Caroline tries insulting her when she's out of the room to Darcy and talking about how she looked ill. And neither Darcy or his sister join her. They're like, we liked her. [00:39:02] Speaker A: Welcome back, Caroline Bingley. [00:39:05] Speaker B: God, she's the worst. [00:39:06] Speaker A: I just will say, though, they're so cute in this because he doesn't come back after fishing. He comes back as soon as he realizes that both of the women that Mr. Gardner came with also came and called on his sister. He's like, I came as soon as I heard you were here. [00:39:22] Speaker B: Okay, I missed that. That's cute. [00:39:25] Speaker A: And then he keeps trying to get Elizabeth and Georgiana to talk to each other. Yeah. [00:39:30] Speaker B: Because he wants them to be best friends. He's like, this is my sister. [00:39:35] Speaker A: I just find that so funny. Go talk to each other. Please. Please. I want you to like each other. [00:39:42] Speaker B: With as much of a. As Caroline's being. She's not even, like, the worst character in this book. It's still Lydia. [00:39:50] Speaker A: Like I thought you were gonna say Wickham. [00:39:53] Speaker B: No, it's still Lydia. [00:39:57] Speaker A: Oh, gosh, I'm sorry. The thing is, Caroline isn't effective. She's just a mean girl. Because, like, yeah, she's not gonna get with Darcy. She was never even competition. She's just being a bitch. [00:40:07] Speaker B: Never even in her league. Yeah, she is really just being a. To be a. Next chapter, we get a letter from Jane. She was like, oh, it must have gotten lost in post or something. Because the address was scrambled. Written down because she has two letters by now. So she's getting both letters, and she reads the first one that had gotten lost. This letter says, Lydia has run off to get married in Scotland with Wickham. Jane is sure that it's a love match, because surely Wickham must know that their father has no money to give him. They sent a second letter saying that while marrying Wickham would have been bad, now there are rumblings that they aren't going to get married at all. And that they're just together and nobody knows what's really happening. His colonel, Colonel Forster, came and told the family that he had heard from a couple of the officers. That Wickham was never planning on marrying Lydia. And when he traced their footsteps, they didn't go to Scotland, they went to London. And then he lost them. And that's why he's now telling the family. So everybody's panicking and is, like, trying to find them in London. Jane says that she wants Elizabeth to come back. Because their dad is going to London to look for her. And she would like the uncle to go, too. Elizabeth immediately freaks out, runs to get her uncle. And is stopped by Darcy instead. And she explains everything to him. Kind of like word vomit. It just kind of comes out. He tries to ask questions, but she's like, it's all done. It doesn't matter. We're ruined. Blah, blah, blah. He's like, I'm sorry, you can't visit my sister today. Because that's all he really cares about. He just wants them to be best friends. [00:41:40] Speaker A: I mean, it does say that. He's silent for a while, and then he's like, okay, I Think you want me to leave? I also kind of need to leave. I assume that you're not coming to dinner today. And she's like, yeah, please tell everyone I'm not. [00:41:52] Speaker B: But she's like, don't tell them the details. Just tell him, like, I won't be there. And then I'm sorry. And he's like, okay. And then she's like. [00:41:58] Speaker A: Which is fair. [00:41:58] Speaker B: That's it. This is the last time I'm ever seeing Darcy. My whole life is ruined. I'm never seeing him again. He's never gonna call on me. And I was like, that's so sad, because she really likes him. [00:42:08] Speaker A: This is when she realizes that she actually loves him and that she would have probably married him if it went any further. It's so sad. All her hope is lost. [00:42:17] Speaker B: All her hope is gone. [00:42:19] Speaker A: It's so, so sad. But, yeah, I mean, she does word vomit this out. But also one of the reasons that she wore vomits is out is he's probably one of the only people who fully understands her situation. Because this almost happened to his sister because of the same person. [00:42:33] Speaker B: Right? [00:42:34] Speaker A: So it's not like she has to tell him any background details. She can just be like, lydia ran off with Wickham and he can understand exactly what that means. Not like her aunt and uncle later in two chapters were like, are we sure he did that? [00:42:48] Speaker B: Yeah. I will say that his reaction is understandable because he's like, there's nothing for me to do, really. There's no expectations for him or anything. If he was a normal person, he'd just be gone, right? [00:43:01] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:43:02] Speaker B: This is the only the second time I've mentioned the movie, Kristen, in the fucking movie. This is another thing that pissed me off because I was like, oh, all this is reasonable. He kind of disappears. He's like, I understand you can't come today. I'm so sorry this is happening to you. And he's gone, right? In the movie, he's like, this is all my fault. [00:43:19] Speaker A: Like, what? I mean, that's what he's thinking internally, because it is his fault. He didn't tell anybody what happened with Wickham. And so Wickham was able to do it again. Right. [00:43:29] Speaker B: But he's not supposed to tell people what happened with Wickham because of his sister. So, like, no one would have told. [00:43:36] Speaker A: That's exactly why Lizzie doesn't say anything. And she also thinks that it's her fault