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"Wickham is not so undeserving, then, as we have thought him,"

said her sister. "My dear father, I congratulate you."

"And have you answered the letter?" said Elizabeth.

"No; but it must be done soon."

Most earnestly did she then entreat him to lose no more time

before he wrote.

"Oh! my dear father," she cried, "come back and write

immediately. Consider how important every moment is in such a

case."

"Let me write for you," said Jane, "if you dislike the trouble

yourself."

"I dislike it very much," he replied; "but it must be done."

And so saying, he turned back with them, and walked towards the

house.

"And--may I ask?" said Elizabeth; "but the terms, I suppose, must

be complied with."

"Complied with! I am only ashamed of his asking so little."

"And they must marry! Yet he is such a man."