“I am not going to run away, papa,”said Kitty fretfully.“If I should ever go to Brighton,I would behave better than Lydia.”

They were interrupted by Miss Bennet,who came to fetch her mother's tea.

“And Lydia used to want to go to London,”added Kitty.

“Do you suppose them to be in London?”

Then after a short silence he continued:

“You go to Brighton. I would not trust you so near it as Eastbourne for fifty pounds!No,Kitty,I have at last learnt to be cautious,and you will feel the effects of it.No officer is ever to enter into my house again,nor even to pass through the village. Balls will be absolutely prohibited,unless you stand up with one of your sisters.And you are never to stir out of doors till you can prove that you have spent ten minutes of every day in a rational manner.”

It was not till the afternoon,when he joined them at tea,that Elizabeth ventured to introduce the subject; and then, on her briefly expressing her sorrow for what he must have endured,he replied,“Say nothing of that.Who should suffer but myself? It has been my own doing,and I ought to feel it.”