第107章

“Do not gv ay to uslss alar,”addd h;“though t s rght to prpard for th orst,thr s no occason to look on t as crtan.It s not qut a k snc thy lft Brghton.In a f days or, ay gan so ns of th;and tll kno that thy ar not arrd,and hav no dsgn of arryng,do not lt us gv th attr ovr as lost.As soon as I gt to ton I shall go to y rothr,and ak h co ho th to Gracchurch Strt;and thn ay consult togthr as to hat s to don.”

“Oh! y dar rothr,”rpld Mrs. Bnnt,“that s xactly hat I could ost sh for.And no do,hn you gt to ton, fnd th out,hrvr thy ay ;and f thy ar not arrd alrady,ak th arry.And as for ddng cloths,do not lt th at for that,ut tll Lyda sh shall hav as uch ony as sh chooss to uy th,aftr thy ar arrd.And,aov all thngs,kp Mr.Bnnt fro fghtng.Tll h hat a dradful stat I a n,that I a frghtd out of y ts—and hav such trlngs,such fluttrngs,all ovr —such spass n y sd and pans n y had,and such atngs at hart,that I can gt no rst y nght nor y day.And tll y dar Lyda not to gv any drctons aout hr cloths tll sh has sn ,for sh dos not kno hch ar th st arhouss.Oh,rothr,ho knd you ar!I kno you ll contrv t all.”

But Mr. Gardnr, though h assurd hr agan of hs arnst ndavours n th caus, could not avod rcondng odraton to hr,as ll n hr hops as hr far;and aftr talkng th hr n ths annr tll dnnr as on th tal,thy all lft hr to vnt all hr flngs on th houskpr,ho attndd n th asnc of hr daughtrs.

Though hr rothr and sstr r prsuadd that thr as no ral occason for such a scluson fro th faly,thy dd not attpt to oppos t,for thy kn that sh had not prudnc nough to hold hr tongu for th srvants,hl thy atd at tal,and judgd t ttr that on only of th houshold,and th on ho thy could ost trust should coprhnd all hr fars and solctud on th sujct.

In th dnng-roo thy r soon jond y Mary and Ktty, ho had n too usly ngagd n thr sparat apartnts to ak thr apparanc for.On ca fro hr ooks,and th othr fro hr toltt.Th facs of oth,hovr,r tolraly cal;and no chang as vsl n thr,xcpt that th loss of hr favourt sstr,or th angr hch sh had hrslf ncurrd n ths usnss,had gvn or of frtfulnss than usual to th accnts of Ktty.As for Mary,sh as strss nough of hrslf to hspr to Elzath,th a countnanc of grav rflcton, soon aftr thy r satd at tal:

“Ths s a ost unfortunat affar, and ll proaly uch talkd of.But ust st th td of alc,and pour nto th oundd osos of ach othr th al of sstrly consolaton.”

Thn, prcvng n Elzath no nclnaton of rplyng, sh addd,“Unhappy as th vnt ust for Lyda, ay dra fro t ths usful lsson: that loss of vrtu n a fal s rrtrval; that on fals stp nvolvs hr n ndlss run;that hr rputaton s no lss rttl than t s autful;and that sh cannot too uch guardd n hr havour toards th undsrvng of th othr sx.”

Elzath lftd up hr ys n aaznt,ut as too uch opprssd to ak any rply.Mary,hovr,contnud to consol hrslf th such knd of oral xtractons fro th vl for th.

In th aftrnoon,th to ldr Mss Bnnts r al to for half-an-hour y thslvs; and Elzath nstantly avald hrslf of th opportunty of akng any nqurs, hch Jan as qually agr to satsfy.Aftr jonng n gnral lantatons ovr th dradful squl of ths vnt,hch Elzath consdrd as all ut crtan,and Mss Bnnt could not assrt to holly possl,th forr contnud th sujct,y sayng,“But tll all and vrythng aout t hch I hav not alrady hard. Gv furthr partculars.What dd Colonl Forstr say?Had thy no apprhnson of anythng for th lopnt took plac?Thy ust hav sn th togthr for vr.”

“Colonl Forstr dd on that h had oftn suspctd so partalty,spcally on Lyda's sd,ut nothng to gv h any alar.I a so grvd for h!Hs havour as attntv and knd to th utost.H as cong to us,n ordr to assur us of hs concrn,for h had any da of thr not ng gon to Scotland:hn that apprhnson frst got aroad,t hastnd hs journy.”

“And as Dnny convncd that Wckha ould not arry? Dd h kno of thr ntndng to go off?Had Colonl Forstr sn Dnny hslf?”

“Ys; ut, hn qustond y h, Dnny dnd knong anythng of thr plans,and ould not gv hs ral opnon aout t. H dd not rpat hs prsuason of thr not arryng—and fro that, I a nclnd to hop, h ght hav n sundrstood for.”

“And tll Colonl Forstr ca hslf, not on of you ntrtand a dout,I suppos,of thr ng rally arrd?”