“Oh well!it is just as he chooses.Nobody wants him to come. Though I shall always say he used my daughter extremely ill;and if I was her,I would not have put up with it.Well,my comfort is, I am sure Jane will die of a broken heart;and then he will be sorry for what he has done.”
Miss Bennet paused a little, and then replied,“Surely there can be no occasion for exposing him so dreadfully.What is your opinion?”
“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.”
“I do not believe he will ever live at Netherfield any more.”
“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.
“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.”