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THE first week of their return was soon gone. The second began. It was the last of the regiment's stay in Meryton, and all the young ladies in the neighbourhood were drooping apace. The dejection was almost universal. The elder Miss Bennets alone were still able to eat, drink, and sleep, and pursue the usual course of their employments. Very frequently were they reproached for this insensibility by Kitty and Lydia, whose own misery was extreme, and who could not comprehend such hard-heartedness in any of the family.
她們回得家來，眨下眼睛就過了一個星期，現在已經開始過第二個星期。過了這個星期，駐扎在麥里屯的那個民兵團就要開拔了，附近的年輕小姐們立刻一個個垂頭喪氣起來。幾乎處處都是心灰意冷的氣象。只有班納特家的兩位大小姐照常飲食起居，照常各干各的事。可是吉蒂和麗迪雅已經傷心到極點，便不由得常常責備兩位姐姐冷淡無情。她們真不明白，家里怎么竟會有這樣沒有心肝的人！
"Good Heaven! What is to become of us! What are we to do!" would they often exclaim in the bitterness of woe. "How can you be smiling so, Lizzy?"
她們老是無限悲痛地嚷道：“老天爺呀！我們這一下還成個什么樣子呢？你還好意思笑得出來，麗萃？”
Their affectionate mother shared all their grief; she remembered what she had herself endured on a similar occasion, five and twenty years ago.
她們那位慈祥的母親也跟了她們一塊兒傷心；她記起二十五年以前，自己也是為著差不多同樣的事情，忍受了多少苦痛。
"I am sure," said she, "I cried for two days together when Colonel Millar's regiment went away. I thought I should have broke my heart."
她說：“我一點兒沒記錯，當初米勒上校那一團人調走的時候，我整整哭了兩天。我簡直似碎了。”
"I am sure I shall break mine," said Lydia.
“我相信我的心是一定要碎的，”麗迪雅說。
"If one could but go to Brighton!" observed Mrs. Bennet.
“要是我們能上白利屯去，那多么好！”班納特太太說。
"Oh, yes! -- if one could but go to Brighton! But papa is so disagreeable."
“對啊───如果能上白利屯去多么好！可是爸爸偏偏要作對。”
"A little sea-bathing would set me up for ever."
“洗一洗海水浴就會使我一輩子身體健康。”
"And my aunt Philips is sure it would do me a great deal of good," added Kitty.
“腓力普姨母也說，海水浴一定會對我的身體大有好處。”吉蒂接著說。
