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which overspread her face whenever she spoke to one of its

objects; for jealousy had not yet made her desperate, and her

attentions to Mr. Darcy were by no means over. Miss Darcy,

on her brother's entrance, exerted herself much more to talk;

and Elizabeth saw that he was anxious for his sister and her-

self to get acquainted, and forwarded, as much as possible,

every attempt at conversation on either side. Miss Bingley

saw all this likewise; and, in the imprudence of anger, took

the first opportunity of saying, with sneering civility,--

'Pray, Miss Eliza, are not the shire militia removed

from Meryton? They must be a great loss to _your_ family.'

In Darcy's presence she dared not mention Wickham's

name; but Elizabeth instantly comprehended that he was

uppermost in her thoughts; and the various recollections

connected with him gave her a moment's distress; but, exert-

ing herself vigorously to repel the ill-natured attack, she

presently answered the question in a tolerably disengaged

tone. While she spoke, an involuntary glance showed her

Darcy with a heightened complexion, earnestly looking at

her, and his sister overcome with confusion, and unable to lift

up her eyes. Had Miss Bingley known what pain she was

then giving her beloved friend, she undoubtedly would have

refrained from the hint; but she had merely intended to dis-

compose Elizabeth, by bringing forward the idea of a man to

whom she believed her partial, to make her betray a sensi-

bility which might injure her in Darcy's opinion, and, perhaps,

to remind the latter of all the follies and absurdities by which

some part of her family were connected with that corps. Not

a syllable had ever reached her of Miss Darcy's meditated

elopement. To no creature had it been revealed, where

secrecy was possible, except to Elizabeth; and from all Bing-

ley's connections her brother was particularly anxious to con-

ceal it, from that very wish which Elizabeth had long ago

attributed to him, of their becoming hereafter her own. He

had certainly formed such a plan; and without meaning that

it should affect his endeavour to separate him from Miss

Bennet, it is probable that it might add something to his lively

concern for the welfare of his friend.

Elizabeth's collected behaviour, however, soon quieted his

emotion; and as Miss Bingley, vexed and disappointed, dared

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