anyway. Upset on her way home, her aunt and uncle are trying to reassure her. Like, I said that Maybe they will get married. It'll be fine. And she disagrees with them and is like, no, I know that he's a terrible person, but Jane and I decided to keep it to ourselves. And now I'm beating myself up over the whole thing because we should have told at least our sisters that something was up with him so that they wouldn't have done this. But she didn't think that they were attached, and she thought that this wouldn't have happened either way, that Lydia had no special attachment to him. They finally arrive at Longbourn, and their father has already gone to London, but he hasn't written even to say that he hasn't found anything. Jane is very happy that her uncle will join them soon and is trying to keep hope that everything has just been a misunderstanding and everything will work out well in the end, because that's who Jane is as a person. Mrs. Bennet is in the biggest tizzy in the world, and she is just wailing and screaming, screaming in her bed, saying that everything is terrible. Wickham is terrible. She blames everyone, basically, but herself in this situation for actually teaching Lydia to act like that. And now she says that she will be destitute when Mr. Bennet inevitably dies when he duels Wickham for Lydia's reputation. So she's just being as dramatic as she possibly can. [00:44:55] Speaker B: Honestly, she's not a great person. I don't know why it took me until just now, but I'm like, actually, she's not a great mom. No, because she's stressing like this. And then later she says Wickham's her favorite son. And I'm like, why? [00:45:15] Speaker A: Because once her daughter actually gets married, she doesn't care because all she cares about is getting her daughters married. [00:45:21] Speaker B: Yes. [00:45:24] Speaker A: Okay, Mr. Gardiner. Her brother tries to console her, and she makes him promise, just do everything in his power to get Lydia and Wickham to Mary. When he does find them, Elizabeth sees Kitty and Mary, and they're mostly fine. They're just kind of like, well, Lydia is doing what Lydia does, and Lydia has ruined herself. But that's kind of just what we expected Lydia to do. Mary is a little upset that she didn't tell anybody about this, but also it's like, what is. What are we gonna do? Lydia runs the show. Elizabeth talks to Jane and asks for all the details that they have on the situation now that she's actually in person with her and she can get every tiny detail that she can. She tells her that Colonel Forrester says that he knew that Lydia had a crush because Lydia was staying with him and his wife. But he didn't think that there was any affection on Wickham's side. So he didn't think that was a big issue. And then when he talked to one of the officers, Denny. Denny also said that he didn't realize that they were going to elope, even though he was pretty close to both of them. And so it seemed like nobody really knew that this was happening. They also didn't seem connected before they went to Brighton. And the only one who actually knew what was happening and had seen this coming was Kitty. And that was only because of Lydia's last letter to her where she tells her all that's going on. No one thinks well of Wickham anymore in town or in his regiment because he left a lot of debts wherever he goes. Before leaving, Lydia did leave Colonel Forrester's wife a note. Where in the note it does seem like Lydia thought that she was actually getting married. Because it says that she's going to Scotland and it says that she's going to laugh when she's able to write her family a letter with last name Wickham. And just she would love to see their faces. She thinks that it's just great fun and it's just a little prank that she's doing. And when everyone sees this letter, they're shocked because she has actually actively been ruining them for what she thinks is a prank and just fun times. And it just shows Lydia's folly and Wickham's bad intentions considering that they were never actually married. So Lydia thinking that they're going to get married and it being a long time now and them not being married, they're just like. Well, obviously she thought that something was going to happen and he isn't preventing it from happening. So he's even worse of a dude than we thought. Everyone knows in town what happened because people are gossips and servants are gossips and so everyone knows. And so their reputation is actively becoming ruined because of her. [00:47:44] Speaker B: Yeah, F her. She like doesn't care either. Her little. She thinks it's all a joke thing. It's so true the way that it's perceived as like, she really just does not care. She was like, F you all, I'm gonna marry this guy because I like him. And then he's like, I don't even like you. [00:48:04] Speaker A: So Mr. Gardiner only stays until they get the mail the next day. And there is no word from Mr. Bennett. So he goes off to London to meet him Mrs. Gardner does stay with them to help Lizzie and Jane take care of their mother. And they still have all her kids there, so they're all hanging out together now. Everyone in town is against Wickham. Not only did he lead debts with every tradesman in town, he also either flirted or slept with their wives. And so they're not very happy with this dude. Everyone hates him and is convinced that they saw evil in him from the beginning, even before it was revealed. And la da da da da. Everything that people do when people do. [00:48:44] Speaker B: Whatever people do when people do. [00:48:46] Speaker A: Yeah. Mr. Gardner left on a Sunday and now on Tuesday, he wrote to them saying that they haven't found them yet, but