Nodiver d.o.o. · Pride & Prejudice · page 381 of 640

Pride & Prejudice – page 381

Chapter 41

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 univer-

sal. 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 hardheartedness 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.

373