“At last I am able to send you some tidings of my niece, and such as,upon the whole,I hope it will give you satisfaction.Soon after you left me on Saturday,I was fortunate enough to find out in what part of London they were.The particulars I reserve till we meet;it is enough to know they are discovered.I have seen them both―”
“Yes,yes,they must marry.There is nothing else to be done.But there are two things that I want very much to know;one is,how much money your uncle has laid down to bring it about;and the other,how am I ever to pay him.”
“Wickham is not so undeserving,then,as we thought him,”said her sister.“My dear father,I congratulate you.”
“No,”said her father;“Wickham's a fool if he takes her with a farthing less than ten thousand pounds.I should be sorry to think so ill of him,in the very beginning of our relationship.”
“Dear madam,”cried Mrs. Hill, in great astonishment,“don't you know there is an express come for master from Mr.Gardiner? He has been here this half-hour,and master has had a letter.”
Two days after Mr.Bennet's return,as Jane and Elizabeth were walking together in the shrubbery behind the house,they saw the housekeeper coming towards them, and, concluding that she came to call them to their mother, went forward to meet her; but, instead of the expected summons, when they approached her, she said to Miss Bennet,“I beg your pardon,madam,for interrupting you, but I was in hopes you might have got some good news from town,so I took the liberty of coming to ask.”