interest in his children, with the exception of Lizzy (and possible exception of Jane). He seems to accept no parental responsibility for their behavior, or actions, or the possibility of a less than favorable outcome for a trip away from home with a woman who seems about on the same emotional level as Lydia herself. Not the first time we see Jane Austen send an impressionable young girl on a journey with an indifferent guardian -- think Northanger Abbey. I have often wondered how the dynamics of this family would have changed had there been a male heir -- would Mr B have been as indifferent to him as he is to his girls? In a modern family with no boys the father sometimes attempts to establish a quasi-father/son relationship with one of the daughters, and I can see a little bit of that here with Lizzy: "Man to man, dear Lizzy, etc etc>"