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Chapter XLI · Pride and Prejudice | Audiobook

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  Speaker 1: Chapter 41 The first week of their return was soon gone.
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  Speaker 1: The second began. It was the last of the regiment's
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  Speaker 1: stay in Meryton, and all the young ladies in the
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  Speaker 1: neighbourhood were drooping apace. The dejection was almost universal. The
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  Speaker 1: elder Miss Bennets alone were still able to eat, drink
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  Speaker 1: and sleep, and pursue the usual course of their employments.
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  Speaker 1: Very frequently were they reproached for this insensibility by Kitty
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  Speaker 1: and Lydia, whose own misery was extreme, and who could
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  Speaker 1: not comprehend such hard-heartedness in any of the family. Good heaven!
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  Speaker 1: What is to become of us? What are we to do?
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  Speaker 1: would they often exclaim in the bitterness of woe. How
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  Speaker 1: can you be smiling so, Lizzy? Their affectionate mother shared
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  Speaker 1: all their grief. She remembered what she had herself endured
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  Speaker 1: on a similar occasion five and twenty years ago. I
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  Speaker 1: am sure, said she, I cried for two days together
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  Speaker 1: when Colonel Miller's regiment went away. I thought I should
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  Speaker 1: have broke my heart. I am sure I shall break mine,
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  Speaker 1: said Lydia. If one could but go to Brighton, observed Mrs. Bennet.
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  Speaker 1: Oh yes, if one could but go to Brighton. but
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  Speaker 1: Papa is so disagreeable. A little sea-bathing would set me
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  Speaker 1: up forever. And my Aunt Phillips is sure it would
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  Speaker 1: do me a great deal of good, added Kitty. Such
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  Speaker 1: were the kind of lamentations resounding perpetually through Longbourn House.
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  Speaker 1: Elizabeth tried to be diverted by them, but all sense
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  Speaker 1: of pleasure was lost in shame. She felt anew the
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  Speaker 1: justice of Mr Darcy's objections. and never had she before
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  Speaker 1: been so much disposed to pardon his interference in the
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  Speaker 1: views of his friend. But the gloom of Lydia's prospect
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  Speaker 1: was shortly cleared away, for she received an invitation from
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  Speaker 1: Mrs Forster, the wife of the Colonel of the Regiment,
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  Speaker 1: to accompany her to Brighton. This invaluable friend was a
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  Speaker 1: very young woman, and very lately married. a resemblance in
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  Speaker 1: good humour and good spirits, had recommended her and Lydia
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  Speaker 1: to each other, and out of their three months' acquaintance
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  Speaker 1: they had been intimate too. The rapture of Lydia on
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  Speaker 1: this occasion, her adoration of Mrs Forster, the delight of
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  Speaker 1: Mrs Bennet, and the mortification of Kitty, are scarcely to
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  Speaker 1: be described. Wholly inattentive to her sister's feelings, Lydia flew
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  Speaker 1: about the house in restless ecstasy, calling for everyone's congratulations,
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  Speaker 1: and laughing and talking with more violence than ever, whilst
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  Speaker 1: the luckless kitty continued in the parlour, repining at her
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  Speaker 1: fate in terms as unreasonable as her accent was peevish.
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  Speaker 1: I cannot see why Mrs Forster should not ask me
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  Speaker 1: as well as Lydia, said she, though I am not
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  Speaker 1: her particular friend. I have just as much right to
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  Speaker 1: be asked as she has, and more too, for I
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  Speaker 1: am two years older. In vain did Elizabeth attempt to
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  Speaker 1: make her reasonable, and Jane to make her resigned. As
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  Speaker 1: for Elizabeth herself, this invitation was so far from exciting
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  Speaker 1: in her, the same feelings as in her mother and Lydia.
