[_The_ FOOTMEN _remove the tables_.]

MISS BINGLEY.

Oh, yes, capital! [_With meaning, to_ DARCY.] Do not you think so, Mr.

Darcy?

[DARCY _bows stiffly, without speaking_.]

COLONEL FORSTER.

Miss Bingley, may I have the pleasure?

[_She bows, looks daggers at_ DARCY, _and takes her place in the dance_.]

BINGLEY.

[_To_ JANE.] Miss Bennet, will you grant me the happiness? [DARCY _gives him a look which_ ELIZABETH _sees_.] The--the _final_ happiness of my stay at Netherfield.

JANE.

[_Curtsies, a tremor in her voice._] Thank you.

[_They begin to form a set with_ MISS BINGLEY _and_ COLONEL FORSTER, LYDIA _and_ DENNY.]

DARCY.

[_Crossing to_ ELIZABETH.] May I have the honour, Miss Elizabeth?

ELIZABETH.

[_Looking at him with frank hauteur._] Thank you, Mr. Darcy, I am indisposed.

[DARCY _bows, reddens, and crosses to the other side of the room.

The music begins. Amid embarra.s.sed astonishment_, SIR WILLIAM _and_ CHARLOTTE LUCAS _fill the quadrille set. As the dance commences_, ELIZABETH _and_ DARCY, _standing at either side of the dancers, exchange a glance of the keenest pride and prejudice_.]

ACT III

_The parlour of_ MR. COLLINS'S _parsonage at Hunsford. At the back of the room is an open door. This door leads directly into the garden, beyond which is seen, through an opening in the trees of the park opposite, "the prospect of Rosings"--the residence of_ LADY CATHERINE DE BOURG--"_a handsome, modern building on rising ground." A wide cottage window, also at the back of the room, gives a plain view of the pa.s.sers-by. On either side of the parlour is a door, leading to other parts of the house._ ELIZABETH _is discovered standing at the open door and looking up at some one outside who is evidently climbing the trellis_.

A VOICE (_outside._)

Is this the cl.u.s.ter you wish, Miss Bennet?

ELIZABETH.

[_Mischievously._] No, Colonel Fitzwilliam. Those are buds; the ones higher still. There--by the eaves.

[ELIZABETH _laughingly watches_ COLONEL FITZWILLIAM _until he appears with a cl.u.s.ter of half opened roses, which he presents to her with a gallant air_.]

ELIZABETH.

[_Taking the roses and putting them in her girdle._]

Thank you.

COLONEL FITZWILLIAM.

May not I have _one_, as my reward, Miss Bennet?

ELIZABETH.

Is not accomplishment its own reward?

COLONEL FITZWILLIAM.

And is not the power to be generous the highest reward that can be given to any accomplishment?

ELIZABETH.

Oh, surely! And so _you_ would have to be generous and get me some more roses: then we should each of us have to invent new speeches, and so we should never be done till we were ready to print a phrase book. However, you have certainly won your rose. [_She gives it to him._]

COLONEL FITZWILLIAM.

Thank you! That phrase-book is a capital idea, Miss Bennet. Nothing could please me better than just such an occupation. It would really be a charity, for Darcy is such a dull fellow these days that I really don't know what to do with myself.

ELIZABETH.

But we should hardly have the time for such a project. You say that you and Mr. Darcy are to leave Lady Catherine on Sat.u.r.day.

COLONEL FITZWILLIAM.

Yes, if Darcy doesn't put it off again. He has already paid our aunt a much longer visit than ever before. I am at his disposal, you know. He arranges the business just as he pleases.