第85章[第1页/共4页]

But as Elizabeth could not receive comfort from any such expectation,she made no answer.

“It was a subject which they could not mention before me.”

“No,nothing at all.”

“No; it would have been strange if they had; but I make no doubt they often talk of it between themselves.Well,if they can be easy with an estate that is not lawfully their own,so much the better.I should be ashamed of having one that was only entailed on me.”

“You are quite right.To have his errors made public might ruin him for ever. He is now, perhaps, sorry for what he has done, and anxious to re-establish a character.We must not make him desperate.”

Miss Bennet paused a little, and then replied,“Surely there can be no occasion for exposing him so dreadfully.What is your opinion?”

“Well, Lizzy,”continued her mother,soon afterwards,“and so the Collinses live very comfortable, do they? Well,well,I only hope it will last.And what sort of table do they keep?Charlotte is an excellent manager,I dare say. If she is half as sharp as her mother,she is saving enough. There is nothing extravagant in their housekeeping,I dare say.”

She was now, on being settled at home, at leisure to observe the real state of her sister's spirits.Jane was not happy.She still cherished a very tender affection for Bingley.Having never even fancied herself in love before, her regard had all the warmth of first attachment, and, from her age and disposition, greater steadiness than first attachments often boast;and so fervently did she value his remembrance,and prefer him to every other man, that all her good sense,and all her attention to the feelings of her friends, were requisite to check the indulgence of those regrets which must have been injurious to her own health and their tranquillity.