Chapter 46 261
" Oh , yes ! They left Brighton together on Sunday night , and were traced almost to London , but not beyond ; they are certainly not gone to Scotland ."
" And what has been done , what has been attempted , to recover her ?"
" My father is gone to London , and Jane has written to beg my uncle ' s immediate assistance ; and we shall be off , I hope , in half-an-hour . But nothing can be done--I know very well that nothing can be done . How is such a man to be worked on ? How are they even to be discovered ? I have not the smallest hope . It is every way horrible !"
Darcy shook his head in silent acquiescence .
" When my eyes were opened to his real character--Oh ! had I known what I ought , what I dared to do ! But I knew not--I was afraid of doing too much . Wretched , wretched mistake !"
Darcy made no answer . He seemed scarcely to hear her , and was walking up and down the room in earnest meditation , his brow contracted , his air gloomy . Elizabeth soon observed , and instantly understood it . Her power was sinking ; everything must sink under such a proof of family weakness , such an assurance of the deepest disgrace . She could neither wonder nor condemn , but the belief of his self-conquest brought nothing consolatory to her bosom , afforded no palliation of her distress . It was , on the contrary , exactly calculated to make her understand her own wishes ; and never had she so honestly felt that she could have loved him , as now , when all love must be vain .
But self , though it would intrude , could not engross her . Lydia--the humiliation , the misery she was bringing on them all , soon swallowed up every private care ; and covering her face with her handkerchief , Elizabeth was soon lost to everything else ; and , after a pause of several minutes , was only recalled to a sense of her situation by the voice of her companion , who , in a manner which , though it spoke compassion , spoke likewise restraint , said , " I am afraid you have been long desiring my absence , nor have I anything to plead in excuse of my stay , but real , though unavailing