"as a watering-place and a camp." Lydia's behavior around the officers has been a bit forward while the regiment was in Meryton, where Lydia's sisters and aunt were around to keep her respectable. Take her away from her family and put her in a seaside resort known for somewhat loose behavior, and you have a dangerous situation brewing. If Lydia were around today, she'd want to be one of the housemates on "Jersey Shore."