第85章
miss ben paused a little, and then replied,“surely there can be no occasion for exposing him so dreadfullywhat is your opinion”
“that it ought not to be attemptedmrdarcy has not authorised me to make his munication public on the contrary, every particular relative to his sister was meant to be kept as much as possible to myself; and if i endeavour to undeceive people as to the rest of his conduct, who will believe methe general prejudice against mr darcy is so violent, that it would be the death of half the good people in meryton to attempt to place him in an amiable lighti am not equal to itwickham will soon be gone;and therefore it will not signify to anyone here what he really is some time hence it will be all found out, and then we may laugh at their stupidity in not knowing it beforeat present i will say nothing about it”
“you are quite rightto have his errors made public might ruin him for ever he is now, perhaps, sorry for what he has done, and anxious to re-establish a characterwe must not make him desperate”
the tumult of elizabeth"s mind was allayed by this conversation she had got rid of two of the secrets which had weighed on her for a fortnight,and was certain of a willing listener in jane, whenever she might wish to talk again of either but there was still something lurking behind, of which prudence forbade the disclosure she dared not relate the other half of mr darcy"s letter, nor explain to her sister how sincerely she had been valued by her friendhere was knowledge in which no one could partake; and she was sensible that nothing less than a perfect understanding between the parties could justify her in throwing off this last encumbrance of mystery“and then,”said she,“if that very improbable event should ever take place,i shall merely be able to tell what bingley may tell in a much more agreeable manner himselfthe liberty of munication cannot be mine till it has lost all its value!”
she was now, on being settled at home, at leisure to observe the real state of her sister"s spiritsjane was not happyshe still cherished a very tender affection for bingleyhaving never even fancied herself in love before, her regard had all the warmth of first attachment, and, from her age and disposition, greater steadiness than first attachments often boast;and so fervently did she value his remembrance,and prefer him to every other man, that all her good sense,and all her attention to the feelings of her friends, were requisite to check the indulgence of those regrets which must have been injurious to her own health and their tranquillity
“well,lizzy,”said mrsben one day,“what is your opinion now of this sad business of jane"sfor my part,i am determined never to speak of it again to anybodyi told my sister phillips so the other day but i cannot find out that jane saw anything of him in londonwell,he is a very undeserving young man—and i do not suppose there"s the least chance in the world of her ever getting him nowthere is no talk of his ing to herfield again in the summer;and i have inquired of everybody,too,who is likely to know”
“i do not believe he will ever live at herfield any more”
“oh well!it is just as he choosesnobody wants him to e though i shall always say he used my daughter extremely ill;and if i was her,i would not have put up with itwell,my fort is, i am sure jane will die of a broken heart;and then he will be sorry for what he has done”
but as elizabeth could not receive fort from any such expectation,she made no answer
“well, lizzy,”continued her mother,soon afterwards,“and so the collinses live very fortable, do they well,well,i only hope it will lastand what sort of table do they keepcharlotte is an excellent manager,i dare say if she is half as sharp as her mother,she is saving enough there is nothing extravagant in their housekeeping,i dare say”
“no,nothing at all”
“a great deal of good management, depend upon ityes, yesthey will take care not to outrun their ine they will never be distressed for moneywell, much good may it do them!and so, i suppose, they often talk of having longbourn when your father is deadthey look upon it as quite their own,i dare say,whenever that happens”
“it was a subject which they could not mention before me”
“no; it would have been strange if they had; but i make no doubt they often talk of it between themselveswell,if they can be easy with an estate that is not lawfully their own,so much the betteri should be ashamed of having one that was only entailed on me”