第125章

    as soon as they were gone,elizabeth walked out to recover her spirits;or in other words,to dwell without interruption on those subjects that must deaden them more mr darcy"s behaviour astonished and vexed her

    “why,if he came only to be silent,grave,and indifferent,”said she,“did he e at all”

    she could settle it in no way that gave her pleasure

    “he could be still amiable,still pleasing,to my uncle and aunt, when he was in town; and why not to me if he fears me, why e hither if he no longer cares for me, why silentteasing, teasing,man!i will think no more about him”

    her resolution was for a short time involuntarily kept by the approach of her sister,who joined her with a cheerful look,which showed her better satisfied with their visitors,than elizabeth

    “now,”said she,“that this first meeting is over,i feel perfectly easyi know my own strength,and i shall never be embarrassed again by his ing i am glad he dines here on tuesday it will then be publicly seen that, on both sides, we meet only as mon and indifferent acquaintance”

    “yes,very indifferent indeed,”said elizabeth,laughingly“oh, jane,take care”

    “my dear lizzy,you cannot think me so weak,as to be in danger now”

    “i think you are in very great danger of making him as much in love with you as ever”

    they did not see the gentlemen again till tuesday; and mrs ben,in the meanwhile,was giving way to all the happy schemes, which the good humour and mon politeness of bingley,in half an hour"s visit,had revived

    on tuesday there was a large party assembled at longbourn;and the two who were most anxiously expected,to the credit of their punctuality as sportsmen, were in very good timewhen they repaired to the dining-room, elizabeth eagerly watched to see whether bingley would take the place,which,in all their former parties,had belonged to him, by her sister her prudent mother, occupied by the same ideas,forbore to invite him to sit by herself on entering the room, he seemed to hesitate;but jane happened to look round,and happened to smile: it was decided he placed himself by her

    elizabeth, with a triumphant sensation, looked towards his friend he bore it with noble indifference, and she would have imagined that bingley had received his sanction to be happy,had she not seen his eyes likewise turned towards mrdarcy,with an expression of half-laughing alarm

    his behaviour to her sister was such, during dinner time, as showed an admiration of her,which,though more guarded than formerly,persuaded elizabeth,that if left wholly to himself,jane"s happiness,and his own,would be speedily securedthough she dared not depend upon the consequence,she yet received pleasure from observing his behaviourit gave her all the animation that her spirits could boast;for she was in no cheerful humourmrdarcy was almost as far from her as the table could divide themhe was on one side of her mothershe knew how little such a situation would give pleasure to either,or make either appear to advantage she was not near enough to hear any of their discourse,but she could see how seldom they spoke to each other,and how formal and cold was their manner whenever they did her mother"s ungraciousness, made the sense of what they owed him more painful to elizabeth"s mind;and she would,at times,have given anything to be privileged to tell him that his kindness was neither unknown nor unfelt by the whole of the family

    she was in hopes that the evening would afford some opportunity of bringing them together;that the whole of the visit would not pass away without enabling them to enter into something more of conversation than the mere ceremonious salutation attending his entranceanxious and uneasy,the period which passed in the drawing-room, before the gentlemen came, was wearisome and dull to a degree that almost made her uncivilshe looked forward to their entrance as the point on which all her chance of pleasure for the evening must depend

    “if he does not e to me,then,”said she,“i shall give him up for ever”