“Well, mamma,”said she, when they were all returned to the breakfast room,“and what do you think of my husband? Is not he a charming man? I am sure my sisters must all envy me. I only hope they may have half my good luck.They must all go to Brighton.That is the place to get husbands.What a pity it is, mamma,we did not all go.”
“Ah!Jane,I take your place now,and you must go lower,because I am a married woman.”
Their reception from Mr. Bennet, to whom they then turned,was not quite so cordial. His countenance rather gained in austerity;and he scarcely opened his lips.The easy assurance of the young couple,indeed,was enough to provoke him.
They came.The family were assembled in the breakfast room to receive them. Smiles decked the face of Mrs. Bennet as the carriage drove up to the door;her husband looked impenetrably grave;her daughters,alarmed,anxious,uneasy.
“I should like it beyond anything!”said her mother.
It was not to be supposed that time would give Lydia that embarrassment from which she had been so wholly free at first. Her ease and good spirits increased. She longed to see Mrs. Phillips,the Lucases,and all their other neighbours,and to hear herself called“Mrs.Wickham”by each of them;and in the mean time,she went after dinner to show her ring,and boast of being married,to Mrs.Hill and the two housemaids.