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Chapter LIII

Mr. Wickham was so perfectly satisfied with (his conversation,

that he never again distressed himself, or provoked his dear sister

Elizabeth, by introducing the subject of it; and she was pleased

to tind that she had said enough to keep him quiet.

The day of his and Lydia's departure soon came, and Mrs.

Bcnnct was forced to submit to a separation, which, as her husband

by no means entered into her scheme of their all going to Nc\w

castle, was likely to continue at least a twelvemonth.

'Oh! my dear Lydia,' she cried, 'when shall we meet again?'

'Oh, Lord! I don't know. Not these two or three years,

perhaps.'

'Write to me very often, my dear.'

'As often as I can. But you know married women have

never much time for writing. My sisters may write to me. They

will have nothing else to do.'

Mr. Wickham's adieus were much more affectionate than his

wife's. He smiled, looked handsome, and said many pretty things.

'He is as fine a fellow," said Mr. Bcnnct, as soon as they were

out of the house, 'as ever I saw. He simpers, and smirks, and

makes love to us all. I am prodigiously proud of him. I defy

even Sir William Lucas himself, to produce a more valuable

son'in'law.'

The loss of her daughter made Mrs. Bcnnct very dull for several

days.

'I often think,' said she, 'that there is nothing so bad as parting

with one's friends. One seems so forlorn without them.'

'This is the consequence, you see, madam, of marrying a

daughter,' said Elizabeth. 'It must make you better satisfied

that your other four arc single.'

'It is no such thing. Lydia does not leave me because she is

married but only because her husband's regiment happens to be

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