Pagina 477 de 817

"No; it would have been strange if they had. But I make no doubt

they often talk of it between themselves. Well, if they can be

easy with an estate that is not lawfully their own, so much the

better. I should be ashamed of having one that was only entailed

on me."

]

CHAPTER XLI.

The first week of their return was soon gone. The second began.

It was the last of the regiment's stay in Meryton, and all the

young ladies in the neighbourhood were drooping apace. The

dejection was almost universal. The elder Miss Bennets alone were

still able to eat, drink, and sleep, and pursue the usual course

of their employments. Very frequently were they reproached for

this insensibility by Kitty and Lydia, whose own misery was

extreme, and who could not comprehend such hard-heartedness in

any of the family.

"Good Heaven! What is to become of us? What are we to do?" would

they often exclaim in the bitterness of woe. "How can you be

smiling so, Lizzy?"