“What,is he coming home,and without poor Lydia?”she cried.“Sure he will not leave London before he has found them.Who is to fight Wickham,and make him marry her,if he comes away?”
As Mrs.Gardiner began to wish to be at home,it was settled that she and the children should go to London,at the same time that Mr.Bennet came from it.The coach,therefore,took them the first stage of their journey, and brought its master back to Longbourn.
Mrs.Gardiner went away in all the perplexity about Elizabeth and her Derbyshire friend that had attended her from that part of the world.His name had never been voluntarily mentioned before them by her niece;and the kind of half-expectation which Mrs. Gardiner had formed, of their being followed by a letter from him,had ended in nothing.Elizabeth had received none since her return that could come from Pemberley.
The present unhappy state of the family rendered any other excuse for the lowness of her spirits unnecessary; nothing, therefore,could be fairly conjectured from that,though Elizabeth, who was by this time tolerably well acquainted with her own feelings, was perfectly aware that, had she known nothing of Darcy,she could have borne the dread of Lydia's infamy somewhat better.It would have spared her,she thought,one sleepless night out of two.
When Mr. Bennet arrived, he had all the appearance of his usual philosophic composure.He said as little as he had ever been in the habit of saying;made no mention of the business that had taken him away, and it was some time before his daughters had courage to speak of it.
It was not till the afternoon,when he joined them at tea,that Elizabeth ventured to introduce the subject; and then, on her briefly expressing her sorrow for what he must have endured,he replied,“Say nothing of that.Who should suffer but myself? It has been my own doing,and I ought to feel it.”
“You must not be too severe upon yourself,”replied Elizabeth.“You may well warn me against such an evil.Human nature is so prone to fall into it!No,Lizzy,let me once in my life feel how much I have been to blame.I am not afraid of being overpowered by the impression.It will pass away soon enough.”
“Do you suppose them to be in London?”
“Yes;where else can they be so well concealed?”
“And Lydia used to want to go to London,”added Kitty.
“She is happy then,”said her father drily;“and her residence there will probably be of some duration.”
Then after a short silence he continued:
“Lizzy,I bear you no ill-will for being justified in your advice to me last May,which,considering the event,shows some greatness of mind.”
They were interrupted by Miss Bennet,who came to fetch her mother's tea.
“This is a parade,”he cried,“which does one good;it gives such an elegance to misfortune!Another day I will do the same;I will sit in my library,in my nightcap and powdering gown,and give as much trouble as I can;or,perhaps,I may defer it till Kitty runs away.”
“I am not going to run away, papa,”said Kitty fretfully.“If I should ever go to Brighton,I would behave better than Lydia.”
“You go to Brighton. I would not trust you so near it as Eastbourne for fifty pounds!No,Kitty,I have at last learnt to be cautious,and you will feel the effects of it.No officer is ever to enter into my house again,nor even to pass through the village. Balls will be absolutely prohibited,unless you stand up with one of your sisters.And you are never to stir out of doors till you can prove that you have spent ten minutes of every day in a rational manner.”
Kitty,who took all these threats in a serious light,began to cry.
“Well,well,”said he,“do not make yourself unhappy.If you are a good girl for the next ten years,I will take you to a review at the end of them.”
