第106章[第3页/共5页]

When they were all in the drawing-room,the questions which Elizabeth had already asked were of course repeated by the others,and they soon found that Jane had no intelligence to give. The sanguine hope of good,however,which the benevolence of her heart suggested had not yet deserted her;she still expected that it would all end well, and that every morning would bring some letter, either from Lydia or her father, to explain their proceedings,and,perhaps,announce their marriage.

Mrs.Bennet,to whose apartment they all repaired,after a few minutes' conversation together, received them exactly as might be expected; with tears and lamentations of regret, invectives against the villainous conduct of Wickham,and complaints of her own sufferings and ill-usage; blaming everybody but the person to whose ill-judging indulgence the errors of her daughter must principally be owing.

“Is my father in town?”

“My mother is tolerably well, I trust; though her spirits are greatly shaken.She is upstairs and will have great satisfaction in seeing you all.She does not yet leave her dressing-room.Mary and Kitty,thank Heaven,are quite well.”

“Oh, yes!―that, that is the worst of all.Till I was in Kent, and saw so much both of Mr. Darcy and his relation Colonel Fitzwilliam, I was ignorant of the truth myself. And when I returned home, the―shire was to leave Meryton in a week or fortnight's time.As that was the case, neither Jane, to whom I related the whole, nor I, thought it necessary to make our knowledge public;for of what use could it apparently be to any one,that the good opinion which all the neighbourhood had of him should then be overthrown?And even when it was settled that Lydia should go with Mrs.Forster,the necessity of opening her eyes to his character never occurred to me.That she could be in any danger from the deception never entered my head.That such a consequence as this could ensue, you may easily believe, was far enough from my thoughts.”