Their reception from Mr. Bennet, to whom they then turned,was not quite so cordial. His countenance rather gained in austerity;and he scarcely opened his lips.The easy assurance of the young couple,indeed,was enough to provoke him.
“Ah!Jane,I take your place now,and you must go lower,because I am a married woman.”
“Oh! mamma, do the people hereabouts know I am married to-day? I was afraid they might not; and we overtook William Goulding in his curricle, so I was determined he should know it,and so I let down the side-glass next to him,and took off my glove,and let my hand just rest upon the window frame,so that he might see the ring,and then I bowed and smiled like anything.”
There was no want of discourse.The bride and her mother could neither of them talk fast enough; and Wickham, who happened to sit near Elizabeth, began inquiring after his acquaintance in that neighbourhood, with a good humoured ease which she felt very unable to equal in her replies.They seemed each of them to have the happiest memories in the world. Nothing of the past was recollected with pain; and Lydia led voluntarily to subjects which her sisters would not have alluded to for the world.