Strona 277 z 817

Elizabeth, to whom Jane very soon communicated the chief of all

this, heard it in silent indignation. Her heart was divided

between concern for her sister and resentment against all others.

To Caroline's assertion of her brother's being partial to Miss

Darcy, she paid no credit. That he was really fond of Jane, she

doubted no more than she had ever done; and much as she had

always been disposed to like him, she could not think without

anger, hardly without contempt, on that easiness of temper, that

want of proper resolution, which now made him the slave of his

designing friends, and led him to sacrifice his own happiness to

the caprice of their inclinations. Had his own happiness,

however, been the only sacrifice, he might have been allowed to

sport with it in whatever manner he thought best; but her

sister's was involved in it, as she thought he must be sensible

himself. It was a subject, in short, on which reflection would be

long indulged, and must be unavailing.