第85章[第1页/共4页]

“No,nothing at all.”

“A great deal of good management, depend upon it.Yes, yes.They will take care not to outrun their income. They will never be distressed for money.Well, much good may it do them!And so, I suppose, they often talk of having Longbourn when your father is dead.They look upon it as quite their own,I dare say,whenever that happens.”

But as Elizabeth could not receive comfort from any such expectation,she made no answer.

“Well, Lizzy,”continued her mother,soon afterwards,“and so the Collinses live very comfortable, do they? Well,well,I only hope it will last.And what sort of table do they keep?Charlotte is an excellent manager,I dare say. If she is half as sharp as her mother,she is saving enough. There is nothing extravagant in their housekeeping,I dare say.”

“It was a subject which they could not mention before me.”

“No; it would have been strange if they had; but I make no doubt they often talk of it between themselves.Well,if they can be easy with an estate that is not lawfully their own,so much the better.I should be ashamed of having one that was only entailed on me.”

“You are quite right.To have his errors made public might ruin him for ever. He is now, perhaps, sorry for what he has done, and anxious to re-establish a character.We must not make him desperate.”