they're going to start checking all the hotels in town. And Mr. Bennett is right now determined to stay in London. He also wrote Colonel Forrester to see if he knew of any other friends and family of Wickham's. And he's writing this letter to also ask Lizzie if she knows of anything, because she knows of what happened with Wickham with his inheritance. So he's like, do you know anything else about his family or his connections back over there? And she's like, no, I don't. I got all my information from Darcy. There's no other well to go through from there. Then a letter from Collins arrives, which is addressed to Mr. Bennet. But Jane opens because he said, like, hey, open all my mail while I'm gone. And the letter says that Colin's heard about what happened to Lydia and he sympathizes with their predicament. And it probably would just would have been better if Lydia died. What the fuck, Collins? [00:49:41] Speaker B: Like, honestly, she should have just died. [00:49:44] Speaker A: It would have been better for all of you if she would have just died instead of ruining not only her reputation, but all of yours. Which is sort of fair, but you don't need to say it like that. And it's just. [00:49:58] Speaker B: He's just so funny. [00:50:04] Speaker A: Maybe she did this because it was bad parenting, or maybe she was just always like this. Who's really to say? He, for one, is super glad that he didn't marry Lizzie anymore, because he would have been in the middle of this situation and connected to this scandal, and he was talking to Lady Catherine de Bourgh about it, and she did not like this and it was bad. And Lady Catherine tells him he should probably cut off their family entirely. [00:50:28] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:50:29] Speaker A: So instead of cutting them off, he's going to just relay this advice to Mr. Bennett and tell Mr. Bennet to cut off Lydia entirely instead he's like. [00:50:38] Speaker B: Actually, instead of me cutting you off, why don't you disown your daughter and say effer. And have her never speak to you or visit you again. Thanks. [00:50:50] Speaker A: Okay, bye. And that's the end of the letter. Collins is up to collins things again. Mr. Gardiner writes once he gets his reply from Colonel Forester. And Colonel Forrester says he doesn't know anything about Wiggum's relationship. And Wickham also isn't friends with anybody anymore because he left a lot of debts in his wake. It's not just everywhere that he goes. It's like a lot of it in each place because he's a gambler. And so it was just like one other thing, one other advice that they found out about that he does. It is said that Mr. Bennet is also on his way home. And Mrs. Bennet now laments that no one will fight Wickham and no one will die to fight Wickham now. [00:51:28] Speaker B: And she's upset about it. [00:51:31] Speaker A: Yeah. Ms. Gardner returns home. Before she leaves, she's very curious if Lizzie has received anything from Darcy. But she doesn't really say anything to her. But this is what she's thinking as she leaves and Lizzie hasn't. She's pretty upset because of this. But since everyone is upset about Lydia, it doesn't really seem out of behavior for this to be happening. She didn't really think that she was gonna get anything from him, but she also was kind of upset that she didn't get anything from him. And so she's like. But everyone is upset, so nobody sees her behavior as out of the ordinary. She is very acquainted with her feelings by now. And she knows now that Darcy's family disapproves of Lydia and multiple things about her family. So she's like, crap, everybody knows. I would love to know that Lady Catherine didn't know anything about this, but she does. And so all of this keeps her up at night. Darcy's feelings, his family's feelings, all that. Mr. Bennet is back and he feels terrible about everything that happened. Especially since Lizzie warned him against this happening in the first place. And he says that he's gonna change now. Which means that Kitty can never leave the house until she proves that she does something sensible for at least 10 minutes a day and is never going on vacation or going any balls unless her sisters are with her. She protests this, and he's like, it's fine. We'll review it after 10 years if you're good. [00:52:48] Speaker B: Poor Kitty. [00:52:49] Speaker A: Poor Kitty. And she's Older than Lydia. [00:52:53] Speaker B: Next chapter. Our uncle writes that he found them in London. They didn't plan on getting married, but if they're gonna be married, he owes him $5,000. And then he's gonna take a hundred per year after this. He's like, this is too low, this is crazy. And he's like, your uncle definitely must have paid Wickham in order for him to only take so little as 5,000. Because there's no way that there he's taking anything less than 10,000 because that's what would cover Wickham's debts. And so they're a little stressed about it. And dad is like really stressed about it. He's like, I have to pay this uncle back. My brother in law. Jane and Elizabeth go to tell their mother and she's overjoyed and immediately starts getting ready and she's all up in good spirits and she's like, I'm gonna tell everyone I can. And she's like calling on people already to tell them the news. Mr. Bennet is stressed because he thinks he owes his brother in law money now. But he's mostly getting off scot free from this arrangement because after all the money is moved around, he's only giving up about 10 more pounds a year to Lydia's upkeep expenses. He also then denies sending money so that Lydia can buy a wedding dress or anything because he's literally so pissed off at her. Which it's like valid. I