Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 45

During the second week in May the three young ladies set out together from Tennessee Street, first to the Hertfordshire town of such-and-such; They saw Kitty and Lydia looking out of the dining room upstairs when they were in an inn there, which showed that the coachman was punctual.The two girls had been here for more than an hour, happily visiting the hat shop across the way, watching the sentinels, and making some courgette salad.

Having welcomed their two older sisters, they triumphantly laid out a table of the usual cold dishes in an inn, and exclaimed: "How about these dishes? You haven't thought of them, have you? "

"We both wanted to treat you to dinner," said Lydia, "but first you must lend us the money, as we have just spent all we had with us in the shop across the way." Pulled out his purchases, "Look, I bought this hat. I don't think it's pretty; I just want to buy one. I'll take it apart and make it up again when I get back, and see if I can compare It's better now."

The sisters said it was ugly, but she said indifferently: "Oh! There are two or three worse hats in that shop. I'll buy some satin of a nice color and redecorate it. I think that's enough. And besides, it doesn't matter much how our girls dress this summer, since our county vigilantes are leaving Meryton in a fortnight."

"Is that so?" cried Elizabeth, feeling a great relief.

"They're going up to Brighton; I'd love to get Papa to take us there for the summer! It'll be a nice arrangement, and probably not too much. Mum would love to go too! Otherwise, What a miserable summer we're going to have!"

"Yes," thought Elizabeth, "that's a very good arrangement, and it's going to show us right away. My God! How can we bear Brighton and his whole battalion of officers and men! It's just Merry A little militia in the village and a couple of dances a month have got us all screwed up."

"Hey, now I have a piece of news for you," Lydia said when they sat down at the table, "and guess what? It's a very good piece of news that we all like one person."

Jane and Elizabeth looked at each other, and told the waiter to leave.Lydia smiled and said:
"Oh, you are so cautious and polite. You think you must not let this waiter listen, as if he cares about the news! I dare say, what he usually hears is much uglier than what I have here. But he's so ugly! I don't care if he goes away, I've never seen him with such a chin in my life. Well, now I'll tell my news: it's about dear Wickham; so Good news shouldn't be a waiter, is it? There's no danger here of Wickham marrying Miss King. This is your turn! Miss King has gone to live with her uncle in Liverpool. Wickham is now safe."

"Miss King is safe too!" Elizabeth added, "out of a reckless marriage just for money."

"If she likes him, she'd be foolish to walk away."

"I hope neither of them has a deep relationship yet," Jane said.

"I'm sure not on his part. I'm sure he never cared about her. Who would care for such an annoying little thing with freckles?"

Elizabeth was startled at the thought that, though she would never have uttered such a rude word herself, the idea of ​​it had been frequently entertained in her mind.

Dinner was over, and my sister paid, and the carriage was ready; and after some arrangement, all, with their trunks, sewing-kits, and parcels, not even Kitty's and Lydia's fresh purchases, were not allowed. The welcome little things are all in the car.

"How nice it is for us all to squeeze together!" cried Lydia, "and I'm so glad I bought that hat for nothing but the fun of cramming a little more for an extra box! Say, Let us all snuggle together and talk and laugh all the way home. First, let us hear what has happened to you since you left home. Have you ever met a man you like? You and them Flirting? I was hoping with all my heart that when you came back this time, one of you had found a husband. Jane would be an old girl soon, I daresay. She was twenty-three! My God, if I Unmarried at twenty-three, I'd die of shame! Aunt Philip told you to hurry up and get a husband, you don't think so. She said Lizzy might as well have found Mr. Collins; but I don't think it would be much Interesting. Goodness! I wish I could get married before you guys, so I can take you to all kinds of dances.

Ouch!We just had fun that day at Colonel Foster's.Kitty and I were going to be there all day that day, and Mrs. Forster promised a little dance in the evening; oh, Mrs. Forster and I are very good friends!She had two of the Harringtons to attend, but Harriet was ill, so Miss Pace had to come by herself; and guess what we say?We dressed Chamberlain in women's clothes and made him a woman, so much fun to think of!No one but the Colonel, Mrs. Forster, Kitty and I, and my aunt, who only found out when we had to ask her for clothes; you can't imagine him wearing a woman What a handsome dress!When Danny, Wickham, Pratt, and two or three other men came in, they didn't recognize him at all.God!I'm laughing so hard I can't help but laugh!So did Mrs. First.I could hardly breathe from laughing.This aroused the suspicions of the men, and it was not long before they discovered what was the matter. "

Lydia entertained everyone all the way, with such party stories and other jokes, and Kitty's gags.Elizabeth tried not to listen to it, but the frequent mention of Wickham's name kept coming to her ears.

They received the warmest welcome at home.Mrs. Bennet was exceedingly pleased to see Jane's beauty undiminished; and Mr. Bennet, several times at dinner, could not help saying to Elizabeth:

"I'm so glad you're back, Lizzy."

There were quite a lot of people eating in the dining room, because almost all the Lucas family came to see Maria and inquire about news: they had all kinds of questions to ask; Mrs. Lucas was asking Maria across the table about her The daughter is living well, and there are not many chickens and ducks; Mrs. Bennet is busy at both ends. She asked Jane, who was sitting on her side, about the current fashion in London, and then hurriedly told them to the one sitting on her side. the little Lucas girls; Lydia, louder than anyone else, was telling the delights of the morning to anyone who would listen.

"Oh, Mary," said she, "if you would come with us, we had a good time! Kitty and I drew down the curtains on our way, and pretended no one was in the car; If Jane hadn't been motion-sick afterwards, which we would have been all the way; and when we got to George's, I thought we did pretty well too, for we served the three of them with the best cold cuts in the world; if you went too , of course we'll entertain you too. It's even more fun when we get back! I didn't think there would be room for us in such a car. I was dying laughing. And then our fun on the way home! We speak loudly, laugh heartily, and people can hear us ten miles away!"

To this, Mary replied very seriously: "My dear sisters, I did not mean to disappoint you on purpose. These pleasures must suit the taste of ordinary girls. But frankly speaking, they are It doesn't appeal to me in the slightest. I think reading is much more interesting than that."

However, Lydia did not hear this answer.She hardly listened to anyone for half a minute, and she never heard anything from Mary.

By the afternoon Lydia and the other girls were anxious to go up to Meryton to see their friends there; but Elizabeth was firmly opposed to the plan.She would not hear any other gossip that the Bennet girls had been chasing the officers within half a day of their return.There was another reason for her objection. She dreaded seeing Wickham again, and resolved to avoid seeing him as much as possible, and the news of the imminent march of the regiment was a great comfort to her.They were going away in a fortnight, and once they were gone she hoped she would not be tortured again by Wickham.

It was not long after her arrival that she found that the project of the visit to Brighton which Lydia had mentioned at the inn was frequently talked of among her parents.Elizabeth saw at a glance that her father had no intention of giving in, but his answers were at the same time vague, so that her mother, despite several setbacks, never gave up hope of success.

(End of this chapter)