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1Mr. Bennet saw that her whole heart was in the subject; and, affectionately taking her hand, said, in reply,-- "Do not
2make yourself uneasy, my love. Wherever you and Jane are known, you must be respected and valued; and you will not
3appear to less advantage for having a couple of--or I may say, three--very silly sisters. We shall have no peace at
4Longbourn if Lydia does not go to Brighton. Let her go, then. Colonel Forster is a sensible man, and will keep her out
5of any real mischief; and she is luckily too poor to be an object of prey to anybody. At Brighton she will be of less
6importance even as a common flirt than she has been here. The officers will find women better worth their notice. Let us
7hope, therefore, that her being there may teach her her own insignificance. At any rate, she cannot grow many degrees
8worse, without authorizing us to lock her up for the rest of her life." With this answer Elizabeth was forced to be
9content; but her own opinion continued the same, and she left him disappointed and sorry. It was not in her nature,
10however, to increase her vexations by dwelling on them. She was confident of having performed her duty; and to fret over
11unavoidable evils, or augment them by anxiety, was no part of her disposition. Had Lydia and her mother known the
12substance of her conference with her father, their indignation would hardly have found expression in their united
13volubility. In Lydia's imagination, a visit to Brighton comprised every possibility of earthly happiness. She saw, with
14the creative eye of fancy, the streets of that gay bathing-place covered with officers. She saw herself the object of
15attention to tens and to scores of them at present unknown. She saw all the glories of the camp: its tents stretched
16forth in beauteous uniformity of lines, crowded with the young and the gay, and dazzling with scarlet; and, to complete
17the view, she saw herself seated beneath a tent, tenderly flirting with at least six officers at once. [Illustration:
18"Tenderly flirting" [Copyright 1894 by George Allen.]] Had she known that her sister sought to tear her from such
19prospects and such realities as these, what would have been her sensations? They could have been understood only by her
20mother, who might have felt nearly the same. Lydia's going to Brighton was all that consoled her for the melancholy
21conviction of her husband's never intending to go there himself. But they were entirely ignorant of what had passed; and
22their raptures continued, with little intermission, to the very day of Lydia's leaving home. Elizabeth was now to see
23Mr. Wickham for the last time. Having been frequently in company with him since her return, agitation was pretty well
24over; the agitations of former partiality entirely so. She had even learnt to detect, in the very gentleness which had
25first delighted her, an affectation and a sameness to disgust and weary. In his present behaviour to herself, moreover,
26she had a fresh source of displeasure; for the inclination he soon testified of renewing those attentions which had
27marked the early part of their acquaintance could only serve, after what had since passed, to provoke her. She lost all
28concern for him in finding herself thus selected as the object of such idle and frivolous gallantry; and while she
29steadily repressed it, could not but feel the reproof contained in his believing, that however long, and for whatever
30cause, his attentions had been withdrawn, her vanity would be gratified, and her preference secured, at any time, by
31their renewal. On the very last day of the regiment's remaining in Meryton, he dined, with others of the officers, at
32Longbourn; and so little was Elizabeth disposed to part from him in good-humour, that, on his making some inquiry as to
33the manner in which her time had passed at Hunsford, she mentioned Colonel Fitzwilliam's and Mr. Darcy's having both
34spent three weeks at Rosings, and asked him if he were acquainted with the former. He looked surprised, displeased,
35alarmed; but, with a moment's recollection, and a returning smile, replied, that he had formerly seen him often; and,
36after observing that he was a very gentlemanlike man, asked her how she had liked him. Her answer was warmly in his
37favour. With an air of indifference, he soon afterwards added, "How long did you say that he was at Rosings?" "Nearly
38three weeks." "And you saw him frequently?" "Yes, almost every day." "His manners are very different from his cousin's."
39"Yes, very different; but I think Mr. Darcy improves on acquaintance." "Indeed!" cried Wickham, with a look which did
40not escape her. "And pray may I ask--" but checking himself, he added, in a gayer tone, "Is it in address that he
41improves? Has he deigned to add aught of civility to his ordinary style? for I dare not hope," he continued, in a lower
42and more serious tone, "that he is improved in essentials." "Oh, no!" said Elizabeth. "In essentials, I believe, he is
43very much what he ever was." While she spoke, Wickham looked as if scarcely knowing whether to rejoice over her words or
44to distrust their meaning. There was a something in her countenance which made him listen with an apprehensive and
45anxious attention, while she added,-- "When I said that he improved on acquaintance, I did not mean that either his mind
46or manners were in a state of improvement; but that, from knowing him better, his disposition was better understood."
47Wickham's alarm now appeared in a heightened complexion and agitated look; for a few minutes he was silent; till,
48shaking off his embarrassment, he turned to her again, and said in the gentlest of accents,-- "You, who so well know my
49feelings towards Mr. Darcy, will readily comprehend how sincerely I must rejoice that he is wise enough to assume even
50the appearance of what is right. His pride, in that direction, may be of service, if not to himself, to many others, for
51it must deter him from such foul misconduct as I have suffered by. I only fear that the sort of cautiousness to which
52you, I imagine, have been alluding, is merely adopted on his visits to his aunt, of whose good opinion and judgment he
53stands much in awe. His fear of her has always operated, I know, when they were together; and a good deal is to be
54imputed to his wish of forwarding the match with Miss de Bourgh, which I am certain he has very much at heart."
55Elizabeth could not repress a smile at this, but she answered only by a slight inclination of the head. She saw that he
56wanted to engage her on the old subject of his grievances, and she was in no humour to indulge him. The rest of the
57evening passed with the appearance, on his side, of usual cheerfulness, but with no further attempt to distinguish
58Elizabeth; and they parted at last with mutual civility, and possibly a mutual desire of never meeting again. When the
59party broke up, Lydia returned with Mrs. Forster to Meryton, from whence they were to set out early the next morning.
60The separation between her and her family was rather noisy than pathetic. Kitty was the only one who shed tears; but she
61did weep from vexation and envy. Mrs. Bennet was diffuse in her good wishes for the felicity of her daughter, and
62impressive in her injunctions that she would not miss the opportunity of enjoying herself as much as possible,--advice
63which there was every reason to believe would be attended to; and, in the clamorous happiness of Lydia herself in
64bidding farewell, the more gentle adieus of her sisters were uttered without being heard. [Illustration: The arrival of
65the Gardiners ] CHAPTER XLII. [Illustration]
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