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brought on by the strength of her love rather than by his;

and she would have wondered why, without violently caring

for her, he chose to elope with her at all, had she not felt

certain that his flight was rendered necessary by distress of

circumstances; and if that were the case, he was not the

young man to resist an opportunity of having a companion.

Lydia was exceedingly fond of him. He was her dear

Wickham on every occasion; no one was to be put in com-

petition with him. He did everything best in the world; and

she was sure he would kill more birds on the first of Septem-

ber than anybody else in the country.

One morning, soon after their arrival, as she was sitting

with her two elder sisters, she said to Elizabeth,--

'Lizzy, I never gave _you_ an account of my wedding, I

believe. You were not by when I told mamma and the

others all about it. Are not you curious to hear how it was

managed?'

'No, really,' replied Elizabeth; 'I think there cannot be

too little said on the subject.'

'La! You are so strange! But I must tell you how it

went off. We were married, you know, at St. Clement's,

because Wickham's lodgings were in that parish. And it

was settled that we should all be there by eleven o'clock.

My uncle and aunt and I were to go together; and the others

were to meet us at the church. Well, Monday morning

came, and I was in such a fuss! I was so afraid, you know,

that something would happen to put it off, and then I should

have gone quite distracted. And there was my aunt, all the

time I was dressing, preaching and talking away just as if

she was reading a sermon. However, I did not hear above

one word in ten, for I was thinking, you may suppose, of my

dear Wickham. I longed to know whether he would be

married in his blue coat.'

'Well, and so we breakfasted at ten as usual: I thought

it would never be over; for, by the bye, you are to under-

stand that my uncle and aunt were horrid unpleasant all the

time I was with them. If you'll believe me, I did not once

put my foot out of doors, though I was there a fortnight.

Not one party, or scheme, or anything. To be sure, London

was rather thin, but, however, the Little Theatre was open.

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