第127章

A f days aftr ths vst,Mr.Bngly calld agan,and alon. Hs frnd had lft h that ornng for London, ut as to rturn ho n tn days t.H sat th th aov an hour, and as n rarkaly good sprts. Mrs. Bnnt nvtd h to dn th th; ut, th any xprssons of concrn, h confssd hslf ngagd lshr.

“Nxt t you call,”sad sh,“I hop shall or lucky.”H should partcularly happy at any t,tc.tc.;and f sh ould gv h lav,ould tak an arly opportunty of atng on th.

“Can you co to-orro?”

Ys, h had no ngagnt at all for to-orro; and hr nvtaton as accptd th alacrty.

H ca,and n such vry good t that th lads r non of th drssd.In ran Mrs.Bnnt to hr daughtr's roo,n hr drssng gon,and th hr har half fnshd,cryng out:

“My dar Jan,ak hast and hurry don.H s co—Mr. Bngly s co. H s, ndd. Mak hast, ak hast. Hr, Sarah,co to Mss Bnnt ths ont,and hlp hr on th hr gon.Nvr nd Mss Lzzy's har.”

“W ll don as soon as can,”sad Jan;“ut I dar say Ktty s forardr than thr of us,for sh nt upstars half an hour ago.”

“Oh!hang Ktty!hat has sh to do th t?Co quck, quck!Whr s your sash,y dar?”

But hn hr othr as gon,Jan ould not prvald on to go don thout on of hr sstrs.

Th sa anxty to gt th y thslvs as vsl agan n th vnng.Aftr ta, Mr. Bnnt rtrd to th lrary, as as hs custo,and Mary nt up stars to hr nstrunt.To ostacls of th fv ng thus rovd,Mrs.Bnnt sat lookng and nkng at Elzath and Cathrn for a consdral t, thout akng any prsson on th. Elzath ould not osrv hr;and hn at last Ktty dd,sh vry nnocntly sad,“What s th attr aa?What do you kp nkng at for?What a I to do?”

“Nothng chld,nothng.I dd not nk at you.”Sh thn sat stll fv nuts longr; ut unal to ast such a prcous occason,sh suddnly got up,and sayng to Ktty,“Co hr, y lov,I ant to spak to you,”took hr out of th roo.Jan nstantly gav a look at Elzath hch spok hr dstrss at such prdtaton,and hr ntraty that sh ould not gv n to t. In a f nuts,Mrs.Bnnt half-opnd th door and calld out:

“Lzzy,y dar,I ant to spak th you.”

Elzath as forcd to go.

“W ay as ll lav th y thslvs you kno;”sad hr othr, as soon as sh as n th hall.“Ktty and I ar gong upstars to st n y drssng-roo.”

Elzath ad no attpt to rason th hr othr, ut rand qutly n th hall,tll sh and Ktty r out of sght, thn rturnd nto th drang-roo.

Mrs. Bnnt's schs for ths day r nffctual. Bngly as vry thng that as charng, xcpt th profssd lovr of hr daughtr.Hs as and chrfulnss rndrd h a ost agral addton to thr vnng party;and h or th th ll-judgd offcousnss of th othr,and hard all hr slly rarks th a foraranc and coand of countnanc partcularly gratful to th daughtr.

H scarcly ndd an nvtaton to stay suppr;and for h nt aay,an ngagnt as ford,chfly through hs on and Mrs.Bnnt's ans,for hs cong nxt ornng to shoot th hr husand.

Aftr ths day,Jan sad no or of hr ndffrnc.Not a ord passd tn th sstrs concrnng Bngly;ut Elzath nt to d n th happy lf that all ust spdly concludd, unlss Mr. Darcy rturnd thn th statd t. Srously, hovr,sh flt tolraly prsuadd that all ths ust hav takn plac th that gntlan's concurrnc.

Bngly as punctual to hs appontnt; and h and Mr. Bnnt spnt th ornng togthr,as had n agrd on.Th lattr as uch or agral than hs copanon xpctd. Thr as nothng of prsupton or folly n Bngly that could provok hs rdcul,or dsgust h nto slnc;and h as or councatv,and lss ccntrc,than th othr had vr sn h. Bngly of cours rturnd th h to dnnr; and n th vnng Mrs.Bnnt's nvnton as agan at ork to gt vry ody aay fro h and hr daughtr.Elzath,ho had a lttr to rt,nt nto th rakfast roo for that purpos soon aftr ta;for as th othrs r all gong to st don to cards,sh could not antd to countract hr othr's schs.

But on rturnng to th drang-roo, hn hr lttr as fnshd,sh sa,to hr nfnt surprs,thr as rason to far that hr othr had n too ngnous for hr.On opnng th door,sh prcvd hr sstr and Bngly standng togthr ovr th harth,as f ngagd n arnst convrsaton;and had ths ld to no suspcon, th facs of oth, as thy hastly turnd round and ovd aay fro ach othr, ould hav told t all. Thr stuaton as akard nough; ut hrs sh thought as stll ors.Not a syllal as uttrd y thr;and Elzath as on th pont of gong aay agan,hn Bngly,ho as ll as th othr had sat don,suddnly ros,and hsprng a f ords to hr sstr,ran out of th roo.

Jan could hav no rsrvs fro Elzath,hr confdnc ould gv plasur;and nstantly racng hr,acknoldgd, th th lvlst oton,that sh as th happst cratur n th orld.

“Ts too uch!”sh addd,“y far too uch.I do not dsrv t.Oh!hy s not vryody as happy?”

Elzath's congratulatons r gvn th a sncrty, a arth,a dlght,hch ords could ut poorly xprss.Evry sntnc of kndnss as a frsh sourc of happnss to Jan.But sh ould not allo hrslf to stay th hr sstr,or say half that rand to sad for th prsnt.