第86章[第1頁/共5頁]

“Already arisen?”repeated Mr. Bennet.“What, has she frightened away some of your lovers? Poor little Lizzy! But do not be cast down. Such squeamish youths as cannot bear to be connected with a little absurdity are not worth a regret.Come, let me see the list of pitiful fellows who have been kept aloof by Lydia's folly.”

“Lydia will never be easy until she has exposed herself in some public place or other,and we can never expect her to do it with so little expense or inconvenience to her family as under the present circumstances.”

Such were the kind of lamentations resounding perpetually through Longbourn House. Elizabeth tried to be diverted by them;but all sense of pleasure was lost in shame.She felt anew the justice of Mr. Darcy's objections; and never had she been so much disposed to pardon his interference in the views of his friend.

But the gloom of Lydia's prospect was shortly cleared away;for she received an invitation from Mrs. Forster, the wife of the colonel of the regiment, to accompany her to Brighton. This invaluable friend was a very young woman, and very lately married.A resemblance in good humour and good spirits had recommended her and Lydia to each other,and out of their three months' acquaintance they had been intimate two.