Transcript
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Narrator (Jane Austen Stories) (1:09)
Welcome to Jane Austen Stories. I'm Julie Andrews and from the Noiser Podcast Network. This is Pride and prejudice part 16. In the last episode, the Bennet sisters were first finally reunited. With Jane back from London, and Elizabeth returned from her surprisingly eventful stay in Kent. One would think they would have a lot to talk about, but it was Lydia and Kitty who had the most to say, giddily telling their older sisters all about the local regiment over an intimate lunch. As usual, the girls spent most of the time gossiping about the dashing young officers, though Lizzie now knows these gentlemen aren't all as upright as they seem. Having learned the truth about the lying Mr. Wickham, do such men pose a danger to her sisters? Still, Lizzie mostly kept about her eventful trip to Kent. That is, until she had some alone time with Jane. Then she told her sister about Mr. Darcy's proposal and their argument, though she did not mention his interference in Jane's relationship with Mr. Bingley. Can such things stay secret forever? And how does Lizzie recover from what happened with Mr. Darcy? Now we once more join the Bennet girls at Longbourn, ready to console a distraught Kitty and Lydia as they mourn the imminent departure of the regiment. From the Noisub podcast network, this is Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 41. The first week of their return was soon gone. The second began. It was the last of the regiments 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, who could not comprehend such hard heartedness in any of the family. Good heavens, 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 herself endured on a similar occasion five and 20 years ago. I am sure, said Mrs. Bennet, I cried for two days together when Colonel Miller's regiment went away. I thought I should have broke my heart. I'm 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, replied Lydia. A little sea bathing would set me up forever, said Mrs. Bennet. And my Aunt Phillips 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. 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 too. The rapture of Lydia on this occasion, her adoration of Mrs. Forster, her 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 ecstasy, 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. And 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 make her 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 Lydia go. She represented to him all the improprieties of her 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. Mr. Bennet heard her attentively. And then Lydia will never be easy till she has attracted attention 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 with, replied 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, said Lizzie. 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 restraints 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 16 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 use 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 anybody 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.
