............prev.....................next{{prxprp259.jpg}} || PRIDE AND PREJUDICE 259 ||
Two days after Mr. Bennet's return, as Jane and Elizabeth were
walking together in the shrubbery behind the house, they saw
the housekeeper coming towards them, and, concluding that she
came to call them to their mother, went forward to meet her; but,
instead of the expected summons, when they approached her, she
said to Miss Bennet: 'I beg your pardon, madam, for interrupting
you, but I was in hopes you might have got some good news
from town, so I took the liberty of coming to ask'.
'What do you mean, Hill? We have heard nothing from
town.'
'Dear madam,' cried Mrs. Hill, in great astonishment, 'don't
you know there is an express come for master from Mr. Gardiner I
He has been here this half hour, and master has had a letter.'
Away ran the girls, too eager to get in to have time for speech.
They ran through the vestibule into the breakfast room; from
thence to the library; -- their father was in neither; and they were
on the point of seeking him up stairs with their mother, when
they were met by the butler, who said,
'If you are looking for my master, ma'am, he is walking towards
the little copse.'
Upon this information, they instantly passed through the hall
once more, and ran across the lawn after their father, who was
deliberately pursuing his way towards a small wood on one side
of the paddock.
Jane, who was not so light, nor so much in the habit of running
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