was not seated by her: perhaps that was the reason of his silence; but

it had not been so in Derbyshire. There he had talked to her friends

when he could not to herself. But now several minutes elapsed, without

bringing the sound of his voice; and when occasionally, unable to resist

the impulse of curiosity, she raised her eyes to his face, she as often

found him looking at Jane as at herself, and frequently on no object but

the ground. More thoughtfulness and less anxiety to please, than when

they last met, were plainly expressed. She was disappointed, and angry

with herself for being so.
“Could I expect it to be otherwise?” said she. “Yet why did he come?{412}”
She was in no humour for conversation with anyone but himself; and to

him she had hardly courage to speak.
She inquired after his sister, but could do no more.
“It is a long time, Mr. Bingley, since you went away,” said Mrs. Bennet.
He readily agreed to it.
“I began to be afraid you would never come back again. People did say,

you meant to quit the place entirely at Michaelmas; but, however, I hope

it is not true. A great many changes have happened in the neighbourhood

since you went away. Miss Lucas is married and settled: and one of my

own daughters. I suppose you have heard of it; indeed, you must have

seen it in the papers. It was in the ‘Times’ and the ‘Courier,’ I know;

though it was not put in as it ought to be. It was only said, ‘Lately,

George Wickham, Esq., to Miss Lydia Bennet,’ without there being a

syllable said of her father, or the place where she lived, or anything.

It was my brother Gardiner’s drawing up, too, and I wonder how he came

to make such an awkward business of it. Did you see it?”
Bingley replied that he did, and made his congratulations. Elizabeth

dared not lift up her eyes. How Mr. Darcy looked, therefore, she could

not tell.
“It is a delightful thing, to be sure, to have a daughter well married,”