Chapter 46 — Teaching Companion

What it asks It asks the student to weigh what reaches Elizabeth in the minutes before she tells Darcy the news. She meets him at the door as one “in whose mind every idea was superseded by Lydia’s situation”. He answers: “Good God! what is the matter?” cried he, with more feeling than politeness; then recollecting himself, “I will not detain you a minute; but let me, or let the servant, go after Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner. You are not well enough; you cannot go yourself.” When she sits, too weak to stand, he speaks “in a tone of gentleness and commiseration”: “Let me call your maid. Is there nothing you could take to give you present relief? A glass of wine; shall I get you one? You are very ill.” She answers that “There is nothing the matter with me”, then bursts into tears, and he waits “in compassionate silence”. The card does not say what Darcy feels for Elizabeth; the chapter gives his words and his tone.

One reading

Very little. The narrator says plainly that every idea in her mind has been pushed out by Lydia. She is so breathless that the servant can hardly understand her, her knees tremble, and she tells a man who can see how ill she looks that nothing is the matter with her. His cry, his offer to go himself, the maid and the wine all reach the reader more than they reach her. On this reading the chapter lets the reader see Darcy’s care at the very moment Elizabeth cannot, and the reader carries what she missed into the scene where she reads his silence.

• she, in whose mind every idea was superseded by Lydia’s situation
• in so breathless an accent as made her almost unintelligible

Another reading

Enough to change what she does. She does not brush him off: she hesitates, takes his advice, and sends the servant instead of running herself. She stays in the room with him, and it is to this gentle listener, alone, that she gives the whole story. On this reading she takes in his care without stopping to name it, and it is what lets her speak.

• Elizabeth hesitated; but her knees trembled under her
• in a tone of gentleness and commiseration

Listen for

• Notices “then recollecting himself”, and asks what the cry showed before Darcy took hold of himself.
• Notices that he offers himself before the servant: “let me, or let the servant, go”.
• Separates what the reader sees of Darcy here from what the narrator says reaches Elizabeth.
• Does not claim that his alarm proves love; the chapter gives only his words and his tone.

If stuck

• What does Darcy say and do when he finds Elizabeth at the door?
• What is Elizabeth thinking about at that moment?
• When you are badly upset, how much do you notice about the people trying to help you?

A strong answer A strong response decides how much of Darcy’s alarm reaches Elizabeth, and points to the page. One reader says very little: every idea in her mind is “superseded by Lydia’s situation”, she is breathless, and she tells him there “is nothing the matter with me”. Another says enough to shape what she does: she takes his advice, stays, and tells him everything. The best answers notice that the reader sees more of Darcy’s care in these minutes than Elizabeth seems to, and keep that in mind when she later reads his silence.

What it asks It asks the student to account for one telling. After her tears Elizabeth says: “I have just had a letter from Jane, with such dreadful news. It cannot be concealed from anyone. My youngest sister has left all her friends--has eloped; has thrown herself into the power of--of Mr. Wickham. They are gone off together from Brighton. _You_ know him too well to doubt the rest.” When he leaves, she asks him to tell his sister only that “urgent business calls us home immediately. Conceal the unhappy truth as long as it is possible. I know it cannot be long.” Within the hour there are “notes to be written to all their friends at Lambton, with false excuses for their sudden departure.” Mrs. Gardiner, hearing that Darcy was there, wonders: “And are they upon such terms as for her to disclose the real truth? Oh, that I knew how it was!” The card does not say what terms Elizabeth and Darcy are on; Mrs. Gardiner herself only wonders.

One reading

Because he already knows Wickham. She says so: “_You_ know him too well to doubt the rest.” With anyone else she would have to explain what kind of man Lydia has gone with; with Darcy, half a sentence does it. And in her first shock she believes the news “cannot be concealed from anyone”. On this reading she tells him because the truth seems already public, and he is the one listener who needs nothing explained.

• You know him too well to doubt the rest
• It cannot be concealed from anyone.

Another reading

Because of who he has become to her. Within the hour, notes with false excuses go out to all their friends at Lambton, and she asks Darcy himself to keep the secret, so she knows a secret can be kept. Mrs. Gardiner, who knows her niece, cannot tell whether she told him, and asks herself whether they are on terms close enough for that. On this reading Elizabeth tells him because she trusts him, before she has said so to herself, and she gives him the truth without counting what it may cost her in his eyes.

• And are they upon such terms as for her to disclose the real truth?
• Conceal the unhappy truth as long as it is possible.

