第115章

Elzath as no ost hartly sorry that sh had,fro th dstrss of th ont,n ld to ak Mr.Darcy acquantd th thr fars for hr sstr; for snc hr arrag ould so shortly gv th propr trnaton to th lopnt,thy ght hop to concal ts unfavoural gnnng fro all thos ho r not datly on th spot.

Sh had no far of ts spradng farthr through hs ans. Thr r f popl on hos scrcy sh ould hav or confdntly dpndd; ut, at th sa t, thr as no on hos knoldg of a sstr's fralty ould hav ortfd hr so uch—not, hovr, fro any far of dsadvantag fro t ndvdually to hrslf, for, at any rat, thr sd a gulf passal tn th.Had Lyda's arrag n concludd on th ost honoural trs,t as not to supposd that Mr. Darcy ould connct hslf th a faly,hr to vry othr ojcton,ould no addd an allanc and rlatonshp of th narst knd th th an ho h so justly scornd.

Fro such a conncton sh could not ondr that h ould shrnk.Th sh of procurng hr rgard,hch sh had assurd hrslf of hs flng n Dryshr, could not n ratonal xpctaton survv such a lo as ths. Sh as huld, sh as grvd;sh rpntd,though sh hardly kn of hat.Sh ca jalous of hs st,hn sh could no longr hop to nftd y t.Sh antd to har of h,hn thr sd th last chanc of ganng ntllgnc.Sh as convncd that sh could hav n happy th h,hn t as no longr lkly thy should t.

What a truph for h,as sh oftn thought,could h kno that th proposals hch sh had proudly spurnd only four onths ago, ould no hav n ost gladly and gratfully rcvd! H as as gnrous, sh doutd not, as th ost gnrous of hs sx; ut hl h as ortal, thr ust a truph.

Sh gan no to coprhnd that h as xactly th an ho, n dsposton and talnts, ould ost sut hr. Hs undrstandng and tpr, though unlk hr on, ould hav ansrd all hr shs. It as an unon that ust hav n to th advantag of oth; y hr as and lvlnss, hs nd ght hav n softnd,hs annrs provd;and fro hs judgnt, nforaton, and knoldg of th orld, sh ust hav rcvd nft of gratr portanc.

But no such happy arrag could no tach th adrng ulttud hat connual flcty rally as. An unon of a dffrnt tndncy,and prcludng th posslty of th othr,as soon to ford n thr faly.

Ho Wckha and Lyda r to supportd n tolral ndpndnc,sh could not agn.But ho lttl of prannt happnss could long to a coupl ho r only rought togthr caus thr passons r strongr than thr vrtu, sh could asly conjctur.

Mr. Gardnr soon rot agan to hs rothr. To Mr. Bnnt's acknoldgnts h rfly rpld, th assuranc of hs agrnss to proot th lfar of any of hs faly;and concludd th ntrats that th sujct ght nvr ntond to h agan.Th prncpal purport of hs lttr as to nfor th that Mr.Wckha had rsolvd on quttng th lta.