Austen's people are forever writing, and letters do much of the novel's work, carrying news, feeling, and judgement across the distances that separate them. Caroline Bingley's letters to Jane are the first to matter, all warmth on the surface and cold purpose beneath, and through them more is revealed of the writer than she means.
Chapter XXXV
Mr. Darcy's long letter to Elizabeth is the hinge of the book, answering her charges and overturning what she believed she knew.
Chapter XLVI
Jane's two hurried letters, one of them delayed in the post, bring Elizabeth the alarm of Lydia's flight while she is far away in Derbyshire.
Chapter LII
Mrs. Gardiner's full and frank letter answers Elizabeth's questions and lays bare who really arranged the marriage that saved the family.
This entry is sealed. You have not yet read far enough to open it.
