(This conversation will contain spoilers for the current chapters and possibly for future chapters.)

S: So much has happened in these chapters that they feel like a book unto themselves. 

What a sad thing to not be able to attend the first marriage of the family! It’s difficult to think how the Bennet girls feel, though there’s probably quite a mix of emotions.

R: It’s really interesting, too, because in Austen’s day, I believe it was fairly unusual for a younger daughter to be married before an elder, let alone the youngest of five married first.

S: Lydia’s silliness and childishness grates on me, but I suppose we’ve come to expect that from her. It makes me wonder if she will ever really feel the consequences of her actions, or if she will go through life not caring in the least. Still, one good thing came about from her staying so long at Longbourn! Elizabeth finds out that Mr. Darcy was present at the wedding.

R: Lydia continues to be thoughtless and self-centered, especially in the way she asserts her preeminence over her sisters. She seems to have no understanding of the impact of her actions on her family.

S: When we read about why Mr. Darcy was present, it is astonishing. As the reader, of course, we can understand why he did what he did since we have the view of what the Gardiners think as well as the narrative, but it’s still somewhat surprising that Elizabeth is so surprised at Mr. Darcy’s behaviour. I’m really enjoying the plethora of thoughts we see come from Elizabeth during this time.

R: I love how Mrs. Gardiner almost outright states that she and Mr. Gardiner suspected that Elizabeth and Darcy were engaged, or at least had an understanding, even to the point of inviting herself to Pemberly! It’s easy to miss because she just calls it ‘P’ at the end of her letter. ‘Pray forgive me if I have been very presuming, or at least do not punish me so far as to exclude me from P. I shall never be quite happy till I have been all around the park. A low phaeton, with a nice little pair of ponies, would be the very thing.’ 

Elizabeth’s shock is understandable, I think. Even with Mr. Darcy’s altered behavior toward the Gardiners, the news about Lydia and Wickham only strengthens his original case against marrying her. That he would put himself to so much trouble to help her sister certainly shows that his feelings for her haven’t changed. 

S: I don’t know if Mr. Wickham ever realised or even cared that Elizabeth knew the truth about his behaviour toward the Darcy family, but it makes me sad nonetheless. I can’t say that I like him or Lydia, but I do wish that they were less self-centered. 

R: When Wickham and Elizabeth have their very careful conversation, I almost feel like he’s trying to feel out how much she does know, because he’s aware that she’s spent time with Darcy and others who are close enough to the matter to know the truth about his actions. Elizabeth basically lets him know that she’s wise to him and they leave it at that. Wickham knows he won’t be able to ingratiate himself to her any longer, and Elizabeth feels there’s no need to say anything further about it.

S: It was a pretty funny, albeit uncomfortable, exchange! 

I was so excited that Mr. Bingley returned! I waited with bated breath to see if he did still really love Jane.

It surprises me that everyone in the family absolutely disregards Mr. Darcy, save for Jane and Elizabeth. It didn’t seem to me that Elizabeth talked so negatively about him often, but from everyone else’s words throughout the book I suppose she did, we just didn’t read about it.

R: I was glad to see Bingley, too! And I feel so bad for Darcy. I’m not sure it was Elizabeth talking about him, but the behavior they all saw at the Meryton ball and talk about the village. Other than with Jane, Elizabeth seems to keep her thoughts to herself the majority of the time. I certainly wouldn’t say anything I didn’t want repeated to the rest of her family!

I feel so sorry for Elizabeth. She’s angry and confused, angry with her family’s rudeness and with herself, and confused by Darcy’s presence. She knows that her family owes him everything, really, for his intervention in the situation with Lydia, but is not able to share it with them.

S: Poor Elizabeth, and really poor Mrs. Bennet! Elizabeth is embarrassed yet again over her mother’s behaviour, and her mother just cannot speak kindly to Mr. Darcy. This section reminded me of Proverbs 18:7, which says, ‘A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul’. 

R: Indeed. Mrs. Bennet is a perfect example of how one shouldn’t  behave.

S: I do laugh at Elizabeth’s vexation over Mr. Darcy’s indifferent behaviour! Isn’t that just what we tend to do sometimes: worry about what someone is thinking, or why they’re acting a certain way? The entirety of Chapter 54 is so funny, but you can also hear Jane’s difficulty in trying to not get her hopes up over Mr. Bingley.

R: It’s so cute how Jane is trying not to get her hopes up, but Elizabeth knows she’s already gone on Bingley again, and he is obviously still in love with Jane. What man of leisure would show up before breakfast, before the ladies are even dressed, otherwise?

S: True! I hadn’t thought about that, and that makes it even more sweet. I am so happy that Mr. Bingley and Jane are going to be married! You can just feel the joy the entire family feels after such a difficult time with Lydia. And how quickly people’s minds change. At the end of this section we learn that the Bennet’s neighbours all thought them very unlucky, and yet only a few weeks later decided that they were very lucky. The human mind is fickle, indeed.

R: Jane and Bingley are so cute together! Mr. Bennet’s comment about their marriage always makes me laugh: ‘I have not a doubt of your doing very well together. Your tempers are by no means unlike. You are each of you so complying, that nothing will ever be resolved on; so easy, that every servant will cheat you; and so generous, that you will always exceed your income.’

Jane has also learned her lesson about her blind faith in others’ goodness. She understands, finally, that Miss Bingley must have had a part in concealing her presence in London from Mr. Bingley, and that she will have to proceed with caution in renewing a relationship with her. 

S: Now we just need to see if Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner are correct in their assumptions that Mr. Darcy loves Elizabeth!