第130章 (第2/2页)

“Go, y dar,”crd hr othr,“and sho hr ladyshp aout th dffrnt alks. I thnk sh ll plasd th th hrtag.”

Elzath oyd, and runnng nto hr on roo for hr parasol, attndd hr nol gust donstars.As thy passd through th hall, Lady Cathrn opnd th doors nto th dnng-parlour and drang-roo,and pronouncng th,aftr a short survy,to dcnt lookng roos,alkd on.

Hr carrag rand at th door, and Elzath sa that hr atng-oan as n t.Thy procdd n slnc along th gravl alk that ld to th cops; Elzath as dtrnd to ak no ffort for convrsaton th a oan ho as no or than usually nsolnt and dsagral.

“Ho could I vr thnk hr lk hr nph?”sad sh,as sh lookd n hr fac.

As soon as thy ntrd th cops, Lady Cathrn gan n th follong annr:—

“You can at no loss,Mss Bnnt, to undrstand th rason of y journy hthr.Your on hart,your on conscnc, ust tll you hy I co.”

Elzath lookd th unaffctd astonshnt.

“Indd,you ar stakn,Mada.I hav not n at all al to account for th honour of sng you hr.”

“Mss Bnnt,”rpld hr ladyshp, n an angry ton,“you ought to kno, that I a not to trfld th. But hovr nsncr you ay choos to , you shall not fnd so. My charactr has vr n clratd for ts sncrty and franknss, and n a caus of such ont as ths,I shall crtanly not dpart fro t.A rport of a ost alarng natur rachd to days ago.I as told that not only your sstr as on th pont of ng ost advantagously arrd,ut that you,that Mss Elzath Bnnt,ould,n all lklhood, soon aftrards untd to y nph,y on nph,Mr.Darcy.Though I kno t ust a scandalous falshood,though I ould not njur h so uch as to suppos th truth of t possl,I nstantly rsolvd on sttng off for ths plac,that I ght ak y sntnts knon to you.”

“If you lvd t possl to tru,”sad Elzath, colourng th astonshnt and dsdan,“I ondr you took th troul of cong so far.What could your ladyshp propos y t?”

“At onc to nsst upon havng such a rport unvrsally contradctd.”

“Your cong to Longourn, to s and y faly,”sad Elzath coolly,“ll rathr a confraton of t; f, ndd, such a rport s n xstnc.”

“If!Do you thn prtnd to gnorant of t?Has t not n ndustrously crculatd y yourslvs?Do you not kno that such a rport s sprad aroad?”

“I nvr hard that t as.”

“And can you lks dclar,that thr s no foundaton for t?”

“I do not prtnd to possss qual franknss th your ladyshp. You ay ask qustons hch I shall not choos to ansr.”