“Oh! hang Kitty! what has she to do with it? Come, be quick, be quick!

where is your sash, my dear?”
But when her mother was gone, Jane would not be prevailed on to go down

without one of her sisters.
The same anxiety to get them by themselves was visible again in the

evening. After tea, Mr. Bennet retired to the library, as was his

custom, and Mary went upstairs to her instrument. Two obstacles of the

five being thus removed, Mrs. Bennet sat looking and winking at

Elizabeth and Catherine for a considerable time, without{424} making any

impression on them. Elizabeth would not observe her; and when at last

Kitty did, she very innocently said, “What is the matter, mamma? What do

you keep winking at me for? What am I to do?”
“Nothing, child, nothing. I did not wink at you.” She then sat still

five minutes longer; but unable to waste such a precious occasion, she

suddenly got up, and saying to Kitty,—
“Come here, my love, I want to speak to you,” took her out of the room.

Jane instantly gave a look at Elizabeth which spoke her distress at such

premeditation, and her entreaty that she would not give in to it. In a

few minutes, Mrs. Bennet half opened the door and called out,—
“Lizzy, my dear, I want to speak with you.”
Elizabeth was forced to go.
“We may as well leave them by themselves, you know,” said her mother as

soon as she was in the hall. “Kitty and I are going upstairs to sit in

my dressing-room.”
Elizabeth made no attempt to reason with her mother, but remained

quietly in the hall till she and Kitty were out of sight, then returned

into the drawing-room.
Mrs. Bennet’s schemes for this day were ineffectual. Bingley was

everything that was charming, except the professed lover of her

daughter. His ease and cheerfulness rendered him a most agreeable

addition to their evening party; and he bore with the ill-judged

officiousness of the mother, and heard all her silly remarks with a