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 any thing 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 farther
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.