Austen Said:

“Some acquaintance or other, my dear, I suppose; I am sure I do not know.”

“La!”

“it looks just like that man that used to be with him before. Mr. what's-his-name. That tall, proud man .”

“Good gracious! Mr. Darcy! — and so it does, I vow. Well, any friend of Mr. Bingley's will always be welcome here, to be sure; but else I must say that I hate the very sight of him.”

the awkwardness which must attend her sister, in seeing him almost for the first time after receiving his explanatory letter.

to be civil to him only as Mr. Bingley's friend,

To Jane, he could be only a man whose proposals she had refused, and whose merit she had undervalued; but to her own more extensive information, he was the person to whom the whole family were indebted for the first of benefits, and whom she regarded herself with an interest, if not quite so tender, at least as reasonable and just as what Jane felt for Bingley.

at his coming to Netherfield, to Longbourn, and voluntarily seeking her again,

his affection and wishes must still be unshaken. But she would not be secure.

“Let me first see how he behaves,”

“it will then be early enough for expectation.”

more as he had been used to look in Hertfordshire, than as she had seen him at Pemberley. But, perhaps he could not in her mother's presence be what he was before her uncle and aunt.

It was a painful, but not an improbable, conjecture.

her mother owed to the latter the preservation of her favourite daughter from irremediable infamy,

He 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.

“Could I expect it to be otherwise!”

“Yet why did he come?”

“It is a long time, Mr. Bingley, since you went away,”

“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?”

“It is a delightful thing, to be sure, to have a daughter well married,” continued her mother, “but at the same time, Mr. Bingley, it is very hard to have her taken such a way from me. They are gone down to Newcastle, a place quite northward, it seems, and there they are to stay I do not know how long. His regiment is there; for I suppose you have heard of his leaving the ——shire, and of his being gone into the regulars. Thank Heaven! he has some friends, though perhaps not so many as he deserves.”

this to be levelled at Mr. Darcy,

whether he meant to make any stay in the country at present.

“When you have killed all your own birds, Mr. Bingley,”

“I beg you will come here, and shoot as many as you please on Mr. Bennet's manor. I am sure he will be vastly happy to oblige you, and will save all the best of the covies for you.”

such unnecessary, such officious attention! Were the same fair prospect to arise at present as had flattered them a year ago, every thing,

would be hastening to the same vexatious conclusion.

years of happiness could not make Jane or herself amends for moments of such painful confusion.

“The first wish of my heart,”

“is never more to be in company with either of them. Their society can afford no pleasure that will atone for such wretchedness as this! Let me never see either one or the other again!”

how much the beauty of her sister re-kindled the admiration of her former lover. When first he came in, he had spoken to her but little; but every five minutes seemed to be giving her more of his attention.

no difference should be perceived in her at all,

she talked as much as ever.

to dine at Longbourn in a few days time.

“You are quite a visit in my debt, Mr. Bingley,”

“for when you went to town last winter, you promised to take a family dinner with us, as soon as you returned. I have not forgot, you see; and I assure you, I was very much disappointed that you did not come back and keep your engagement.”

anything less than two courses could be good enough for a man

or satisfy the appetite and pride of one who had ten thousand a year.

“Why, if he came only to be silent, grave, and indifferent,”

“did he come at all?”

“He could be still amiable, still pleasing, to my uncle and aunt, when he was in town; and why not to me? If he fears me, why come hither? If he no longer cares for me, why silent? Teasing, teasing, man! I will think no more about him.”

“Now,”

“that this first meeting is over, I feel perfectly easy. I know my own strength, and I shall never be embarrassed again by his coming. I am glad he dines here on Tuesday. It will then be publicly seen that, on both sides, we meet only as common and indifferent acquaintance.”

“Yes, very indifferent indeed,”

“Oh, Jane, take care.”

“My dear Lizzy, you cannot think me so weak, as to be in danger now?”

“I think you are in very great danger of making him as much in love with you as ever.”

Bingley had received his sanction to be happy,

his eyes likewise turned towards Mr. Darcy, with an expression of half-laughing alarm.

if left wholly to himself, Jane's happiness, and his own, would be speedily secured.

how little such a situation would give pleasure to either, or make either appear to advantage.