“My object then,”replied Darcy,“was to show you, by every civility in my power,that I was not so mean as to resent the past;and I hoped to obtain your forgiveness,to lessen your ill opinion, by letting you see that your reproofs had been attended to.How soon any other wishes introduced themselves I can hardly tell,but I believe in about half an hour after I had seen you.”
“It did. Bingley is most unaffectedly modest. His diffidence had prevented his depending on his own judgment in so anxious a case, but his reliance on mine made every thing easy. I was obliged to confess one thing,which for a time,and not unjustly, offended him.I could not allow myself to conceal that your sister had been in town three months last winter,that I had known it, and purposely kept it from him. He was angry. But his anger, I am persuaded,lasted no longer than he remained in any doubt of your sister's sentiments.He has heartily forgiven me now.”