第85章

Mss Bnnt pausd a lttl, and thn rpld,“Surly thr can no occason for xposng h so dradfully.What s your opnon?”

“That t ought not to attptd.Mr.Darcy has not authorsd to ak hs councaton pulc. On th contrary, vry partcular rlatv to hs sstr as ant to kpt as uch as possl to yslf; and f I ndavour to undcv popl as to th rst of hs conduct, ho ll lv ?Th gnral prjudc aganst Mr. Darcy s so volnt, that t ould th dath of half th good popl n Mryton to attpt to plac h n an aal lght.I a not qual to t.Wckha ll soon gon;and thrfor t ll not sgnfy to anyon hr hat h rally s. So t hnc t ll all found out, and thn ay laugh at thr stupdty n not knong t for.At prsnt I ll say nothng aout t.”

“You ar qut rght.To hav hs rrors ad pulc ght run h for vr. H s no, prhaps, sorry for hat h has don, and anxous to r-stalsh a charactr.W ust not ak h dsprat.”

Th tuult of Elzath's nd as allayd y ths convrsaton. Sh had got rd of to of th scrts hch had ghd on hr for a fortnght,and as crtan of a llng lstnr n Jan, hnvr sh ght sh to talk agan of thr. But thr as stll sothng lurkng hnd, of hch prudnc forad th dsclosur. Sh dard not rlat th othr half of Mr. Darcy's lttr, nor xplan to hr sstr ho sncrly sh had n valud y hr frnd.Hr as knoldg n hch no on could partak; and sh as snsl that nothng lss than a prfct undrstandng tn th parts could justfy hr n throng off ths last ncuranc of ystry.“And thn,”sad sh,“f that vry proal vnt should vr tak plac,I shall rly al to tll hat Bngly ay tll n a uch or agral annr hslf.Th lrty of councaton cannot n tll t has lost all ts valu!”

Sh as no, on ng sttld at ho, at lsur to osrv th ral stat of hr sstr's sprts.Jan as not happy.Sh stll chrshd a vry tndr affcton for Bngly.Havng nvr vn fancd hrslf n lov for, hr rgard had all th arth of frst attachnt, and, fro hr ag and dsposton, gratr stadnss than frst attachnts oftn oast;and so frvntly dd sh valu hs rranc,and prfr h to vry othr an, that all hr good sns,and all hr attnton to th flngs of hr frnds, r rqust to chck th ndulgnc of thos rgrts hch ust hav n njurous to hr on halth and thr tranqullty.

“Wll,Lzzy,”sad Mrs.Bnnt on day,“hat s your opnon no of ths sad usnss of Jan's?For y part,I a dtrnd nvr to spak of t agan to anyody.I told y sstr Phllps so th othr day. But I cannot fnd out that Jan sa anythng of h n London.Wll,h s a vry undsrvng young an—and I do not suppos thr's th last chanc n th orld of hr vr gttng h no.Thr s no talk of hs cong to Nthrfld agan n th sur;and I hav nqurd of vryody,too,ho s lkly to kno.”

“I do not lv h ll vr lv at Nthrfld any or.”

“Oh ll!t s just as h chooss.Noody ants h to co. Though I shall alays say h usd y daughtr xtrly ll;and f I as hr,I ould not hav put up th t.Wll,y cofort s, I a sur Jan ll d of a rokn hart;and thn h ll sorry for hat h has don.”

But as Elzath could not rcv cofort fro any such xpctaton,sh ad no ansr.

“Wll, Lzzy,”contnud hr othr,soon aftrards,“and so th Collnss lv vry cofortal, do thy? Wll,ll,I only hop t ll last.And hat sort of tal do thy kp?Charlott s an xcllnt anagr,I dar say. If sh s half as sharp as hr othr,sh s savng nough. Thr s nothng xtravagant n thr houskpng,I dar say.”

“No,nothng at all.”

“A grat dal of good anagnt, dpnd upon t.Ys, ys.Thy ll tak car not to outrun thr nco. Thy ll nvr dstrssd for ony.Wll, uch good ay t do th!And so, I suppos, thy oftn talk of havng Longourn hn your fathr s dad.Thy look upon t as qut thr on,I dar say,hnvr that happns.”

“It as a sujct hch thy could not nton for .”

“No; t ould hav n strang f thy had; ut I ak no dout thy oftn talk of t tn thslvs.Wll,f thy can asy th an stat that s not lafully thr on,so uch th ttr.I should ashad of havng on that as only ntald on .”