The first week of their return was soon gone. The second began. It was the last of the regiment's stay in Meryton, and all the young ladies in the neighbourhood were drooping apace. The dejection was almost universal. The elder Miss Bennets alone were still able to eat, drink, and sleep, and pursue the usual course of their employments. Very frequently were they reproached for this insensibility by Kitty and Lydia, whose own misery was extreme, and who could not comprehend such hard-heartedness in any of the family.
"Good Heaven! What is to become of us! What are we to do!" would they often exclaim in the bitterness of woe. "How can you be smiling so, Lizzy?"
Their affectionate mother shared all their grief; she remembered what she had herself endured on a similar occasion, five and twenty years ago.
"I am sure," said she, "I cried for two days together when Colonel Millar's regiment went away. I thought I should have broke my heart."
"I am sure I shall break mine," said Lydia.
"If one could but go to Brighton!" observed Mrs. Bennet.
"Oh, yes! -- if one could but go to Brighton! But papa is so disagreeable."
"A little sea-bathing would set me up for ever."
"And my aunt Philips is sure it would do me a great deal of good," added Kitty.
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 before 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.
The rapture of Lydia on this occasion, her adoration of Mrs. Forster, the delight of Mrs. Bennet, and the mortification of Kitty, are scarcely to be described. Wholly inattentive to her sister's feelings, Lydia flew about the house in restless ecstacy, calling for everyone's congratulations, and laughing and talking with more violence than ever; whilst the luckless Kitty continued in the parlour repining at her fate in terms as unreasonable as her accent was peevish.
"I cannot see why Mrs. Forster should not ask me as well as Lydia," said she, "though I am not her particular friend. I have just as much right to be asked as she has, and more too, for I am two years older."
In vain did Elizabeth attempt to reasonable, and Jane to make her resigned. As for Elizabeth herself, this invitation was so far from exciting in her the same feelings as in her mother and Lydia, that she considered it as the death-warrant of all possibility of common sense for the latter; and detestable as such a step must make her were it known, she could not help secretly advising her father not to let her go. She represented to him all the improprieties of Lydia's general behaviour, the little advantage she could derive from the friendship of such a woman as Mrs. Forster, and the probability of her being yet more imprudent with such a companion at Brighton, where the temptations must be greater than at home. He heard her attentively, and then said,
"Lydia will never be easy till 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."
"If you were aware," said Elizabeth, "of the very great disadvantage to us all, which must arise from the public notice of Lydia's unguarded and imprudent manner; nay, which has already arisen from it, I am sure you would judge differently in the affair."
"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 the pitiful fellows who have been kept aloof by Lydia's folly."
"Indeed you are mistaken. I have no such injuries to resent, It is not of peculiar, but of general evils, which I am now complaining. Our importance, our respectability in the world, must be affected by the wild volatility, the assurance and disdain of all restraint which mark Lydia's character. Excuse me -- for I must speak plainly. If you, my dear father, will not take the trouble of checking her exuberant spirits, and of teaching her that her present pursuits are not to be the business of her life, she will soon be beyond the reach of amendment. Her character will be fixed, and she will, at sixteen, be the most determined flirt that ever made herself and her family ridiculous. A flirt, too, in the worst and meanest degree of flirtation; without any attraction beyond youth and a tolerable person; and from the ignorance and emptiness of her mind, wholly unable to ward off any portion of that universal contempt which her rage for admiration will excite. In this danger Kitty is also comprehended. She will follow wherever Lydia leads. -- Vain, ignorant, idle, and absolutely uncontrolled! Oh! my dear father, can you suppose it possible that they will not be censured and despised wherever they are known, and that their sisters will not be often involved in the disgrace?"
Mr. Bennet saw that her whole heart was in the subject; and affectionately taking her hand, said in reply,
"Do not make yourself uneasy, my love. Wherever you and Jane are known, you must be respected and valued; and you will not appear to less advantage for having a couple of -- or I may say, three -- very silly sisters. We shall have no peace at Longbourn if Lydia does not go to Brighton. Let her go then. Colonel Forster is a sensible man, and will keep her out of any real mischief; and she is luckily too poor to be an object of prey to any body. At Brighton she will be of less importance, even as a common flirt, than she has been here. The officers will find women better worth their notice. Let us hope, therefore, that her being there may teach her her own insignificance. At any rate, she cannot grow many degrees worse without authorizing us to lock her up for the rest of her life."
