Pagina 548 di 817

Their visitors stayed with them above half an hour; and when they

arose to depart, Mr. Darcy called on his sister to join him in

expressing their wish of seeing Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner, and Miss

Bennet, to dinner at Pemberley, before they left the country.

Miss Darcy, though with a diffidence which marked her little in

the habit of giving invitations, readily obeyed. Mrs. Gardiner

looked at her niece, desirous of knowing how she, whom the

invitation most concerned, felt disposed as to its acceptance,

but Elizabeth had turned away her head. Presuming, however, that

this studied avoidance spoke rather a momentary embarrassment

than any dislike of the proposal, and seeing in her husband, who

was fond of society, a perfect willingness to accept it, she

ventured to engage for her attendance, and the day after the next

was fixed on.