‘But you-How are you?’cried Elizabeth.‘You look pale.How much you must have gone through!’
Her sister,however,assured her of her being perfectly well;and their conversation,which had been passing while Mr and Mrs Gardiner were engaged with their children,was now put an end to by the approach of the whole party.Jane ran to her uncle and aunt,and welcomed and thanked them both,with alternate smiles and tears.
When they were all in the drawing room,the questions which Elizabeth had already asked were of course repeated by the others,and they soon found that Jane had no intelligence to give.The sanguine hope of good,however,which the benevolence of her heart suggested,had not yet deserted her;she still expected that it would all end well,and that every morning would bring some letter,either from Lydia or her father,to explain their proceedings,and perhaps announce the marriage.
Mrs Bennet,to whose apartment they all repaired,after a few minutes'conversation together,received them exactly as might be expected;with tears and lamentations of regret,invectives against the villainous conduct of Wickham,and complaints of her own sufferings and ill usage;blaming every body but the person to whose ill judging indulgence the errors of her daughter must be principally owing.
‘If I had been able,’said she,‘to carry my point of going to Brighton,with all my family,this would not have happened;but poor dear Lydia had nobody to take care of her.Why did the Forsters ever let her go out of their sight?I am sure there was some great neglect or other on their side,for she is not the kind of girl to do such a thing,if she had been well looked after.I always thought they were very unfit to have the charge of her;but I was over ruled,as I always am.Poor dear child!And now here's Mr Bennet gone away,and I know he will fight Wickham wherever he meets him,and then he will be killed,and what is to become of us all?The Collinses will turn us out,before he is cold in his grave;and if you are not kind to us,brother,I do not know what we shall do.’
They all exclaimed against such terrific ideas;and Mr Gardiner,after general assurances of his affection for her and all her family,told her that he meant to be in London the very next day,and would assist Mr Bennet in every endeavour for recovering Lydia.
‘Do not give way to useless alarm,’added he;‘though it is right to be prepared for the worst,there is no occasion to look on it as certain.It is not quite a week since they left Brighton.In a few days more we may gain some news of them,and till we know that they are not married,and have no design of marrying,do not let us give the matter over as lost.As soon as I get to town,I shall go to my brother and make him come home with me to Gracechurch Street,and then we may consult together as to what is to be done.’
‘Oh!my dear brother,’replied Mrs Bennet,‘that is exactly what I could most wish for.And now do,when you get to town,find them out,wherever they may be;and if they are not married already,make them marry.And as for wedding clothes,do not let them wait for that,but tell Lydia she shall have as much money as she chuses to buy them,after they are married.And,above all things,keep Mr Bennet from fighting.Tell him what a dreadful state I am in,-that I am frightened out of my wits;and have such tremblings,such flutterings all over me,such spasms in my side,and pains in my head,and such beatings at heart,that I can get no rest by night nor by day.And tell my dear Lydia,not to give any directions about her clothes till she has seen me,for she does not know which are the best warehouses.Oh,brother,how kind you are!I know you will contrive it all.’
But Mr Gardiner,though he assured her again of his earnest endeavours in the cause,could not avoid recommending moderation to her,as well in her hopes as her fears;and,after talking with her in this manner till dinner was on table,they left her to vent all her feelings on the housekeeper,who attended in the absence of her daughters.
Though her brother and sister were persuaded that there was no real occasion for such a seclusion from the family,they did not attempt to oppose it,for they knew that she had not prudence enough to hold her tongue before the servants while they waited at table,and judged it better that one only of the household,and the one whom they could most trust,should comprehend all her fears and solicitude on the subject.
In the dining room they were soon joined by Mary and Kitty,who had been too busily engaged in their separate apartments,to make their appearance before.One came from her books,and the other from her toilette.The faces of both,however,were tolerably calm;and no change was visible in either,except that the loss of her favourite sister,or the anger which she had herself incurred in the business,had given something more of fretfulness than usual to the accents of Kitty.As for Mary,she was mistress enough of herself to whisper to Elizabeth,with a countenance of grave reflection,soon after they were seated at table,
‘This is a most unfortunate affair;and will probably be much talked of.But we must stem the tide of malice,and pour into the wounded bosoms of each other the balm of sisterly consolation.’
Then,perceiving in Elizabeth no inclination of replying,she added,‘Unhappy as the event must be for Lydia,we may draw from it this useful lesson:that loss of virtue in a female is irretrievable-that one false step involves her in endless ruin-that her reputation is no less brittle than it is beautiful,-and that she cannot be too much guarded in her behaviour towards the undeserving of the other sex.’
Elizabeth lifted up her eyes in amazement,but was too much oppressed to make any reply.Mary,however,continued to console herself with such kind of moral extractions from the evil before them.
