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When they were all in the drawing-room, the questions which

Elizabeth had already asked were of course repeated by the

others, and they soon found that Jane had no intelligence to

give. The sanguine hope of good, however, which the benevolence

of her heart suggested, had not yet deserted her; she still

expected that it would all end well, and that every morning would

bring some letter, either from Lydia or her father, to explain

their proceedings, and, perhaps, announce the marriage.

Mrs. Bennet, to whose apartment they all repaired, after a few

minutes' conversation together, received them exactly as might be

expected; with tears and lamentations of regret, invectives

against the villainous conduct of Wickham, and complaints of her

own sufferings and ill-usage; blaming everybody but the person to

whose ill-judging indulgence the errors of her daughter must be

principally owing.