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beautiful, and that she cannot be too much guarded in her

behaviour towards the undeserving of the other sex.'

Elizabeth lifted up her eyes in amazement, but was too

much oppressed to make any reply. Mary, however, con-

tinued to console herself with such kind of moral extrac-

tions from the evil before them.

In the afternoon, the two elder Miss Bennets were able to

be for half an hour by themselves; and Elizabeth instantly

availed herself of the opportunity of making any inquiries

which Jane was equally eager to satisfy. After joining in

general lamentations over the dreadful sequel of this event,

which Elizabeth considered as all but certain, and Miss

Bennet could not assert to be wholly impossible, the former

continued the subject by saying, 'But tell me all and every-

thing about it which I have not already heard. Give me

further particulars. What did Colonel Forster say? Had

they no apprehension of anything before the elopement

took place? They must have seen them together for ever.'

'Colonel Forster did own that he had often suspected some

partiality, especially on Lydia's side, but nothing to give him

any alarm. I am so grieved for him. His behaviour was

attentive and kind to the utmost. He _was_ coming to us, in

order to assure us of his concern, before he had any idea of

their not being gone to Scotland: when that apprehension

first got abroad, it hastened his journey.'

'And was Denny convinced that Wickham would not

marry? Did he know of their intending to go off? Had

Colonel Forster seen Denny himself?'

'Yes; but when questioned by _him_ Denny denied knowing

anything of their plan, and would not give his real opinion

about it. He did not repeat his persuasion of their not

marrying, and from _that_ I am inclined to hope he might have

been misunderstood before.'

'And till Colonel Forster came himself, not one of you

entertained a doubt, I suppose, of their being really married?'

'How was it possible that such an idea should enter our

brains? I felt a little uneasy -- a little fearful of my sister's

happiness with him in marriage, because I knew that his

conduct had not been always quite right. My father and

mother knew nothing of that, they only felt how imprudent a

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