Listen for

• Notices that she first says the news “cannot be concealed from anyone”, then asks Darcy to “Conceal the unhappy truth as long as it is possible.”
• Notices that she tells him alone, before her uncle and aunt are back.
• Weighs Mrs. Gardiner’s question as a guess, not a verdict: she only wishes she knew.
• Asks whether Elizabeth, while she tells him, thinks at all of what the news may do to his opinion of her family.

If stuck

• What does Elizabeth tell Darcy, and what does she ask him to do before he goes?
• What do the notes to their friends at Lambton say?
• Who would you tell bad family news to first, and what makes them that person?

A strong answer A strong response gives a reason for the telling and grounds it in what Elizabeth says. One reader says it is because Darcy already knows Wickham: “_You_ know him too well to doubt the rest”, so with him the story needs no explaining, and in her shock she thinks it “cannot be concealed from anyone” anyway. Another reads trust: within the hour the secret is kept from all their friends at Lambton, and Mrs. Gardiner herself wonders whether they are on such terms. The best answers notice that the one person she tells is the one whose good opinion, minutes later, she believes the news has cost her.

What it asks It asks the student to hear how the narrator weighs Elizabeth’s private grief. The sentence comes straight after “never had she so honestly felt that she could have loved him, as now, when all love must be vain.” Then: “But self, though it would intrude, could not engross her. Lydia--the humiliation, the misery she was bringing on them all--soon swallowed up every private care; and covering her face with her handkerchief, Elizabeth was soon lost to everything else”. When Darcy goes, “she saw him go with regret; and in this early example of what Lydia’s infamy must produce, found additional anguish as she reflected on that wretched business.” The card does not say whether Elizabeth was wrong to feel her own loss; it asks how the narrator’s sentence judges it.

One reading

It clears her. In the sentence, self is the intruder: it comes uninvited, and it “could not engross her”, never took her over. At once Lydia’s misery “swallowed up every private care”, and she covers her face, lost to everything else. On this reading the narrator admits a human moment only to show it overcome, and Elizabeth comes off well: her sister’s disgrace outweighs her own loss.

• But self, though it would intrude, could not engross her.
• soon swallowed up every private care

Another reading

It catches her out, gently. The narrator names the thing with the bare word “self”, and admits it intruded at the worst possible moment. Nor does it stay away: when Darcy leaves she sees him go “with regret”, and she feels Lydia’s disgrace first in what it has just cost her. On this reading the narrator lets no one, not even the heroine, off the charge of thinking of herself, and the sentence is a dry smile at it.

• she saw him go with regret
• in this early example of what Lydia’s infamy must produce, found additional anguish

Listen for

• Hears the bare word “self”, and asks why the narrator chooses so plain a word.
• Notices how fast the private care gives way: Lydia’s misery “soon swallowed up every private care”, and Elizabeth “was soon lost to everything else”.
• Notices that the private care returns when Darcy leaves, and asks whether that undoes “could not engross her”.
• Weighs whether feeling one’s own loss in a family disaster is a fault at all.

If stuck

• What has Elizabeth just felt about Darcy when the narrator says this?
• What happens to her private feeling once she thinks of Lydia?
• Is it wrong to feel your own loss when someone you love is in trouble?

A strong answer A strong response decides how the sentence weighs Elizabeth and points to its words. One reader hears it clear her: self is an intruder she did not invite, it “could not engross her”, and Lydia’s misery “soon swallowed up every private care”. Another hears a gentle catch: the narrator calls it plain “self”, at the worst moment, and the private care is back when she sees Darcy go “with regret”. The best answers notice that the sentence can do both at once: it names the fault and measures it as small.

What it asks It asks the student to account for where Austen places the narrator’s aside. Darcy has left; Elizabeth “sighed at the perverseness of those feelings which would now have promoted its continuance, and would formerly have rejoiced in its termination.” Then: “If gratitude and esteem are good foundations of affection, Elizabeth’s change of sentiment will be neither improbable nor faulty. But if otherwise, if the regard springing from such sources is unreasonable or unnatural, in comparison of what is so often described as arising on a first interview with its object, and even before two words have been exchanged, nothing can be said in her defence, except that she had given somewhat of a trial to the latter method, in her partiality for Wickham, and that its ill success might, perhaps, authorize her to seek the other less interesting mode of attachment.” Straight after it, Elizabeth’s thoughts go to Wickham and Lydia. The card does not say how matters will end between Elizabeth and Darcy, and does not turn the aside into a general lesson about love at first sight.

