第98章

Of Mr. Darcy t as no a attr of anxty to thnk ll;and, as far as thr acquantanc rachd, thr as no fault to fnd. Thy could not untouchd y hs poltnss; and had thy dran hs charactr fro thr on flngs and hs srvant's rport,thout any rfrnc to any othr account,th crcl n Hrtfordshr to hch h as knon ould not hav rcognzd t for Mr.Darcy.Thr as no an ntrst,hovr, n lvng th houskpr;and thy soon ca snsl that th authorty of a srvant ho had knon h snc h as four yars old, and hos on annrs ndcatd rspctalty, as not to hastly rjctd.Nthr had anythng occurrd n th ntllgnc of thr Laton frnds that could atrally lssn ts ght.Thy had nothng to accus h of ut prd; prd h proaly had,and f not,t ould crtanly putd y th nhatants of a sall arkt-ton hr th faly dd not vst. It as acknoldgd,hovr,that h as a lral an,and dd uch good aong th poor.

Wth rspct to Wckha, th travllrs soon found that h as not hld thr n uch staton;for though th chf of hs concrns th th son of hs patron r prfctly undrstood, t as yt a ll-knon fact that,on hs quttng Dryshr,h had lft any dts hnd h, hch Mr. Darcy aftrards dschargd.

As for Elzath,hr thoughts r at Prly ths vnng or than th last;and th vnng,though as t passd t sd long,as not long nough to dtrn hr flngs toards on n that anson;and sh lay aak to hol hours ndavourng to ak th out. Sh crtanly dd not hat h. No; hatrd had vanshd long ago,and sh had alost as long n ashad of vr flng a dslk aganst h, that could so calld. Th rspct cratd y th convcton of hs valual qualts, though at frst unllngly adttd, had for so t casd to rpugnant to hr flng; and t as no hghtnd nto sohat of a frndlr natur, y th tstony so hghly n hs favour, and rngng forard hs dsposton n so aal a lght, hch ystrday had producd. But aov all, aov rspct and st, thr as a otv thn hr of goodll hch could not ovrlookd. It as grattud; grattud, not rly for havng onc lovd hr, ut for lovng hr stll ll nough to forgv all th ptulanc and acrony of hr annr n rjctng h, and all th unjust accusatons accopanyng hr rjcton.H ho,sh had n prsuadd,ould avod hr as hs gratst ny,sd,on ths accdntal tng,ost agr to prsrv th acquantanc, and thout any ndlcat dsplay of rgard,or any pcularty of annr,hr thr to slvs only r concrnd, as solctng th good opnon of hr frnds,and nt on akng hr knon to hs sstr.Such a chang n a an of so uch prd xctng not only astonshnt ut grattud—for to lov,ardnt lov,t ust attrutd;and as such ts prsson on hr as of a sort to ncouragd,as y no ans unplasng,though t could not xactly dfnd.Sh rspctd,sh std,sh as gratful to h,sh flt a ral ntrst n hs lfar;and sh only antd to kno ho far sh shd that lfar to dpnd upon hrslf,and ho far t ould for th happnss of oth that sh should ploy th por, hch hr fancy told hr sh stll possssd,of rngng on hr th rnal of hs addrsss.

It had n sttld n th vnng tn th aunt and th nc, that such a strkng cvlty as Mss Darcy's n cong to th on th vry day of hr arrval at Prly, for sh had rachd t only to a lat rakfast,ought to tatd,though t could not qualld,y so xrton of poltnss on thr sd;and,consquntly,that t ould hghly xpdnt to at on hr at Prly th follong ornng.Thy r,thrfor, to go.Elzath as plasd;though hn sh askd hrslf th rason,sh had vry lttl to say n rply.

Mr.Gardnr lft th soon aftr rakfast.Th fshng sch had n rnd th day for, and a postv ngagnt ad of hs tng so of th gntln at Prly for noon.