can see why you think that's a great idea, Mr. Bennet. I would agree, because I hate Lydia. Mrs. Bennet is trying to find them a house to live in by their town, but Mr. Bennet says that they're not even allowed in his house. So it's not gonna happen. Elizabeth is embarrassed she ever told Darcy because it kind of just came out as word vomit when she saw him. And she's like, the scandal might have been swept under the rug and he wouldn't have ever known. But now he knows about all this embarrassing stuff and she starts to realize that she would have loved to be married to him. But he probably will never con her again because her family's now connected to his enemy. That's her brother in law is Wickham and she hates him. Uncle writes again saying that they're gonna move to the north because he's leaving this army post and got a new job because of his army connections. The north is a bad society. Even more country bumpkin than where they're at now. That's what you wrote. [00:55:10] Speaker A: Well, I was gonna say it's. Oh, it's very country. But I'm like, technically, where they're at is also country. So I'm like, it's even more country than what they're weather at now. [00:55:18] Speaker B: Mrs. Bennet is sad because her daughter's gonna be far away, but the father allows her to come say goodbye before they leave for their final home. Yay. [00:55:27] Speaker A: The only one that is even semi happy is Mrs. Bennet about the situation. [00:55:30] Speaker B: Yeah. During this next chapter, at the very end, I'm gonna tell you my feelings on her. I literally hate her so much. Okay. [00:55:38] Speaker A: The day of the wedding arrives, and after they get married, Lydia and Wickham come to Longbourn. Lizzie is not excited to see them. Mrs. Bennet greets them happily, but everyone else kind of stands there, especially Mr. Bennet. He's not excited at all. Lydia is as Lydia as ever and doesn't seem to care, doesn't seem to realize that this is a bad look. And she seems to think that everyone should be as overjoyed as she is. Lydia and Mrs. Bennet are just talking a mile a minute about everything that has happened and what Lydia needs to do and what clothes she needs to get and what she should be doing with her new house. When she moves, they just keep going off. Wickham and Lizzie are sitting next to each other cordially. They don't really talk at all. Lydia thinks that everything that has happened to this point has only been great fun. She has no realization that she almost ruined her family or herself. And she talks about the marriage so much and how lucky she is and how her sister should find a husband like she did, that Lizzie has to leave the room because she's so upset. Lydia also tries to make her sisters feel inferior because she's the youngest and she's married and they're not. And so she's like, I actually have to sit where you're sitting, Jane. Because they have an order of which they're supposed to sit at the table. And because now she has the most seniority because she's married, she's supposed to take Jane's spot. And so she's trying to lord this over them as they're sitting down for dinner. Lydia seems to think that her and Wickham are in love, while Lizzie can tell that he doesn't care about Lydia even half as much as Lydia cares about him. Lydia tells Elizabeth all about the wedding because Elizabeth has not asked her a single thing about it because she keeps getting upset every single time she thinks about it. And so Lydia just wants to tell her everything because she's not asking about it. And she reveals that Darcy was also there. But then she's like, oh, don't mind me. I wasn't even supposed to say anything. Oh my gosh. Like, please just don't say anything. Wigan is gonna hate me if he finds out that I told you. And so her and her sister are like, fine, we won't ask any more questions about it. Even though Elizabeth is burning and burning and burning with questions. And so because she's burning with questions, she actually writes to her aunt and tries to figure out what happened because she's like, lydia can't give me any answers. I want answers now, please. [00:57:45] Speaker B: Oh, my God. [00:57:47] Speaker A: This is the chapter where I said, poor Lydia because she's a bitch, but she's also 15. Go ahead. [00:57:53] Speaker B: I would slap my 15 year old sister. Oh my God. This whole chapter, I was like, lydia, like, she doesn't know any better, but it's just the way she's talking that I literally called her the C word. And I will stick to it. I hate her so much. And then on top of that, in the movie, Lydia is played by a character that I associate with being a in general because she's the Hunger Games random note. But I'm like, I just hate her that much more in the movie. But I hated her so much in the book, I could not hold myself together. I'm so upset about this character. I just hate her. [00:58:36] Speaker A: Yeah, she's pretty bad. [00:58:37] Speaker B: More than Dane. [00:58:39] Speaker A: Wow. You hear more than Dane. [00:58:41] Speaker B: Yes, by far. [00:58:43] Speaker A: That's pretty big. [00:58:44] Speaker B: By far. That's saying something. [00:58:47] Speaker A: She gets a letter from her aunt, and her aunt is confused as to why Lizzie wants to know about this and how she knows about this. So she tells her what happened. The day after Lizzie's father left town, Darcy came to Mr. Gardner and told him that he found Lydia and Wickham and has talked to them and has made most of the plans. He said that he did this because he knew of Wickham's devilishness and he said nothing. And this happened. And so he feels at fault for what is happening with Lydia. Darcy had left his town the day after they did and had come