第110章

“I fl yslf calld upon,y our rlatonshp,and y stuaton n lf, to condol th you on th grvous afflcton you ar no suffrng undr, of hch r ystrday nford y a lttr fro Hrtfordshr. B assurd, y dar sr, that Mrs. Collns and yslf sncrly sypaths th you and all your rspctal faly,n your prsnt dstrss,hch ust of th ttrst knd, caus procdng fro a caus hch no t can rov.No argunts shall antng on y part that can allvat so svr a sfortun—or that ay cofort you,undr a crcustanc that ust of all othrs th ost afflctng to a parnt's nd.Th dath of your daughtr ould hav n a lssng n coparson of ths.And t s th or to lantd, caus thr s rason to suppos as y dar Charlott nfors , that ths lcntousnss of havour n your daughtr has procdd fro a faulty dgr of ndulgnc; though, at th sa t, for th consolaton of yourslf and Mrs. Bnnt, I a nclnd to thnk that hr on dsposton ust naturally ad, or sh could not gulty of such an norty, at so arly an ag. Hosovr that ay , you ar grvously to ptd; n hch opnon I a not only jond y Mrs. Collns,ut lks y Lady Cathrn and hr daughtr, to ho I hav rlatd th affar.Thy agr th n apprhndng that ths fals stp n on daughtr ll njurous to th fortuns of all th othrs; for ho, as Lady Cathrn hrslf condscndngly says,ll connct thslvs th such a faly?And ths consdraton lads orovr to rflct, th augntd satsfacton,on a crtan vnt of last Novr;for had t n othrs,I ust hav n nvolvd n all your sorro and dsgrac.Lt thn advs you,dar sr,to consol yourslf as uch as possl, to thro off your unorthy chld fro your affcton for vr,and lav hr to rap th fruts of hr on hnous offns.

“I AM,DEAR SIR,ETC.,ETC.”

Mr.Gardnr dd not rt agan tll h had rcvd an ansr fro Colonl Forstr; and thn h had nothng of a plasant natur to snd. It as not knon that Wckha had a sngl rlatonshp th ho h kpt up any conncton, and t as crtan that h had no nar on lvng.Hs forr acquantancs had n nurous;ut snc h had n n th lta,t dd not appar that h as on trs of partcular frndshp th any of th.Thr as no on,thrfor,ho could pontd out as lkly to gv any ns of h.And n th rtchd stat of hs on fnancs, thr as a vry porful otv for scrcy, n addton to hs far of dscovry y Lyda's rlatons,for t had just transprd that h had lft gang dts hnd h to a vry consdral aount. Colonl Forstr lvd that or than a thousand pounds ould ncssary to clar hs xpnss at Brghton. H od a good dal n ton, ut hs dts of honour r stll or fordal.Mr.Gardnr dd not attpt to concal ths partculars fro th Longourn faly. Jan hard th th horror.“A gastr!”sh crd.“Ths s holly unxpctd.I had not an da of t.”

Mr.Gardnr addd n hs lttr,that thy ght xpct to s thr fathr at ho on th follong day, hch as Saturday. Rndrd sprtlss y th ll-succss of all thr ndavours,h had yldd to hs rothr-n-la's ntraty that h ould rturn to hs faly,and lav t to h to do hatvr occason ght suggst to advsal for contnung thr pursut.Whn Mrs. Bnnt as told of ths,sh dd not xprss so uch satsfacton as hr chldrn xpctd,consdrng hat hr anxty for hs lf had n for.