Chapter 45 254
Elizabeth saw that he was anxious for his sister and herself to get acquainted , and forwarded as much as possible , every attempt at conversation on either side . Miss Bingley saw all this likewise ; and , in the imprudence of anger , took the first opportunity of saying , with sneering civility :
" Pray , Miss Eliza , are not the ----shire Militia removed from Meryton ? They must be a great loss to your family ."
In Darcy ' s presence she dared not mention Wickham ' s name ; but Elizabeth instantly comprehended that he was uppermost in her thoughts ; and the various recollections connected with him gave her a moment ' s distress ; but exerting herself vigorously to repel the ill-natured attack , she presently answered the question in a tolerably detached tone . While she spoke , an involuntary glance showed her Darcy , with a heightened complexion , earnestly looking at her , and his sister overcome with confusion , and unable to lift up her eyes . Had Miss Bingley known what pain she was then giving her beloved friend , she undoubtedly would have refrained from the hint ; but she had merely intended to discompose Elizabeth by bringing forward the idea of a man to whom she believed her partial , to make her betray a sensibility which might injure her in Darcy ' s opinion , and , perhaps , to remind the latter of all the follies and absurdities by which some part of her family were connected with that corps . Not a syllable had ever reached her of Miss Darcy ' s meditated elopement . To no creature had it been revealed , where secrecy was possible , except to Elizabeth ; and from all Bingley ' s connections her brother was particularly anxious to conceal it , from the very wish which Elizabeth had long ago attributed to him , of their becoming hereafter her own . He had certainly formed such a plan , and without meaning that it should effect his endeavour to separate him from Miss Bennet , it is probable that it might add something to his lively concern for the welfare of his friend .
Elizabeth ' s collected behaviour , however , soon quieted his emotion ; and as Miss Bingley , vexed and disappointed , dared not approach nearer to Wickham , Georgiana also recovered in time , though not enough to be able to speak any more . Her brother , whose eye she feared to meet , scarcely