Pride and Prejudice — Chapter Thirty-Nine (Abridged)

In the second week of May, Elizabeth, Jane, and Maria left London together to travel back to Hertfordshire. When they arrived at the inn where Mr. Bennet's carriage would meet them, they saw Kitty and Lydia waiting upstairs. The two younger sisters had already spent over an hour there, shopping and enjoying themselves.

Kitty and Lydia proudly showed off a table full of food, saying, "Isn't this a nice surprise?" Lydia added, "We'll treat you all — but you'll have to lend us the money, since we already spent ours at the shop." She then showed off a new hat. "I don't think it's very pretty," she admitted, "but I bought it anyway. I'll take it apart when we get home and try to fix it up."

When her sisters said it was ugly, Lydia didn't seem to care at all. "There were much uglier ones in the shop," she said. "Besides, it won't matter what anyone wears this summer, since the soldiers are leaving Meryton in two weeks."

"Are they really leaving?" Elizabeth asked, feeling relieved.

"Yes! They're going to camp near Brighton. I really want Father to take us all there for the summer. It would be wonderful!" Elizabeth privately thought that a summer surrounded by soldiers in Brighton sounded like a terrible idea, not a wonderful one.

Once they sat down to eat, Lydia announced she had exciting news about someone they all liked. She asked the waiter to leave before continuing. "Guess what — Wickham won't be marrying Mary King after all! She's gone to live with her uncle in Liverpool. Wickham is safe!"

"And Mary King is safe too," Elizabeth said, "safe from marrying someone only interested in her money."

Jane hoped that neither of them had truly cared for the other. Lydia insisted that Wickham certainly hadn't, laughing rudely about Mary King's appearance. Elizabeth felt uncomfortable hearing Lydia speak so unkindly, especially since she herself had once thought something similar, though she would never have said it aloud.

They packed into the carriage with all their bags and Lydia's new purchases. The whole ride home, Lydia talked constantly about parties, flirting, and gossip, barely letting anyone else speak. She teased Jane about still being unmarried and bragged that she herself would love to be married first, just so she could take her older sisters to dances. She then told a long, silly story about dressing a young officer up in women's clothes as a joke at a friend's house.

Elizabeth tried not to listen too closely, since Lydia kept mentioning Wickham's name again and again. Still, their family welcomed them home warmly. Mrs. Bennet was delighted to see how well Jane looked, and Mr. Bennet quietly told Elizabeth several times at dinner how glad he was that she was home.

That evening, many of the neighboring Lucas family came to visit and hear all the news. Everyone talked at once — fashion, gossip, and parties — while Lydia loudly described her adventures to anyone who would listen. Mary, the serious sister, calmly said she would rather read a book than take part in such foolishness, but Lydia didn't even notice; she rarely listened to anyone for more than a few seconds.

The next afternoon, Lydia wanted everyone to walk into town to see the officers, but Elizabeth firmly refused. She did not want people to think the Bennet sisters cared about nothing but soldiers. She also privately dreaded seeing Wickham again and was relieved that his regiment would soon be leaving. She soon discovered that her parents were already arguing about the Brighton trip — her father clearly did not want to go, though his vague answers left her mother still hoping to change his mind.