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1She was now, on being settled at home, at leisure to observe the real state of her sister's spirits. Jane was not happy.
2She still cherished a very tender affection for Bingley. Having never even fancied herself in love before, her regard
3had all the warmth of first attachment, and from her age and disposition, greater steadiness than first attachments
4often boast; and so fervently did she value his remembrance, and prefer him to every other man, that all her good sense,
5and all her attention to the feelings of her friends, were requisite to check the indulgence of those regrets which must
6have been injurious to her own health and their tranquillity. "Well, Lizzy," said Mrs. Bennet, one day, "what is your
7opinion now of this sad business of Jane's? For my part, I am determined never to speak of it again to anybody. I told
8my sister Philips so the other day. But I cannot find out that Jane saw anything of him in London. Well, he is a very
9undeserving young man--and I do not suppose there is the least chance in the world of her ever getting him now. There is
10no talk of his coming to Netherfield again in the summer; and I have inquired of everybody, too, who is likely to know."
11[Illustration: "I am determined never to speak of it again" ] "I do not believe that he will ever live at Netherfield
12any more." "Oh, well! it is just as he chooses. Nobody wants him to come; though I shall always say that he used my
13daughter extremely ill; and, if I was her, I would not have put up with it. Well, my comfort is, I am sure Jane will die
14of a broken heart, and then he will be sorry for what he has done." But as Elizabeth could not receive comfort from any
15such expectation she made no answer. "Well, Lizzy," continued her mother, soon afterwards, "and so the Collinses live
16very comfortable, do they? Well, well, I only hope it will last. And what sort of table do they keep? Charlotte is an
17excellent manager, I dare say. If she is half as sharp as her mother, she is saving enough. There is nothing extravagant
18in their housekeeping, I dare say." "No, nothing at all." "A great deal of good management, depend upon it. Yes, yes.
19They will take care not to outrun their income. They will never be distressed for money. Well, much good may it do them!
20And so, I suppose, they often talk of having Longbourn when your father is dead. They look upon it quite as their own, I
21dare say, whenever that happens." "It was a subject which they could not mention before me." "No; it would have been
22strange if they had. But I make no doubt they often talk of it between themselves. Well, if they can be easy with an
23estate that is not lawfully their own, so much the better. I should be ashamed of having one that was only entailed on
24me." [Illustration: "When Colonel Miller's regiment went away" [Copyright 1894 by George Allen.]] CHAPTER XLI.
25[Illustration] The first week of their return was soon gone. The second began. It was the last of the regiment's stay in
26Meryton, and all the young ladies in the neighbourhood were drooping apace. The dejection was almost universal. The
27elder Miss Bennets alone were still able to eat, drink, and sleep, and pursue the usual course of their employments.
28Very frequently were they reproached for this insensibility by Kitty and Lydia, whose own misery was extreme, and who
29could not comprehend such hard-heartedness in any of the family. "Good Heaven! What is to become of us? What are we to
30do?" would they often exclaim in the bitterness of woe. "How can you be smiling so, Lizzy?" Their affectionate mother
31shared all their grief; she remembered what she had herself endured on a similar occasion five-and-twenty years ago. "I
32am sure," said she, "I cried for two days together when Colonel Miller's regiment went away. I thought I should have
33broke my heart." "I am sure I shall break mine," said Lydia. "If one could but go to Brighton!" observed Mrs. Bennet.
34"Oh yes!--if one could but go to Brighton! But papa is so disagreeable." "A little sea-bathing would set me up for
35ever." "And my aunt Philips is sure it would do me a great deal of good," added Kitty. Such were the kind of
36lamentations resounding perpetually through Longbourn House. Elizabeth tried to be diverted by them; but all sense of
37pleasure was lost in shame. She felt anew the justice of Mr. Darcy's objections; and never had she before been so much
38disposed to pardon his interference in the views of his friend. But the gloom of Lydia's prospect was shortly cleared
39away; for she received an invitation from Mrs. Forster, the wife of the colonel of the regiment, to accompany her to
40Brighton. This invaluable friend was a very young woman, and very lately married. A resemblance in good-humour and good
41spirits had recommended her and Lydia to each other, and out of their three months' acquaintance they had been intimate
42two. The rapture of Lydia on this occasion, her adoration of Mrs. Forster, the delight of Mrs. Bennet, and the
43mortification of Kitty, are scarcely to be described. Wholly inattentive to her sister's feelings, Lydia flew about the
44house in restless ecstasy, calling for everyone's congratulations, and laughing and talking with more violence than
45ever; whilst the luckless Kitty continued in the parlour repining at her fate in terms as unreasonable as her accent was
46peevish. "I cannot see why Mrs. Forster should not ask me as well as Lydia," said she, "though I am not her particular
47friend. I have just as much right to be asked as she has, and more too, for I am two years older." In vain did Elizabeth
48attempt to make her reasonable, and Jane to make her resigned. As for Elizabeth herself, this invitation was so far from
49exciting in her the same feelings as in her mother and Lydia, that she considered it as the death-warrant of all
50possibility of common sense for the latter; and detestable as such a step must make her, were it known, she could not
51help secretly advising her father not to let her go. She represented to him all the improprieties of Lydia's general
52behaviour, the little advantage she could derive from the friendship of such a woman as Mrs. Forster, and the
53probability of her being yet more imprudent with such a companion at Brighton, where the temptations must be greater
54than at home. He heard her attentively, and then said,-- "Lydia will never be easy till she has exposed herself in some
55public place or other, and we can never expect her to do it with so little expense or inconvenience to her family as
56under the present circumstances." "If you were aware," said Elizabeth, "of the very great disadvantage to us all, which
57must arise from the public notice of Lydia's unguarded and imprudent manner, nay, which has already arisen from it, I am
58sure you would judge differently in the affair." "Already arisen!" repeated Mr. Bennet. "What! has she frightened away
59some of your lovers? Poor little Lizzy! But do not be cast down. Such squeamish youths as cannot bear to be connected
60with a little absurdity are not worth a regret. Come, let me see the list of the pitiful fellows who have been kept
61aloof by Lydia's folly." "Indeed, you are mistaken. I have no such injuries to resent. It is not of peculiar, but of
62general evils, which I am now complaining. Our importance, our respectability in the world, must be affected by the wild
63volatility, the assurance and disdain of all restraint which mark Lydia's character. Excuse me,--for I must speak
64plainly. If you, my dear father, will not take the trouble of checking her exuberant spirits, and of teaching her that
65her present pursuits are not to be the business of her life, she will soon be beyond the reach of amendment. Her
66character will be fixed; and she will, at sixteen, be the most determined flirt that ever made herself and her family
67ridiculous;--a flirt, too, in the worst and meanest degree of flirtation; without any attraction beyond youth and a
68tolerable person; and, from the ignorance and emptiness of her mind, wholly unable to ward off any portion of that
69universal contempt which her rage for admiration will excite. In this danger Kitty is also comprehended. She will follow
70wherever Lydia leads. Vain, ignorant, idle, and absolutely uncontrolled! Oh, my dear father, can you suppose it possible
71that they will not be censured and despised wherever they are known, and that their sisters will not be often involved
72in the disgrace?"
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