to find them in London, but he had a little bit more of an idea of where to start, for where they could possibly be. And Wickham was actually with the woman who took care of Georgie when they were going to elope. And so Wickham was staying at this lady's house with Lydia. Darcy finds them and he tried to get Lydia to leave, but she refused to leave Wickham, saying that they would for sure get married at some point. They're not going to get married right now. It's not that big of a deal. Darcy talks to Wickham and Wickham's like, no, the reason I haven't married her is because I'm trying to get a better offer with more money. What do you mean? And so he knows that he has to do something. At this point, everything becomes settled between Darcy and Wickham, and then that's when he goes to see the gardeners to let them know what needs to be done. Mr. Gardner tried to pay Darcy back, but Darcy refuses to say how much it was exactly. And even though they're sure it was a lot and they're sure that he paid him off at some point that he also, like, I don't want anyone to know about this because I'm trying to keep my own stuff under wrap. So if they know about this, then it brings other things up. So they're just trying to keep it on the deal. Once Lizzie's letter comes, her uncle is very ready to give credit where credit is due. But they do ask that it doesn't go much further than Lizzie herself or to Jane. Lizzie is pretty sure that Darcy paid all of Wickham's debts and gave him money for Lydia and paid for his new station in the army. Then Darcy dined with them the day after the wedding. And Mrs. Gardner really likes him. He's been amazing through this whole thing and very polite. They couldn't think higher of him and he might have been a little stiff, but he kind of makes a comment about how maybe a wife would help him with that. And Ms. Gardiner thinks that it was a very nice way to hint at Lizzie without actually saying Lizzie's name. But Lizzie doesn't understand this and doesn't understand what it means. And she can't figure out why Darcy did this for a second. She thinks that it might be because of her, but she's like, there's no way that he would do this for me because he would get Wickham as a brother in law. So he's not going to try and still marry me. There's no way that could happen and he would just never do that to himself. And so she's still thinking over the letter when Wickham comes up to speak with her. Basically, he's just trying to figure out what happened at Pemberley and how much she knows. He mentions the housekeeper there and, like, oh, did she talk about me while you were over there? I mean, she probably didn't, but she loved me as a kid, so maybe she did. And Lizzie's like, yeah, she did mention you. She actually said that you were a terrible child, and. And you are now a wild child in the army, so just moves on. He just doesn't say anything about it. He asked if she saw Darcy while she was out there and then asked like, oh, do you happen to know why he was in London? Well, I was also in London. And everything that happened with your sister, do you know if there's any correlation with that? Maybe you said something. And she's like, I have no idea what you're talking about. Maybe he was in town because of his other engagement that you keep telling me about to Annaberg. So maybe it had to do with that. Like, not entirely sure. Weird. Weird. They're just talking around each other. And then he asks about Georgiana because Lizzie's like, oh, yeah, I met him and his sister. And so then he asked like, oh, well, how was Georgiana? She's like, oh, she was actually great. And he's like, well, I'm so glad that her manners have improved since I last saw her then. So he's talking, and she's like, I know you're talking, bro. I met them now. And I know that you are lying. [01:02:39] Speaker B: You're just full of it. [01:02:40] Speaker A: He now knows for sure that she knows, and they talk about it without talking about it. And Lizzie refuses to make a fuss because her sister is now connected to him, and she doesn't want to make it a big deal when Lydia is literally married to him. There's no way that they can get out of that. So she's like, okay, whatever. We're gonna be as good as we can be. [01:02:57] Speaker B: The next day, they're out in town when somebody tells Mrs. Bennet and Jane that Mr. Bingley is coming back to town. They're discussing it later when Mrs. Bennet says to her husband that he has to go visit him. He says no. And then a little bit of time passes, and Bingley has been there for three days. When they see him riding toward their house. Everybody starts to scatter and get ready, and then Mr. Darcy appears behind him, and they're both awkwardly just standing there at the door, and then they talk, and then they leave. [01:03:28] Speaker A: There's most awkward little beans ever, both of them. They have no idea what to do. [01:03:32] Speaker B: They're both socially awkward. I love that for them, though, Honestly, they Don't see him again until Tuesday. Darcy sits as far away from Elizabeth as possible at the dinner table. She's like, there could not have been a seat farther away from me, but all I want to do is talk to him. And he's so far. Bingley, of course, is sat right next to Jane. Elizabeth tries all night to talk to Darcy, but keeps failing to get an opportunity. She finally finds one during the afternoon after dinner, like they're playing cards or something. And she doesn't really know what else to say to him because she just kind of, like, makes a blurb. And then he's like, I don't know how to respond to that, and just stands there, and she's like. And then he gets pulled away immediately. So they don't