صفحة 148 من 817

The officers of the ----shire were in general a very creditable,

gentlemanlike set and the best of them were of the present party;

but Mr, Wickham was as far beyond them all in person,

countenance, air, and walk, as they were superior to the

broad-faced stuffy uncle Philips, breathing port wine, who

followed them into the room.

]

Mr. Wickham was the happy man towards whom almost every female

eye was turned, and Elizabeth was the happy woman by whom he

finally seated himself; and the agreeable manner in which he

immediately fell into conversation, though it was only on its

being a wet night, and on the probability of a rainy season, made

her feel that the commonest, dullest, most threadbare topic might

be rendered interesting by the skill of the speaker.