On the way home you argue hope against knowledge, and arrival shows every character's crisis style at once. Leaving Lambton, Mr. Gardiner leans toward Jane's hope that Wickham will still marry Lydia privately in London rather than ruin her outright; Elizabeth, who knows his character, counters with the hackney-coach change, the empty Barnet road, Denny's doubt that he ever meant Gretna Green, and her father's indolence as encouragement to expect no family protest. For a moment she brightens at her uncle's optimism, then returns to dread.
On the road she tells Mrs. Gardiner what she and Jane have long known: Wickham's lies about Darcy and the whole Pemberley family, his profligacy, Georgiana's true sweetness, and why they never made the truth public when the regiment was leaving or when Lydia went to Brighton. Self-reproach fixes on the journey; she can find no interval of ease or forgetfulness.
They reach Longbourn by dinner the next day. Jane has no news yet but still hopes each morning may bring a letter announcing marriage; Mr. Bennet is in London with one brief letter; Mrs. Bennet is upstairs in hysterics blaming the Forsters, fearing duels, and ordering Mr. Gardiner to make them marry and supply wedding clothes. Mr. Gardiner promises to go to town tomorrow and bring Mr. Bennet to Gracechurch Street to consult. Mary whispers platitudes about irretrievable female virtue; Elizabeth cannot reply. Elizabeth rejects neighbourly condolence as insufferable while fearing the servants already know too much.
Alone with Jane she learns Colonel Forster saw no alarm before the flight, Denny may have been misunderstood, and Kitty knew of Lydia's attachment for weeks. They read Lydia's giddy note to Mrs. Forster: Gretna Green, signing herself Lydia Wickham, a joke that proves she was serious though Wickham may not have been. Elizabeth cries that had they been less secret this might not have happened; Jane allows it might have been better. Jane describes their father's ten-minute silence and his plan to trace the hackney coach from Clapham; Elizabeth sees the note shows no scheme of infamy on Lydia's side, only thoughtless gaiety, and blames herself again for keeping Wickham's character private when warning might have spared the family.
Coming Up in Chapter 48
The morning post brings no letter from Mr. Bennet, so Mr. Gardiner leaves for London while Longbourn waits through each empty delivery. Collins will write his grotesque condolence, Gardiner will report Wickham's gaming debts, and Mr. Bennet will come home admitting the disaster is his own doing.
