The good news quickly spread through the house; and with proportionate

speed through the neighbourhood. It was borne in the latter with decent

philosophy. To be sure, it would have been more for the advantage of

conversation, had Miss Lydia Bennet come upon the town; or, as the

happiest alternative, been secluded from the world in some distant

farm-house. But there was much to be talked of, in marrying her; and the

good-natured wishes for her well-doing, which had proceeded before from

all the spiteful old ladies in Meryton, lost but little of their spirit

in this change of circumstances, because with such a husband her misery

was considered certain.
It was a fortnight since Mrs. Bennet had been down stairs, but on this

happy day she again took her seat at the head of her table, and in

spirits oppressively high. No sentiment of shame gave a damp to her

triumph.{380} The marriage of a daughter, which had been the first object of

her wishes since Jane was sixteen, was now on the point of

accomplishment, and her thoughts and her words ran wholly on those

attendants of elegant nuptials, fine muslins, new carriages, and

servants. She was busily searching through the neighbourhood for a

proper situation for her daughter; and, without knowing or considering

what their income might be, rejected many as deficient in size and

importance.
“Haye Park might do,” said she, “if the Gouldings would quit it, or the

great house at Stoke, if the drawing-room were larger; but Ashworth is

too far off. I could not bear to have her ten miles from me; and as for

Purvis Lodge, the attics are dreadful.”
Her husband allowed her to talk on without interruption while the

servants remained. But when they had withdrawn, he said to her, “Mrs.

Bennet, before you take any, or all of these houses, for your son and

daughter, let us come to a right understanding. Into one house in this

neighbourhood they shall never have admittance. I will not encourage the