Page 85 of His Pride and His Prejudice

“Good Heaven! What is to become of us? What are we to do?” they would often exclaim. “How can you be smiling so, Elliot?”

Their affectionate mother shared all their grief. She remembered what she had herself endured on a similar occasion, five-and-twenty years ago.

“I cried for two days when Colonel Miller’s regiment went away,” she said. “I thought my heart had broken forever.”

“I am sure mine will break also,” Louis said with far more drama than the occasion warranted.

“If one could but go to Brighton!” observed Mrs. Bennet.

“Indeed, mama, if one could but go to Brighton! But papa is so disagreeable.”

Such were the kind of lamentations resounding perpetually through Longbourn. Elliot tried to be diverted by them, but all sense of pleasure was lost in shame. He felt anew the justice of Darcy’s objections.

Still, the gloom of Louis’s prospect was shortly cleared away for he received an invitation from Mrs. Forster, the wife of the colonel of the regiment, to accompany her to Brighton. This invaluable friend was a very, very young woman, too young to be mated in fact, but mated regardless, and Elliot suspected there may be a flirtation afoot between her and Louis, especially given that Colonel Forster was so much older.

The satisfaction of Louis on this occasion, his sly adoration of Mrs. Forster, the delight of Mrs. Bennet, and the mortification of Christian, were scarcely to be described. Wholly inattentive to any of his brother’s feelings, Louis strode about the house in restless ecstasy, calling for everyone’s congratulations, and laughing and talking with more violence than ever, whilst the luckless Christian repined his lack of invitation, and a morose Marc could not reasonably see why Louis should be so thrilled.

After what had happened in Kent, Elliot was anxious indeed at the thought of what Louis might do in Brighton with only a young woman as his chaperone. As the days passed, his anxiety increased to the point where he could not help secretly advising Mr. Bennet not to let him go. Elliot represented to their father all the improprieties of Louis’ general behaviour, the little advantage he could derive from the friendship of such a woman as Mrs. Forster, and the probability of her being yet more imprudent with such a companion at Brighton, where the temptations must be greater than at home.

Mr. Bennet heard Elliot attentively, and then said, “Louis will never be easy until he has exposed himself in some public place or other, and we can never expect him to do it with so little expense or inconvenience to his family as under the present circumstances.”

“If you were aware,” Elliot said. “Of the very great disadvantage to us all which must arise from the public notice of Louis’ unguarded and imprudent manner, nay, which has already arisen from it, I am sure you would judge differently in the affair.”

“Already arisen?” repeated Mr. Bennet. “What, has he frightened away some of your lovers? Poor Elliot! But do not be cast down. Such squeamish youths as cannot bear to be connected with a little absurdity are not worth a regret. Come, let me see the list of pitiful fellows who have been kept aloof by Louis’ folly!”

Elliot only just contained his exasperation. “Indeed, you are mistaken. I have no such injuries to resent,” he said. “It is not of exact but of general worries, which I am now complaining. Our importance, our respectability in the world must be affected by the wild volatility, the assurance and disdain of all restraint which mark Louis’ character.”

Mr. Bennet laughed. “You are of the dramatic today, Elliot!”

“Excuse me, papa,” Elliot said. “I must speak plainly. If you, my dear father, will not take the trouble of checking his exuberant spirits, and of teaching him that his present pursuits are not to be the business of his life, he will soon be beyond the reach of amendment. His character will be fixed, and he will, at eighteen, be the most determined flirt that ever made himself or his family ridiculous.”

“Elliot—”

“And Christian will follow! He too will soon be vain, ignorant, idle, and absolutely uncontrolled!”

Mr. Bennet laughed again but he saw that Elliot was quite serious rather than in the throes of drama and took his hand affectionately. “Do not make yourself uneasy, dear boy,” he said. “Wherever you and Jack are known you are respected and valued. You will not appear to less advantage for having a couple of—or I may say, three—very silly or strange brothers. We shall have no peace at Longbourn if Louis does not go to Brighton. Colonel Forster is a sensible man and will keep him out of any real mischief, and he is luckily too poor to be an object of prey. At Brighton he will be of less importance even as a common flirt than he has been here. Let us hope, therefore, that him being there may teach him about his own insignificance.”

With this answer Elliot was forced to be content, but his own opinion continued the same, and he left his papa feeling disappointed and sorry. Almost everyone else in the house, with the exception of Mrs. Bennet and Louis, felt similar. Indeed, so intense were Louis’ raptures that they continued unabated until the day he was to leave Longbourn for Brighton.

It was also the day that Elliot saw Mr. Wickham for the last time given that Mrs. Bennet organised a dinner at Longbourn for the officers and he was of course included. Elliot avoided him as much as was possible in so tight a space, but after the dinner he made an idle inquiry as to the manner in which Elliot’s time had passed at Hunsford, and Elliot was forced into a conversation.

“I spent quite a bit of my time with Colonel Fitzwilliam and Mr. Darcy,” he said, hoping to wipe the self-satisfied smirk off Wickham’s face. It reminded him of how Louis had looked these past days. “Are you acquainted with Colonel Fitzwilliam?”

Wickham looked surprised, displeased, alarmed, but with a moment’s recollection and a returning smirk, replied, that he had formerly seen him often and, after observing that he was a very gentlemanlike man, asked how Elliot had liked him. Elliot’s answer was warmly in his favour.

With an air of indifference Wickham soon afterwards added, “How long did you say he was at Rosings?”

“Nearly three weeks.”

“And you saw him frequently?”

“Yes, almost every day,” Elliot confirmed.

“His manners are very different from his cousin’s.”

“Yes, very different,” Elliot said before adding, “But I think Mr. Darcy improves upon acquaintance.”

“Indeed!” cried Mr. Wickham with a look which did not escape Elliot. “And pray, may I ask how he has improved?”

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