Nodiver d.o.o. · Pride & Prejudice · page 432 of 640

Pride & Prejudice – page 432

JANE AUSTEN

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 con-

cerned, 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 any dislike of the proposal, and

seeing in her husband, who was fond of society, a

perfect willingness to accept it, she ventured to engage

for her attendance, and the day after the next was fixed

on.

Bingley expressed great pleasure in the certainty

of seeing Elizabeth again, having still a great deal to

say to her, and many inquiries to make after all their

Hertfordshire friends. Elizabeth, construing all this

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