One reading

Because this is where her feeling is most open to doubt. She has just felt she could have loved him only now, when it seems hopeless, and she sighs at the “perverseness” of feelings that once would have rejoiced to see the acquaintance end. A reader could call that wanting what you cannot have. The narrator steps in to say the feeling rests on something steadier, gratitude and esteem, built up over their meetings. On this reading the defence stands exactly where the charge would be made.

• sighed at the perverseness of those feelings which would now have promoted its continuance
• If gratitude and esteem are good foundations of affection

Another reading

Because of Wickham. The aside ends on her old “partiality for Wickham”, the kind of feeling that comes before two words are spoken, on the very day his worst is known. The paragraphs that follow show that kind of attachment in Lydia, whose affections were “continually fluctuating”, caught by whichever officer paid her attention. On this reading the aside is a bridge from Darcy’s exit to the elopement: it sets Elizabeth’s slow regard beside the quick fancies behind Lydia’s flight, and its dry “less interesting” is aimed at the romance the chapter has just seen go wrong.

• in her partiality for Wickham
• Her affections had been continually fluctuating, but never without an object.

Listen for

• Notices the two charges the narrator names, “improbable” and “faulty”, and asks who would bring each one.
• Hears the irony in “less interesting mode of attachment”, and asks whom it teases.
• Notices that the aside names Wickham on the day his worst is known.
• Does not turn the aside into a general lesson about love at first sight; asks what it does at this point in the chapter.

If stuck

• What has Elizabeth just felt as Darcy leaves the room?
• What two ways of coming to love does the narrator compare?
• Why might a writer step in to speak for a character at one moment rather than another?

A strong answer A strong response gives a reason for the placing and grounds it in the chapter. One reader says the defence comes where the doubt comes: Elizabeth has felt she could love Darcy only now, when it seems hopeless, and the narrator answers that the feeling rests on gratitude and esteem. Another says the aside looks the other way, at Wickham: it names her old “partiality for Wickham” on the day his worst is known, and sets slow regard against the quick fancies behind Lydia’s flight. The best answers hear the dry wit of “less interesting”, and ask whether the narrator is defending Elizabeth or teasing a reader who wanted love at first sight.

What it asks It asks the student to judge one silence that the two sisters see in opposite ways. Jane’s first letter, written before the worst is known: “How thankful am I, that we never let them know what has been said against him; we must forget it ourselves.” Elizabeth to Darcy: “When I consider,” she added, in a yet more agitated voice, “that _I_ might have prevented it! _I_ who knew what he was. Had I but explained some part of it only--some part of what I learnt, to my own family! Had his character been known, this could not have happened.” And again: “When _my_ eyes were opened to his real character, oh! had I known what I ought, what I dared to do! But I knew not--I was afraid of doing too much. Wretched, wretched mistake!” The chapter also gives Kitty, who knew of the attachment and kept quiet because “it was a matter of confidence”, Colonel Forster’s fear that “W. was not a man to be trusted”, and Elizabeth’s later thought of “The mischief of neglect and mistaken indulgence towards such a girl”. The card does not decide whether Elizabeth’s silence caused the elopement; the chapter gives her self-reproach, not a verdict on it.

One reading

Elizabeth. Lydia went to Brighton among the officers while their father and mother had never been told what Wickham was. Elizabeth says it plainly: had his character been known, this could not have happened. Jane’s thanks belong to the first letter, written while she still hoped his character had been “misunderstood”; by the second, even Colonel Forster distrusts him. On this reading the silence left a girl unguarded, and Elizabeth’s grief is a fair judgment of herself.

• Had his character been known, this could not have happened.
• he feared W. was not a man to be trusted

Another reading

Jane, or nearer to her. The chapter itself shows how little a warning might have done. Kitty knew of the attachment and still said nothing; Lydia, as Elizabeth now sees, “wanted only encouragement to attach herself to anybody”; and alone with her thoughts, Elizabeth feels most sharply the harm of “neglect and mistaken indulgence”, which is no one person’s silence. On this reading Jane’s wish not to spread harm about a man was no fault, and “Wretched, wretched mistake!” is grief speaking, not judgment.

• she was convinced that Lydia had wanted only encouragement to attach herself to anybody
• The mischief of neglect and mistaken indulgence towards such a girl

Listen for

• Notices that Jane writes her thanks in the first letter, before Colonel Forster’s fears reach Longbourn.
• Hears Jane’s “we must forget it ourselves” as a choice about charity, and asks what that choice cost.
• Notices that Elizabeth’s own later thoughts blame “neglect and mistaken indulgence”, and asks how that sits beside “_I_ might have prevented it!”
• Keeps to what the chapter gives: Elizabeth’s self-reproach, not a finding that her silence caused the flight.

