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Pride & Prejudice – page 482

JANE AUSTEN

Mrs. Gardiner and the children were to remain in

Hertfordshire a few days longer, as the former thought

her presence might be serviceable to her nieces. She

shared in their attendance on Mrs. Bennet, and was a

great comfort to them in their hours of freedom. Their

other aunt also visited them frequently, and always, as

she said, with the design of cheering and heartening

them upthough, as she never came without reporting

some fresh instance of Wickham’s extravagance or

irregularity, she seldom went away without leaving

them more dispirited than she found them.

All Meryton seemed striving to blacken the man

who, but three months before, had been almost an

angel of light. He was declared to be in debt to every

tradesman in the place, and his intrigues, all honoured

with the title of seduction, had been extended into

every tradesman’s family. Everybody declared that

he was the wickedest young man in the world; and

everybody began to find out that they had always

distrusted the appearance of his goodness. Elizabeth,

though she did not credit above half of what was said,

believed enough to make her former assurance of her

sister’s ruin more certain; and even Jane, who believed

still less of it, became almost hopeless, more especially

as the time was now come when, if they had gone to

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