Page 455 of 817

It was the second week in May, in which the three young ladies

set out together from Gracechurch Street for the town of ----, in

Hertfordshire; and, as they drew near the appointed inn where Mr.

Bennet's carriage was to meet them, they quickly perceived, in

token of the coachman's punctuality, both Kitty and Lydia looking

out of a dining-room upstairs. These two girls had been above an

hour in the place, happily employed in visiting an opposite

milliner, watching the sentinel on guard, and dressing a salad

and cucumber.

After welcoming their sisters, they triumphantly displayed a

table set out with such cold meat as an inn larder usually

affords, exclaiming, "Is not this nice? is not this an agreeable

surprise?"