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  Speaker 1: that she considered it as the death warrant of all
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  Speaker 1: possibility of common sense for the latter. And detestable as
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  Speaker 1: such a step must make her, were it known, she
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  Speaker 1: could not help secretly advising her father not to let
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  Speaker 1: her go. She represented to him all the improprieties of
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  Speaker 1: Lydia's general behaviour, the little advantage she could derive from
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  Speaker 1: the friendship of such a woman as Mrs Forster. and
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  Speaker 1: the probability of her being yet more imprudent with such
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  Speaker 1: a companion at Brighton, where the temptations must be greater
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  Speaker 1: than at home. He heard her attentively, and then said,
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  Speaker 1: Lydia will never be easy till she has exposed herself
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  Speaker 1: in some public place or other, and we can never
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  Speaker 1: expect her to do it with so little expense or
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  Speaker 1: inconvenience to her family. as under the present circumstances.' If
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  Speaker 1: you were aware,' said Elizabeth,' of the very great disadvantage
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  Speaker 1: to us all,' which must arise from the public notice'
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  Speaker 1: of Lydia's unguarded and imprudent manner,' nay, which has already
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  Speaker 1: arisen from it,' I am sure you would judge differently
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  Speaker 1: in the affair.'' Already arisen,' repeated Mr. Bennet.' What?' Has
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  Speaker 1: she frightened away some of your lovers? Poor little Lizzie.
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  Speaker 1: But do not be cast down. Such squeamish youths as
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  Speaker 1: cannot bear to be connected with a little absurdity are
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  Speaker 1: not worth a regret. Come, let me see the list
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  Speaker 1: of the pitiful fellows who have been kept aloof by
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  Speaker 1: Lydia's folly. Indeed, you are mistaken. I have no such
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  Speaker 1: injuries to resent. It is not of peculiar but of
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  Speaker 1: general evils which I am now complaining. Our importance, our
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  Speaker 1: respectability in the world, must be affected by the wild volatility,
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  Speaker 1: the assurance and disdain of all restraint which mark Lydia's character.
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  Speaker 1: Excuse me, for I must speak plainly. If you, my
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  Speaker 1: dear father, will not take the trouble of checking her
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  Speaker 1: exuberant spirits... and of teaching her that her present pursuits
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  Speaker 1: are not to be the business of her life. She
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  Speaker 1: will soon be beyond the reach of amendment. Her character
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  Speaker 1: will be fixed, and she will, at sixteen, be the
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  Speaker 1: most determined flirt that ever made herself and her family ridiculous.
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  Speaker 1: A flirt, too, in the worst and meanest degree of flirtation,
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  Speaker 1: without any attraction beyond youth and a tolerable person. and,
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  Speaker 1: from the ignorance and emptiness of her mind, wholly unable
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  Speaker 1: to ward off any portion of that universal contempt which
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  Speaker 1: her rage for admiration will excite. In this danger, Kitty
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  Speaker 1: is also comprehended. She will follow wherever Lydia leads, vain, ignorant, idle,
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  Speaker 1: and absolutely uncontrolled. Oh, my dear father! Can you suppose
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  Speaker 1: it possible that they will not be censured and despised
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  Speaker 1: wherever they are known, and that their sisters will not
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  Speaker 1: be often involved in the disgrace? Mr. Bennet saw that
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  Speaker 1: her whole heart was in the subject, and, affectionately taking
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  Speaker 1: her hand, said in reply, Do not make yourself uneasy,
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  Speaker 1: my love. Wherever you and Jane are known, you must
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  Speaker 1: be respected and valued, and you will not appear to
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  Speaker 1: less advantage for having a couple of, or I may say,
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  Speaker 1: three very silly sisters. We shall have no peace at
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  Speaker 1: Longbourn if Lydia does not go to Brighton. Let her
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  Speaker 1: go then. Colonel Forster is a sensible man, and will
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  Speaker 1: keep her out of any real mischief, and she is
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  Speaker 1: luckily too poor to be an object of prey to anybody.
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  Speaker 1: At Brighton. she will be of less importance even as
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  Speaker 1: a common flirt than she has been here. The officers
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  Speaker 1: will find women better worth their notice. Let us hope, therefore,
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  Speaker 1: that her being there may teach her her own insignificance.
