“Oh! thoughtless, thoughtless Lydia!”cried Elizabeth when she had finished it.“What a letter is this,to be written at such a moment!But at least it shows that she was serious on the subject of their journey.Whatever he might afterwards persuade her to, it was not on her side a scheme of infamy.My poor father!how he must have felt it!”
“Oh!Jane,”cried Elizabeth,“was there a servant belonging to it who did not know the whole story before the end of the day?”
“LYDIA BENNET.”
Jane then took it from her pocket-book,and gave it to Elizabeth. These were the contents:
“He brought it with him for us to see.”
“Oh,Jane,had we been less secret,had we told what we knew of him,this could not have happened!”
“I never saw anyone so shocked.He could not speak a word for full ten minutes. My mother was taken ill immediately, and the whole house in such confusion!”