{{prxprp287.jpg}} || PRIDE AND PREJUDICE 287 ||

her neighbours might all see Mr. Bingley in consequence of it,

before they did. As the day of his arrival drew near,

'I begin to be sorry that he comes at all,' said Jane to her sister.

'It would be nothing; I could see him with perfect indifference;

but I can hardly bear to hear it thus perpetually talked of My

mother means well; but she does not know, no one can know,

how much I suffer from what she says. Happy shall I be when

his stay at Netherfield is over!'

'I wish I could say any thing to comfort you,' replied Elizabeth;

'but it is wholly out of my power. You must feel it; and the usual

satisfaction of preaching patience to a sufferer is denied me,

because you have always so much.'

Mr. Bingley arrived. Mrs. Bennet, through the assistance of

servants, contrived to have the earliest tidings of it, that the period

of anxiety and fretfulness on her side, might be as long as it could.

She counted the days that must intervene before their invitation

could be sent; hopeless of seeing him before. But on the third

morning after his arrival in Hertfordshire, she saw him from her

dressing-room window, enter the paddock, and ride towards

the house.

Her daughters were eagerly called to partake of her joy. Jane

resolutely kept her place at the table; but Elizabeth, to satisfy her

mother, went to die window -- she looked, she saw Mr. Darcy

with him, and sat down again by her sister.

'There is a gendeman with him, mamma,' said Kitty; 'who

can it be 2'

'Some acquaintance or other, my dear, I suppose; I am sure

I do not know.'

'La!' replied Kitty, 'it looks just like that man that used to be

with him before. -- Mr. what 's his name -- that tall, proud man.'

'Good gracious! Mr. Darcy! -- and so it does, I vow. Well,

any friend of Mr. Bingley 's will always be welcome here to be

sure; but else I must say that I hate the very sight of him.'

Jane looked at Elizabeth with surprize and concern. She

knew but little of their meeting in Derbyshire, and therefore felt

for the awkwardness which must attend her sister, in seeing him

almost for the first time after receiving his explanatory letter.

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