第83章[第3页/共4页]

Their party in the dining-room was large, for almost all the Lucases came to meet Maria and hear the news; and various were the subjects that occupied them:Lady Lucas was inquiring of Maria, across the table, after the welfare and poultry of her eldest daughter;Mrs.Bennet was doubly engaged,on one hand collecting an account of the present fashions from Jane,who sat some way below her,and,on the other,retailing them all to the younger Miss Lucases; and Lydia, in a voice rather louder than any other person's,was enumerating the various pleasures of the morning to anybody who would hear her.