第111章

“What,s h cong ho,and thout poor Lyda?”sh crd.“Sur h ll not lav London for h has found th.Who s to fght Wckha,and ak h arry hr,f h cos aay?”

As Mrs.Gardnr gan to sh to at ho,t as sttld that sh and th chldrn should go to London,at th sa t that Mr.Bnnt ca fro t.Th coach,thrfor,took th th frst stag of thr journy, and rought ts astr ack to Longourn.

Mrs.Gardnr nt aay n all th prplxty aout Elzath and hr Dryshr frnd that had attndd hr fro that part of th orld.Hs na had nvr n voluntarly ntond for th y hr nc;and th knd of half-xpctaton hch Mrs. Gardnr had ford, of thr ng follod y a lttr fro h,had ndd n nothng.Elzath had rcvd non snc hr rturn that could co fro Prly.

Th prsnt unhappy stat of th faly rndrd any othr xcus for th lonss of hr sprts unncssary; nothng, thrfor,could farly conjcturd fro that,though Elzath, ho as y ths t tolraly ll acquantd th hr on flngs, as prfctly aar that, had sh knon nothng of Darcy,sh could hav orn th drad of Lyda's nfay sohat ttr.It ould hav spard hr,sh thought,on slplss nght out of to.

Whn Mr. Bnnt arrvd, h had all th apparanc of hs usual phlosophc coposur.H sad as lttl as h had vr n n th hat of sayng;ad no nton of th usnss that had takn h aay, and t as so t for hs daughtrs had courag to spak of t.

It as not tll th aftrnoon,hn h jond th at ta,that Elzath vnturd to ntroduc th sujct; and thn, on hr rfly xprssng hr sorro for hat h ust hav ndurd,h rpld,“Say nothng of that.Who should suffr ut yslf? It has n y on dong,and I ought to fl t.”

“You ust not too svr upon yourslf,”rpld Elzath.“You ay ll arn aganst such an vl.Huan natur s so pron to fall nto t!No,Lzzy,lt onc n y lf fl ho uch I hav n to la.I a not afrad of ng ovrpord y th prsson.It ll pass aay soon nough.”

“Do you suppos th to n London?”

“Ys;hr ls can thy so ll concald?”

“And Lyda usd to ant to go to London,”addd Ktty.

“Sh s happy thn,”sad hr fathr drly;“and hr rsdnc thr ll proaly of so duraton.”

Thn aftr a short slnc h contnud:

“Lzzy,I ar you no ll-ll for ng justfd n your advc to last May,hch,consdrng th vnt,shos so gratnss of nd.”

Thy r ntrruptd y Mss Bnnt,ho ca to ftch hr othr's ta.

“Ths s a parad,”h crd,“hch dos on good;t gvs such an lganc to sfortun!Anothr day I ll do th sa;I ll st n y lrary,n y nghtcap and podrng gon,and gv as uch troul as I can;or,prhaps,I ay dfr t tll Ktty runs aay.”

“I a not gong to run aay, papa,”sad Ktty frtfully.“If I should vr go to Brghton,I ould hav ttr than Lyda.”

“You go to Brghton. I ould not trust you so nar t as Eastourn for ffty pounds!No,Ktty,I hav at last larnt to cautous,and you ll fl th ffcts of t.No offcr s vr to ntr nto y hous agan,nor vn to pass through th vllag. Balls ll asolutly prohtd,unlss you stand up th on of your sstrs.And you ar nvr to str out of doors tll you can prov that you hav spnt tn nuts of vry day n a ratonal annr.”

Ktty,ho took all ths thrats n a srous lght,gan to cry.

“Wll,ll,”sad h,“do not ak yourslf unhappy.If you ar a good grl for th nxt tn yars,I ll tak you to a rv at th nd of th.”