Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 61

Happy for all her maternal feelings was the day on which

Mrs. Bennet got rid of her two most deserving daughters.

With what delighted pride she afterwards visited Mrs. Bingley,

and talked of Mrs. Darcy, may be guessed. I wish I could say,

for the sake of her family, that the accomplishment of her

earnest desire in the establishment of so many of her children

produced so happy an effect as to make her a sensible, amiable,

well-informed woman for the rest of her life; though perhaps it

was lucky for her husband, who might not have relished domestic

felicity in so unusual a form, that she still was occasionally

nervous and invariably silly.

Mr. Bennet missed his second daughter exceedingly; his

affection for her drew him oftener from home than anything

else could do. He delighted in going to Pemberley, especially

when he was least expected.

Mr. Bingley and Jane remained at Netherfield only a twelvemonth.

So near a vicinity to her mother and Meryton relations was not

desirable even to _his_ easy temper, or _her_ affectionate heart.

The darling wish of his sisters was then gratified; he bought

an estate in a neighbouring county to Derbyshire, and Jane and

Elizabeth, in addition to every other source of happiness, were

within thirty miles of each other.

Kitty, to her very material advantage, spent the chief of her

time with her two elder sisters. In society so superior to

what she had generally known, her improvement was great. She

was not of so ungovernable a temper as Lydia; and, removed from

the influence of Lydia's example, she became, by proper

attention and management, less irritable, less ignorant, and

less insipid. From the further disadvantage of Lydia's society

she was of course carefully kept, and though Mrs. Wickham

frequently invited her to come and stay with her, with the

promise of balls and young men, her father would never consent

to her going.

Mary was the only daughter who remained at home; and she was

necessarily drawn from the pursuit of accomplishments by

Mrs. Bennet's being quite unable to sit alone. Mary was

obliged to mix more with the world, but she could still

moralize over every morning visit; and as she was no longer

mortified by comparisons between her sisters' beauty and her

own, it was suspected by her father that she submitted to

the change without much reluctance.

As for Wickham and Lydia, their characters suffered no

revolution from the marriage of her sisters. He bore with