第138章[第1页/共5页]

“Oh, yes!You will only think I feel more than I ought to do, when I tell you all.”

“Why,I must confess that I love him better than I do Bingley.I am afraid you will be angry.”

The evening passed quietly,unmarked by anything extraordinary. The acknowledged lovers talked and laughed,the unacknowledged were silent. Darcy was not of a disposition in which happiness overflows in mirth;and Elizabeth,agitated and confused,rather knew that she was happy than felt herself to be so;for,besides the immediate embarrassment,there were other evils before her.She anticipated what would be felt in the family when her situation became known;she was aware that no one liked him but Jane;and even feared that with the others it was a dislike which not all his fortune and consequence might do away.

Miss Bennet still looked all amazement. Elizabeth again, and more seriously assured her of its truth.

“Now I am quite happy,”said she,“for you will be as happy as myself.I always had a value for him.Were it for nothing but his love of you, I must always have esteemed him; but now, as Bingley's friend and your husband,there can be only Bingley and yourself more dear to me.But Lizzy,you have been very sly,very reserved with me. How little did you tell me of what passed at Pemberley and Lambton!I owe all that I know of it to another, not to you.”