E
n
g
E
a
s
y
.
r
u
🇷🇺
🇬🇧
🇷🇺
Главная
/
Аудиокниги
/
Гордость и предубеждение
/
Глава 49
/
1
Ночная
1
1
Слушаем и читаем
Pride and Prejudice
Слушаем и читаем
1
0:00
0:00
1×
Оригинал
1
Chapter 49
2
Two days after Mr. Bennet’s return,
3
as Jane and Elizabeth were walking together in the shrubbery behind the house,
4
they saw the housekeeper coming towards them,
5
and,
6
concluding that she came to call them to their mother,
7
went forward to meet her;
8
but,
9
instead of the expected summons,
10
when they approached her,
11
she said to Miss Bennet,
12
“I beg your pardon,
13
madam,
14
for interrupting you,
15
but I was in hopes you might have got some good news from town,
16
so I took the liberty of coming to ask.”
17
“What do you mean,
18
Hill?
19
We have heard nothing from town.”
20
“Dear madam,”
21
cried Mrs. Hill,
22
in great astonishment,
23
“don’t you know there is an express come for master from Mr. Gardiner?
24
He has been here this half-hour,
25
and master has had a letter.”
26
Away ran the girls,
27
too eager to get in to have time for speech.
28
They ran through the vestibule into the breakfast-room;
29
from thence to the library;
30
their father was in neither;
31
and they were on the point of seeking him up stairs with their mother,
32
when they were met by the butler,
33
who said:
34
“If you are looking for my master,
35
ma’am,
36
he is walking towards the little copse.”
37
Upon this information,
38
they instantly passed through the hall once more,
39
and ran across the lawn after their father,
40
who was deliberately pursuing his way towards a small wood on one side of the paddock.
41
Jane,
42
who was not so light nor so much in the habit of running as Elizabeth,
43
soon lagged behind,
44
while her sister,
45
panting for breath,
46
came up with him,
47
and eagerly cried out:
48
“Oh,
49
papa,
50
what news—what news?
51
Have you heard from my uncle?”
52
“Yes I have had a letter from him by express.”
53
“Well,
54
and what news does it bring—good or bad?”
55
“What is there of good to be expected?”
56
said he,
57
taking the letter from his pocket.
58
“But perhaps you would like to read it.”
59
Elizabeth impatiently caught it from his hand.
60
Jane now came up.
61
“Read it aloud,”
62
said their father,
63
“for I hardly know myself what it is about.”
64
“Gracechurch Street,
65
Monday,
66
August 2.
67
“My dear Brother,
68
“At last I am able to send you some tidings of my niece,
69
and such as,
70
upon the whole,
71
I hope it will give you satisfaction.
72
Soon after you left me on Saturday,
73
I was fortunate enough to find out in what part of London they were.
74
The particulars I reserve till we meet;
75
it is enough to know they are discovered.
76
I have seen them both—”
77
“Then it is as I always hoped,”
78
cried Jane;
79
“they are married!”
80
Elizabeth read on:
81
“I have seen them both.
82
They are not married,
83
nor can I find there was any intention of being so;
84
but if you are willing to perform the engagements which I have ventured to make on your side,
85
I hope it will not be long before they are.
86
All that is required of you is,
87
to assure to your daughter,
88
by settlement,
89
her equal share of the five thousand pounds secured among your children after the decease of yourself and my sister;
90
and,
91
moreover,
92
to enter into an engagement of allowing her,
93
during your life,
94
one hundred pounds per annum.
95
These are conditions which,
96
considering everything,
97
I had no hesitation in complying with,
98
as far as I thought myself privileged,
99
for you.
100
I shall send this by express,
101
that no time may be lost in bringing me your answer.
102
You will easily comprehend,
103
from these particulars,
104
that Mr. Wickham’s circumstances are not so hopeless as they are generally believed to be.
105
The world has been deceived in that respect;
106
and I am happy to say there will be some little money,
107
even when all his debts are discharged,
108
to settle on my niece,
109
in addition to her own fortune.
110
If,
111
as I conclude will be the case,
112
you send me full powers to act in your name throughout the whole of this business,
113
I will immediately give directions to Haggerston for preparing a proper settlement.
114
There will not be the smallest occasion for your coming to town again;
115
therefore stay quiet at Longbourn,
116
and depend on my diligence and care.
117
Send back your answer as fast as you can,
118
and be careful to write explicitly.
119
We have judged it best that my niece should be married from this house,
120
of which I hope you will approve.
121
She comes to us to-day.
122
I shall write again as soon as anything more is determined on.
123
Yours,
124
etc.,
125
“EDW.
126
GARDINER.”
127
“Is it possible?”
128
cried Elizabeth,
129
when she had finished.
130
“Can it be possible that he will marry her?”
131
“Wickham is not so undeserving,
132
then,
133
as we thought him,”
134
said her sister.
135
“My dear father,
136
I congratulate you.”
137
“And have you answered the letter?”
138
cried Elizabeth.
139
“No;
140
but it must be done soon.”
141
Most earnestly did she then entreat him to lose no more time before he wrote.
142
“Oh!
143
my dear father,”
144
she cried,
145
“come back and write immediately.
146
Consider how important every moment is in such a case.”
147
“Let me write for you,”
148
said Jane,
149
“if you dislike the trouble yourself.”
150
“I dislike it very much,”
151
he replied;
152
“but it must be done.”
153
And so saying,
154
he turned back with them,
155
and walked towards the house.
156
“And may I ask—”
157
said Elizabeth;
158
“but the terms,
159
I suppose,
160
must be complied with.”
161
“Complied with!
162
I am only ashamed of his asking so little.”
163
“And they must marry!
164
Yet he is such a man!”
165
“Yes,
166
yes,
167
they must marry.
168
There is nothing else to be done.
169
But there are two things that I want very much to know;
170
one is,
171
how much money your uncle has laid down to bring it about;
172
and the other,
173
how am I ever to pay him.”
174
“Money!
175
My uncle!”
176
cried Jane,
177
“what do you mean,
178
sir?”
179
“I mean,
180
that no man in his senses would marry Lydia on so slight a temptation as one hundred a year during my life,
181
and fifty after I am gone.”
182
“That is very true,”
183
said Elizabeth;
184
“though it had not occurred to me before.
185
His debts to be discharged,
186
and something still to remain!
187
Oh!
188
it must be my uncle’s doings!
189
Generous,
190
good man,
191
I am afraid he has distressed himself.
192
A small sum could not do all this.”
193
“No,”
194
said her father;
195
“Wickham’s a fool if he takes her with a farthing less than ten thousand pounds.
196
I should be sorry to think so ill of him,
197
in the very beginning of our relationship.”
198
“Ten thousand pounds!
199
Heaven forbid!
200
How is half such a sum to be repaid?”
Нажми на фразу, чтобы послушать её ещё раз.
Назад
Дальше