With this answer Elizabeth was forced to be content; but her own opinion continued the same, and she left him disappointed and sorry. It was not in her nature, however, to increase her vexations by dwelling on them. She was confident of having performed her duty, and to fret over unavoidable evils, or augment them by anxiety, was no part of her disposition.
Had Lydia and her mother known the substance of her conference with her father, their indignation would hardly have found expression in their united volubility. In Lydia's imagination, a visit to Brighton comprised every possibility of earthly happiness. She saw, with the creative eye of fancy, the streets of that gay bathing place covered with officers. She saw herself the object of attention to tens and to scores of them at present unknown. She saw all the glories of the camp; its tents stretched forth in beauteous uniformity of lines, crowded with the young and the gay, and dazzling with scarlet; and to complete the view, she saw herself seated beneath a tent, tenderly flirting with at least six officers at once.
Had she known that her sister sought to tear her from such prospects and such realities as these, what would have been her sensations? They could have been understood only by her mother, who might have felt nearly the same. Lydia's going to Brighton was all that consoled her for the melancholy conviction of her husband's never intending to go there himself.
But they were entirely ignorant of what had passed; and their raptures continued, with little intermission, to the very day of Lydia's leaving home.
Elizabeth was now to see Mr. Wickham for the last time. Having been frequently in company with him since her return, agitation was pretty well over; the agitations of former partiality entirely so. She had even learnt to detect, in the very gentleness which had first delighted her, an affectation and a sameness to disgust and weary. In his present behaviour to herself, moreover, she had a fresh source of displeasure, for the inclination he soon testified of renewing those attentions which had marked the early part of their acquaintance could only serve, after what had since passed, to provoke her. She lost all concern for him in finding herself thus selected as the object of such idle and frivolous gallantry; and while she steadily repressed it, could not but feel the reproof contained in his believing that, however long, and for whatever cause, his attentions had been withdrawn, her vanity would be gratified and her preference secured at any time by their renewal.
On the very last day of the regiment's remaining in Meryton, he dined with others of the officers at Longbourn; and so little was Elizabeth disposed to part from him in good humour, that on his making some enquiry as to the manner in which her time had passed at Hunsford, she mentioned Colonel Fitzwilliam's and Mr. Darcy's having both spent three weeks at Rosings, and asked him if he were acquainted with the former.
He looked surprised, displeased, alarmed; but with a moment's recollection and a returning smile, replied that he had formerly seen him often; and after observing that he was a very gentlemanlike man, asked her how she had liked him. Her answer was warmly in his favour. With an air of indifference he soon afterwards added, "How long did you say that he was at Rosings?"
"Nearly three weeks."
"And you saw him frequently?"
"Yes, almost every day."
"His manners are very different from his cousin's."
"Yes, very different. But I think Mr. Darcy improves on acquaintance."
"Indeed!" cried Wickham with a look which did not escape her. "And pray may I ask -- ?" but checking himself, he added in a gayer tone, "Is it in address that he improves? Has he deigned to add ought of civility to his ordinary style? for I dare not hope," he continued in a lower and more serious tone, "that he is improved in essentials."
"Oh, no!" said Elizabeth. "In essentials, I believe, he is very much what he ever was."
While she spoke, Wickham looked as if scarcely knowing whether to rejoice over her words, or to distrust their meaning. There was a something in her countenance which made him listen with an apprehensive and anxious attention, while she added,
"When I said that he improved on acquaintance, I did not mean that either his mind or manners were in a state of improvement, but that from knowing him better, his disposition was better understood."
Wickham's alarm now appeared in a heightened complexion and agitated look; for a few minutes he was silent; till, shaking off his embarrassment, he turned to her again, and said in the gentlest of accents,
"You, who so well know my feelings towards Mr. Darcy, will readily comprehend how sincerely I must rejoice that he is wise enough to assume even the appearance of what is right. His pride, in that direction, may be of service, if not to himself, to many others, for it must deter him from such foul misconduct as I have suffered by. I only fear that the sort of cautiousness, to which you, I imagine, have been alluding, is merely adopted on his visits to his aunt, of whose good opinion and judgment he stands much in awe. His fear of her has always operated, I know, when they were together; and a good deal is to be imputed to his wish of forwarding the match with Miss De Bourgh, which I am certain he has very much at heart."
