Mr. Darcy drew his chair a little towards her, and said, “You cannot

have a right to such very strong local attachment. You cannot have

been always at Longbourn.”
Elizabeth looked surprised. The gentleman experienced some change of

feeling; he drew back his chair, took a newspaper from the table, and,

glancing over it, said, in a colder voice,—
“Are you pleased with Kent?”
A short dialogue on the subject of the country ensued, on either side

calm and concise—and soon put an end to by the entrance of Charlotte

and her sister, just returned from their walk. The tête-à-tête

surprised them. Mr.{225} Darcy related the mistake which had occasioned his

intruding on Miss Bennet, and, after sitting a few minutes longer,

without saying much to anybody, went away.

[Image unavailable.]
“Accompanied by their aunt”
[Copyright 1894 by George Allen.]

{226}
“What can be the meaning of this?” said Charlotte, as soon as he was

gone. “My dear Eliza, he must be in love with you, or he would never

have called on us in this familiar way.”
But when Elizabeth told of his silence, it did not seem very likely,

even to Charlotte’s wishes, to be the case; and, after various

conjectures, they could at last only suppose his visit to proceed from

the difficulty of finding anything to do, which was the more probable

from the time of year. All field sports were over. Within doors there

was Lady Catherine, books, and a billiard table, but gentlemen cannot be

always within doors; and in the nearness of the Parsonage, or the

pleasantness of the walk to it, or of the people who lived in it, the

two cousins found a temptation from this period of walking thither

almost every day. They called at various times of the morning, sometimes

separately, sometimes together, and now and then accompanied by their

aunt. It was plain to them all that Colonel Fitzwilliam came because he

had pleasure in their society, a persuasion which of course recommended