Jane Austen
It was a painful, but not an
improbable, conjecture.
Bingley, she had likewise seen for an instant, and in that short period saw him looking
both pleased and embarrassed. He was received by Mrs. Bennet with a degree of civility
which made her two daughters ashamed, especially when contrasted with the cold and
ceremonious politeness of her curtsey and address to his friend.
Elizabeth, particularly, who knew that her mother owed to the latter the preservation of
her favourite daughter from irremediable infamy, was hurt and distressed to a most painful
degree by a distinction so ill applied.
Darcy, after inquiring of her how Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner did, a question which she could
not answer without confusion, said scarcely anything. He was not seated by her; perhaps
that was the reason of his silence; but it had not been so in Derbyshire. There he had talked
to her friends, when he could not to herself. But now several minutes elapsed without
annaabi.ee 
