since you went away. Have you seen any pleasant men? Have you had any

flirting? I was in great hopes that one of you would have got a husband

before you came back. Jane will be quite an old maid soon, I declare.

She is almost three-and-twenty! Lord! how ashamed I should be of not

being married before three-and-twenty! My aunt Philips wants you so to

get husbands you can’t think. She says Lizzy had better have taken Mr.

Collins; but I do not think there would have been any fun in it. Lord!

how I should like to be married before any of you! and then I would

chaperon you about to all the balls. Dear me! we had such a good piece

of fun the other day at Colonel Forster’s! Kitty and me were to spend

the day there, and Mrs. Forster promised to have a little dance in the

evening; (by-the-bye, Mrs. Forster and me are such friends!) and so

she asked the two Harringtons to come: but Harriet was ill, and so Pen

was forced to come by herself; and then, what do you think we did? We

dressed up Chamberlayne in woman’s clothes, on purpose to pass for a

lady,—only think what fun! Not a soul knew of it, but Colonel and Mrs.

Forster, and Kitty and me, except my aunt, for we were forced to borrow

one of her gowns; and you cannot imagine how well he looked! When Denny,

and Wickham, and Pratt, and two or three more of the men came in, they

did not know him in the least. Lord! how I laughed! and so did Mrs.

Forster. I thought I should have died. And that made the men{276} suspect

something, and then they soon found out what was the matter.”
With such kind of histories of their parties and good jokes did Lydia,

assisted by Kitty’s hints and additions, endeavour to amuse her

companions all the way to Longbourn. Elizabeth listened as little as she

could, but there was no escaping the frequent mention of Wickham’s name.
Their reception at home was most kind. Mrs. Bennet rejoiced to see Jane

in undiminished beauty; and more than once during dinner did Mr. Bennet