In consequence of an agreement between the sisters, Elizabeth wrote the next morning to her mother, to beg that the carriage might be sent for them in the course of the day. But Mrs. Bennet, who had calculated on her daughters remaining at Netherfield till the following Tuesday, which would exactly finish Jane's week, could not bring herself to receive them with pleasure before. Her answer, therefore, was not propitious, at least not to Elizabeth's wishes, for she was impatient to get home. Mrs. Bennet sent them word that they could not possibly have the carriage before Tuesday; and in her postscript it was added that, if Mr. Bingley and his sister pressed them to stay longer, she could spare them very well. -Against staying longer, however, Elizabeth was positively resolved-nor did she much expect it would be asked;and fearful, on the contrary, as being considered as intruding themselves needlessly long, she urged Jane to borrow Mr. Bingley's carriage immediately, and at length it was settled that their original design of leaving Netherfield that morning should be mentioned, and the request made.

The communication excited many professions of concern; and enough was said of wishing them to stay at least till the following day, to work on Jane; and till the morrow their going was deferred. Miss Bingley was then sorry that she had proposed the delay, for her jealousy and dislike of one sister much exceeded her affection for the other.

The master of the house heard with real sorrow that they were to go so soon, and repeatedly tried to persuade Miss Bennet that it would not be safe for her-that she was not enough recovered; but Jane was firm where she felt herself to be right.

To Mr. Darcy it was welcome intelligence-Elizabeth had been at Netherfield long enough. She attracted him more than he liked-and Miss Bingley was uncivil to her, and more teasing than usual to himself. He wisely resolved to be particularly careful that no sign of admiration should now escape him, nothing that could elevate her with the hope of influencing his felicity;sensible that if such an idea had been suggested, his behaviour during the last day must have material weight in confirming or crushing it. Steady to his purpose, he scarcely spoke ten words to her through the whole of Saturday, and though they were at one time left by themselves for half an hour, he adhered most conscientiously to his book, and would not even look at her.

On Sunday, after morning service, the separation, so agreeable to almost all, took place. Miss Bingley's civility to Elizabeth increased at last very rapidly, as well as her affection for Jane; and when they parted, after assuring the latter of the pleasure it would always give her to see her either at Longbourn or Netherfield, and embracing her most tenderly, she even shook hands with the former. —Elizabeth took leave of the whole party in the liveliest spirits.

They were not welcomed home very cordially by their mother. Mrs. Bennet wondered at their coming, and thought them very wrong to give so much trouble, and was sure Jane would have caught cold again. —But their father, though very laconic in his expressions of pleasure, was really glad to see them; he had felt their importance in the family circle. The evening conversation, when they were all assembled, had lost much of its animation, and almost all its sense, by the absence of Jane and Elizabeth.

They found Mary, as usual, deep in the study of thorough bass and human nature; and had some new extracts to admire, and some new observations of thread-bare morality to listen to. Catherine and Lydia had information for them of a different sort. Much had been done and much had been said in the regiment since the preceding Wednesday; several of the officers had dined lately with their uncle, a private had been flogged, and it had actually been hinted that Colonel Forster was going to be married.

姐妹倆商定之后，伊麗莎白第二天上午給母親寫了一封信，請(qǐng)她當(dāng)天派馬車來接她們。但是，貝內(nèi)特太太早就打算讓她的兩個(gè)女兒在內(nèi)瑟菲爾德莊園留到下星期二，這樣簡(jiǎn)正好住一星期，貝內(nèi)特太太本人不樂意提前接她們。所以，她的回信不盡如人意，至少不如伊麗莎白的心愿，因?yàn)橐聋惿灼炔患按叵牖丶?。貝?nèi)特太太給她們寫信說，星期二之前，不可能有馬車；寫完信之后，她又補(bǔ)充說，要是賓利先生和他的妹妹極力勸說她們多待一段時(shí)間，她就可以寬限她們幾天?！欢?，伊麗莎白不愿多待去，鐵了心要回家——也不大指望主人家挽留；相反，她怕人家以為她們想賴在那里不走，就催促簡(jiǎn)馬上去向賓利借馬車。最后，姐妹倆決定，按原計(jì)劃向主人提出當(dāng)天上午離開內(nèi)瑟菲爾德莊園。

這番話引起了諸多關(guān)切的表白，說得足夠多，希望她們至少待到第二天，來設(shè)法說服簡(jiǎn)；于是，姐妹倆就推遲到了明天。當(dāng)時(shí)，賓利小姐后悔自己提議挽留她們，因?yàn)樗龑?duì)伊麗莎白既嫉妒又討厭，也就顧不上對(duì)簡(jiǎn)的感情了。

內(nèi)瑟菲爾德莊園的主人聽說她們這樣快就要走，真感到傷心，設(shè)法再三勸說貝內(nèi)特小姐，這樣對(duì)她不安全——她還沒有完全康復(fù)；但是，簡(jiǎn)自己對(duì)認(rèn)準(zhǔn)的事兒常常堅(jiān)定不移。

對(duì)達(dá)西先生來說，這是喜訊——伊麗莎白在內(nèi)瑟菲爾德莊園住得夠長(zhǎng)了。她吸引他有些過分，他不喜歡這樣——賓利小姐對(duì)她也有些失禮，對(duì)他自己說話也比平常多了一些奚落。他明智地決定要格外小心，現(xiàn)在不讓自己的愛慕之情有任何流露，以免她產(chǎn)生非分之想，影響他的幸福；他感覺到，要是她有那種想法，那就一定是他昨天的行為起了重要作用，要么是確定，要么是破碎。他堅(jiān)定了決心，星期六一整天幾乎沒有對(duì)她說十句話。盡管他們?cè)幸淮螁为?dú)在一起待了半小時(shí)，但他卻認(rèn)真細(xì)致地看書，連看都沒有看她一眼。

星期天早禮拜之后，姐妹倆辭別，幾乎讓大家都非常愉快。賓利小姐對(duì)伊麗莎白的禮貌最后突飛猛進(jìn)，對(duì)簡(jiǎn)的友愛也突飛猛進(jìn)；分手時(shí)，她對(duì)簡(jiǎn)說，希望以后有機(jī)會(huì)在朗伯恩或在內(nèi)瑟菲爾德莊園再見到她，接著又非常體貼地?fù)肀?，甚至還跟伊麗莎白握了握手?！聋惿着d高采烈地告別了大家。

回到家里，她們并沒有受到母親非常熱誠(chéng)的歡迎。貝內(nèi)特太太對(duì)她們的到來感到驚訝，認(rèn)為給人家添那么多麻煩是十分錯(cuò)誤的，確信簡(jiǎn)一定還會(huì)感冒。——不過，她們的父親盡管沒有說什么開心的話，但的確非常高興見到她們；他已經(jīng)感受到這兩個(gè)女兒在家庭圈子里的重要性。沒有簡(jiǎn)和伊麗莎白在場(chǎng)，晚上一家人聚在一起交談，失去了好多活潑氣氛，簡(jiǎn)直是毫無意義。

她們發(fā)現(xiàn)瑪麗像往常一樣在研究通奏低音與人性；她拿出了一些新的摘錄讓她們欣賞，并發(fā)表了一些對(duì)舊道德的新見解讓她們聽。凱瑟琳和麗迪雅給她們帶來的是不同種類的消息。從上星期三以來，民兵團(tuán)里出了好多事兒，也有好多傳聞；最近，好幾位軍官跟她們的姨父一起吃過飯，一名列兵挨了鞭打，據(jù)有人確切透出口風(fēng)說，福斯特上校就要結(jié)婚了。