On entering the drawing-room she found the whole party at loo, and was immediately invited to join them;
but suspecting them to be playing high she declined it, and making her sister the excuse,
said she would amuse herself, for the short time she could stay below, with a book.
Mr. Hurst looked at her with astonishment.
— “Do you prefer reading to cards?”
said he;
“that is rather singular.”
— “Miss Eliza Bennet,”
said Miss Bingley,
despises cards
“despises cards.
She is a great reader,
and has no pleasure in anything else.”
— “I deserve neither such praise nor such censure,”
cried elizabeth
cried Elizabeth;
“I am not a great reader, and I have pleasure in many things.”
— “In nursing your sister I am sure you have pleasure,”
said Bingley;
“and I hope it will be soon increased by seeing her quite well.”