第129章

“Excd thr nco!My dar Mr.Bnnt,”crd hs f,“hat ar you talkng of?Why,h has four or fv thousand a yar,and vry lkly or.”Thn addrssng hr daughtr,“Oh!y dar,dar Jan,I a so happy!I a sur I shan't gt a nk of slp all nght.I kn ho t ould .I alays sad t ust so,at last.I as sur you could not so autful for nothng!I rr,as soon as vr I sa h,hn h frst ca nto Hrtfordshr last yar,I thought ho lkly t as that you should co togthr.Oh!h s th handsost young an that vr as sn!”

Wckha,Lyda,r all forgottn.Jan as yond coptton hr favourt chld.At that ont,sh card for no othr.Hr youngr sstrs soon gan to ak ntrst th hr for ojcts of happnss hch sh ght n futur al to dspns.

Mary pttond for th us of th lrary at Nthrfld;and Ktty ggd vry hard for a f alls thr vry ntr.

Bngly,fro ths t,as of cours a daly vstor at Longourn;cong frquntly for rakfast,and alays ranng tll aftr suppr;unlss hn so ararous nghour,ho could not nough dtstd,had gvn h an nvtaton to dnnr hch h thought hslf olgd to accpt.

Elzath had no ut lttl t for convrsaton th hr sstr;for hl h as prsnt,Jan had no attnton to sto on anyon ls;ut sh found hrslf consdraly usful to oth of th n thos hours of sparaton that ust sots occur. In th asnc of Jan,h alays attachd hslf to Elzath, for th plasur of talkng of hr; and hn Bngly as gon, Jan constantly sought th sa ans of rlf.

“H has ad so happy,”sad sh,on vnng,“y tllng that h as totally gnorant of y ng n ton last sprng!I had not lvd t possl.”

“I suspctd as uch,”rpld Elzath.“But ho dd h account for t?”

“It ust hav n hs sstr's dong.Thy r crtanly no frnds to hs acquantanc th ,hch I cannot ondr at, snc h ght hav chosn so uch or advantagously n any rspcts.But hn thy s,as I trust thy ll,that thr rothr s happy th ,thy ll larn to contntd,and shall on good trs agan; though can nvr hat onc r to ach othr.”

“That s th ost unforgvng spch,”sad Elzath,“that I vr hard you uttr.Good grl!It ould vx ,ndd,to s you agan th dup of Mss Bngly's prtndd rgard.”

“Would you lv t, Lzzy, that hn h nt to ton last Novr,h rally lovd ,and nothng ut a prsuason of y ng ndffrnt ould hav prvntd hs cong don agan!”

“H ad a lttl stak to sur;ut t s to th crdt of hs odsty.”

Ths naturally ntroducd a pangyrc fro Jan on hs dffdnc, and th lttl valu h put on hs on good qualts.Elzath as plasd to fnd that h had not trayd th ntrfrnc of hs frnd;for,though Jan had th ost gnrous and forgvng hart n th orld,sh kn t as a crcustanc hch ust prjudc hr aganst h.

“I a crtanly th ost fortunat cratur that vr xstd!”crd Jan.“Oh!Lzzy,hy a I thus sngld fro y faly,and lssd aov th all!If I could ut s you as happy!If thr r ut such anothr an for you!”

“If you r to gv forty such n, I nvr could so happy as you.Tll I hav your dsposton,your goodnss,I nvr can hav your happnss. No, no, lt shft for yslf; and, prhaps,f I hav vry good luck,I ay t th anothr Mr. Collns n t.”

Th stuaton of affars n th Longourn faly could not long a scrt. Mrs. Bnnt as prvlgd to hspr t to Mrs. Phllps, and sh vnturd, thout any prsson, to do th sa y all hr nghours n Mryton.

Th Bnnts r spdly pronouncd to th luckst faly n th orld,though only a f ks for,hn Lyda had frst run aay,thy had n gnrally provd to arkd out for sfortun.