Chapter 8

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Ever wondered what it would be like to become Mr Bennet, if only for a moment? Read on, imagining yourself as Mr Bennet; then, based on your knowledge of Pride & Prejudice, decide what you will do at the end of this chapter.

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In April, Elizabeth returns home and you tease her about consorting with the nobility at Rosings. But she seems out of spirits, and you wonder aloud if she is regretting the loss of Mr Collins. Lizzy forces a laugh and says she is merely worried about Jane, who never managed to see Mr Bingley in London.

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Then disaster strikes: the regiment are leaving for Brighton! Longbourn, like many other households in the neighbourhood, is plunged into gloom. Even Mrs Bennet forgets to shriek more than five times a day. 

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One day, however, Lydia bursts into your library and announces that Mrs Forster, the colonel’s wife, has invited her to Brighton. You give your permission, even though it was not sought. Lydia is a girl of prodigious appetite, and the Forsters are welcome to the expense of keeping her for as long as they care to.

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You are surprised, therefore, when a distraught Elizabeth slips into the library and begs you to reconsider. She recounts all the improprieties of Lydia's general behaviour, the little advantage she could derive from the friendship of such a woman as Harriet 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. 

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You hear her attentively, then lean back in your chair and gaze up at the ceiling for several minutes. 

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You decide to forbid Lydia to go to Brighton OR you assure Lizzy that she has no cause for concern.

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Which would Mr Bennet choose? Click on the link above and see if you're right.