really get to talk. They keep coming back to the house frequently until Darcy says he has to go to town, which is London. And Bingley says he'll still come anyway, while Darcy is in London. [01:04:27] Speaker A: So Bingley comes early the next day while everyone is getting ready, and Mrs. Bennet freaks out and is forcing Jane to go out early. And she's like, well, Mary is already ready. Why don't you let Mary go? And she's like, he doesn't care about Mary. You have to go out there. Who cares what Mary is doing? Poor Mary. Then they go down there, and everyone is settled, and she tries to make everyone leave by winking so that the sisters will leave. And Lizzie doesn't want to leave, but she does end up leaving because her mom calls her out of the room. But this happens a couple of times a couple days in a row because they don't actually do anything the first couple days. They just kind of sit and talk until finally they are in a room long enough to talk until they get engaged. And everyone is very happy and settled fairly quickly because they love each other. And as soon as permission was asked, it was granted. He comes over a lot after that. And their family in town is declared very lucky, even though just weeks before, they were declared destitute because of what was happening with Lydia Wickham. So now they're very lucky. And a week after Bingley and Jane's engagement, Lady Catherine de Bourgh just happens to come on over, and she doesn't want to talk to anyone but Lizzie. They end up walking around the house, and Lady Catherine is sure that Lizzie already knows why she's here, so she's not gonna even go into it. And Lizzie's like, no, I have no idea why you're here. What are you doing here, literally? Why did you come out this way? Lady Catherine is like, well, I know it's false, and I know this isn't true at all, but I just want to confirm with you that you are not engaged to Darcy. And Lizzie's like, well, if it's so false and not true at all, then why are you here asking me about it? And she's like, well, I just want to confirm that it's not true. She's like, well, why do you have to confirm that it's not true if it's not true? So they go around in circles a little bit because Lizzie refuses to say anything about whether or not they're engaged. Lady Catherine then brings up that Darcy should be married to her daughter Anne, and Lizzie should think about this. If she's thinking about accepting an offer of marriage from Darcy, Lizzie, again, is like, if he's actually engaged, then why are you here? Then it's false. Then why are you here? I don't understand. You keep telling me that all of these things are in the way, but then why are you here? Because you being here basically. Basically confirms that anything is happening. And she's like, well, I don't know what you're talking about. She just wants to make sure that even if she is not currently engaged to him, that Lizzie will never accept him because she just should know that you're inferior to him. So you should just never accept him because he's probably gonna get married to my daughter, obviously. And Lizzie refuses to make that promise. She's like, no, why would I ever say that I'm never gonna get married to a man who is so much richer than me, and I could bring my whole entire family out of destitution ruins. That doesn't even make any sense. And you keep saying that it's not going to happen anyway, so why should I promise anything? Lady Catherine just is getting mad. Madder and madder and madder. And so she keeps saying a bunch of hurtful things to Lizzie. And Lizzie is just like, okay, well, are you done? You can leave. Because obviously we're not going anywhere with this conversation. You can just leave. When Lady Catherine leaves, she refuses to give any cordial parting on Lizzie's family. She's like, okay, peace, Bye. [01:07:32] Speaker B: First of all, lady, if a guy with a bunch of money that I loved was gonna propose to me, I would obviously accept. And you're really not offering me anything to say? No. So, like, what are you doing here? [01:07:42] Speaker A: Exactly? What are you doing here? You just think that because you have more money than me. You can bully me into saying, no, no, I'm about to have more money than you. You might think you know me, but no, you don't. [01:07:56] Speaker B: So, obviously, Lizzie is in a tizzy. After Lady Catherine leaves, thinking about Darcy and what this might mean, she decides that if he doesn't come back with Bingley after a few days, then she'll have her answer, and he might still be in love with her. The next day, her father calls her into his office to talk about a letter he received. Mr. Collins has written to him to congratulate Jane, but also mentioned that maybe Lizzie might be married soon. So her dad is like, like, what's going on? This is hilarious. And Mr. Collins write that it's great that someone of such high esteem likes Lizzie, but his aunt is dead set against it, and he is warning them not to go against her. He also says that it's great everything worked out with Lydia, but he definitely would still be turning her out if he was in charge. Her father is thinking this all is just a giant joke about Darcy, and he's laughing about it, and he's like, this is hilarious. And all Lizzie does is try and laugh with her father, so he doesn't know what's up, but she kind of seems really awkward about it. And she's like. And he's like, oh, my God, this is hilarious. And she's like, I'm gonna cry. [01:08:59] Speaker A: I will just laugh. So I don't cry. [01:09:02] Speaker B: And I think that chapter was my favorite chapter in the whole book. And I don't know why I was like, this is hilarious. [01:09:08] Speaker A: That's so