"Catherine and Lydia had information for them of a different sort. Much had been done and much had been said in the regiment since the preceding Wednesday: several of the officers had dined lately with their uncle, a private had been flogged, and it had actually been hinted that Colonel Forster was going to be married."

Would the fact that a private had been flogged be a usual bit of chat going around families, like just town gossip? The fact that it is put in with a proposed wedding makes it seem like that, if I have read correctly!