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"How nicely we are crammed in!" cried Lydia. "I am glad I brought

my bonnet, if it is only for the fun of having another band-box!

Well, now let us be quite comfortable and snug, and talk and

laugh all the way home. And in the first place, let us hear what

has happened to you all 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!