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The Gardiners stayed a week at Longbourn; and what with the

Philipses, the Lucases, and the officers, there was not a day

without its engagement. Mrs. Bennet had so carefully provided for

the entertainment of her brother and sister, that they did not

once sit down to a family dinner. When the engagement was for

home, some of the officers always made part of it, of which

officers Mr. Wickham was sure to be one; and on these occasions

Mrs. Gardiner, rendered suspicious by Elizabeth's warm

commendation of him, narrowly observed them both. Without

supposing them, from what she saw, to be very seriously in love,

their preference of each other was plain enough to make her a

little uneasy; and she resolved to speak to Elizabeth on the

subject before she left Hertfordshire, and represent to her the

imprudence of encouraging such an attachment.