第137章[第1页/共3页]

“That is to say, you had given your permission. I guessed as much.”And though he exclaimed at the term,she found that it had been pretty much the case.

“My object then,”replied Darcy,“was to show you, by every civility in my power,that I was not so mean as to resent the past;and I hoped to obtain your forgiveness,to lessen your ill opinion, by letting you see that your reproofs had been attended to.How soon any other wishes introduced themselves I can hardly tell,but I believe in about half an hour after I had seen you.”

“What could become of Mr. Bingley and Jane!”was a wonder which introduced the discussion of their affairs. Darcy was delighted with their engagement; his friend had given him the earliest information of it.

“Did you speak from your own observation,”said she,“when you told him that my sister loved him, or merely from my information last spring?”

After walking several miles in a leisurely manner,and too busy to know anything about it,they found at last,on examining their watches,that it was time to be at home.

“I am almost afraid of asking what you thought of me,when we met at Pemberley.You blamed me for coming?”

“On the evening before my going to London,”said he,“I made a confession to him,which I believe I ought to have made long ago. I told him of all that had occurred to make my former interference in his affairs absurd and impertinent. His surprise was great.He had never had the slightest suspicion.I told him, moreover,that I believed myself mistaken in supposing,as I had done,that your sister was indifferent to him;and as I could easily perceive that his attachment to her was unabated,I felt no doubt of their happiness together.”