Elizabeth could not repress a smile at this, but she answered only by a slight inclination of the head. She saw that he wanted to engage her on the old subject of his grievances, and she was in no humour to indulge him. The rest of the evening passed with the appearance, on his side, of usual cheerfulness, but with no farther attempt to distinguish Elizabeth; and they parted at last with mutual civility, and possibly a mutual desire of never meeting again.
When the party broke up, Lydia returned with Mrs. Forster to Meryton, from whence they were to set out early the next morning. The separation between her and her family was rather noisy than pathetic. Kitty was the only one who shed tears; but she did weep from vexation and envy. Mrs. Bennet was diffuse in her good wishes for the felicity of her daughter, and impressive in her injunctions that she would not miss the opportunity of enjoying herself as much as possible; advice, which there was every reason to believe would be attended to; and in the clamorous happiness of Lydia herself in bidding farewell, the more gentle adieus of her sisters were uttered without being heard.
--正文
回来的第一周，很快就过去了，接下来的第二周，是梅屯的民兵团待在这儿的最后一周，周围所有的姑娘们都垂头丧气，几乎每个姑娘都是这样。只有本内特家岁数大点的姑娘还能吃得下去，喝得下去，也能睡得着，正常过日子。她们也因为无动于衷而被凯蒂和莉迪亚频繁责备，她们无疑遭受了极端的痛苦，而且无法理解一家人的铁石心肠。
“老天爷！这下我们会怎么样？我们该做点什么？”她们经常苦恼地控诉，“利兹，你怎么还能笑眯眯的？”
她们那感情丰富的母亲也一样悲痛。她想起了二十五年前，她也曾遭遇过这样的情景。
“我确定，”她说，“米勒上校的部队走的时候，我哭了整整有两天。我当时都心碎了。”
“我肯定是心碎了。”莉迪亚说。
“要是能去布莱顿就好了。”本内特太太打量着说。（翻译官：这个民兵团就是要去布莱顿）
“对哦！要是能去布莱顿就好了。但是爸爸不同意。”
“洗点海水澡我就身心舒畅了。”
“菲利普舅妈也说了，洗海水澡对我可有不少好处。”凯蒂补充说。
本内特一家的屋里一直回响着这些失望的声音。伊丽莎白试图分心不要想它，可是还是在羞愧中失去了所有的乐趣。她再次感觉到了达西的指责不无道理，而此时她从没有像现在这样，愿意原谅之前他插手宾利的事情。
