"Mary and Kitty have been very kind, and would have shared in every fatigue, I am sure, but I did not think it right for either of them. Kitty is slight and delicate; and Mary studies so much, that her hours of repose should not be broken in on." (Chapter 47)

Mary and Kitty both act rather selfishly immature by not helping Jane with their mother or the household after the elopement. Lizzy notes that they are both tolerably calm. Mary consoles herself with moralizing and talking of sisterly devotion rather than actually showing some devotion. Kitty is upset over the loss of her favorite sister and the anger she incurred when the family found out she had been aware of an attachment between Lydia and Wickham for many weeks:

"My father and mother knew nothing of that; they only felt how imprudent a match it must be. Kitty then owned, with a very natural triumph on knowing more than the rest of us, that in Lydia's last letter she had prepared her for such a step. She had known, it seems, of their being in love with each other, many weeks." (Chapter 47)