But wishes were vain,or at best could only serve to amuse her in the hurry and confusion of the following hour.Had Elizabeth been at leisure to be idle,she would have remained certain that all employment was impossible to one so wretched as herself;but she had her share of business as well as her aunt,and amongst the rest there were notes to be written to all their friends at Lambton, with false excuses for their sudden departure.An hour,however, saw the whole completed; and Mr. Gardiner meanwhile having settled his account at the inn,nothing remained to be done but to go;and Elizabeth,after all the misery of the morning,found herself,in a shorter space of time than she could have supposed, seated in the carriage,and on the road to Longbourn.

If gratitude and esteem are good foundations of affection, Elizabeth's change of sentiment will be neither improbable nor faulty. But if otherwise―if regard springing from such sources is unreasonable or unnatural,in comparison of what is so often described as arising on a first interview with its object,and even before two words have been exchanged, nothing can be said in her defence, except that she had given somewhat of a trial to the latter method in her partiality for Wickham, and that its ill success might, perhaps, authorise her to seek the other less interesting mode of attachment.Be that as it may,she saw him go with regret;and in this early example of what Lydia's infamy must produce,found additional anguish as she reflected on that wretched business. Never, since reading Jane's second letter, had she entertained a hope of Wickham's meaning to marry her. No one but Jane, she thought, could flatter herself with such an expectation. Surprise was the least of her feelings on this development.While the contents of the first letter remained on her mind, she was all surprise―all astonishment that Wickham should marry a girl whom it was impossible he could marry for money;and how Lydia could ever have attached him had appeared incomprehensible. But now it was all too natural. For such an attachment as this,she might have sufficient charms;and though she did not suppose Lydia to be deliberately engaging in an elopement without the intention of marriage,she had no difficulty in believing that neither her virtue nor her understanding would preserve her from falling an easy prey.