但是莉迪亚的失望很快就消失干净了。因为福斯特夫人，民兵团上校的夫人，邀请了莉迪亚陪同她去布莱顿。这位价值千金的朋友是个年轻的夫人，最近才结婚。因为她们两人脾气相投，都很有活力，所以才玩到了一起。认识了三个月，她们俩已经亲密无间了。
此刻莉迪亚的狂喜之情，对福斯特夫人的喜爱，本内特太太的欣慰神情，还有凯蒂的屈辱感，无法都一一说明。莉迪亚完全无视小妹妹的感情，欣喜若狂地在屋里走来走去，叫别人道喜，比以往更疯癫得又笑又叫，而没那么幸运的凯蒂只能坐在走廊里唉声叹气。
“我真不懂为什么福斯特夫人不叫我跟莉迪亚一起去，”她说，“尽管我跟她关系没那么好。但是我有同样的权利被邀请一起去，甚至更应该被邀请去，因为我比莉迪亚还小两岁。”
伊丽莎白想让莉迪亚理性一点，简想让她停下来，但是都没用。至于伊丽莎白，这个邀请并没有让她像母亲和莉迪亚那样高兴，她其实觉得这会毁了莉迪亚仅存的一点礼节。因为害怕被莉迪亚发现而憎恶自己，于是伊丽莎白偷偷得向父亲建议别让莉迪亚去。她向父亲解释了莉迪亚举止的不得体，跟福斯特太太这样的女人交往没有什么好处，尤其布莱顿这种地方诱惑肯定比家里更大，跟这样的女人一起带着可能让莉迪亚变得更加鲁莽。
本内特老爷用心听了，然后说：“莉迪亚要是不抛头露面一下是不会消停的，没有比眼下这个机会对我们家造成的影响更小了。”
“你要是知道对我们的坏影响，而她这一去别人又会看到她那种随意粗条的举止，肯定会对我们有不好的影响。其实，现在已经有了。如果这样的话，你的看法应该会不一样的。”
“已经有了？”本内特老爷重复了一遍，“咋了，她现在吓跑了你的追求者吗？可怜的小利兹。请不要沮丧。这些经不起别人家人一点随意行为的年轻人，不值得后悔。来吧，让我看看是那些小伙子被莉迪亚的愚蠢吓跑了。”
“你搞错了，我没有追求者被莉迪亚吓跑。我不是为某件坏事而抱怨，而是为总体上的缺点。我们家的重要性，我们家的受尊敬程度，都会因为莉迪亚的奔放的性格，不管不顾的风格而受到影响。请原谅我说得直白了。如果尊敬的父亲你，此刻不去管制她那冒失的性格，并告诉她此刻的追求并不是一辈子的事情，那么很快就没法再管她了。到了十六岁，她的性格就会固定了，那么她就会成为就坚定的荡女，让她自己和我们整个家族蒙羞。而且她会是那种最坏的，最烂的荡女。除了年轻和略有积分姿色外，没有任何别的可取地方。而且她无知又傲慢，只知道到处讨人欢喜，而又到处惹人嫌弃。凯蒂也有可能跟她一样。她什么事都挺莉迪亚的。无知，傲慢，无所事事，而又无法天天。你看看吧，好爸爸，你难道不觉得她们会承受别人异样的眼光，遭受鄙夷，而且她们的姐姐们也会因此蒙羞么？”
本内特老爷看到她有点过于投入，就慈祥地握住她的手说：“
放松点，亲爱的闺女。不论在哪，认识你和简的人，肯定都会尊敬你们，重视你们。你也不会因为有2个，或者说3个笨妹妹而低人一头。我们要是不让莉迪亚去布莱顿，那就都没有好日子过了。就让她去吧。福斯特上校是个明事理的人，不会让坏人接近她的。而且她也走运，没什么钱，不会被人欺骗。她在布莱顿就不会像在家里那么惹人注目了，尽管有一点不正经。那些军官会找到比她更值得注意的人。因为就让我们希望，在那儿她能知道自己也不重要。不管怎么说,她再坏也坏不到哪儿去,实在不行我们就把她一辈子关在家里.”
伊丽莎白不得不满意这个答案.但是她的观点还是没变，于是她就留下了失望和抱歉的父亲，离开了。但是，伊丽莎白并不习惯沉浸在不开心的事情里面。她相信自己已经尽到了责任，至于操心那些无法预料的问题，因为而焦虑并不是她的个性。
要是莉迪亚和本内特太太知道伊丽莎白跟本内特老爷聊了啥，她们就算口若悬河也无法表达自己全部的愤怒。在莉迪亚的想象中，布莱屯之旅是人世间最快乐的事情。在那双亮闪闪的眼睛里，她看到了那快乐的澡堂子附近，一条条街上挤满了军官。她看到了数十个军官在向她献殷勤，而是哪些军官还不知道。她看到那军营繁华的景象：帐篷整齐地向远处展开去，到处站满了快乐的年轻人，一片猩红色的军服使人眼花缭乱。为了使这个景象更加具体，她看到了自己坐在一定帐篷里面，正温柔地同时跟至少六个军官调情。
