“I have been thinking it over again,Elizabeth,”said her uncle,as they drove from the town;“and really,upon serious consideration, I am much more inclined than I was to judge as your eldest sister does on the matter. It appears to me so very unlikely that any young man should form such a design against a girl who is by no means unprotected or friendless,and who was actually staying in his colonel's family,that I am strongly inclined to hope the best. Could he expect that her friends would not step forward?Could he expect to be noticed again by the regiment,after such an affront to Colonel Forster?His temptation is not adequate to the risk!”
“But why all this secrecy?Why any fear of detection?Why must their marriage be private?Oh,no,no―this is not likely.His most particular friend,you see by Jane's account,was persuaded of his never intending to marry her.Wickham will never marry a woman without some money.He cannot afford it.And what claims has Lydia―what attraction has she beyond youth,health,and good humour that could make him,for her sake,forego every chance of benefiting himself by marrying well? As to what restraint the apprehensions of disgrace in the corps might throw on a dishonourable elopement with her,I am not able to judge;for I know nothing of the effects that such a step might produce.But as to your other objection,I am afraid it will hardly hold good. Lydia has no brothers to step forward; and he might imagine, from my father's behaviour, from his indolence and the little attention he has ever seemed to give to what was going forward in his family,that he would do as little,and think as little about it,as any father could do,in such a matter.”