Chapter XXV — Pride and Prejudice

Holiday visits compress grief, family blame, and flirtation into one noisy house. Collins leaves after a week with Charlotte, planning a swift return and wedding. The Gardiners arrive for Christmas: sensible Mr. Gardiner and amiable Mrs. Gardiner, especially close to Jane and Elizabeth.

Mrs. Bennet complains of being ill-used: two daughters nearly married and nothing gained. She blames Lizzy's perverseness for refusing Collins while Charlotte will marry first and the entail stands unchanged. Mrs. Gardiner gives a slight answer and turns the talk. Alone with Elizabeth, she regrets Jane's lost match and suggests young men like Bingley forget easily when accident separates them.

Elizabeth insists they do not suffer by accident and jokes that general incivility is the essence of love. Mrs. Gardiner invites Jane to London for change of scene; Elizabeth mocks the idea Bingley could call in Gracechurch Street while in Darcy's custody, though secretly she does not consider Jane's case entirely hopeless. The Gardiners stay a week of constant engagements; Wickham is always among the officers. Mrs. Gardiner sees their mutual preference and resolves to warn Elizabeth, while Wickham's Derbyshire talk delights her until she recalls young Fitzwilliam Darcy as a very proud, ill-natured boy.