whenever she did catch a glimpse she saw an expression of general

complaisance, and in all that he said, she heard an accent so far

removed from hauteur or disdain of his companions, as convinced her

that the improvement of manners which she had yesterday witnessed,

however temporary its existence might prove, had at least outlived one

day. When she saw him thus seeking the acquaintance, and courting the

good opinion of people with whom any intercourse a few months ago would

have been a disgrace; when she saw{323} him thus civil, not only to herself,

but to the very relations whom he had openly disdained, and recollected

their last lively scene in Hunsford Parsonage, the difference, the

change was so great, and struck so forcibly on her mind, that she could

hardly restrain her astonishment from being visible. Never, even in the

company of his dear friends at Netherfield, or his dignified relations

at Rosings, had she seen him so desirous to please, so free from

self-consequence or unbending reserve, as now, when no importance could

result from the success of his endeavours, and when even the

acquaintance of those to whom his attentions were addressed, would draw

down the ridicule and censure of the ladies both of Netherfield and

Rosings.
Their visitors stayed with them above half an hour; and when they arose

to depart, Mr. Darcy called on his sister to join him in expressing

their wish of seeing Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner, and Miss Bennet, to dinner

at Pemberley, before they left the country. Miss Darcy, though with a

diffidence which marked her little in the habit of giving invitations,

readily obeyed. Mrs. Gardiner looked at her niece, desirous of knowing

how she, whom the invitation most concerned, felt disposed as to its

acceptance, but Elizabeth had turned away her head. Presuming, however,

that this studied avoidance spoke rather a momentary embarrassment than