第127章[第1页/共5页]

Elizabeth's congratulations were given with a sincerity, a warmth,a delight,which words could but poorly express.Every sentence of kindness was a fresh source of happiness to Jane.But she would not allow herself to stay with her sister,or say half that remained to be said for the present.

He scarcely needed an invitation to stay supper;and before he went away,an engagement was formed,chiefly through his own and Mrs.Bennet's means,for his coming next morning to shoot with her husband.

But on returning to the drawing-room, when her letter was finished,she saw,to her infinite surprise,there was reason to fear that her mother had been too ingenious for her.On opening the door,she perceived her sister and Bingley standing together over the hearth,as if engaged in earnest conversation;and had this led to no suspicion, the faces of both, as they hastily turned round and moved away from each other, would have told it all. Their situation was awkward enough; but hers she thought was still worse.Not a syllable was uttered by either;and Elizabeth was on the point of going away again,when Bingley,who as well as the other had sat down,suddenly rose,and whispering a few words to her sister,ran out of the room.