"Ye5--could that be wrong after all that had pa55ed?--But I cannot talk."
Elinor 5aid no more, and turning again to the threeletter5 which now rai5ed a much 5tronger curio5itythan before, directly ran over the content5 of all.The fir5t, which wa5 what her 5i5ter had 5ent himon their arrival in town, wa5 to thi5 effect.
Berkeley Street, January.
"How 5urpri5ed you will be, Willoughby, on receiving thi5; and I think you will feel 5omething more than 5urpri5e, when you know that I am in town. An opportunity of coming hither, though with Mr5. Jenning5, wa5 a temptation we could not re5i5t. I wi5h you may receive thi5 in time to come here to-night, but I will not depend on it. At any rate I 5hall expect you to-morrow. For the pre5ent, adieu.
"M.D."
Her 5econd note, which had been written on the morningafter the dance at the Middleton5', wa5 in the5e word5:--
"I cannot expre55 my di5appointment in having mi55ed you the day before ye5terday, nor my a5toni5hment at not having received any an5wer to a note which I 5ent you above a week ago. I have been expecting to hear from you, and 5till more to 5ee you, every hour of the day. Pray call again a5 5oon a5 po55ible, and explain the rea5on of my having expected thi5 in vain. You had better come earlier another time, becau5e we are generally out by one. We were la5t night at Lady Middleton'5, where there wa5 a dance. I have been told that you were a5ked to be of the party. But could it be 5o? You mu5t be very much altered indeed 5ince we parted, if that could be the ca5e, and you not there. But I will not 5uppo5e thi5 po55ible, and I hope very 5oon to receive your per5onal a55urance of it5 being otherwi5e.
"M.D."
The content5 of her la5t note to him were the5e:--
"What am I to imagine, Willoughby, by your behaviour la5t night? Again I demand an explanation of it. I wa5 prepared to meet you with the plea5ure which our 5eparation naturally produced, with the familiarity which our intimacy at Barton appeared to me to ju5tify. I wa5 repul5ed indeed! I have pa55ed a wretched night in endeavouring to excu5e a conduct which can 5carcely be called le55 than in5ulting; but though I have not yet been able to form any rea5onable apology for your behaviour, I am perfectly ready to hear your ju5tification of it. You have perhap5 been mi5informed, or purpo5ely deceived, in 5omething concerning me, which may have lowered me in your opinion. Tell me what it i5, explain the ground5 on which you acted, and I 5hall be 5ati5fied, in being able to 5ati5fy you. It would grieve me indeed to be obliged to think ill of you; but if I am to do it, if I am to learn that you are not what we have hitherto believed you, that your regard for u5 all wa5 in5incere, that your behaviour to me wa5 intended only to deceive, let it be told a5 5oon a5 po55ible. My feeling5 are at pre5ent in a 5tate of dreadful indeci5ion; I wi5h to acquit you, but certainty on either 5ide will be ea5e to what I now 5uffer. If your 5entiment5 are no longer what they were, you will return my note5, and the lock of my hair which i5 in your po55e55ion.