funny. [01:09:09] Speaker B: She's like, actually, I love him so much. Finally, Bingley brings Darcy to their house. They all go on a walk, and the engaged couple walks while Kitty remains with them, until finally, Kitty gets distracted with a friend. And Elizabeth immediately turns to Darcy and is like, thank you for your help with my sister. And he's like, I'm sorry you found out that I helped. And then he's like, also, by the way, do you feel the same way you did last April when I proposed? [01:09:36] Speaker A: And she's like. [01:09:40] Speaker B: I don't. And then they talk about random stuff, like the letter and how when he saw her at his house in Pemberley, he was trying to show her that he can be really nice and that he's not a terrible person, like, she thinks he is, and he's super sorry for insulting her. [01:09:56] Speaker A: One of the reasons that he re proposed to her was because she told Lady Catherine that she wouldn't refuse to get engaged to him again. And so because he heard that from Lady Catherine, he's like, I might have a chance. And so he came back, which is. [01:10:11] Speaker B: Adorable, but, like, what if she never did that? Anyway, he then confesses he told Bingley about how her sister felt before he left for London to help her youngest sister, and that he was wrong. And she's like, oh, my God, that was so nice of you. Later that night, she tells Jane, just casually, that her and Darcy are engaged, by the way. And Jane is like, I'm so sorry. I know how much you hate him. And then Elizabeth's like, actually, no, I kind of really love him. [01:10:41] Speaker A: I think he'd be thinking to me when I'm kind of in love with. [01:10:43] Speaker B: Him, like, a lot. And then the next morning, Bingley helps Darcy get a moment alone with Elizabeth, and her mother is, like, apologizing. And then during the walk, they plan the proposal. And that night, Darcy goes to the parlor alone with her father. And bunch of time passes, and she's, like, kind of just watching the door the whole time. And then finally, he comes out and whispers to her that her father would like to see her now. And so she goes in the parlor, too, and she's having to convince her father that actually she's kind of in love with him. And he's like, what do you mean? I thought we hated him. And she's like, no, really, I do love him. And so he's like, okay, fine. Marry the guy. That's fine. I would have never let you go to someone who was any less than who he is. So I guess this works out for me. She solidifies it by telling him exactly what Darcy did for their family. And he's overjoyed about it because now that he's family, he doesn't have to pay the uncle back. He's like, thank God, because I'm gonna offer to pay him back, but then he's gonna be like, no, you can't pay me back. And he's gonna be like, yay. And he, like, except explains this whole thing, and I thought that was hilarious. They finally tell the mom she's overjoyed, but really confused, but also really overjoyed. And then she invites him to dinner the next day, and she turns to Lizzie and is like, what is his favorite meal? I'm making it. [01:12:09] Speaker A: Yeah. She's so funny. She's like, what? What? I didn't even know you guys liked each other. I kind of hated him. I thought he was a terrible person. But you're getting married to him. I love him. He's awesome. And he has so much money. So now in chapter 60, they are just flirting. And she just wants to know exactly when Darcy fell in love with her. And he says that he was in the middle of it before he even knew it began. And she's like, oh, well, I know it was because of this reason and this reason. And I'm just so funny and not like other girls. They have this banter going on. It's very cute. He asked why she didn't do anything to try and get to know him more, especially at Pemberley. And she says that she was scared because she thought that he might not like her and there might be issues with what was going on. And she's also worried about what Lady Catherine will do, but he tells her not to worry about it and that he's gonna write to her and it'll all be fine. And then once he writes to her, then Mr. Bennet also writes to Mr. Collins to tell Mr. Collins what happens. And so then Charlotte and Mr. Collins make their trip to congratulate them, because not only do they want to congratulate them because they're very happy and Charlotte is super happy for Lizzie, but also because they need to get away from Lady Catherine, who is pissed that this is happening ever since she got the letter from Darcy. And so they need a little time away from her as she cools down, especially because they are close relations with Elizabeth. And so Lady Catherine is a little bit mad at them too, right now. And then multiple families from town come and congratulate Darcy and Elizabeth on their engagement, and everyone is just so happy and another person is gonna get married. [01:13:38] Speaker B: Woo. Overjoyed. [01:13:40] Speaker A: This is basically just the epilogue. What happens in this last chapter. 