她要是知道自己姐姐正试图把自己从这些想象中抽离出来，她又会是什么感受呢？应该只有本内特太太知道，她们俩得感受可能差不多。因为之前怀疑自己丈夫从来没打算去布莱屯，本内特太太正伤心着，现在莉迪亚去是唯一能安慰她的东西。
但是她们两个都不知道刚刚发生了什么。她们的狂喜继续，几乎没有停歇，一直到莉迪亚离了家。
伊丽莎白最后一次见到了维克汉姆。自从她回来之后就频繁见到他，躁动不安的感觉早就消失了。她也为自己之前喜欢过他而焦躁，但现在这种感觉也消失了。她甚至发现，之前让她开心的那种绅士风度，又做作，又单调，让她觉得恶心且无聊。他目前对待她的态度，又让她感到不高兴。不久维克汉姆就有要跟伊丽莎白重归于好的意思，经历过之前的事情，伊丽莎白的心里却难再起涟漪。她发现自己选了那么个无所事事，虚荣的小白脸，便对他失去了一切兴趣。伊丽莎白发现维克汉姆以为不管过了多久，不管什么原因，只要他继续对伊丽莎白献殷勤，她就会立刻喜欢上他的。伊丽莎白表面上没有作声，心里却把他骂了个遍。
民兵团在梅屯的最后一晚，维克汉姆和几个军官在蘑菇屯吃了顿晚饭。伊丽莎白不打算让他开开心心得走，所以当维克汉姆问她之前在夯斯屯过得如何得时候，她就提起了菲茨威廉姆上校和达西先生都在罗星庄园待了3个星期，就继续问他跟菲茨威廉姆熟不熟。
维克汉姆一下惊讶起来，不太高兴又有点紧张。但调整了一会，他脸上又浮现了笑容，回复说他之前时常见到他。他说菲茨威廉姆是个很有绅士风度得人，就问伊丽莎白喜不喜欢他。她热情地说很喜欢。有些心不在焉地，他很快接着说：“你刚才说他在罗星待了多久？”
“差不多三个星期。”
“那你经常见他吗？”
“是的，基本每天都会见。”
“他的举止跟他表哥十分不一样。”
“是的，很不相同。但是我觉得达西是你越熟越喜欢的类型。”
“那可不！”维克汉姆大叫着说，吃惊的表情并没有逃过伊丽莎白的注意，“我能否问一下？”然后他控制了下自己的，换了个更欢快的语气说：“他是不是跟人说话的水平提高了？现在也愿意屈尊礼貌待人了？因为我可不敢相信”，维克汉姆换了个更低沉严肃的声音说，“他的本质会有什么提升。”
“那肯定没有，”伊丽莎白说，“本质上来说，他一直都是那样。”
伊丽莎白说这话的时候，维克汉姆看起来像是不知道应该高兴得赞同，还是怀疑她真正的意思。她的表情里有些东西让他又担心，又紧张，她接着说：“
我说达西每次见面都表现更好的时候，我并不是说他的思想或者行为有所提升，我的意思是你见他越多，越了解他，越了解他的性格。”
维克汉姆现在变得更加紧张，看起来很焦虑，他沉默了几分钟。他觉得不再窘迫后，再次转向伊丽莎白，用十分平和的口吻说：“你十分了解我对达西先生的感受，因此你肯定能够理解，当我听到他现在聪明到能够表面装装样子，该有多么高兴吧。他的傲慢对他自己也许没有好处，对别人最起码有些作用的，因为现在他现在不敢像之前坑害我这样坑害别人。我只是担心，现在他收敛了些可能会蒙骗了你，我相信他去见他舅妈肯定会装装样子，让舅妈替他说几句好话。我知道他们之前在一起的时候，达西就很害怕他的舅妈。他肯定希望借此能促成跟德.包尔小姐的婚事，他肯定时刻惦记着这事呢。”
伊丽莎白听了脸上没有一丝笑容，只是点了点头。她看到维克汉姆还是旧话重提，说些以前他的惨事，但是伊丽莎白不想再听了。剩余的夜晚，维克汉姆仍然十分开心，但是再也不讨好伊丽莎白了。最后分开的时候，两人还是客套了一番，但是很可能希望再也不见到对方了。
聚会散场的时候，莉迪亚和福斯特太太一同去了梅屯，第二天一早她们便从那儿触发。莉迪亚和家人的告别是既吵闹又可悲的。只有凯蒂留了几滴眼泪，而且她这眼泪是因为恼火嫉妒而流的。本内特太太喋喋不休得祝愿女儿过得幸福，还告诫女儿一定要好好享乐。这种建议莉迪亚一定要照办的。莉迪亚吵吵嚷嚷地跟家人告别，姐妹们轻声的告别她一句也没听见。
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