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  Speaker 1: At any rate, she cannot grow many degrees worse without
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  Speaker 1: authorising us to lock her up for the rest of
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  Speaker 1: her life. With this answer, Elizabeth was forced to be content,
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  Speaker 1: but her own opinion continued the same, and she left
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  Speaker 1: him disappointed and sorry. It was not in her nature, however,
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  Speaker 1: to increase her vexations by dwelling on them. She was
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  Speaker 1: confident of having performed her duty, and to fret over
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  Speaker 1: unavoidable evils, or augment them by anxiety, was no part
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  Speaker 1: of her disposition. Had Lydia and her mother known the
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  Speaker 1: substance of her conference with her father, their indignation would
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  Speaker 1: hardly have found expression in their united volubility. In Lydia's imagination,
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  Speaker 1: a visit to Brighton comprised every possibility of earthly happiness.
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  Speaker 1: She saw, with the creative eye of fancy, the streets
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  Speaker 1: of that gay bathing place covered with officers. she saw
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  Speaker 1: herself the object of attention to tens and to scores
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  Speaker 1: of them at present unknown. She saw all the glories
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  Speaker 1: of the camp, its tents stretched forth in beauteous uniformity
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  Speaker 1: of lines, crowded with the young and the gay, and
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  Speaker 1: dazzling with scarlet. And to complete the view, she saw
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  Speaker 1: herself seated beneath a tent, tenderly flirting with at least
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  Speaker 1: six officers at once. Had she known that her sister
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  Speaker 1: sought to tear her from such prospects and such realities
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  Speaker 1: as these, what would have been her sensations? They could
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  Speaker 1: have been understood only by her mother, who might have
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  Speaker 1: felt nearly the same. Lydia's going to Brighton was all
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  Speaker 1: that consoled her for the melancholy conviction of her husband's
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  Speaker 1: never intending to go there himself. But they were entirely
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  Speaker 1: ignorant of what had passed and their raptures continued with
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  Speaker 1: little intermission to the very day of Lydia's leaving home.
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  Speaker 1: Elizabeth was now to see Mr Wickham for the last time.
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  Speaker 1: Having been frequently in company with him since her return,
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  Speaker 1: agitation was pretty well over. The agitations of former partiality
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  Speaker 1: entirely so. She had even learnt to detect, in the
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  Speaker 1: very gentleness which had first delighted her, an affectation and
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  Speaker 1: a sameness to disgust and weary. In his present behaviour
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  Speaker 1: to herself, moreover, she had a fresh source of displeasure.
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  Speaker 1: for the inclination he soon testified of renewing those attentions
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  Speaker 1: which had marked the early part of their acquaintance, could
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  Speaker 1: only serve, after what had since passed, to provoke her.
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  Speaker 1: She lost all concern for him in finding herself thus
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  Speaker 1: selected as the object of such idle and frivolous gallantry,
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  Speaker 1: and while she steadily repressed it, could not but feel
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  Speaker 1: the reproof contained in his believing, that however long, and
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  Speaker 1: for whatever cause, his attentions had been withdrawn, her vanity
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  Speaker 1: would be gratified, and her preference secured, at any time,
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  Speaker 1: by their renewal. On the very last day of the
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  Speaker 1: regiment's remaining in Meryton, he dined, with others of the officers,
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  Speaker 1: at Longbourn. and so little was Elizabeth disposed to part
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  Speaker 1: from him in good humour, that, on his making some
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  Speaker 1: inquiry as to the manner in which her time had
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  Speaker 1: passed at Hunsford, she mentioned Colonel Fitzwilliams and Mr Darcy's,
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  Speaker 1: having both spent three weeks at Rosings, and asked him
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  Speaker 1: if he were acquainted with the former. He looked surprised, displeased, alarmed, but,
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  Speaker 1: with a moment's recollection, and a returning smile, replied that
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  Speaker 1: he had formerly seen him often, and after observing that
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  Speaker 1: he was a very gentleman-like man, asked her how she
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  Speaker 1: had liked him. Her answer was warmly in his favour.