61. Yeah, Mr. Bennet visits Elizabeth as often as he can when she's at Pemberley. And he. He likes to spend time over there. He likes Darcy. He likes to be alone. He has a lot of space over there, so he spends a lot of time there. Kitty also spends her time with her two older sisters and never visits Lydia because one, her father doesn't allow it, and two, because now that she spent more time away from Lydia, she's becoming a normal person and a better person. And she isn't so frivolous. They want her to remain that way. They want her to become a better person. Mary remains at home and just hangs out and does what Mary does and just plays with her piano. She doesn't have to do anything anymore because she's not gonna be destitute if she doesn't marry. So she's fine. Lydia writes them often and asks Elizabeth if Darcy can get Wickham a job closer to their house. And Darcy says no and refuses to get him a better job. And he actually refuses to ever let Wickham on his property, which is fair. But Lydia does come every once in a while. Not for very long, because Elizabeth can't stand her for very long. They do sometimes stay at Jane and Bingley's property. And then because both Jane and Bingley are so nice, they let them stay too long and let them use too much money sometimes from what they're doing. Then Elizabeth has to come and gently get them out of the house because they're too nice to get them out of their house, basically. [01:15:04] Speaker B: Nudge, nudge. [01:15:06] Speaker A: Elizabeth and Georgiana are friends. They've become very good friends. They're basically like sisters. And Lady Catherine eventually gets over whatever she's doing because the longer that they're together, she can see that they're not gonna get divorced. So that's the end of the book. That's everything. It's just a very nice ending to a romance novel. [01:15:24] Speaker B: Yeah. Everybody's happy. [01:15:26] Speaker A: Everyone hangs out. All right, so what are your final thoughts on this? How did you like this book? How did you hate this book? What did you think? Did you. I mean, I know that you said it was sort of hard to understand in parts, but what are your overall thoughts about it? [01:15:39] Speaker B: First of all, I would just like to start with saying I have so much hate in my heart for Lydia. I just hate her so much. That's how I ended the book. I was like, I just hate her so much that I feel so guilty that I hate her so much because she's only a 15 year old girl. [01:15:56] Speaker A: Yeah. She kind of sucks, though. [01:15:58] Speaker B: She really does. I honestly didn't really enjoy reading the book because I was trying to decipher what they were saying most of the time. So it took a lot of work for me. I will say the ending of the book, I felt less like it was a school assignment and more like, oh, this is kind of fun. Like the chapter. And I told you it's my favorite chapter. Because that chapter I was like, oh, my God. He's like, this is hilarious. He thinks he's gonna propose to you. And then she's like, I love him so much. [01:16:30] Speaker A: Yeah. When it's really the calm of the rom com. [01:16:35] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:16:36] Speaker A: The problem is this is enemies to love. So you had a set of all of that before you got to the rom com. [01:16:41] Speaker B: That's true. Yeah. I mean, I really liked that. And the whole ending after that point, I was kind of giddy because finally they're getting together thing. God. [01:16:50] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:16:50] Speaker B: I knew this was happening. The whole point of the book was this. [01:16:53] Speaker A: But I, like, was just a long way to get there. [01:16:57] Speaker B: It was. [01:16:57] Speaker A: It was a little bit longer than you expected. [01:17:00] Speaker B: Yeah. More happened in the book, obviously, than the movie. And so I wasn't expecting so much to happen. I thought it was gonna drag a little bit more, but it was just. Especially the second half of the book. There's things constantly happening. It wasn't dragging at all. It was like constant, go, go, go, go, go. Something else new was happening. But, yeah, that's where I'm at. [01:17:25] Speaker A: So nothing really shocked you? I mean, the Wickham thing, you said you kind of thought you might know. [01:17:29] Speaker B: I knew it. But I was trying to debate if it was this book or Little Woman or like, something else. Yeah. Because I. I told you guys, I got all my period pieces mixed up in my head. [01:17:41] Speaker A: Yeah. Not the same time period, but. Yes. [01:17:43] Speaker B: Yeah. You get what I'm saying, though? [01:17:46] Speaker A: Yes. [01:17:47] Speaker B: Okay. [01:17:48] Speaker A: Everyone should know that I love this book, and I do really think that this is probably one of my favorites. The other book that I've read the most from Jane Austen is Emma, and I think that book is a little bit funnier, although not as much. Big Things Happen. It's a very even book the entire time, but I think it's funny all the way through. But it is a situational comedy more than anything. And so you really have to understand what they're saying in order to get that comedy. So I don't know if that would be the right book for you to do next, but we will probably do a Jane Austen book again at some point. [01:18:18] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [01:18:19] Speaker A: I'll probably do the sister one, Sense and Sensibility, because that one is mostly about sisters. [01:18:23] Speaker B: Well, I'm excited to read her again. [01:18:26] Speaker A: Now that you have a more of understanding of how she writes. [01:18:29] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:18:29] Speaker A: And how her plots develop. [01:18:33] Speaker B: Yeah. It was rough in the beginning there, Trying to understand how she writes. That was my main thing. [01:18:38] Speaker A: I understand. [01:18:39] Speaker B: What are we doing next week? [01:18:41] Speaker A: Technically, what we're reading next week for us is not what they're listening to next week for them. [01:18:45] Speaker B: The guest list is next. [01:18:47] Speaker A: So we've already read that. [01:18:49] Speaker B: That was a couple months ago. [01:18:51] Speaker A: That was good. [01:18:53] Speaker B: See you guys later. [01:18:55] Speaker A: Bye.