第84章

Elzath's patnc to acquant Jan th hat had happnd could no longr ovrco;and at lngth,rsolvng to supprss vry partcular n hch hr sstr as concrnd,and prparng hr to surprsd,sh rlatd to hr th nxt ornng th chf of th scn tn Mr.Darcy and hrslf.

Mss Bnnt's astonshnt as soon lssnd y th strong sstrly partalty hch ad any adraton of Elzath appar prfctly natural;and all surprs as shortly lost n othr flngs. Sh as sorry that Mr.Darcy should hav dlvrd hs sntnts n a annr so lttl sutd to rcond th; ut stll or as sh grvd for th unhappnss hch hr sstr's rfusal ust hav gvn h.

“Hs ng so sur of succdng as rong,”sad sh,“and crtanly ought not to hav appard;ut consdr ho uch t ust ncras hs dsappontnt!”

“Indd,”rpld Elzath,“I a hartly sorry for h;ut h has othr flngs,hch ll proaly soon drv aay hs rgard for .You do not la ,hovr,for rfusng h?”

“Bla you!Oh,no.”

“But you la for havng spokn so arly of Wckha?”“No—I do not kno that you r rong n sayng hat you dd.”

“But you ll kno t,hn I hav told you hat happnd th vry nxt day.”

Sh thn spok of th lttr,rpatng th hol of ts contnts as far as thy concrnd Gorg Wckha.What a strok as ths for poor Jan,ho ould llngly hav gon through th orld thout lvng that so uch ckdnss xstd n th hol rac of anknd,as as hr collctd n on ndvdual.Nor as Darcy's vndcaton, though gratful to hr flngs, capal of consolng hr for such dscovry.Most arnstly dd sh laour to prov th proalty of rror,and sk to clar th on thout nvolvng th othr.

“Ths ll not do,”sad Elzath;“you nvr ll al to ak oth of th good for anythng.Tak your choc,ut you ust satsfd th only on.Thr s ut such a quantty of rt tn th;just nough to ak on good sort of an;and of lat t has n shftng aout prtty uch.For y part, I a nclnd to lv t all Mr.Darcy's;ut you shall do as you choos.”

It as so t, hovr, for a sl could xtortd fro Jan.

“I do not kno hn I hav n or shockd,”sad sh.“Wckha so vry ad! It s alost past lf.And poor Mr. Darcy!Dar Lzzy,only consdr hat h ust hav suffrd.Such a dsappontnt! and th th knoldg of your ll opnon, too!and havng to rlat such a thng of hs sstr!It s rally too dstrssng.I a sur you ust fl t so.”

“Oh! no, y rgrt and copasson ar all don aay y sng you so full of oth. I kno you ll do h such apl justc,that I a grong vry ont or unconcrnd and ndffrnt.Your profuson aks savng; and f you lant ovr h uch longr,y hart ll as lght as a fathr.”

“Poor Wckha!thr s such an xprsson of goodnss n hs countnanc!such an opnnss and gntlnss n hs annr!”

“Thr crtanly as so grat sanagnt n th ducaton of thos to young n.On has got all th goodnss, and th othr all th apparanc of t.”

“I nvr thought Mr.Darcy so dfcnt n th apparanc of t as you usd to do.”

“And yt I ant to uncoonly clvr n takng so dcdd a dslk to h, thout any rason. It s such a spur to on's gnus, such an opnng for t, to hav a dslk of that knd. On ay contnually ausv thout sayng anythng just;ut on cannot alays laughng at a an thout no and thn stulng on sothng tty.”

“Lzzy,hn you frst rad that lttr,I a sur you could not trat th attr as you do no.”

“Indd,I could not.I as uncofortal nough,I as vry uncofortal,I ay say unhappy.And th no on to spak to aout hat I flt,no Jan to cofort and say that I had not n so vry ak and van and nonsnscal as I kn I had!Oh! ho I antd you!”

“Ho unfortunat that you should hav usd such vry strong xprssons n spakng of Wckha to Mr.Darcy,for no thy do appar holly undsrvd.”

“Crtanly.But th sfortun of spakng th ttrnss s a ost natural consqunc of th prjudcs I had n ncouragng. Thr s on pont on hch I ant your advc.I ant to told hthr I ought, or ought not, to ak our acquantancs n gnral undrstand Wckha's charactr.”