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  Speaker 1: With an air of indifference, he soon afterwards added, How
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  Speaker 1: long did you say that he was at Rosings? Nearly
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  Speaker 1: three weeks. And you saw him frequently? Yes, almost every day.
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  Speaker 1: His manners are very different from his cousin's. Yes, very different,
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  Speaker 1: but I think Mr. Darcy improves on acquaintance. Indeed, cried Wickham,
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  Speaker 1: with a look which did not escape her. And pray,
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  Speaker 1: may I ask, but checking himself, he added in a
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  Speaker 1: gayer tone, is it in a dress that he improves?
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  Speaker 1: Has he deigned to add aught of civility to his
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  Speaker 1: ordinary style? For I dare not hope, he continued. in
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  Speaker 1: a lower and more serious tone, that he is improved
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  Speaker 1: in essentials. Oh no, said Elizabeth. In essentials, I believe,
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  Speaker 1: he is very much what he ever was. While she spoke,
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  Speaker 1: Wickham looked as if scarcely knowing whether to rejoice over
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  Speaker 1: her words or to distrust their meaning. There was a
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  Speaker 1: something in her countenance which made him listen with an
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  Speaker 1: apprehensive and anxious attention. while she added, When I said
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  Speaker 1: that he improved on acquaintance, I did not mean that
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  Speaker 1: either his mind or manners were in a state of improvement,
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  Speaker 1: but that, from knowing him better, his disposition was better understood.
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  Speaker 1: Wickham's alarm now appeared in a heightened complexion and agitated look.
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  Speaker 1: For a few minutes he was silent, till, shaking off
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  Speaker 1: his embarrassment, He turned to her again, and said in
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  Speaker 1: the gentlest of accents, You, who so well know my
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  Speaker 1: feelings towards Mr. Darcy, will readily comprehend how sincerely I
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  Speaker 1: must rejoice that he is wise enough to assume even
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  Speaker 1: the appearance of what is right. His pride, in that direction,
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  Speaker 1: may be of service, if not to himself, to many others.
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  Speaker 1: for it must deter him from such foul misconduct as
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  Speaker 1: I have suffered by. I only fear that the sort
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  Speaker 1: of cautiousness to which you, I imagine, have been alluding
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  Speaker 1: is merely adopted on his visits to his aunt, of
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  Speaker 1: whose good opinion and judgment he stands much in awe.
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  Speaker 1: His fear of her has always operated, I know, when
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  Speaker 1: they were together. and a good deal is to be
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  Speaker 1: imputed to his wish of forwarding the match with Mr Borg,
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  Speaker 1: which I am certain he has very much at heart.
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  Speaker 1: Elizabeth could not repress a smile at this, but she
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  Speaker 1: answered only by a slight inclination of the head. She
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  Speaker 1: saw that he wanted to engage her on the old
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  Speaker 1: subject of his grievances, and she was in no humour
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  Speaker 1: to indulge him. The rest of the evening... passed with
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  Speaker 1: the appearance, on his side, of usual cheerfulness, but with
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  Speaker 1: no further attempt to distinguish Elizabeth, and they parted at
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  Speaker 1: last with mutual civility and possibly a mutual desire of
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  Speaker 1: never meeting again. When the party broke up, Lydia returned
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  Speaker 1: with Mrs Forster to Meryton, from whence they were to
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  Speaker 1: set out early the next morning. The separation between her
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  Speaker 1: and her family was rather noisy than pathetic. Kitty was
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  Speaker 1: the only one who shed tears, but she did weep
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  Speaker 1: from vexation and envy. Mrs Bennet was diffuse in her
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  Speaker 1: good wishes for the felicity of her daughter, and impressive
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  Speaker 1: in her injunctions that she would not miss the opportunity
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  Speaker 1: of enjoying herself as much as possible. Advice which there
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  Speaker 1: was every reason to believe, would be attended to, and,
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  Speaker 1: in the clamorous happiness of Lydia herself, in bidding farewell,
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  Speaker 1: the more gentle adieus of her sisters were uttered without
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  Speaker 1: being heard.