If stuck

• What does Jane say about keeping quiet in her first letter?
• What does Elizabeth say to Darcy about her own silence?
• If you know something bad about someone, when should you tell, and when should you keep it to yourself?

A strong answer A strong response might argue that Elizabeth is right to blame the silence, because Lydia went among the officers while their father and mother had never been told what Wickham was, and Elizabeth says herself that “Had his character been known, this could not have happened.” Key evidence to consider includes the timing of Jane’s thanks, written in the first letter while she still hoped his character had been “misunderstood”. The strongest objection is that the chapter offers larger causes: a girl who “wanted only encouragement to attach herself to anybody”, a sister who kept the attachment as “a matter of confidence”, and the “neglect and mistaken indulgence” that Elizabeth herself names. A revised thesis might hold that the silence was a real mistake but only one among several, and that in the first shock Elizabeth takes on herself more than her share of a fault the chapter spreads wider.

What it asks It asks the whole question of the chapter. After Elizabeth’s “Wretched, wretched mistake!”: “Darcy made no answer. He seemed scarcely to hear her, and was walking up and down the room in earnest meditation; his brow contracted, his air gloomy. Elizabeth soon observed, and instantly understood it. Her power was sinking; everything _must_ sink under such a proof of family weakness, such an assurance of the deepest disgrace.” Before this he had met her news with quick help: a cry “with more feeling than politeness”, the servant sent, “A glass of wine; shall I get you one?”, and a “compassionate silence” while she wept. After it he speaks “in a manner which, though it spoke compassion, spoke likewise restraint”: he fears she has “been long desiring my absence”, pleads only “real, though unavailing concern”, wishes that “anything could be either said or done on my part”, promises secrecy, and goes “with only one serious parting look”. The card does not say what Darcy’s silence means, whether he is planning anything or has given Elizabeth up; the chapter shows his pacing, his restraint and one look, and never his thoughts.

One reading

Rightly, or at least fairly. The narration gives her reading its full weight: everything “_must_ sink” under such a disgrace. When Darcy speaks again his manner shows “restraint” as well as compassion; he apologises for staying, mentions the cancelled visit to his sister, and goes. Elizabeth “could neither wonder nor condemn”: she knows what such a disgrace means in her world. On this reading the gloom and the restraint fit together, and her quickness is the quickness of someone who knows the stakes.

• in a manner which, though it spoke compassion, spoke likewise restraint
• only one serious parting look, went away

Another reading

Too fast. Her certainty comes in one word, “instantly”, and her evidence is a frown and a walk. “He seemed scarcely to hear her”: his mind is somewhere, but the narrator does not say where, and “earnest meditation” is thought, not a verdict. Everything he says before and after the silence turns toward her. His gloom could as well be about Lydia, Wickham or the news itself as about her family’s standing. On this reading she reads the silence through her own fear, and the narration, by staying inside her, lets the reader see how little she has to go on.

• Elizabeth soon observed, and instantly understood it.
• walking up and down the room in earnest meditation
• Would to Heaven that anything could be either said or done on my part, that might offer consolation to such distress!

Listen for

• Notices that the narrator gives Darcy’s outside (brow, air, walk) and Elizabeth’s inside, and never Darcy’s thoughts.
• Hears “instantly” and the italic “_must_”, and asks whose certainty they carry.
• Sets his first silence, the “compassionate silence” while she cries, beside the pacing, and asks what has changed between them.
• Does not say what Darcy is thinking or planning, or how things will end between them; the chapter shows only his pacing, his restraint and one look.

If stuck

• What does Darcy do while Elizabeth blames herself?
• What does Elizabeth decide his gloom means, and how quickly?
• When someone goes quiet after hearing bad news from you, how do you know what the quiet means?

A strong answer A strong response might argue that Elizabeth reads the silence too fast, because her evidence is a contracted brow and a walk, and she “instantly understood it” while he has said nothing at all. Key evidence to consider includes everything Darcy says on either side of the silence, from “A glass of wine” to his wish that anything could be “said or done on my part”. The strongest objection is that his manner afterwards “spoke likewise restraint”, that he leaves with one look and his compliments, and that Elizabeth knows what “the deepest disgrace” means in her world. A revised thesis might hold that her reading is reasonable but not proven: the chapter shows Darcy’s gloom only from outside, and her certainty tells us more about her fear, and her own wishes, than about his mind.