“EDW.GARDINER.”
“I mean,that no man in his proper senses would marry Lydia on so slight a temptation as one hundred a year during my life,and fifty after I am gone.”
“Oh, papa, what news―what news? Have you heard from my uncle?”
“My dear Brother,
“And may I ask―”said Elizabeth;“but the terms, I suppose, must be complied with.”
“Then it is as I always hoped,”cried Jane;“they are married!”
“Wickham is not so undeserving,then,as we thought him,”said her sister.“My dear father,I congratulate you.”
Upon this information,they instantly passed through the hall once more, and ran across the lawn after their father, who was deliberately pursuing his way towards a small wood on one side of the paddock.
“No;but it must be done soon.”
Gracechurch Street,Monday,August 2.
“Yes I have had a letter from him by express.”
Away ran the girls,too eager to get in to have time for speech. They ran through the vestibule into the breakfast-room; from thence to the library;their father was in neither;and they were on the point of seeking him upstairs with their mother,when they were met by the butler,who said:
“Dear madam,”cried Mrs. Hill, in great astonishment,“don't you know there is an express come for master from Mr.Gardiner? He has been here this half-hour,and master has had a letter.”