Chapter 46 262
concern . Would to Heaven that anything could be either said or done on my part that might offer consolation to such distress ! But I will not torment you with vain wishes , which may seem purposely to ask for your thanks . This unfortunate affair will , I fear , prevent my sister ' s having the pleasure of seeing you at Pemberley to-day ."
" Oh , yes . Be so kind as to apologise for us to Miss Darcy . Say that urgent business calls us home immediately . Conceal the unhappy truth as long as it is possible , I know it cannot be long ."
He readily assured her of his secrecy ; again expressed his sorrow for her distress , wished it a happier conclusion than there was at present reason to hope , and leaving his compliments for her relations , with only one serious , parting look , went away .
As he quitted the room , Elizabeth felt how improbable it was that they should ever see each other again on such terms of cordiality as had marked their several meetings in Derbyshire ; and as she threw a retrospective glance over the whole of their acquaintance , so full of contradictions and varieties , sighed at the perverseness of those feelings which would now have promoted its continuance , and would formerly have rejoiced in its termination .
If gratitude and esteem are good foundations of affection , Elizabeth ' s change of sentiment will be neither improbable nor faulty . But if otherwise--if regard springing from such sources is unreasonable or unnatural , in comparison of what is so often described as arising on a first interview with its object , and even before two words have been exchanged , nothing can be said in her defence , except that she had given somewhat of a trial to the latter method in her partiality for Wickham , and that its ill success might , perhaps , authorise her to seek the other less interesting mode of attachment . Be that as it may , she saw him go with regret ; and in this early example of what Lydia ' s infamy must produce , found additional anguish as she reflected on that wretched business . Never , since reading Jane ' s second letter , had she entertained a hope of Wickham ' s meaning to marry her . No one but Jane , she thought , could flatter herself with such an