apprehension of his feeling a serious attachment. I had often seen him

in love before. At that ball, while I had{246} the honour of dancing with

you, I was first made acquainted, by Sir William Lucas’s accidental

information, that Bingley’s attentions to your sister had given rise to

a general expectation of their marriage. He spoke of it as a certain

event, of which the time alone could be undecided. From that moment I

observed my friend’s behaviour attentively; and I could then perceive

that his partiality for Miss Bennet was beyond what I had ever witnessed

in him. Your sister I also watched. Her look and manners were open,

cheerful, and engaging as ever, but without any symptom of peculiar

regard; and I remained convinced, from the evening’s scrutiny, that

though she received his attentions with pleasure, she did not invite

them by any participation of sentiment. If you have not been mistaken

here, I must have been in an error. Your superior knowledge of your

sister must make the latter probable. If it be so, if I have been misled

by such error to inflict pain on her, your resentment has not been

unreasonable. But I shall not scruple to assert, that the serenity of

your sister’s countenance and air was such as might have given the most

acute observer a conviction that, however amiable her temper, her heart

was not likely to be easily touched. That I was desirous of believing

her indifferent is certain; but I will venture to say that my

investigations and decisions are not usually influenced by my hopes or

fears. I did not believe her to be indifferent because I wished it; I

believed it on impartial conviction, as truly as I wished it in reason.

My objections to the marriage were not merely those which I last night

acknowledged to have required the utmost force of passion to put aside

in my own case; the want of connection could not be so great an evil to

my friend as to me. But there were{247} other causes of repugnance; causes